Greetings, readers. It’s been a busy summer for me but I’m ‘back to school’ with my blogging now and hope to catch up alot over the next few days/week. This is about one of the most exciting projects I’ve been involved with over the summer.
I didn’t even really know what Endz were when I met the 4 young men who told me they wanted to start a ‘magazine’ called Endz2Endz last year via the Create Not Hate Facebook group and I ended up volunteering to mentor them once a week. We’ve now been meeting for about 9 months and the first edition and the website launched in July (like I said, I’ve been having a summer break from the blog!).
I’m incredibly proud of what the guys achieved in that time. They have an incredible vision for what Endz2Endz should be and what it can do for young people. The editors have grown up in tough backgrounds around London and want to inspire other youths to use their talents to stay out of trouble and and make a positive contribution to society – connecting them between different ‘endz’ that would normally be at odds. With their vision and dedication, ‘all’ I had to do was show them some of the tricks of the trade when it comes to editing and publishing online and we were good to go. I have to admit, I was a little bit skeptical at times that we’d ever publish the first issue but what they came up with was better than I’d ever imagined. It looks professional and they got great interviews and a strong editorial mix where they explored the effects of stereotyping on society by combining stories from real young people and celebrities.
The cover should give you a taste of what they can do:
“But…” I hear you thinking, “why a magazine when they want to reach young people?”
Well, I asked the guys the same question when I met them and got an answer that was a bit of a revalation for a guy who started his career as a print journalist before moving into the online space. When they talked about a ‘magazine’ they imagined a brand that was native to the online space with videos, music and interactivity – that just happened to also be printed. Quite a revalation to someone like me who still remembers when magazines were just printed. When I was at university, I worked on a study called The Role of Magazines in the New Media Age – any my, how far we’ve come.
Has every moment been smoothe? Nope. But all of us are learning from each other as we work on it and I’m looking forward to the second issue.
Also – if you’re reading this thinking “What a great idea. How can I help?” – we are desparately in need of meeting space and PCs – any donations would be much appreciated! So far we’ve worked completely by ‘beg borrowing and (not) stealing’ by using cafes, borrowed equipment etc which shows just how far into the DIY media age we are; but it isn’t easy to work with no funding so any help is most welcomed.
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