Good Old Days Magazine replied about my subscription inquiry. They cannot send magazine-subscribers outside of US. I guess, I'd just read articles, online.
I subscribed years ago but found that I never had extra time for magazine reading, so I gave it up. About a year later, I bought a subscription for my parents and they enjoy it very much, so I've kept up their subscription for years now. I always liked the stories and articles so maybe I'll subscribe again sometime. I don't read it online... I didn't even realize it was available in that form, *but* I am connected to them via Facebook and absolutely love the nostalgic photos they post and subsequent discussion of those photos. Only problem is that I actually recognize most of the things in those posts of theirs, and it pinches that not much of it is "before my time." haha! Well to be fair there, they *do* mostly post things from the 50s and 60s, so if they'd do WWII stuff, THEN it would be before my time.
Yes, they seem to have changed the focus from those old days to our old days. My mom actually sent me one or two of the magazines in with my Christmas package. I haven't had a chance to read them yet. I'm saving them for when I have the time to read more than a bit at a time, because I enjoy immersing myself in 'the olden days', rather than just reading a page or two. I like seeing the old time recipes, too. I get a lot of my recipes from the internet these days, and many of the ones I find are low fat, paleo, vegan, etc., so I have to spend extra time searching for regular ones.
I did subscribe to the magazine but I prefer the older issues that I bought on eBay to the ones they are producing now, although it continues to be a good magazine.
There was a part of the older issues that I think they discontinued. It was always my favorite part. They had a section in the back for pen pals, cards, etc. I loved going through that to see if I could answer questions someone had, send a cheer-up card, send a letter to a lonely elderly person, provide an item they were searching for, etc. Possibly they still have it, but I'm pretty sure I heard a year or so ago that it's been discontinued. I *do* understand it... the way things are today, it was surely a security matter... that's sad, but I'm all for protecting especially the elderly so I do get it and would have made the same executive decision, but that doesn't make it any less sad to me that it has to be that way.
I remember that section, and I liked it, too. I can't remember if I ever used it. I know back in the day (1980s) I had some pen pals, but I can't remember if they were from that magazine or a crafts magazine I had a subscription to. Obviously they didn't last, but it was fun for a while. I can only imagine there would be a lot of scamming going on, particularly since many older folks aren't as wary as some of us. Unfortunately, you're right, it would definitely seem to be a security matter.
I have never heard or saw a "Good Old Days" magazine issue. What I remember to have seen at home since I can remember was Popular Mechanics, and Reader's Digest. I can still remember that the very first home I dreamed on came from a floor plan of the "modern home" published in a 1950s Popular Mechanics issue, despite I read it about ten years later, as I can remember the wise advise on how to jump off of a moving train when traveling as stowaway, LOL
I too haven't heard of it until now. Going to see if the library has some. Wish me luck! Some of the articles seem very interesting.
Hope you can find some, @Krissttina Isobe . If you can't, there's another one that's almost the same called Reminisce. I don't really know what the difference is, *but* if I'd have to guess by what I've seen on their websites and Facebook, I think maybe Good Old Days focuses more on the 50s type of things, and maybe Reminisce on the 30s/40s and into the 50s... Not even sure why I think that, but it's what I've observed. Bottom line, though, is that they both have articles from the past and I don't think either one is generalized to a particular era.
I am guessing that the Good Old Days magazine has an arrangement with the Reminisce magazine. Perhaps they are owned by the same people or maybe one sells its customer information to the other. Last month, I subscribed to the Good Old Days magazine and, although I had never even heard of either of these publications until they were mentioned here, I received a complimentary copy of the Reminisce magazine in the mail this morning. I imagine that someone who subscribes to one would be a likely customer for the other, and I don't mind receiving an unsolicited copy of the other magazine. I might even subscribe to it since I do like it, but I probably won't because I don't always find time to read Good Old Days. I suppose it is also possible that it was purely coincidental.
I hope you'll enjoy the magazine, @Ken Anderson ! I always did when I got it, and I know my parents do, too... even tried being a contributor a time or two, but they didn't seem to be interested in a little girl fishing, which is what my story was about. Little girls in those days needed to be home helping mommy clean the house. WELL! I would have done just about anything to get out of *that*! So fishing with my daddy and brothers it was. Learned some good life lessons from the banks of that fishing hole and wrote about them, but it didn't fit into the editorial needs of Good Old Days... I sold it elsewhere. Got a nice note about it from Ken Tate, though, so at least I know they read it. GOD (oooops, probably shouldn't abbreviate that one!) is published by House of White Birches... they've been around forever and I think they even did my pen pal magazines 30 or more years ago. Not sure who publishes Reminisce.