Since leaving the workforce 7 years ago for full time motherhood, I will admit that my reading material has not been very challenging. Let’s be honest, most of the articles written for a newspaper or magazine are at or below an 8th grade reading level. Depending on the type of book you enjoy, it may be about the same. There is a part of my brain that has not been fully engaged while reading “Goodnight Moon” repeatedly or the most recent favorite fiction thriller.
Truthfully, I didn’t realize how much I missed the challenge until I picked up a copy of The Weekly Standard. This weekly current events magazine does not write for your average middle or high school reader. This is not Newsweek or Time. I am a little embarrassed to confess that it took me extra time to read the first few articles. There were words I didn’t know and the sentence structures made me pause to think. When I found my mind wandering, I had to go back and reread the last paragraph to fully grasp the author’s intent.
Now that I am on my third issue of the magazine, I look forward to re-developing my reading comprehension skills so that I can enjoy the articles as rapidly as I would any other magazine or blog. Some people play Suduko to sharpen their mind, I read The Weekly Standard.
