These pseudo-intellectual cosmopolitan types poo-poo everything. I guess they think their peurile criticisms are chic. Ugh. East coast urbanite free-lance writers--what do they know about middle America?

Jeez.

Well, I finally read it and I have to agree. It really does trivialize the whole thing.

you know - my dh has never had any use for Time mag (his g'pa was mayor of their town and Time did a scathing report on him in the 50's -- most of it untrue. Turned my dh off of that magazine ever since. Wont even allow it in our house). Guess this is just another hit against them in my house. :)

WOW!!! Perhaps the author should watch his back for a while....he may find a pair of decorative scissors jammed in there!!!! LOL
I don't get TIME but do subscribe to Maclean's which I think is similair in a Canada....it will be interested to see if they pick up on it!!
I'd love (or actually, maybe NOT) to see the album that someone was able to accomplish on a $25 budget, even though I am sure they are as treasured as my $25,000 album LOL
~Mar~

Dear Scrappers,
I have already sent a reply to the Times editor concerning this article. I suggest the rest of you do the same. You can contact their Editor at the same site as the article. Especially you Creative Memories consulants. Since they were so kind to you when it said how you "peddle your merchandise". I would think Creative Memories Inc. would respond to that themselves also. It seems awfully strange to me why the Times would write such a stinging article about a hobby that is in their words "is done by 99 % women". I think it rattles them that for the first time in ages there is a craft that has family ties, and is keeping women, teens, and yes even men, at home enjoying a good time with their families and not out on the town getting into trouble, and spending money on less family style entertainment. God forbid families should enjoy the company of one another and not need TV's, movie screens, bars, drugs, and everything else to have a good evening. After all if they could do away with all of those things who would need magazines like Time anyway. Penny

Bravo Penny!! Well said! :)

Well said, Penny! I sent a letter to the editor too. I posted it up in my bb for all to read. Maybe it will help others find the right words to write their own letter.

The link to the editor is letters@time.com

I already received an "automated" reply from TIMES acknowledging the letter. I wonder if they would really print one of our letters??

Here is a link that might be useful: TimesArticleDiscussion

I finally sent my letter. AFter reading that article a 2nd and 3rd time, I was fuming. I hadn't really read between the lines before and the more I read it, the more I found she had a condescending tone. Here's my letter:

I'm writing in regards to an article on scrapbooking that appeared in your June 12, 2000 issue. I would be interested to see some of the research that was done in order to come up with the so called "facts" represented in your story. Where, in this country, was this writer able to create an album for $25??? Even the least expensive albums cost at least 1/2 of that. Factor in the cost of film, developing, acid and lignin free papers, stickers, and other accessories and I can guarantee that it will run well over $25. I challenge her to complete that task!

Nadya Labi has basically scoffed at the hundreds of thousands of scrapbookers in this world (and I say world because yes, it is popular in other countries as well). She has trivialized the heritage that we are all trying to preserve for our future generations. We're not trying to "cut off those thighs" to make ourselves look better, but we are trying to show our children and grand children what life was like for us. We are not trying to "perfect the past", we are trying to preserve it. Ms. Labi writes, "That's just
what folks across the country are doing: convening to cut and snip at their histories; to turn inconvenient realities into Kodak moments; to prove, in other words, that the past is perfectible." If this isn't the most condescending statement I've ever read about my hobby, I don't know what is.

Isn't it always interesting to see how people lived in past generations? Don't you think that future generations will have the same fascination? With scrapbooking, my great-great-grandchildren wont have to watch movies to see about life in the 20th century. They can open MY scrapbook and see how their great-great-grandmother lived. Isn't that worth more than a plain photo album can offer?

The purpose of scrapbooking is to document a life or an event with facts (journaling) and photos. Funny, but isn't that what Time is supposed to do too? Hmmmm. Does Ms. Lambi think that the magazine she's writing for is as trivial as she obviously feels about scrapbooks? Maybe she ought to attend a class at her local scrapbooking store or from a Creative Memories Consultant (and no, I'm not connected in any way to either of these). She may be pleasantly surprised to find that she likes it.

Way to go Penny and Patti! (and all of you!) Scapbooking is wonderful.

Amen Penny and Patti! When I quit my job as a high school English teacher to take care of my infant daughter, I found that scrapbooking gave me a creative outlet that I had previously used in creating lesson plans, bulletin boards for my classroom, etc. Just goes to show you, it does different things for different people.