Issue September 2015 - Reader's Digest (2024)

Home//Reader's Digest/September 2015

In this era of information overload, Reader’s Digest offers something unique: the very best advice, information and inspiration from multiple sources, condensed into an easy-to-read digest. In each issue you’ll get trusted, time-saving insights about Health, Personal Finance, Work, Family, and National issues, PLUS exclusive book excerpts, news-making interviews, and humor.

in this issue

IN THIS ISSUEThe Family in the VanTHE 180-MILE DRIVE from home to the University of Michigan was the most difficult journey of my life. I remember our Chevy van stuffed with pillows, comforters, and bags of hair products from Bernie Shulman’s. And I can still feel the knot of despair (leaving the boyfriend!) and doubt (could I cut it academically?) that twisted in my stomach. We were quiet as my dad drove along I-80, stealing tentative smiles in the rearview mirror while Mom underlined interesting classes for me to consider in the well-thumbed course guide.I think of the vans pulling out of driveways this August, and I know the pride, hope, and even uncertainty that fill them.In his essay “Unprepared,” Rob Lowe draws a beautiful picture of his family as they pack and take their older…1 min

IN THIS ISSUELetters50 Secrets Food Manufacturers Won’t Tell YouWhile we may spend a relatively small portion of our disposable income on food, we pay dearly in other ways. I would not mind paying a little more at the grocery store in exchange for federal policies that ensured healthier people, ecosystems, and communities.JANICE F. DYER, Madison, AlabamaToo much information!TERRI L. HORNE, Shallotte, North CarolinaWhen I was growing up, we had food growers and food preparers; nowhere do I recall the phrase food manufacturer. We would all be healthier if more food was purchased directly from growers and prepared at home.RICHARD POTENSKI, Woodland, WashingtonWhat information do you have to support number 48, which says farmed fish have more omega-3s than wild salmon? We make a living by fishing wild salmon, which we firmly believe…3 min

Everyday HeroesSaved from the Jaws of a SharkTHE BRIGHT MORNING sun glistened off four- and five-foot waves as old friends McKenzie Clark and Brian Wargo slid their surfboards into the warm water and paddled out to sea. It was Halloween 2014, in Hawaii’s Keawaeli Bay.About 400 yards from shore, McKenzie’s board hit what she thought was a rock. When she looked down, instead she saw the outline of a shark easily 12 feet long. She screamed as she felt the board rise, the shark’s body breaching the surface. “I was perched on its head and getting pulled out to sea,” says McKenzie, 35.From where he sat on his board about 20 feet away, Brian, 45, saw the tiger shark. As an avid outdoorsman, he knew the species was aggressive and paddled frantically toward his friend.Before Brian reached…3 min

Everyday HeroesDream BuilderELVIS SUMMERS, 38, met Irene McGhee, 60, last September when she appeared at his Los Angeles apartment building looking for cans and bottles to recycle.As they chatted, Irene, who is also known as Smokie, revealed that she had been homeless since her husband died about a decade ago. Elvis was moved to help.“I couldn’t ignore human suffering right next to me,” he says.Elvis had read about the tiny-house movement, in which people construct homes measuring 500 square feet or fewer, and believed he had the construction know-how to fashion a similar structure for Smokie.He spent $500 on building supplies and, in five days, built a 3.5-by-8-foot house, complete with a locking door and side window, at the curb in front of his apartment. The tiny house, which Elvis furnished with…2 min

Issue September 2015 - Reader's Digest (2024)

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