Backbencher

After reading two issues of North & South, I have really come to enjoy the magazine. It has a wide range of topics inside including political, personal stories, current events, and world awareness. The audience appeared to be middle- to upper-class people. To be perfectly honest, the magazine kind of reminded me of a cross between National Geographer and Time Magazine. The purpose of the magazine was mostly proving knowledge to readers about subjects mentioned above. It is also meant to be entertaining and does this through the personal stories throughout the magazine.

One of the articles I enjoyed most was “The Other Coast to Coast” in the Perspectives/Great Outdoors section of the March 2006 edition. This article was about the city of Auckland. The writer, Colin Moore, expresses a love for this city because of its close proximity to many outdoor activities. In the article, the writer compares Auckland to Washington, D.C. and Moscow. He points out that you cannot kayak around either of these cities; however, you can kayak around Auckland. This reminded me of what we recently talked about in lecture 6 about sports. New Zealanders boast about things they do better than other countries, such as rugby, or things other countries cannot do, such as kayak around the largest city in the country.

Another interesting area is “Agenda.” This section allows the reader to find out what events are taking place in the large cities throughout the country. It gives a brief summary of each event and when it takes place. I thought this was a very interesting feature and would be helpful to readers that like to travel around the country.