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From the Publisher Stop the Presses

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The reason your magazine was late last month was because I shredded the first press run-70,000 copies. It was past time for us to draw the line.



SUBSCRIBERS HAVE CALLED OR E-MAILED TO ask why their September issues were delivered late. On the one hand, it’s nice to know so many people are eagerly awaiting the magazine’s monthly delivery. On the other hand, the reason for [he delay is embarrassing, and I am obligated to tell you why.

The first-and now very limited-edition of our September issue was shredded. When an advance copy landed on my desk, I came across an ad that was-there is no other way to put this-obscene. I turned the page and staring me in the face was another ad that was. in its own original way. equally obscene. So I did the only thing I could do: I ordered distribution stopped. Postal delivery was halted. Trucks were diverted from our newsstand distributors. Seventy thousand copies were destroyed.

My decision meant we had to remake pages and get back on press. Our timing couldn’t have been worse. Every Christmas promotion in America gets printed in August, during the same weeks this little drama was playing out. Our production manager and printer tried in vain to find a press that could accommodate us. No dice. Every press was booked solid. We were stuck in a holding pattern. We could not make our mail date. As a result, our September issue was two weeks late to sub-scrihers and will only have a three-week run on the newsstands. This issue came off on time but will be late to newsstands to allow our remade September a little breathing room at the checkout counter.

How could this happen?

I wish there was an easy explanation. Basically a magazine has four component parts-editorial, art, advertising, advertorials-that come together and happen at one time. They’re like tributaries that join to make a river, and in the case of magazines, there are times they don’t join until they meet at press. We have a process by which each one of these parts is checked at each stage along the way. If there’s a problem or a question, the How is stopped long enough to get an approval or a change. But the closer the flow gets to press, the faster it goes. In this case everybody who questioned these ads-and people did-thought someone else had approved them. That someone else was me. I hadn’t.

These same ads run in fashion magazines every month. Come to think of it. that’s why there are no fashion magazines in our home. Some advertisers seem to think sexual latitude gives them attitude and edge.

But who am I to criticize them? Editorially we take latitude ourselves. Many readers, including close friends of mine, were offended by our August cover (the Herb Alport homage with the girl half-covered with whipped cream).

So maybe I’m not the right person to throw stones at glass houses. Or maybe I’m exactly the right person.

Maybe it is precisely people like me who need to say that enough is enough. Our culture is so saturated with sexual imagery-from magazines like ours, from movies, from television-that the slippery slope into vulgarity, into the mud. has occurred without our even knowing how far down we have descended, Daniel Patrick Moynihan called il “defining devian-cy down,” and I now know exactly what he meant.

So I drew a line in the sand, it goes without saying that the line cost us a lot of money. But it wasn’t until 1 drew that line that I realized how numbed we had become. It has been an eye-opening experience. Quite frankly, I am abashed. Okay, I’ll say it. T am ashamed.

So we-at least at this little city magazine-intend to regain ground. We’re going to climb back up that slippery slope. We value your readership, and more than that we value your respect. We intend to earn that respect with every issue we publish.

Even if we are a little late.

PUBNOTES

AND THE WINNERS ARE…



Our Top Taste Awards caused a lot of excitement around town as 100 winners received their awards by special delivery-with the help of our friends at McShan Florist.

L’Epicurien’s Karen Cassady and Roger Buret (“Best Cake”) show off the pastry that made them famous, while Sharon Meehan of Ham I Ain (what else? “Best Ham”) hefts her bestseller.

La Cave’s Anne and Francois Chandou toast their award (“Best Wine by the Case”), wearing their winners’ aprons.

TJ’s Market’s Karen Alexis (“Best Seafood Market”) shows us her new pet Congratulations to all.



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