As you sit down and feel the fullness of the Dispatch’s pages please know that the depth, length, and size of our publication was intentional (much to the dismay of my editors, graphic designers, and printer!). In a world that has mass quantities of low level content in a constant churn and burn battle for your attention, Folk Rebellion’s decided to zig when everyone else is zagging.
Yes, the Internet has allowed ALL to become creators, media channels, megaphones, and platforms.... but when everyone can create anything all the time the result is, well, pancake batter. It’s watered down and spread out everywhere and with little depth.
4 years ago when I started Folk Rebellion there was always a pie-in-the-sky idea to create a physical publication that people could touch and feel and love all over. Yet, time and time again I was told to be realistic. “The industry is over”, “Nylon just folded.”, “Print is dead.” But my little nagging voice in my head and your thousands of notes and emails and convos kept leading me back here. Thank you for giving me the courage to walk the walk and talk the talk.
What you will discover in the coming pages is an ode to analog, moments of simplicity and playfulness, a call for intelligence, and all the things slow, nature, tolerance, parenting, and non-conformity. What you will not see is ad after ad telling you to get “better”, buy things, or subliminal messages eroding your psyche and confidence because our partners were hand selected by me and invited to share a single letter with our community. Should their stories strike a chord with you I ask that you let them know. It’s because of them that we are able to get the Dispatch out to your doorstep.
This newspaper is a testament to more. More freedom. More real things. More connection. More substance. More voices. More community. More one-great-awesomely-fluffy-pancake.
Without further ado I introduce to you our inaugural issue appropriately themed in honor of all of you and the path that lead me here; The Rebel Issue.