Birth of a new magazine, perhaps

I'd like to announce the coming launch of a new online publication.

Those who know me know that I have been an independent publisher/editor for over a decade. When I first started putting out the Chicano arts & culture magazine, Frontera, 12 years ago I was driven by a desire to showcase the music and art and literature and cultural production of a group of Americans, namely 20 and 30-something Latinos, who I felt were being ignored by the mainstream. (They were back then!) There was humor, philosophy, and lots of indie arts coverage. The magazine was distributed nationwide for five years and had readers in every major city in the country. I had a blast.

Then there was Silver Lake Press, which morphed into the L.A. Alternative, an alternative weekly newspaper in Los Angeles that I launched with my husband. That lasted four and half years.

I also took a some jobs and contributed to other publications, both local and national, some dot-coms, and recorded a few commentaries for NPR.

All that work, in every single case, was driven by my desire to say something, and not by a desire to make money-- a real desire to make a point, to highlight something, to shake things up. I have always been an activist journalist, and that appears to be the only way that I can be happy doing editorial work.

Just recently I took a detour and tried my hand at some political work and worked with a labor union to see if I could make a difference on issues that mattered to me. I was hoping I could be motivated by fighting the good fight for a political candidate and for a good cause (labor unions in the U.S.).

But neither was for me.

In the meantime, I've been incubating. I have fallen in love with the act of making things by hand and have launched a line of jewelry. Now I'm also teaching myself textile arts (embroidery, crochet--granny crafts that I'm using in an updated way). I feel grounded and happy using my hands.

But at heart, I'm an editor and a writer. I need to put out another indie publication, one that I feel passionate about.

So without further ado, I'm announcing the launch of Yew Tree Report, an online magazine about arts & crafts and the life handmade.
While it's not about one ethnic group's expression or about a political cause, two things that have inspired me deeply in the past, it's about a way of living, a philosophy about life--namely that that things of beauty, creations made by hand, matter. They are an expression of our inner selves. They have intrinsic value, and contribute layers of beauty and meaning to our lives.

I want to celebrate artists, artisans, craftspersons and others who expresss themselves, and make a living, by using their hands to tell stories, to make others happy.

Things manufactured in the cheapest way possible in factories in third-world countries are an affront to our very souls. We consume things, but we don't have to buy things that are slapped together with sweatshop labor and dangerous chemicals. We can be conscious about the gifts we buy our loved ones, and we can appreciate the meaning behind handmade arts and crafts and connect with the maker.

We all have holiday shopping to do. Let's support independent creation, arts production, and making things by hand. Why? Because we don't have to put up with crap, and because the production of crap hurts our planet and the people in it.

A CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

So I'm putting a call out for people who know artisans who create beautiful works of art by hand, be they textiles, paintings, jewelry, sculptures, etc. It's wide open. I will be highlighting actual works of arts & crafts that you can buy, and the artisans behind them, as well as the philosophies that drive a way of life that involves making things rather than buying them cheaply. I hope we can build a small online community of artistans and their supporters.

The publication will be online and email-based, so start-up costs will be low, and start-up funds are minimal. There are no jobs to fill. I will not be hiring, unfortunately.

But I'm hoping some of you out there know folks who either want to get involved by sharing photography or writing, who might want to receive the publication in their email boxes, or who know about some great artisans living anywhere, even yourselves.

1. Would you like to receive this new publication (and have the opportunity to support independent artisans this holiday season)? Send me your email address.

2. Do you want to get involved in some way? Let me know.

3. Do you have friends who you know might want to receive the Yew Tree Report? Send me their email addresses, or have them contact me.

I hope to hear from you at yvette dot doss @ gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Yvette Doss