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Accordion photo by Keegam Shamlian
Book now on sale
The Magazine: The Book has shipped to all its backers and most have received it! The 216-page hardcover book can now be ordered via Amazon.com for $30. Amazon is handling our orders. (Shipping is free in the US via Super Saver and for Amazon Prime customers.)
We commissioned Jonathan Mann, who writes a song a day — every day! — to create a song and video to celebrate the book’s release! We think it’s as eclectic as the book.
You can also purchase the ebook ($15), which is 302 pages long and features 10 additional stories. If you buy the hardcover, you can add the ebook edition for $5 extra by providing proof of purchase.
Visit our book page for more details.
If you are a Kickstarter backer and haven’t received an email that your book has shipped, please get in touch with us so we can track down what’s happened. Some books were delayed several days, and shipping notices are still going out as this issue goes to virtual press.
In this issue
We ache a bit for the past in this issue of The Magazine — some of the ache is nostalgia, some is practical, some about family, and some about what has been taken away and can’t be restored. We can’t look ahead without glancing back.
Liana Aghajanian explains the enduring appeal of the accordion, which is the Main Squeeze for an increasing number of musicians. The accordion is an invention of the 19th century that hit its peak in America in the mid 20th century through successive waves of immigrants, each of which had adopted the squeezebox as their own. After a post-Welk decline, the accordion finds itself the center of attention again. (The photos for this article are by Liana’s partner, Keegam Shamlian.)
(Enjoy watching some Lawrence Welk, as well as Stan Freberg making fun of him.)
Justine Ickes spent some time with her Turkish husband’s parents, knowing little of their language and sometimes crossing custom. Yet she finds, in My Hazelnut Heart, that family and common sense cross all boundaries.
The death of someone you know is never taken lightly, whatever influence that person has had in one’s life. In the case of Lori Adorable, she has written A Requiem for Scott MacNally, a teacher who took part of her youth from her, and whose passing she wished for devoutly. She discovered his poorly hidden secrets through Google, and news of his death came by smartphone. But with his demise, Lori reflects on whether the persistence of memory on the Internet will ever give her freedom from the past.
That shot of a crazy scientist or slightly risqué old-style dancing doesn’t just appear out of thin air. Rather, stock footage archives index and provide this kind of material on demand for television, movies, and online projects. Colleen Hubbard looks at the End of the Reel as she visits Oddball Film + Video, a small company with quirky archives that persists among giants like Corbis and Getty.
Letters
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The Magazine is produced by a small but dedicated editorial staff.