A New Beginning and a Redefinition of Calabar Magazine for the Future
September 9, 2015 2015 Edition
by Atim Annette Oton
2015 has been a comprehensive invigorating year for me as a designer, entrepreneur and publisher. It has made me prepare more for 2016 which will be an incredible year of highs and lows, I predict because I am seeing the convergence of things to come. I stopped publishing this magazine in 2010 because print had died but I am a print person so digital is still not my place but I can adapt. I came back to this publication because I noticed there was and still is a vacuum in Brooklyn and an increasing one in New York City for voices and perspectives like mine. There is an erasure going on in New York City and the United States, a certain sameness is taking over and voices of difference and diversity are disappearing.
September begins the annual process of a return to school and work after labor day, and for me, it’s a beginning of the fall season in retail. So, this year, I decided to revive this publication again but as a blog only. In this process, I have re-examined the publication name and its sub-title: Brooklyn’s Home Decor, Lifestyle and Culture and I have decided to change it to what it needs to be now after 9 years since it’s launch. There are thoughts of publishing a print publication to mark 10 years in publication, to create an event and celebrate that fact, but I am more clear on what this publication will be a monthly series of essays and perspectives about Brooklyn, New York City and insights on the world.
This is a new beginning and a redefinition of Calabar Magazine for the future. It’s a re-awakening of the importance of inclusiveness, diversity and risk in the realm of safety, simply boring and un-interesting things. I dare say. First, the redefinition begins with a change of such a simple subtitle from Brooklyn’s Fashion, Home Decor, Lifestyle and Culture to Global Fashion, Home Decor, Lifestyle and Culture in New York and the World. This is a huge shift in scales and perspectives. It’s where in someways we have been as a publication but it is a necessary announcement.
This redefinition takes the four areas of our focus to a larger realm from our home base in Brooklyn to New York and to the World:
- Global Fashion,
- Global Home Decor,
- Global Lifestyle
- Global Culture
In some ways, this shift recognizes what has happened and continues to happen in Brooklyn and New York City and what this means in the world we reside and work in. Brooklyn and New York City has always been a global world city from its people to its culture but how these connect is our focus to write about, share and comment on. Time has come to re-voice our perspectives, share our unique view on the changes that are happening here. It is our place to be real.
Join us on this new adventure and if you are interested in writing for us, please email us at info@calabarmag.com, we can only promise a space of critical thought, diversity and difference.
