higher and higher

sorry loyal readers, i took november off.
if you direct your attention to the picture attached to this blog you will probably look at it and wonder, "what is that thing with magazines hanging all over it?"
ladies and gentlemen, that is a magazine ladder. a magazine ladder is a four-foot tall wooden ladder that you apparently display magazines on, and it's one of those bonuses that you get with marriage that you never really anticipated. the fateful day when TLK...er...TLY brought this home i was utterly confused. did she need help reaching things in slightly high places? was it difficult for her to get into bed? what purpose could such a diminutive wooden ladder serve? why is this thing in my home?
you can imagine my surprise when she told me that it's purpose was for hanging and displaying magazines. and equally lengthy barrage of questions arose: why do we need to hang magazines? do we subscribe to enough magazines to necessitate an entire magazine ladder? why would one wish to display magazines in their home in the first place? how long will the magazines need to cure before they are edible? is there anything less practical? etc.
all of this confusion over the ladder has brought up so many thoughts an questions in fact that i felt the need to blog about it. are magazines meant for keeping? are they decorative?
first of all i remember my mother having stacks and stacks of magazines all of the time--which could explain at least some of my reaction to the whole thing. we never threw them away, they just sat in random places in the house; they were never accessed, nor were they discarded. i have been a loyal magazine subscriber for several years now and it seems to me that the solution to this problem of clutter an nuisance is to simply throw them the fuck away. a monthly publication is meant to supply about a months worth of reading (usually just an hour or so), and after that should be discarded or recycled. however, if there is a bit that is particularly interesting or intriguing you are free to tear it out and reserve it for later use--this method does not require the retention of the entire periodical.
are they decorative? no. simply, no. a magazine is neither a statement of status, nor is it aesthetically pleasing. that is, no one needs to know what magazines you subscribe to and it does not look good. i certainly do not profess to be knowledgeable on matters of interior design or even feng shui, but i am pretty confident in saying that a magazine is NOT decorative--unless you are decorating a barbershop or a physician's waiting room.
unfortunately this logic is lost when it comes to wives and husbands digress from the matter to avoid conflict and affirm love. but a magazine ladder? come on.