Magazine Monday: In These Times

Magazine Review by Steven D. Mathews

The Yocum Library subscribes to the print edition of In These Times, a monthly non-profit magazine focusing on progressive politics. The periodical was founded in 1976 by socialist JaWeinstein, who had help from prominent intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky, not long after the dissolution of the Socialist Party of the USA. 

Recurring themes of the magazine include stories related to grassroots-movements and resistance strategies in the areas of labor rights, environmentalism, feminism, the civil rights of minorities, and the preservation of democracy and social justice.

In the the most recent issue (May 2017), you will find articles about Ivanka Trump’s “Faux Feminism,” “How to Resist, in 6 Books,” and the state of union labor around the country. Shorter sections contain reviews of current entertainment, such as Hulu’s new The Handmaid’s Tale TV show, and several book reviews. 

There is also a cartoon page, featuring comic strips with “Orwellian Reversals for 2017” and a few others about health care and the North Carolina “bathroom law.”

In These Times, which claims the motto “With Liberty and Justice for All…” also has a rich website, full of stories about contemporary progressive causes and issues confronted by every American.

Magazine Monday: Film Comment

by Steven D. Mathews, Library Assistant

The Yocum Library subscribes to the print edition of Film Comment, a bimonthly magazine published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York City. 

For more than fifty years, Film Comment has reviewed and discussed the world of current cinema and its history. The January/February 2017 issue features an article on the works of Martin Scorsese and his new film Silence (2016)

The most recent issue (March/April 2017) features an article on Albert Serra’s The Death of King Louis XIV (2016). The cover of the issue shows the 76-year-old Sun King, the nickname for King Louis XIV of France (1638–1715), in a huge wig and ostentatious eighteenth-century clothes, lying on his back, presumably on his deathbed. 

Yonca Talu’s article on the film describes Serra’s lack of romanticism for the Sun King’s death: “The King’s physical deterioration is rendered through an unnervingly static and hypnotically paced mise en scène that, while viscerally involving the audience in Louis’s suffering, does not induce identification: the film’s true protagonist is not Louis XIV, but rather death, treated as a simultaneously cruel and banal fact of life” (26). The film reminds us no one can escape mortality, even the so-called divine ruler who built the Palace of Versailles.

Another article, “Text and Image” by Max Nelson, provides striking examples from the silent-movie era to the present of how on-screen texts, either as diegetic (from the world of the film) or non-diegetic (placed intentionally by the filmmakers), can impact the cinematic experience. 

“On-screen words can lodge in a film’s world, hover over it (in superimpositions), or interject themselves around it (in intertitles). Visually, they can announce themselves at the front of the frame, peek out from its corners, slither through it elusively, lurk in its background, or—as often happens with superimposed text—emerge as its single most striking element” (48). The article reviews a new book on the subject, Words on Screen, by the French theorist, Michel Chion.

Besides reviews and articles of cinema, books on cinema, home media, and streaming services, Film Comment also has web-only content on their web site, which includes reviews of Turner Classic Movie programming, recent film festivals, and a podcast.

Magazine Monday: Writer's Digest

Review by Steven D. Mathews, Librarian Assistant

Need some tips and tricks for your new writing project or assignment? Want to learn how you can get your ideas and stories published?

The Yocum Library subscribes to the print edition of Writer’s Digest (est. 1920), a magazine dedicated to helping fiction authors write better, network with others, and sell books. The Digest publishes eight issues annually and features interviews with best-selling authors.

A recent issue (February 2017) features an interview with the Australian author Liane Moriarty, who has written seven best-selling novels in the past 13 years including Three Wishes (2004), What Alice Forgot (2010), The Husband’s Secret (2013), Big Little Lies (2014), and Truly Madly Guilty (2016). 

In the interview, Moriarty discusses her own writing process, which is actually a lack of one: “I’m a little all over the place—I don’t have a system. I might sit there one day and see where the document opens and just start rewriting whatever’s on the page in front of me” (48). The important thing here is that she already has words in the document to play with and move around, so I think she does possess some sort of practiced intuition at the beginning of her projects.

As a copywriter for several years before becoming a full-time author, Moriarty was asked if the previous experience affects her current approach to fiction writing: “Nobody wants to read advertising copy, so you have to keep your sentences short and sharp and succinct. You have to lead the reader, you have to trick them to keep on reading something they don’t really want to read” (49). I’m reminded here of Strunk and White’s pithy but simple rule from Elements of Style: “omit needless words.”

Another feature of this issue is a section on productivity and organization, which provides a variety of practical tips: mapping and finding time to write, outlining and research strategies, giving depth to characters, and structuring the narrative. 

Finding time to write when you also have a day job is extremely important and may involve those interstitial moments (e.g., between shifts, during meals or dog walking, while waiting for appointments, etc.) in addition to dedicated time blocks. In the article, “Rebuild Your Desktop,” Tyler Moss provides several strategies for keeping track of your writing, feedback, freelance fees, and time by using spreadsheets and Google Drive.

Networking and getting your writing to other people is another definite step in such endeavors as becoming a published author of fiction. The issue also features some letters from concerned authors and responses by an actual literary agent in the “Funny You Should Ask” section. Further, there are several tips about attending writing workshops and conferences.

The Writer’s Digest also has a website  that includes innumerable resources for aspiring and professional writers. 

Magazine Monday: Review of Adbusters

by Steven D. Mathews, Librarian Assistant

On the third floor of the Yocum Library, you’ll find a wild magazine: Adbusters. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, this “Journal of the Mental Environment” is reader supported and completely ad-free. As its website (http://www.adbusters.org/) states: Adbusters is “fighting back against the hostile takeover of our psychological, physical and cultural environments by commercial forces.” 

Instead of longform articles, as in most ad-supported mainstream news magazines, Adbusters features various forms of photography, graphic design, cartoons, drawings, comics, mock ads (called “subvertisements”), collages, and many other forms of pop art. There are very few text blocks, but when text accompanies a picture, it often appears in various languages, in handwritten fonts, or extreme sizes.

The March/April 2017 issue is titled “The Impeachment,” which contains themes related to both President Trump and President Obama. There are several pages depicting large crowds of protestors and revolutionaries. Another page shows Ivanka Trump and various pieces of clothing and jewelry from her brand. Small pieces of text explain that these items are not manufactured in the United States. 

Other pages simply present tweets by President Trump. The issue is mind-bending because the pages suddenly flip halfway through, so you must turn the magazine upside-down to continue reading and gazing. Every page is eye-catching and provocative.

The extremely visual orientation of Adbusters might be because it was founded in 1989 by two documentary filmmakers, Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz. The material of the covers of each issue are also unique in their texture. Adbusters is thoroughly anti-capitalist and pro-environment. The organization has been credited with launching numerous protest movements, such as Occupy Wall Street.

Magazine Monday: The Advocate

by Steven D. Mathews, Library Assistant

The Yocum Library subscribes to the print edition of The Advocate, an LGBT-focused magazine published bi-monthly that is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2017. Established in Los Angeles during the late-1960s, The Advocate began as a newsletter written by and circulated among gay activists (i.e., PRIDE, or Personal Rights in Defense and Education) driven to protect their rights against police raids on gay bars.

Today, it serves as a national news outlet for the LGBT community in the United States and beyond, but its journalism maintains radical spirit and civil-rights activism from the 1960s. After reading through an issue here at Yocum, I encourage you to visit their website <www.advocate.com>, which contains trending stories in the fast-paced news cycles that affect the LGBT community and often arise in between each publication of The Advocate (NB: their site’s domain omits the definite article in its title and thus separates itself from the eponymous Lousiana regional newspaper).

The February/March 2017 issue of The Advocate features several stories on the recently inaugurated POTUS, Donald J. Trump, and the looming potential regression of LGBT civil rights as a result of his election last November. Masha Gessen, in her “Time to Panic” article, seeks solace in a rather bleak American truism: “The fairy-tale story of irreversible progress in LGBT rights is a very white American story. Americans of color have long known that progress is not linear.” To combat this reality, Mark Joseph Stern pens “Six Things We Must Do to Survive Trump’s America,” which reassures the reader that, although the path forward will be “tortuous and greuling,” a path remains notwithstanding.

Other features in this issue include travel recommendations with beautiful photos, from Greenland to Turkey and Greece, curated for LGBT families and individuals. A provocative story on three out imams, “Queering Islam,” rounds out the featured section.

Shorter articles are found in the “Advance” and “Spectator” areas of the issue. The former covers a variety of topics, such as LGBT history, HPV and HIV prevention, and the bathroom rights of trans high school students according to the Supreme Court. The latter reviews recent books, movies, and other media of interest to the LGBT community.

This reminds me that you can also find an entire collection of LGBT DVDs on the second floor of the Yocum Library in between the student printer-copier and men’s restroom on the south side of the building.

Magazine Monday: Popular Science

Review of Popular Science
by Steven D. Mathews, Library Assistant

The Yocum Library subscribes to the print edition of Popular Science, a magazine that features accessible articles not only about current science topics but also predictions about the future.

This general-audience magazine also has a long history of evolution. The periodical was first published in the mid-nineteenth century as a monthly scholarly journal that housed some of the writings of Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, John Dewey, and other fin-de-siècle pioneers in science, philosophy, and technology.

However, the twentieth century created numerous problems for the publishers of Popular Science Monthly in terms of declining readership and sales. In 1915, the articles for educated readers were taken up by the publishers of what would eventually be named Science later in the century. This split created an opportunity for the writers and editors of Popular Science to focus on disseminating their knowledge into bite-sized articles for the general public that focused on everyday technologies and trades (e.g., cars, electronics, and other mechanics).

Starting in January 2016, Popular Science became a bi-monthly periodical, which means they only publish six issues a year—a big change after publishing one issue each month since 1872. The issues reviewed—Nov/Dec 2016, “100 Greatest Inventions,” and Jan/Feb 2017, “Explore”—separate into four pithy titles: Now, Next, Features, and Manual. 

The Now sections contain nuggets on some of today’s existing tools, experiments, crises, and gadgets, such as the Apple Watch, Uber’s self-driving cars, and how the tablet is replacing the laptop (or not). The Next sections speculate on potential explorations of deep space and oceans, twenty-second century climate predictions, and what “psychonauts” can learn about the benefits and harms of injesting various drugs and substances. 

The Manual sections are perhaps the most interesting and practical. For example, the “Explore” issue contain lists of essentials for “The Modern Explorer” (besides your smartphone): food, power, another “burner” phone, communication in cellular-lacking areas, first aid, water, navigation, and rain protection. 

Three of these sections (Now, Next, and Manual) average 1–2 pages, which leaves room for a few detailed featured articles. The latter are not simply pages and pages of text, however. They include large photos, designs, and creative approaches to narrative. 

For example, one feature, “The Proxima Trail,” found on p. 69 of “Explore,” is written completely as screenshots (on an Apple II, to boot!) that imitate the classic Oregon Trail video game from the 1970s and 80s. Instead of going from Missouri to Oregon in the middle of the nineteenth century, however, the Proxima Trail takes to you a new solar system during a nine-year journey (3017–3026). The parallels are astonishing, nonetheless.

Magazine Monday: Review of Wired Magazine

by Steven D. Mathews, Library Assistant

The Yocum library subscribes to the print edition of WIRED magazine (est. 1993), a monthly periodical focusing on “emerging technologies” and how they affect contemporary culture, the economy, and politics. If you’re in between classes, want to relax, or take a break from studying, come to the quiet-area magazine lounge on the third floor for some easy browsing and catch up on some current events in subject areas that you may not find in your news feeds.

For example, the November 2016 issue of WIRED features a special guest-editor: President Barack Obama. In 1990, you may recall, Obama became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review (read about it at the N.Y. Times).

The Editor-in-Chief of WIRED, Scott Dadich, writes in the opening of this issue (“Exploring Frontiers With the President”) of Obama’s reelection in 2012: “Obama campaigned on a platform of hope and optimism, about the future, and that’s what WIRED believes in too: that the future will be improved by inclusion and invention, by the unfettered flow of information and ideas, and by civil discourse, scientific discovery, and technological innovation.”

The theme of this issue is “Frontiers,” a word that was mutually agreed upon by Obama and Dadich. The individual articles are organized into five different subtypes: personal (“push the limits of human intelligence and health”); local (“build better cities and communities for everyone”); national (“create a strong, more innovative republic”), which features “A To-Do List for the Tech Industry” and a contribution from Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook; international (“confront the challenges that face the entire world”); and final (“search for future on Mars and beyond”).

In Obama’s editorial introduction, he writes: “When WIRED asked me to guest-edit the November issue, I didn’t hesitate. I know it’s the height of the election season, and I happen to have a day job that keeps me pretty busy. But given the chance to immerse myself in the possibility of interplanetary travel or join a deep-dive conversation on artificial intelligence, I’m going to say yes. I love this stuff. Always have. It’s why my favorite movie of last year was The Martian.” He also “is a big Star Trek nerd,” according to Dadich. Obama also contributed “a slightly intimidating, very rewarding list of essential books for future leaders,” such as Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman, The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert, and The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. In tiny print, at the bottom of this list (page 40), you will also find “Obama’s Playlist for Staying Fit,” which includes songs by Nina Simone, Black Eyed Peas, Sting, and more.

Despite the many full-page ads in each issue of WIRED, this special issue will provide some general insight into President Obama’s visions for the future of the world after he leaves office in January. Dadich is careful to note, though, that some readers may see a potential conflict of interest here: “You can imagine that there might be some sensitivity about the White House getting involved with editorial decisions in a journalistic enterprise. We laid those rules out far in advance, and let me assure you that after we picked stories together, the president’s team left the reporting and writing to us. In fact many of the ideas and opinions in the issue are not necessarily those of the president. They represent a collaboration among him, the magazine, and our writers.”

Magazine Monday: Psychology Today and General Comments about Browsing

by Steven D. Mathews, Library Assistant

Review of Psychology Today
In the area of P-titled magazines on the third floor of the Yocum Library, you will find Psychology Today, a fifty-year-old periodical driven to make the technical studies surrounding the human mind and behavior more publicly accessible. Psychology Today is published every two months and based in New York City. The following review will cover the basic design and some of the topics discussed in recent issues. I conclude with a note about the magazine’s companion website (https://www.psychologytoday.com/) and some general comments about browsing through the magazines on the third floor.

The cover of each issue of Psychology Today features an inspired image from one of the issue’s featured articles. The most recent three covers include images inspired by the following: “Ménage à trois: Is Tech Sabotaging Your Love Life?”; “The Narcissist: It’s Not Always Who You Think”; and “The Story of Your Life.” The latter title is from the June 2016 issue, “The Smart Woman’s Dilemma,” which features articles about the benefits of journaling, radical perspectives on anxiety and addiction, and our curious “love-hate” relationship with artificial intelligence. Other featured articles from these issues includes the disadvantages of social media, what to do when a partner comes out as transgender, and how to develop a strategy for learning just about anything you desire. Current affairs, such as a comparison between the “shared dilemmas” of Ivanka Trump and Chelsea Clinton, are also sprinkled throughout the magazine.

Undoubtedly, Psychology Today explores and digests a variety of psychological subjects and conditions, such as depression, anxiety, trauma, dreams, and more. The magazine’s companion website (subtitled, “Health, Help, Happiness + Find a Therapist”) offers actionable advice on about 45 psychological topics, aggregated web-only articles, and search queries to find a licensed therapist in your zip code.

The (Lost) Art and Joy of Browsing
Before closing, I want to emphasize that a major point in my series of Monday reviews for the Yocum Library Blog is that, collectively, these magazines offer a myriad of articles on a library's-worth of subjects (e.g., cooking, literature, politics, music, art, technology, etc.). In short, because they are written for general audiences, they offer an abundance of ideas for you to explore. The fact that the Yocum Library offers such a diverse collection of current popular, niche, trade, scientific, and multicultural magazines for free is invaluable. It is rare to find such a clearly organized presentation of magazines (even at large bookstores!) as you will see on the third floor.

But these magazines offer more than passive self-enrichment. Beyond following your favorite magazines, you may find something that sparks your interest in another area simply through the physical act of browsing, which is becoming something of a lost art in need of a stronger digital analogue (i.e., an easier search without a paywall).

Browsing through the pages of entire magazine issues on the third floor may even lead you to search for something to read, hear, or view in more depth, such as a scholarly journal, book, or documentary. This is especially pertinent to students looking for research topics who may be stuck or experiencing a paradox of choice at the moment. Moreover, in the age of multiple careers and hobbies, you can never truly know what may inspire your next project.

Magazine Monday: Philosophy Now

by Steven D. Mathews, Library Assistant

The Yocum Library subscribes to both the print and electronic versions of the London-based Philosophy Now: A Magazine of Ideas. You can find the current and several recent back issues of the print edition in the magazine stacks on the third floor of the Yocum Library; if you are logged into a Yocum computer, then you can access the entire archive of the magazine, which dates back to 1991 (vols. 1–115).

To access the electronic version, go to the top of the right-hand side of the RACC homepage, click on Yocum Library under the  “– Quick Links –” drop-down menu, and then click on the Online Databases link. On the left hand side of the screen, you will find the database categories. Click on Literature and Philosophy, which will take you to a list of databases that includes the link to Philosophy Now. Again, you must be on campus to get access to the electronic version. (NB: The online database lists the publications as “volumes” as opposed to the printed “issues.” However, the numbers of each publication remain consistent: e.g., Vol. 114 and Issue 114 are the same.)   

Although Philosophy Now is only published every two months, each issue is packed with many articles, reviews, interviews, comments, and discussions. I find that every issue has a primary theme, though, which appears in the first group of articles. Take a few recent issues from 2016 (111–114), for example: 111 opens with articles related to humor; 112 focuses on free will; 113 interviews several philosophers on the topic of New Realism; and 114 discusses “philosophical science.” These main topics are also featured on the cover of the publication in the form of a surreal cartoon.  

Articles that are unrelated to the main theme are found in the “General Articles” area following the opening section. In 114, you will find authors discussing both contemporary (“Slavoj Žižek — The Elvis of Philosophy?”) and the centuries-old philosophers (“Nietzsche & The Problem of Suffering”). A few brief biographical articles of classic (“Brief Lives: Arthur Schopenhauer”) and recently deceased philosophers (“Obituary: Hilary Putnam”) are sprinkled throughout each issue, to boot, which provides excellent reminders of the contributions these people made to human thinking.

One of my favorite contemporary Italian philosophers, Umberto Eco (1932–2016), recently passed away and you can read his brief obituary on page 5 of issue 113. Eco was the novelist of the medieval thriller The Name of the Rose (1980) and also published an array of erudite books related to the field of semiotics—the study of signs. His work has inspired my scholarly pursuits in the field of music theory.

Philosophy Now also has a robust companion web site with many of the articles published in the magazine available online. In addition, the web site publishes an audio podcast featuring UK philosophers and enthusiasts that provides excellent discussion of a single topic to supplement the magazine. You can also find this free podcast at the iTunes store.   

Magazine Monday: Review of Harper’s Magazine

by Steven D. Mathews, Library Assistant

Harper’s Magazine (est. 1850, New York) is a monthly periodical chock-full of facts, fictions, and opinions of current events, new books and media, and many other corners of American life and culture. The cover of each issue dons an inspired image from one of the issue’s featured long-form pieces on top of an austere white background with black text. The publishers of Harper’s claim that the magazine is “the oldest [active] general-interest monthly in America.” You can read about their long history on their website (harpers.org); the following review will explore the content of the past four issues (April to July 2016) and consider who Harper’s intends to reach.

Spanning an average of 100 pages in length, each issue begins and ends in roughly the same manner. Upon opening Harper’s, you will find the following parade of sections: letters to the editor; a provocative and brief “Easy Chair” piece—ranging from fact-checked political opinion to “narrative” journalism on quite specific topics; the trademarked “Harper’s Index,” which is a full-page series of facts listed line-by-line; and a curious collection of short “Readings” that feature an international pool of previously published and unpublished excerpts of (among other things) poetry, dialogue, political solicitations, oral testimony, fiction, and ancient works.

Just beyond page twenty, you will find the cover story for each issue couched as, for example, “Report,” “Folio,” or “Essay.” Since April 2016, the most recent cover stories have touched on the following areas: the war against drugs and the push to “Legalize it All”; the complex issues surrounding crowdsourcing and terminal childhood illness in “Hashtag Prescription”; the right to privacy vis-a-vis the government and technology in “Unhackable”; and a documentary of a trip around Israel with hundreds of Christian Zionists in “My Holy Land Vacation.”

Each issue of Harper’s begins to close around page seventy with a multi-page excerpt of new fiction, four reviews of upcoming books and television, a crossword puzzle, and a bewildering string of somewhat disconnected single-sentence research conclusions in “Findings.” Perhaps the most amusing part of each issue, this latter section of the magazine leaves the reader with a bifurcated feeling of disbelief and, following a period of convulsing, “probably.”

In between the feature story and denouement, you will find a variety of other types of writing and visuals. For example, a “photo essay” on the English Premier League shows packed confetti-raining stadiums, tension-filled expressions on fans, and footballers embracing. “Memoir” sections include personal reflections, such as “My Perfect Season” in little league or a story about a father in “The Old Man.” “Portfolio” articles share artwork or photography. Other sections include: “Letters from” specific places, such as Baltimore, Washington D.C., and France; a “Revision” piece by Ralph Nader on the positives of bringing lawsuits; and “From the Archives.”

Compared to The Atlantic, a monthly rival of the same age,  Harper’s definitely offers more words and variety (in both topic and genre) to the “general-interest” reader. However, it is also for the invested and experienced reader who is attracted to all kinds of storytelling. If you listen to a lot of narrative podcasts on NPR or iTunes, for instance, then these are the magazines for you. Further, if you enjoy reading The New Yorker—which produces slightly less content on a weekly basis—or even the four big articles in each issue of The Atlantic, then there is something for you in Harper’s. Unlike The New Yorker, though, the pages of Harper’s are not sprinkled with cartoons, but photographs, paintings, watercolors, drawings, and similar genres of art; this is why I feel it portrays a more refined or traditional image on the surface compared to glossy competitors.

You can find all three of these publications, and several months of back issues, at the Yocum Library. However, because of the wide-range of topics in every issue, these types of national publications are not meant to be read cover-to-cover. For me, they exist primarily to spark national discussion, deepen your personal curiosity, broaden your global perspective, enhance your vocabulary and writing, and inspire your next passion. It’s good to check in with these magazines periodically as they represent a pinnacle for aspiring authors.

Magazine Monday's Review of Yocum Holdings: Bust

by Kim Stahler, Reference Librarian

Founded in 1993 by two Nickelodeon employees who wanted to create a "positive and outspoken women's magazine for their generation," Bust covers popular and indie culture. 

Topics include do-it-yourself crafting, fashion, history, finance, sexuality, politics, music, films, and books from a youthful (3rd wave) feminist perspective -- without the stereotypes more common in mainstream women's magazines. The featured subjects (Amy Schumer, Janelle Monae) are always asked about feminism. The ads make me want to run to NYC.