A very important mag calls it a day

After 13 years and 141 issues, Satya Magazine, a monthly publication focusing on vegetarianism, environmentalism, animal advocacy and social justice, will publish its final issue June/July 2007.

Many good friends of mine work for this mag and they're all wonderful, compassionate people not just employees or writers or editors. They all live, breathe, eat and wear the beliefs they cover in the mag on their sleeves; and in a very unique and endearing way - they also drink quite heavily after work which is never boring..................

Satya boldly avoided the elitism through superiority of ethics and high falutin' holier-than-thou exclusivity which often maligns the animal advocacy and environmentalist scenes. They also gracefully steered clear of preaching to the choir; for 13 years, Satya adored the outsider and saw the promise of the future and of progress existing solely in the outsider; putting the info out there and allowing readers to form their own opinions; which, verily, is the only way to go about changing minds.

To me Satya stood for discovering the change within yourself and self-realisation and self-actualisation. They just gave you the tools to build it, if you wanted to.

Satya was always a family vibe for the few years I got to know everyone there. Working out of the basement office of a beautiful brownstone, they'd throw these fabulous taste-testing parties when all the newer veg companies would feverishly send them mammoth amounts of samples of their new products to rate and review. I'll tell you, it was like Camelot; the tofutti cuties and the faux turkey flowed like the canals of ancient Venice, and then there was the beer and the pit bulls who washed the dishes.

All I know is a lot of talented people will now either be starting new projects or will be looking for work, so go hire them to write for you now before its too late.

In Sanskrit, "satya" means "truth" and I couldn't imagine a better name for that mag, their legacy and the people who worked for it and put so much into it. It will be sad to see another REAL independent newsprint magazine go but we were lucky to have it for the time we did. Nowadays its all blogs and websites :)

Now that the maudlin shit is out of the way... the silver lining of this dark no-more-Satya-cloud is they'll be throwing one last infamously decadent and debaucherous Satya party to send the mag off, Friday June 8 at Red Bamboo Brooklyn. RSVP and more info at 718 832 9557 or email them. See you there, mofo.