On Having a Vision
How can we learn from what we like?
I grew up wanting to be a magazine editor, coveting magazines—any of them I could get my hands on, whether Q or NME (British music magazines) at Borders Books, my mom’s Vogue, teen magazines from the supermarket, the Food & Wine and Travel + Leisure that arrived to our house and were seemingly read by no one else but me. What I found in all of these magazines were things that called me to them by virtue of description: I’d want a CD from just reading a review; I’d want to see a TV show or movie because it was contained within these pages I trusted so much. I learned to cultivate my own aesthetic and how to know what I liked by flipping through the pages. While I never expected to wear the Gucci clothing, I started to understand the language of fashion and outfits. If I never got the CD, I still was building my sense of what I liked based on language and imagery. I wanted to work at a magazine because I wanted my job to be using these understandings, skills, senses—I wanted to help other people understand themselves and the world. Aspiration and the usefulness of being in-the-know were intertwined for me when I read magazines.
I grew up and did work at magazines and write for magazines, and the big shock for me came with finding out that many editors in major outlets usually didn’t want to be on the pulse of some new thing. This was partially borne out of the time in which I entered the industry in the post–2008 recession era, and the ways in which online clicks came to rule the roost. I still got to try my hand at being the writer I wanted to be at the Village Voice and smaller outlets, though, and that sustained my energy.
When I started my newsletter, it was that energy I tried to maintain. I’ve also always tried to think like a magazine when running my own weekly publication. For me, this approach holds the key to lasting relevance and possibility. I find inspiration in the magazines that I read, whether glossies from the U.S. or abroad, or art, interiors, culture, and general interest publications, or self-published zines, blogs, and newsletters. What I am always drawn to is independence and a strong point of view: I want to know the next thing, not read a tired take on the same old celebrities. The editorial voices in magazines and other publications that I draw from are the ones that stick to an older model of keeping readers on top of news they can’t get elsewhere, perspectives that otherwise wouldn’t have a home, and aesthetics that challenge what I think I know and love. There are still publications that give me the same adolescent feeling of convincing my mom to get me Twist at the supermarket or Filmmaker at Borders. And I’m always on the hunt for more.
This is excerpt from my “How to Create an Editorial Vision Workshop.”