Mr. Magazine

First there was Cure the magazine for Cancer Updates, Research and Education. Cure launched in 2002 as a “quarterly magazine that combines the science and humanity of cancer for those who have to deal with it on a daily basis. CURE provides scientific information in easy-to-understand language with equally understandable illustrations.” Now comes Heal: Living Well After Cancer, a magazine “for cancer survivors from the day treatment ends, and for the rest of their lives.” For anyone who doubts the power of magazines in creating communities that can be felt, connected and shared, those two magazines are the prime example for that. My friend Eija Ailasmaa, CEO of Sanoma Magazines recently sent me a copy of Magazine, a book celebrating Sanoma’s Magazines fifth anniversary. In it I found this wonderful quote that best describes Heal and Cure among many other magazines. “Today, lifestyle magazines answer the question of how people can realize the potential in themselves and overcome all anxiety. How they can handle their human relationships, how to show to others a favorable picture of themselves; and how to set and achieve their life goals. People read these magazines with great enthusiasm. The chaotic richness of the problems described and their suggested therapies by magazines is astonishing. There are a wide variety of questions which arise with answers provided for all.” I guess the comments of Elemér Hankis, a Hungarian sociologist and philosopher, will more than suffice as a comment on both Heal and Cure.