Greek shipping heir Taki Theodoracapolus, who writes Taki's Top Drawer for New York Press, is providing the financial backing for The American Conservative, a new magazine platform for Pat Buchanan's species of conservatism. The new magazine will be printed bi-weekly on newsprint, in a format similar to The Nation, and mailed to likely subscribers.
Preview Connecticut, a free monthly magazine, will be devoted to a first look at Connecticut arts events rather than reviews, says New Mass Media Inc. in a news release. New Mass Media also publishes four AAN-member alt-weeklies, Hartford Advocate, New Haven Advocate, Valley Advocate and Fairfield County Weekly. The glossy magazine will appear the first week of every month and will be distributed statewide.
On the eve of the Sept. 11 anniversary, Naureen Shah reflects on being an American, in Fort Worth Weekly. The question many Muslim Americans, no matter their ethnicity, are asking is, "Do I belong here now, or did I ever?" Shah writes. For her, being a Pakistani-American means "being simultaneously bombarded with the American Dream (if you work hard like us and become a doctor then maybe you'll own a BMW like we do) and the Pakistani Dream (get married to a good Muslim and have four kids, preferably three boys and one girl)."
The Fifth Estate, one of the oldest and most radical underground newspapers in America, is pulling up its roots in Detroit and moving to the Pumpkin Hollow commune outside Nashville, Tenn., the Detroit Free Press reports. "Of the hundreds of underground papers that arose across the United States in the 1960s, the Fifth Estate is the oldest survivor," the daily reports. The 37-year-old anarchist paper, which has an international readership, once presented the severed head of a pig to the Wayne State University board of governors and published a picture of the event with the headline "Pig's Head Meets Head Pigs."
Knute "Skip" Berger signs on with Seattle Weekly after a two-year hiatus from his job as editor in chief. He says he brought over Chuck Taylor from Seattle Times as managing editor because he was so impressed with Taylor's work on the strikers' version of the daily in 2000-2001. Seattle native Berger says he's a "mossback with no intention of moving anywhere else," and glad to be back in the alternative world.
Shani and Chad Walter lost one of their twin baby boys. Thanks to ABC's reality show "Houston Medical," thousands of Americans got to witness their pain. Audiences loved it. The Walters tell Houston Press staff writer Jennifer Mathieu they feel taken advantage of and exploited by the production company and a hospital eager for national publicity.