National Geographic Magazine
I used to love National Geographic movies when I was a kid. I loved anything having to do with nature and with strange cultures that I had never been exposed to before. National Geographic Magazine movies, however, were by far the best. They had spectacular scenic vistas, close-ups of wild animals, strange tribal rituals ? all the stuff that fascinates children.
The only thing that I liked better than the movies was National Geographic magazine proper. I was one of those kids who really loved looking at maps of foreign places and imagining what it would be like to explore them. National Geographic maps were pretty top-notch. They would combine details of the vegetation, political information, topography, and geography all into one seamless whole.
I remember one National Geographic magazine article in particular that really stuck with me. My parents bought me a National Geographic for kids, but whenever I had a chance I would read the adult version. This was the first article I ever saw that actually scared me. It was about lemurs ? those strange, primitive monkeys with long bony fingers. It contained a local legend. Tribes people said that, if a lemur pointed its finger at you, you would die. Because of their long bony fingers, it is easy to see why this idea started. At the time, I found it frightening and somewhat fascinating. It stuck with me for a long time afterwards.
When I got to the age of 15, my dad gave me his collection of National Geographic magazines. He had been an avid reader of the publication ever since he was 15, so he had amassed quite a store of National Geographics. What’s so cool about it was that the articles didn’t seem to get outdated ? at least most of them didn’t. You can read a National Geographic magazine article written 20 years ago and, if it was about a remote enough part of the world, assume that not much had changed. Even if things had changed, that article is still a part of a people’s history. You are still seeing a glimpse of history from times gone by.
Nowadays, my own child loves to read national graphic magazine. He is a little bit too young for the adult version, but he loves National Geographic for kids. He actually did some research into one for an article about conservation in school recently. He was the one who came up with the idea for the project. I am so proud of him!
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