It’s on the syllabus, but since I don’t have my normal slideshow today, here it is here too:
–Visit Quimby’s (1854 W. North Ave. Chicago) and purchase a magazine that interests you, but that you’ve never heard of before. OR Find a locally-oriented ethnic publication.
Post on the class blog about the publication you found and bring it into class next week.
– Readings (linked on the class blog)
18 Comments
November 8, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I was so happy to be sent to Wicker Park for this assignment. It may be my favorite area of Chicago. The store had so many different books and magazines that I had never seen before. The one that caught my eye and I ended up purchasing was V magazine. V is a fashion magazine, but it also covers film, music, art, culture, and so on. It is a large-format magazine and the visual appeal is seriously incredible. The photography is amazing and the stories they cover are equally entertaining. V was created in 1991 and is the little sister to Visionaire. V using international collaborations to add to their appeal. It is all about individuality and combines the well-known with the underground, “uptown meets downtown” and so on. I have actually decided to subscribe to V after reading this issue.
November 9, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I must have spent an hour browsing through magazines at Quimby’s before I decided to purchase Indie The Independent Style Magazine. My weakness is fashion magazines and this one was like no other fashion magazine I had ever seen before. It has very thick pages, but the thick pages are almost necessary because the photography in this magazine is absolutely amazing. Indie has feature stories on bands, fashion designers, models, and various artwork. Near the end of the magazine they have these short stories relating to “The Love-sickness Special” and each story has its own unique border that looks like colored paper cut out into shapes relating to imagery used in the story. Overall Indie is a very neat publication unlike anything I have ever seen before. It’s a little pricey, but I checked their website to find out a little more about them, and apparently the magazine is written in Austria, printed in England, and distributed internationally, so the price seems to make sense especially for the quality of the magazine.
November 9, 2008 at 7:54 pm
sorry I still had Alaina’s name in my name box the paragraph above is me…
November 11, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Wicker Park is my all time favorite part of Chicago. I love the shops, the people, the atmosphere. I looked through some magazines and I almost chose one on music but I decided against it and picked up a copy of The Independent Style magazine because during Grammar Class Laura was saying how awesome the mag was and how much she enjoyed flipping through it and when I saw it I instantly couldn’t put it down and just had to purchase it. I have never heard of or seen this mag prior to hearing about it from Laura and Quimby’s is defiantly a place I will be visiting more often and getting more mags to see what else is out there! Thanks!
November 11, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I enjoyed going to wicker park and going to Quimby’s. The wicker park area isn’t new to me, I’ve shopped there, seen shows there, drank coffee there, but now I can also buy books there. Walking into Qumiby’s was a bit overwhelming because there was such a large selection of books I have never seen in the comfort of Barnes and Nobles, or Borders; I really liked it though. I found myself looking through every section carefully, but nothing really struck my eye until I hit the music section.; right there below Punk Planet* I found a copy of Maximum RocknRoll. It’s a punk rock magazine out of northern California that has been published monthly since 1982. It’s completely in black and white, and it’s filled with interviews of bands I’ve never heard of.
*I had never seen a copy of Punk Planet before, I thought it was pretty cool. =]
November 11, 2008 at 11:54 pm
When I first walked into Quimbys (I think I was once there before), I immediately found a black and white skateboarding magazine titled, “Concussion.” I paged through it and almost bought it, but then I decided to buy a magazine I normally wouldn’t buy; therefore, I decided to buy the magazine titled, “Bitch”. (Which actually happens to be one of the store’s most popular magazines according to the sales person.) “Bitch” is a “feminist response to pop culture” magazine and yes, the articles are extremely different then the ones I am used to reading. For example, the magazine has an entire article dedicated to proving the stupidity of “Cosmopolitan”, actually one of my favorite magazines. Moreover, it is printed in all black and white, and its pages are thicker then the average women’s magazine. It even contains very unusual advertisements then the normal mainstream magazine, such as a “hard edge fashion for deviant dogs” advertisement. However, though it was extremely different, I really enjoyed “Bitch” because it took an extremely different approach on covering normal women issues; it didn’t inform its audience on how important the right “shoes” are, it informed them on much more important issues such as Michelle Obama and even the negativity of women blogging.
November 12, 2008 at 12:47 am
When I walked into Quimby’s, so many magazines caught my eye that it was hard to pick just one. However, I settled for Substream Music Press, which is a thin magazine that is published every two to three months, according to a small “about the magazine” section located in the first few pages of the magazine. The issue I picked up is only the ninth for Substream. Despite the newness and sophomoric feel of the magazine, I enjoyed it because I am interested in music journalism; music is one of the reasons I chose to go into the major. While I normally only read bigger, nationally distributed music magazines like the Alternative Press, Blender, and The Rolling Stone, Substream Music Press was a nice break from the high-end magazine. In fact, the issue I picked up was the last of the Substream issues on the shelves; the cover has multiple tears and the corners are bent and curl up. I knew, though, that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and I was right. I enjoyed this assignment!
November 12, 2008 at 1:55 am
After walking around in circles I finally decided to pick “Under The Radar” the subhead says its a “solution to music pollution” which I thought was funny. What caught my eye though was that one of the headlines on the cover was a story about the band Of Montreal who I just recently started listening to. The magazine also had a story about the band Girl Talk in it, which my roommate has been raving over. After reading some of the articles in the magazine I’m very glad I picked this one up.
November 12, 2008 at 2:13 am
I purchased a magazine called Shameless and it is for “girls who get it.” I thought it was great that it had topics not usually found in a magazine for women. The articles about events in the news involving women as well as the gay community was a reminder of the prevalent issues still happening. I really liked the article including poems from a spoken word artist because poetry is one of my own hobbies. I related to a lot of the topics and appreciated a variety of content. The bookstore itself was really fun to walk around in. There was so many kinds of books and other publications that I was even surprised by some of them.
November 12, 2008 at 2:20 am
When I first got to Quimby’s it was closed so I walked around the neighborhood for 30 minutes until it opened. Once I return and saw it was open, I was amazed at the selection of books and magazines they had. I took my time and looked around for one to really catch my attention. I was in the music section and I saw that there were a lot of magazines about rock music. After browsing many of them I decided to purchase Metal Edge Magazine. The artist on the cover was Slipknot, a band I have known about for years, but didn’t listen to until a few months ago. I began reading it once I got the bus. I learned much about the metal genre, which is one I am not to familiar with. The magazine also came with a poster and CD, so that helped in the selection process. This is the first time I have purchased a non-sports magazine. I’m used to seeing the pictures of plays as they happen, not so much of people posing. It was interesting seeing the differences in the two types of magazines. Quimby’s was a good store, perhaps if I lived closer to it, I would return. However, it is too far from my town to go to just to purchase a magazine.
November 12, 2008 at 3:23 am
I picked up an edition of Hoy, a free Spanish publication that’s distributed next to Red Eye and the rest of the multi-colored newspaper bins on street corners in Chicago. Taking a look through the first few pages, you’ll get the impression that it’s just like the rest – except for the blatant fact that it’s all in the Spanish language. That consistency changes a bit when you hit the “Deportes” section for obvious reasons when thinking about the Spanish sports culture. The first page for Deportes was indeed futbol, or soccer. From the economy, to the election, to the pop culture section, it’s evident that as human beings, we like our news presented all the same: lots of pictures, “voices” from the community, and crossword puzzles. Oh, don’t forget to check your horoscope too.
November 12, 2008 at 3:25 am
I spent at least an hour just walking around Quimby’s looking at the overwhelming variety of stuff they have there. I definitely need to go back there when I have more money and buy some books that I probably won’t ever find anywhere else.
I had decided beforehand that I wanted to find a foreign magazine just to change things up a bit, so I purchased a copy of “Arte al Dia International,” a magazine with a focus on contemporary Latin American art. What I found most interesting about it was that everything inside, from articles to photo captions, was printed twice, once in Spanish and once in English. I thought that was a really good way of catering to its target audience while at the same time inviting non-Spanish-speaking readers to take an interest in the culture.
November 12, 2008 at 4:19 am
Quimby’s was so enthralling. I spent at least an hour browsing through everything. I’ve already gone back since I went the first time.
The magazine I decided to purchase was called Latina. I was attracted to it by the Latin dishes that were discussed. I cook and bake and am always looking for new challenges and cultures to try. I was also drawn to it by the main article of the Latin tattoo artist Kat Von D.
Latina is like any other fashion or girl magazine, but more directed toward Latin women. Some parts are even written in spanish. (Good thing I know Spanish). It was interesting to read something different than the usual girl magazine. I hope to go back again soon and look at a lot more.
November 12, 2008 at 4:41 am
I decided I wanted to submit a magazine that was a local, ethnic publication. I chose to purchase Ebony Magazine because I walk past the building where it is published everyday and I think that it represents the African American culture in Chicago and the rest of the nation. Ebony is created at Johnson Publishing company located at 820 S. Michigan Avenue. The magazine was founded by John Johnson in 1945 and has been continuously published ever since. – And it’s all done down the block from Columbia
November 12, 2008 at 5:53 am
I am extremely indecisive so picking a magazine from Quimby’s bookstore came with difficulty. I had to walk around the store at least three times before I made the decision. I actually did not see the magazine the first two times but by the third time my eyes immediately glanced over to the bright paisley cover. The magazine is hot pink with colorful paisleys around in and in big white letters the title of the magazine is written. What is the title? “Bitch“.
Before even reading the small print I knew that this magazine was written for feminists by feminists. The magazine contains a “feminist response to pop culture”. Some of the articles include a feature of Michelle Obama and what appears to be a continuos article on Cosmopolitan Bitch also contains reviews on music and books. The advertising on the pages are also aimed towards Bitch’s feminist audience. There are ad’s for eco friendly menstrual applicators as well as for independent stores.
November 12, 2008 at 6:47 am
I had so much fun exploring the Quimby’s book store. I saw so many new things and I experienced so many different cultures just looking at different magazines that were in the store. I decided to look more into the magazine that was about African heritage and background. It was called “Zimba.” It had a very ethnic cover decorated in vines, and african sculptures. It was very intriguing. I was very taken away by it because I am half ethiopian/somolian, so I could relate to what was in the magazine. It was dedicated to those Africans in American culture.
November 12, 2008 at 7:47 am
The one piece of print I got was this Spanish newspaper called “Hoy” which in English means today. The news paper is aimed at the Spanish speaking population and immigrants. The newspaper not only contains news in the U.S but also news in Latino countries ranging from Mexico to Venezuela. The newspaper is a bit inspired by the Latino culture for example in events they post things that go on in churches and also when you get to the sport section the biggest thing their is soccer- the most popular sport in Latino culture- followed by other sports such as baseball. “Hoy” is a publication from the Tribune and it is free. you can find them at any corner just like the Red Eye. One thing for sure is that they do run out fast in Hispanic Communities.
November 12, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I went to Quimby’s yesterday and to be quite frank I wasn’t to keen about going because of the coldness and crappy weather. When I first walked in it looked really cool and trendy, just like any other wicker park store. When I started to look around and look at all the different and unique publications they had I was really impressed. It was so hard for me not to buy about 5 or 6 magazines, because that’s what I had narrowed my selection down to. I landed on Heeb and Planet. Both of the magazines I would have never thought of buying. I tried to stay away from the fashion and music magazines since that is usually all I read. Planet is a global culture and lifestyle magazine. Basically is an arts and entertainment section for the world. The magazine was a little bland. It surprisingly didn’t have as many advertisements as normal magazines. It stuck with simplicity, but some of the few graphics they used were really cool. What attracted me to Heeb was the cover: The political issue, change we can believe in. I found it only necessary to get something on politics since that’s been the buzz for a while. When reading Heeb I realized that it is a Jewish magazine, which is completely fine to me but I am not Jewish. I really really enjoyed Heeb it was satirical and well put together.