I must admit, while I’ve certainly learned a lot about magazines over the past two weeks, I’ve been worried that my final product was still a hazy idea. I’ve had some basic style elements in mind, but what I knew I was lacking was an actual plan for the content of my magazine. Thankfully, I was given an idea while watching television of all things. Like I said in my analysis of the National Review cover about debt (citation and link included in an earlier post), I really liked the idea of creating an issue of my magazine with a specific theme regarding one specific political issue. While doing some research, I decided to look at what issues actually concern Americans. I took a trip to Gallup Polling and found a chart that contains some interesting data. I have included a portion of it as well as a citation and hyperlink to the website.
What Do You Think Is the Most Important Problem Facing the Country Today?
Feb 2017
|
Jan 2017
|
Dec 2016
|
Nov 2016
|
Oct 2016
|
Sep 2016
|
Aug 2016
| |
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
|
%
| |
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS (NET)
|
20
|
30
|
29
|
31
|
31
|
33
|
35
|
Economy in general
|
9
|
11
|
12
|
14
|
17
|
14
|
17
|
Unemployment/Jobs
|
6
|
8
|
9
|
9
|
6
|
11
|
8
|
Federal budget deficit/Federal debt
|
2
|
4
|
4
|
3
|
4
|
3
|
5
|
Gap between rich and poor
|
1
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
2
|
Wage issues
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
2
|
Taxes
|
*
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
*
|
1
|
Foreign trade/Trade deficit
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
Corporate corruption
|
*
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
High cost of living/Inflation
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
1
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
Fuel/Oil prices
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
--
|
*
|
*
|
Lack of money
|
--
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
Gallup, Inc. "Most Important Problem." Gallup.com. N.p., 09 Feb. 2017. Web. 18 Mar. 2017.
As you can see by this graph, a great number of Americans are worried about a vast number of economic issues. This allowed me to narrow my focus a little bit, but the real inspiration came to me while I was watching MSNBC, a political news channel, later that night. I saw an interview with Tom Perez, former U.S. secretary of labor and the chairman of the Democratic Party. While, discussing a Labor department job retraining program, he described how a large group of workers that lost their jobs in coal-mining were able to get jobs in the tech industry after taking classes in computer coding. It was then that I had the inspiration to make the theme of my magazine “Left of Center: The Future Jobs Issue”. This is a great choice, because it’s so broad a topic and would appeal to a wide variety of intellectual progressives. I could include articles about programs like this, design an illustrated cover with a tech theme (or try very, very hard to design one), and center the entire issue about how progressives’ support for training and tech research is going to save the American economy. This is an issue that very much appeals to my target audience, and there is a wealth of possible subtopics that I could include as headlines or articles in my table of contents. The possibilities are endless, and for the first time, I’m excited to begin work on this project.
Also, just as a technical note, I’ve decided to use the website joomags in order to make my magazine. I arrived at this decision after my teacher arranged for an educational license to the software. I’ve heard good things about this program, and I’m eager to begin exploring its tools as I begin planning.
The next week will be spent researching my theme and planning out the specifics of my cover and two-page spread so that I know what photographs I will need to take.
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