Yesterday the New York Times Magazine published its special Voyages issue. The lead story was about a father-and-son trip to the Badlands and it began with a scene of the son spilling gasoline on himself at a gas station. This was followed by the father’s description of the boy’s personality. Turning the page, I read the father’s reminiscence of a mugging he'd experienced at the age of 13, an event that, clearly, had left its mark.
The next story was about a three-day retreat in an all-dark, sensory deprivation chamber.
The next story, about the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, might have been interesting had it not been a photographic essay.
The final story was about a skateboarding park in Sweden that had been imported from Philadelphia.
So I finished the magazine knowing only a very little more about the world than I had when I started it.
