UW-Madison journalism students will debut Thursday their socially and politically themed magazine, Curb, Thursday, intended for people who are civically engaged in the state of Wisconsin.
Whereas in previous years the magazine had only been available online, since last year, it has become available in print, allowing students to have more creativity.
\We have a lot of respect for last year's class after going through what they went through. They kind of started from scratch,"" said Curb Managing Editor and UW-Madison senior Allison Sawyer.
Every fall, the Journalism 417 class meets to create a magazine based on topics they feel are important but absent from the media.
This year, noticing a lack of niche for social and political issues within the magazine business, students decided to focus on these issues to raise awareness within the state.
From this idea, they contacted a list marketing company to create a list of 4,000 people who fit their focus audience of people working for grass roots and nonprofit organizations.
""As far as we can tell, there isn't another magazine that goes for this audience,"" said Melissa Flitsch, UW-Madison senior and Curb public relations manager.
Editor and UW-Madison senior Lindsay Renick Mayer added that the magazine was not intended for students, unless they fall under the target audience.
""There's really something in there that everybody's going to find interesting if you have any stake in this state at all,"" Mayer added.
The main article features Sherman Park, a coffee shop in Milwaukee located amid a socially diverse and integrated community.
""We knew we wanted to talk about racial segregation in Milwaukee, and just segregation in Milwaukee in general,"" Sawyer said.
Mayer said she felt it was important to feature this community considering Milwaukee is rated the second most segregated city in the nation, according to the 2000 Census Bureau.
Besides focusing on segregation in Milwaukee, the magazine addresses other issues of the state including the Defense of Marriage Act, the International Crane Foundation and hate groups.
""We tried to write stories to get people involved,"" Sawyer said.
For example, she mentioned an article about a deer-donation drive where hunters can donate their deer meat to the hungry as a topic that will specifically generate awareness.
Sawyer said she was proud of how the magazine turned out.
""We've gotten a lot of positive response from other professors in the department and our sources. Everybody seems to really like it,"" she said.
