Next to my bed, below my alarm clock and strewn necklaces, is what I call the “stack.” It’s a tower of magazines, always threatening to topple over. The titles range from New York to Vanity Fair, GQ to Fast Company, People to Esquire. Their spines are all cracked, the pages ripped and smudged from my ravenous reading.
Among the deluge of digital media, there’s something so luxurious about print magazines. Web stories offer bites of information; maybe you’ll read the first paragraph or two, or the headline alone. That story was also chosen just for you — by a search algorithm, a social media feed or just what headline your cursor tends to hover over. The print magazine, on the other hand, is curated. Features ask big questions, and in turn snake through their bigger answers. I can load a New York Times story and seep up its content in the midst of a lecture; a sprawling New Yorker feature needs my sustained attention. As life becomes increasingly quick, there’s an odd beauty in the slow.
At The Tufts Daily, we know a thing or two about quick media. We publish five days a week to meet the area’s unending news cycle, both on campus and among our host communities of Medford and Somerville. We sprawl across a multitude of verticals, from arts to opinion and newsletter to audio. Through my tenure as executive arts editor and later managing editor of the paper, I saw the virtues of this quick-paced environment, creating a snappy product that could be absorbed through a quick scroll. But I also saw how it wore our staff thin and barred many longer-term projects.
With The Tufts Daily Magazine, I wanted to offer our newsroom a chance to slow down. I asked this issue’s seven writers to tackle big questions and to speak with as many people as they could find. The writers spent over two months reporting these stories, pulling together compelling portraits of campus and local life, not just the budding news item of the day. This resulting product, the inaugural magazine for the Daily (but certainly not the last), offers a more thorough glimpse into what life at Tufts looks like today.
On the cover, Aaron Gruen dug deep into the culinary fabric of the university. That includes an intensive, multi-part interview with dining director Patti Klos — and yes, she sees your complaints on Sidechat. Kaitlyn Wells traced the origins of the athlete-NARP divide; Daniel Vos weighed the critiques of liberal arts politics; Ella Sanders asked Tufts interns how they got their jobs; and Matthew Winkler profiled a student artist earning tens of thousands in commissions. The magazine also lets us flaunt the work of the incredible photographers of the Daily. Check out some adorable snaps of kids (and dogs!) in Sarah Firth’s cargo bike story, and see if you can spot yourself next to Shannon Murphy’s musings on pant width inflation.
This magazine wouldn’t be possible without the incredible Olivia White, who designed the beautiful print product you’re looking at now. She spent countless hours staring at graphics, tinkering with text, and making sure that each story pops. She’s been there from inception to execution, and for that, I’m so grateful. I also must thank the current managing board for their help in editing, and their willingness to let me experiment. Finally, the idea for this magazine was hatched around the editing table last year. Without Aaron, Kaitlyn, Julia Carpi and Caroline Vandis, this magazine would never have been thought up in the first place.
Watching me leaf through a copy of Highsnobiety this summer, my editor described how our phones have overtaken the print media market. “You’d read it while cooking, you’d read it while commuting, you’d read it on the toilet,” she explained. So I implore you: Tuck this copy under your arm, and give it a scan when you have a minute. Read it wherever you can, from the kitchen to the restroom. I hope you’ll see your experiences reflected, or learn something new about the community around you.
Sincerely,
Henry Chandonnet
Founding Editor, The Tufts Daily Magazine
