The Editor of Young Gay America has informed me that ther are merely suspending
publication of
the
magazine to re-design the format.
Attached is the review which will appear in the Winter issue of ALA's GLBTRT
Newsletter.
Here it is (I forgot that LM_NET will not take attachments).
XY - YGA
YGA (Young Gay America)
$5.95 per issue. Bi-monthly. $25.00 US annually
This new magazine for gay and lesbian youth aims to provide an alternative to other
youth-oriented
magazines such as Seventeen or YM. Produced for Canadian and US audiences, its
cover art and
contents are meant to be presentable on the mainstream newsstand. In the editor's
words, YGA is
“something that affirms your sexuality, rather than exploits it”, a nod in the
direction of the overtly
sexual XY magazine.
XY Magazine, also produced for North America, sports about 100 large glossy pages
per issue, with
plenty of underwear ads and handsome models, mostly white and bare. This may sell
on newstands,
but not serve the school population, where healthy kids want and need real-world
diversity and
appearance. It's fair to say that most high school and college students will see
themselves
represented in the pages of YGA, where photo essays, interviews, stories and
columns feature gay
and lesbian themes, and serve the interests of black, Latino, and white youth.
Concerns of
transgendered kids, interracial couples, punk and goth as well as button-down types
are also
presented. YGA's summer issue, for instance, looks at what gay/straight alliances
mean outside of
school, the etiquette of skinny-dipping, and the art of graffiti writers.
Smaller and lighter than XY, YGA is under 70 pages. Each issue has a major topic
such as sports,
romance and friendship, parents, sex, even religion.
Including all this has its price: the type-face is often small, articles are
tightly fit on the page. But
those who grew up on the Dorling-Kindersley format won't mind. Editor Mike Glatze
crams book,
film, and music reviews, horoscopes, a biography on a gay/lesbian pioneer, and
letters from readers
into each issue. A native of the US, Glatze says he based YGA in Halifax, Nova
Scotia to hold costs
down. YGA is two dollars less per issue than XY($7.95 an issue or $55 for a
subscription). By
contrast the Advocate, written for adults, is bi-weekly, and only costs $39 per
year.
Like XY, YGA has a website, www.ygamag.com, which tells the story of the magazine
– it grew out of
a nation-wide support movement-- and provides subscribers with YGA magazine
articles online. The
magazine itself provides lots of safe web addresses to suit a wide variety of
interests, in accord with
the all-encompassing “queer” identity. Honesty and safety are hard to find in the
world of young
adults online, but the YGA website allows personals, and gives answers to sexual
questions. Readers
are encouraged to submit articles and ideas. Based on the print and online
publication, this brave
newcomer to the world of magazines for youth deserves a place in high school and
college libraries.
Dr. Raymond W. Barber
Director of Libraries
The William Penn Charter School
3000 West School House Lane
Philadelphia, PA. 19144
rbarber@penncharter.com
215-844-3460 x168 (office)
215-850-6678 (cell)
215-844-5537 (fax)
215-843-4024 (home)
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