It’s been five years since the first brand new issue of The Voice Magazine landed on a Friday the 13th. I was reminded of this because of the Vintage Voice column, which likes to dig out little bits and pieces of The Voice Magazine history. Having almost our entire history online and available to read means that there’s pretty much always something new for you to find here, even if it may not be the most current.
Of course, not having enough distractions really isn’t anybody’s problem these days, is it? These days, our attention is really the most valuable thing on the market, with over 800 billion dollars of advertising revenue estimated to have been made by media owners. But that’s just a part of it. After all, there’s all those other places advertisements show up that aren’t media agencies. Advertisements on the bus and at the bus stops, at the gas pumps, at stadiums and arenas. These days, you can’t even go to the bastion of consumerism itself, the mall, without there being advertisements for stores and products that aren’t in the mall itself being played at the food court and other areas.
So, since it really does seem that your attention is the most valuable thing you have, I just wanted to say thank you for being willing to spend a little of it here at The Voice Magazine. This week, you can spend that attention checking out our latest featured interview with a student. And if you’ve just stumbled on The Voice Magazine yourself and haven’t been interviewed yet? Consider writing to mwm@voicemagazine.org. You’ll be able to see yourself featured and get a bit of fun Voice swag to show off.
Also this week, The Voice Magazine writer Alek Golijanin tells us about a run-in he had back on New Year’s Day. It brings a whole new meaning to starting the new year with a bang.
And, if all the gift-giving and wrapping and everything else doesn’t seem to be doing it for you just yet, check out Xine Wang’s tips on some ways to try living a less materialistic lifestyle. Some of them aren’t exactly what I was expecting when I read the title of the article.
But getting back to the original topic, does anybody still associate Friday the 13th with bad luck anymore? I know that everybody’s aware of the idea, but is there anybody that believes it? It may just be my social circle, but nobody I know really believes in the idea. Is it the same in yours? If you know somebody who believes in the idea that Friday the 13th means bad luck, please write me, I’d love to hear about it just because I’m starting to wonder if it’s time we just forget about the superstition. I tend to think it’s become a superstition of a superstition; it exists only because we believe somebody else believes it.
And so now I’m introducing a third level to that meta. Now you could argue that I believe others believe that others believe in the existence of a ‘bad luck’ day. But I’ve got no evidence of that either, because at the end of the day, what others believe is entirely their own idea, and the whole house of cards collapses on itself except for one key point. It’s still Friday the 13th.
Which means it’s time that you got a whole new issue of articles by and for AU students, along with scholarships, reviews, recipes, advice, and more. Enjoy the read!