what am I supposed to read now?

So today I finally dug a little deeper to try and find out why I couldn’t find a copy of the September issue of Jane, my favourite magazine, anywhere. Yes, even liberal-feminist-MDiv-educated Shannon reads women’s magazines, so sue me.

Not that Jane was just another women’s magazine. Jane didn’t assume its readers were stupid, had bad sex, were heterosexual, had oodles of pocket change to spend on Fendi bags or trips to France, or wanted to look and think like every other woman on the street. With edgy design, a bit of attitude, and space to talk about great indie bands and good novels as well as the best mascara money can buy, Jane was always my magazine of choice.

And now it is gone. Never again to be seen. Edged out by higher-grossing magazines whose sole purpose seems to be to make women feel badly about themselves, Jane is now gone. I’m actually sad about this, which is slightly odd. One of my all-time favourite articles was by their travel editor Katy McColl, and was about how, whenever she travels, she visits off-the-beaten-path salons and beauty parlours so she can get a feel for the local women, and feel a sense of safety and connection. Another favourite was a feature they had twice that had fantastic photos and clever bios of “30 under 30″ – 30 women under 30 years of age whose lives were, well, just interesting. There were a few celebrities, but mainly ordinary women, athletes, women with interesting jobs, in the first collection there were even 4 women who were all scholars in different religious traditions: Jewish, Muslim, and Christian.

So this is my tribute to Jane and the stories that it carried so uniquely.

But really, what am I supposed to read now?

~ by Shannon on October 2, 2007.