Hawkeye Republican

TRAGEDY, PURE TRAGEDY (IN A BRITISH ACCENT): Look--as a mildly unsophisticated college student I enjoy reading (although this verb doesn't really seem applicable) US Weekly, Cosmopolitan and USA Today like everyone else. Really, the pretty pictures and glossy covers are nearly impossible to pass by.

Next those savvy East Coast editors will add sparkles and we'll all be screwed. Damn them.

After leafing through the Daily Iowan (the University of Iowa's student paper) and checking out which AP stories have been deemed simple enough for student digestion (and of course checking out the police blotter). I swung by Iowa Book and Supply--the downtown evil textbook empire/provider of necessary supplies like Guinness posters--to pick up the latest issue of The Economist. Simple enough task, right?

You can imagine my utter shock when I reached the magazine rack to find a plethora of dumbed down picture books, but no Economist. Apparently, Iowa Book (and the University Book Store) have stopped carrying The Economist because--gasp--no one bought it.

The tragedy, the utter tragedy. In sixth grade, I begged my parents to let me get a subscription of Time and US News and World Report. Clearly, I quickly tired of it. That was until I found The Economist.

I remember fondly when I picked up my first issue of The Economist at the tender age of 16 and became enthralled by the snappy insight and intriguing British spelling. Magic, pure magic.

Now that magic is gone. Unless of course, I get a subscription or go to Barnes and Noble. But for the youth of the University of Iowa, the freshmen that is, there is no hope. They may never know that with an accent, "colour" has a "u".