Archie, Good Housekeeping & Playboy

Last summer, when I was at a research institute reading my way through the mid-1950’s. I attended the Popular Culture Association’s Research Institute at Bowling Green State University’s Pop Culture Library to research the CCA approval process’ impact on Betty and Veronica and started reading wide for context. I read the comics, and about the comics, but then I started reading other periodicals published at the same time. 

I read stacks of magazines from the mid-1950’s. I read Teen, Good Housekeeping, Playboy. I was struck the messaging around dating, dating culture, and “relationships.” Struck is putting it gently. Disturbed or disoriented are better descriptors. When I returned home, the desire (need) to “do” something pressed at me. I crafted a collage essay of featurettes.

If you follow me on social media, you may have seen photos and read my comments about the surprises I encountered. Well, when I returned home, I pulled some of it together and created a new CNF subgenre: the collage essay. The piece, It Really Wasn't that Bad is out on Word's Faire.