Yggdrasil

Magazines are special to me. Growing up, we got Highlights, with all of its fun little puzzles and short stories. As I got older, I found myself getting baseball magazines, computer magazines , and the venerable Nintendo Power, where I got to read about games I would never own and daydream. Eventually I found Dragon Magazine, which was my gateway drug into role playing games, and Realms of Fantasy, which introduced me to Neil Gaiman in a new way.

As an older person, my love has never diminished. I still get magazines, be it rough ‘zines or subscribing to beautifully designed  historical journals. Because the economics of the world have embraced the cheap and unconsidered, magazines have become one of the last places to see the power of design in action. That last gasp of a society that slowed to think about what it would say and how it would say it.

There is a power in magazines. They are the apotheosis of visual communication. At their best, they elevate human discourse, combining design, text, illustration, art, opinion, fact, and truth to convey ideas. Having that in your hands elevates the messaging in ways no digital version ever can. The physical requires time, commitment, and permanence that resonates simply by existing.

More than once, I have been accused of nostalgia. Nostalgia is the gloss we paint over the past to ignore the bad parts. I’m not in search of that. If I am guilty of anything, it is trying to build with just the good parts. To find time to think and reflect. To listen to other voices, not wait to talk. 

So that is why I created my own magazine.