Fall officially started exactly 13 days ago, and the minute the clock struck 12, the weather snapped right into place: 60-degree mornings, forceful winds, and a hint of sunlight every 4 hours as a bit of a tease. With this weather and these shorter days comes the inevitable wave of nostalgia that hits you at random moments throughout these next few months. Tis the season for a warm cup of tea, and remembering the moments of the past. Amid this wave of nostalgia, I started looking back on my first few semesters in university. The first class I took, the first shift I had at the library– and the most cherished of all, the first article I wrote for Loco Mag. These years have been flying by faster and faster.
But that is as far as I can go in remembering Loco Mag, my period of nostalgia only taking me back two years… and I know the magazine has definitely been around way longer than that. So, in the name of remembering and reminiscing, I decided to look at the full history of Loco Mag, so that next Fall I would be able to bask in the nostalgia to the fullest extent.
—
According to our website,
“Loco Mag is an independent online magazine that aims to showcase the ideas and talents of young adults in the Philadelphia region. We focus on culture and lifestyle relevant to students, emerging creatives and new professionals and emphasize this perspective in our tone and content.
In other words, we don’t publish reports covering news events, but we would consider a piece which expands on the underlying history of one. Likewise, we don’t publish poetry or creative fiction pieces, but want all of our pieces to be descriptive and tell a real story.”
Founded in the Fall of 2011, it was created by a group of girls and has since been on a strict publishing schedule that has been tweaked throughout the years, but never fully changed. One week of introducing the magazine, one week of pitching ideas for the issue, one week of pitching ideas for articles, one week of writing, one week of finishing touches– then wash, rinse, and repeat.
Working in Arcadia for over 10 years in the Media and Communications department at Arcadia, Michael D. Dwyer has been the official teacher in charge of the course; from the beginning till now, he has seen it all. After asking him briefly about the creation of Loco Mag, he mentioned that it was a group of girls who had taken his Research and Writing for Communications course in 2011. A group project that they had been assigned to turn into something way bigger than they had first imagined, and into the publication that we have today.
Though I wanted to dig even deeper. I want to know the story from the perspective of one of the founders. I wonder what gave them the inspiration behind this? What made them push their project to the next level? And did they ever think that Loco Mag would reach the heights that it has today? In this pursuit, I got to have a chat with Lauren Pickens, one of the original founders of the magazine.
—
Pickens said that it was something that started off with her, Nicole Sowinski, and Amanda Wyszynski after being paired together in class. As we found out from Dwyer, they had been paired together and created the magazine as a project.
“At the time, there were only campus-run media publications. It was an opportunity.. To have a media outlet that wasn’t run by the school.” – Laura Pickens
Pickens emphasizes that one of their main motivations was the fact that this was something that would be run by the students, for the students; and that they would be free to write things that were more personal and from the perspective of their peers. This, along with the support from Dwyer, helped them get their small idea to an official class that is still running to this day, a decade later.
I asked Pickens if she ever thought that Loco Mag would reach the levels that it has today, and what she thought about the legacy she has left behind. She replied, saying that, “I definitely did not see it lasting… then in those early years it was a struggle to get more people involved because everyone had their own workloads that they were managing. But it’s crazy that people are still participating and finding their own value in it.”
—
Through my meeting with Pickens, I have come to realize that the creation of Loco Mag was simply 3 girls with a seed of an idea blossoming into something more than any of them have ever imagined– in the best way possible. With this information, I can finally experience the full extent of Loco Mag nostalgia come next Fall; my mission is complete.
