Long Live Print
5 zines for ze city dreamers, from my coffee table to you
Weekend routines. We all have them.
When I was a wee little kid, I’d wake up earrrllly on a Saturday morning, watch cartoons, and play with (read: fight over) toys with my twin brother. Later, the routine became waking up and traveling to junior tennis tournaments. At some point in high school, my interests shifted and I would wake up (still rather early) and sit in a chair overlooking the calm waves of the bay and read magazines for about an hour until either I fell back asleep or we started making blueberry pancakes. Fashion magazines, tennis magazines, architecture magazines, travel magazines…I loved them all and I couldn’t stop reading or collecting them. If I had to guess, I’d say I have over 50 magazines spread out over my 300-square-foot New York City studio today. Some of them are old. Many of them have a strong emotional connection to me. A few of them are this year’s new April editions. All of them inspire me.
It brings me so much joy on a weekend morning to flip through the physical printed pages. Past the cover and the first series of advertisements, I spend an abnormally long amount of time looking at the styling, features, and previews of the contents page and reading every name on the masthead. Since I first realized what a masthead was, I’ve secretly, quietly, perhaps too afraid to daringly admit it, made it my goal to be listed on a magazine masthead. In order to do that, I knew I had to put the magazines down and pick up my pen and paper. It’s part of the reason why I started this substack nearly a year ago, to practice writing. It’s also why I got involved with URBAN Magazine two years ago at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. Last year, I was a junior editor, and this year, I am honored to be the senior outreach/publishing editor as the student-led publication celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Somehow, in between graduate school studying, working part-time, curating this blog, and searching for a new apartment and full-time job post-grad, I have found time to read and discover a few more magazines. And I want to share them with you, city dreamers.
Whether you’re into travel, fashion, art, or culture, there’s something on this list for you. Hope you enjoy it! —ECF
5 ‘zines for ze city dreamers…
Yolo Journal - Look no further for well-considered travel intel. Last week I attended an event with Yolo Journal and The Thinking Traveller at Lingua Franca and I couldn’t have been happier to meet the chic, incredibly kind, and well-traveled storytellers behind this magazine.
CULTURED Magazine - I love the cross-cultural features in this zine, offering a range of topics from art and film to architecture and food. One of my professors, Karen Wong, was recently tapped by Cultured’s EIC to lead the magazine’s architecture column “Spatial Awareness.”
Holiday Magazine - I saw this one afternoon when perusing the piles of zines at Casa Magazine’s shop down in the West Village. I’m adding to my reading list, ASAP.
Rolling Stone - This one’s no newbie to the game. I’m currently reading their February ‘24 issue with Dua Lipa’s cover story and getting ~radically optimistic~ about her third album, which comes out this week.
URBAN Magazine - Since 1999, students of Columbia University GSAPP’s Urban Planning program have published daring ideas about the built environment, cities, and our lives within them. It was a dream come true to be an editor for URBAN during the past two years in graduate school, and especially to do it alongside two talented friends, Olivia and Felipe. I am very excited to see Vol. 34, the magazine’s 25th anniversary edition, sitting in print on my coffee table. Check out the full issue online, here, or let me know and I’ll snag you a printed copy from Avery Hall.
