Page against the machine
MANILA, Philippines - In the age of Generation Me, Me, Me and #OOTD blogging, is there room for the reflective youth-driven online magazine? The five publications we rounded up this week sure think so. And as they tell us about the highs and lows of complete independence, we watch a new movement prepare to take flight.
There are two things that bind all these online publications together: desire for freedom and contempt for convention. This is probably the biggest benefit that comes with going independent — the lack of restriction, which allows creativity to flourish. And because these projects are inevitably meant to grow and expand, more creative individuals are brought into the fold and collaboration takes place—one where ideas are thrown back and forth and everyone builds on each other’s energy. It’s this dynamic that creates culture. Young STAR takes a look at five of the most promising local, online, independent publications.
Manic Pixie Bakunawa
It was literary critic Joseph Epstein who wrote, “Contemporary poetry is no longer a part of the regular intellectual diet.” The same could be said for fiction and creative nonfiction. Thank goodness for Manic Pixie Bakunawa (MPBK), seemingly dead set on serving up platefuls of what up-and-coming young literary talents have to offer.
While MPBK has yet to officially launch, it has already garnered quite a following, and its editor in chief Raf Nakpil has high hopes for the online art and lit channel. Consider this: The online literary journal is curated by the likes of academics and scholars. MPBK, being run by students and fresh grads, positions itself as a gamechanger, its mission to commit itself to making literature more approachable and accessible. “We’re all about showing off all the different kinds of writing that young and maybe even eventually more established writers wanna do, and we wanna talk about the good stuff Philippine literature and creative writers have to offer,” Raf says.
The website is scheduled to officially launch on Sept. 22, after which, we sincerely hope MPBK proves Joseph Epstein wrong.
Ursus et Cervus
Ursus et Cervus is the brainchild of Sean Bautista, but it wasn’t always an online magazine. UeC began in the realm of fashion, with Sean building the foundation of what would soon be, as he calls his project, “a conversation and dynamic between people of different fields.”
This form of conversation, really, is a necessary reflection of how different facets of culture are interacting with each other, feeding off each other’s energies. “I think, more now, it’s like all of these different subcultures, whether it be music, fashion, art, design, they’re all overlapping,” says Sean, who sees it as both a privilege and a responsibility to curate culture.
From the beginning, UeC was structured to innovate and constantly evolve, and therefore act as a platform on which many creative minds could get together and make things happen. You can see it on their website, where the miscellaneous category Big Idea, sitting amidst the standard categories Art & Design and Food & Travel, exemplifies the primary principle behind what it means to be creative: Anything goes. As a publication, for UeC and its talented writers and idealists, if anything goes, things are bound to go their way.
http://www.ursesetcervus.com
Kamusta? Magazine
It has been about a year and half since Kamusta? Magazine’s creation. Last year, Kamusta was a finalist at the Globe Tatt Awards under the Future Perfect: Young STAR Blog of the Year category. Since then, the magazine’s relevance and quality has not waned. In an industry where most travel magazines focus on the luxurious spots, the expensive and unaffordable getaways, Kamusta stands out as a more socially engaged publication.
The magazine’s editor-in-chief and creative director, Ceej Tantengco and Den Fajardo respectively, had just graduated from college and were looking for work in publishing when they realized, “All the travel mags were for a rich, posh market. There weren’t any for young, budget-conscious travelers — puro personal blogs lang.” She continues, “We wanted to bring the quality of the big magazines to travelogues written for backpackers and young people like us.”
“Most travel mags focus on the island getaways and not on the culture of the locals living on the islands. Dapat nag-increase yung understanding mo sa isang lugar at sa mga nakatira roon,” says Ceej. “The more you know about a place’s history and culture, the richer the experience will be.” It has become the goal of Kamusta, it seems, to wrench its readers from the mentality of middle class comforts and experience what it really means to travel. All the better. You can’t call yourself an adventurer if you’re afraid to get your hands dirty.
http://www.kamustamagazine.ph/
The Thing
One can look at The Thing as a nod to Tavi Gevinson’s work in Rookie Magazine and how it stemmed from a tasteful distrust for mainstream magazines meant to cater to young women. “As a teenage girl, I don’t think just about boys and clothes,” says editor-in-chief Gaby Gloria. However, it has grown into something much more.
“Initially, we intended for it to be an online magazine for young Filipinas, but now, I think it’s actually grown more into a community,” she says. She owes this change to how open The Thing is to contribution. Readers can easily send in their pieces and join in the conversation, which covers topics that range from art and literature to food and style, and even science and history, it’s a distinction that Gaby takes a lot of pride in. “I see that a lot of publications now, they’re mostly focused on pop culture. We really want to explore different interests and let the interests grow.”
For Gaby, that’s what it comes down to: people sharing a multitude of interests, believing that one’s identity is never tied down to any particular label or fandom, allowing for a special kind of interaction to happen between reader and publication. “It’s actually like a correspondence, where we give people stuff and then we wanna see what they think, and then they send stuff to us as well.”
http://thethingonline.blogspot.com/
ADHD Magazine
Most people no longer think for themselves, they feed on media and mega-conglomerates. It’s scary,” proclaims Alyssa Africa, one of the co-founders of ADHD Magazine, the other being Cenon Norial. A strong proclamation, but one that rings true for many young creatives who feel they need to shrink themselves and their ideas to fit society’s norms and conventions. But then there’s ADHD, an online magazine created to provide these very artists a platform to share their ideas and creations, and the two brilliant brains behind it, dedicated to breaking away from the mainstream.
Perhaps it is fitting, then, for Alyssa and Cenon to have named their publication after a mental condition often characterized by impulse and a tendency to move immediately from one thing to another. Because how else is one expected to behave when art and music and fashion are taking such strides in so many directions? ADHD Magazine is not merely a pop culture marker in cyberspace, but the appropriate reaction to a time where everything interesting is happening all at once. ADHD is the one that makes sure the movers and shakers get their recognition.
“Everyone has to have a place to start at some point and we just want to gather them in a sense that they won’t feel that they are not prioritized, that what they do isn’t worth the attention because more often than not, original ideas come from them and big names just copy from the young ones. We feel bad for them because these names claim it as theirs,” says Cenon. So here’s to ADHD, a Point A from which young artists may begin their journey.
http://adhdmag.blogspot.com/ Photos by JOSEPH PASCUAL
