Web Features
Editor’s letter
It’s been five months since our new team first gathered at the new Shameless HQ (which is the living room of your devoted, if messy, new editor). The table was covered with bagels, hummus, notebooks, laptops, fruit salad, pens, books and well-read back issues. And while there were a few moments of doubt that we’d get through all this work, we were all very excited to be a part of this magazine.
It’s been a crazy summer, but there’s a lot of good news to share with you. Shameless became a non-profit organization. We’ve created new sections for the magazine. We’ve got big plans for the future, including events, an expanded website, great stories for the magazine and even our very own podcast. So much for summer vacation.
More exciting news: I’m thrilled to tell you that both Nicole Cohen and Melinda Mattos, who graciously and generously gave me the reins of Shameless after the last issue, will continue to be a strong part of the magazine.
Melinda will continue to write our last page, The Last Word, where she skilfully deconstructs the way language shapes how we think about gender and power. In this issue, Melinda talks about “McJobs” and how McDonalds has exerted its corporate power and tried to turn dictionaries into PR copy (page 48).
Nicole’s fierce criticism will fuel one of our new columns — Media Savvy (page 11) — where she’ll tackle feminist issues in the media. In this issue, Nicole talks about how our cultural fascination with boy geek “geniuses” imposes strong gender associations on new media and user-generated content.
Another new column, For the Record (page 10), brings a progressive male perspective on women’s rights. So watch for Luke Lee’s personal and political ideas on how men contribute to the women’s movement. In his first column, Luke talks about being conflicted about calling himself a feminist, and why more men should stop hesistating and use the word proudly.
We’ve also added our own to-do list, Five Shameless Things To Do (page 7), a small selection of ideas to make the world a little more shameless. So, on behalf of the new team (Stacey May, Kate, Pike, Jennifer, Thea and myself) and the wonderful group we’ve become a part of (Nicole, Melinda, Sheila, Holland and Wesley), enjoy the issue. It’s our third anniversary, and we’re looking forward to many more.
Yours Shamelessly,
