Chuck Colletti and Doug Meadow, the new owners of the New York Press, tell AAN News they don't plan any changes in its eclectic mix of politics, arts and commentary. They have made what they describe as "a few" staff reductions, fired Editor John Strausbaugh and promoted former Managing Editor Lisa Kearns to that position. As for taking on The Village Voice, they say the Press will compete with, but can't dethrone, that venerable alt-weekly.
Asked how he's doing, Kurt Vonnegut says, "I'm mad about being old and I'm mad about being American. Apart from that, OK." Vonnegut has just turned 80. Although he claims he's retired from writing, he has just finished an introduction for a book of anti-war posters by artist Micah Ian Wright. Publishing aside, Vonnegut continues to be a cultural presence, speaking out against war with Iraq to 10,000 protesters at a rally in New York?s Central Park and making a spoken-word contribution to the new multimedia world music production One Giant Leap. David Hoppe of NUVO talks to the novelist, whose hometown is Indianapolis.
Pittsburgh City Paper sends a reporter, Sharmila Venkatasubban, to do a feature story on Landmark Forum, an EST offshoot for yuppies. She goes to the seminar ready to expose it as a cult, but emerges as a believer and takes what she learns to her own family dynamics. "What the Forum taught me was not an easy pill to swallow at first, but now I find myself craving another dose," Venkatasubban writes.
Jamie Libenstein's slow descent into hell began midway through her kindergarten year. That's when the little girl suffered her first epileptic seizure--which, sadly, was only a taste of the horror to come. Jamie's since been diagnosed as having one of the worst cases of epilepsy ever seen by medical science. She's endured "starvation diets," narcotic comas that have put her near death, and seemingly medieval surgical procedures. She's watched as her case has led to bitter arguments between some of the world's most gifted surgeons--and hastened the breakup of her parents' marriage. Still, she and her family have persevered, pushing past personal hardship to keep fighting for a cure. In the medical mystery "Jamie's World," former New Times Los Angeles staff writer Susan Goldsmith tells the story of a truly remarkable eleven-year-old girl.
Some alternative weekly publishers tell AJR they have cut back on ads from adult advertisers because raunchy ads scare away traditional advertisers. Others, like the Memphis Flyer, insist on tops for their advertisers' topless dancers. Alison Draper, publisher of the Dallas Observer, says she just wants to "clean up the book" to attract higher-end advertisers. Others are taking the same steps, breaking with a traditionally significant sector of alt-weekly advertising.
Douglas Havard was salutatorian, senior class president and co-captain of the football team at his high school. Only later did authorities discover he was also the criminal mastermind behind a slew of scams being pulled off by the rich kids of Dallas -- and a young man for whom thug-life role playing suddenly turned deadly serious. "Crazy White Mother" by Dallas Observer's Glenna Whitley looks at the now-fugitive Havard, who provided guns, drugs, fake IDs -- veritable "one-stop shopping for Dallas' spoiled rich kids."
In the conclusion of his year-end review of media events and trends, John Powers notes that "it's striking that two comparatively small chains should face the scrutiny of the same DOJ that notoriously gave Microsoft a cushy deal in its antitrust settlement, takes no steps against America's broadband monopolies, and does nothing to limit huge 'synergistic' empires like Fox, AOL Time Warner and Disney.
