Didn't the company that published Honey fold?

Why is it so hard to keep these magazines?? Now Vibe has "Vixen" but it's so-so.

Vanguarde media which owned Heart & Soul, Savoy and Honey filed bankruptcy. Due to financial issues and not having the backing needed, all three magazines folded.

I REALLY miss Heart & Soul. It was the only health magazine (that I was aware of) devoted to Black women. :(

If you miss Heart & Soul, check out Oxygen magazine. It's a fitness magazine that's mostly focused on women who compete in fitness competitions, but lately I've seen a lot of sisters on the cover and featured in the magazine.

It's not the same thing as having "our own", but I really like it.

I was pissed with this month's issue as well. How many times do I need to see Beyonce? This is like her third Essence cover. Why not feature all of Destiny's Child since this is their last hoo-rah together as a trio? Or better yet do a feature on Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. And I pray they stop featuring clothes that are too darn expensive for most sisters to buy.

Heart and Soul was good in the beginning but then they put the editor of MODE, the former plus size fashion magazine in charge and it became a whack version of Essence. Exercise and nutrition got relegated to the back of the magazine and that's when I stopped buying.

We really don't have any publications that attends to our needs in any substantive way. I hope that changes very soon.

PhDiva

Problems I have with this issue are:
1. The cover is out of focus. I expect much better from Essence.

2. Instead of consistently putting entertainers on the cover, why not our women of the community? Civic leaders, artists, professionals...the other people who BUY the mag. If the mag is about us, shouldn’t we be represented? I would love to see sisters like Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, Susan Fales, Dr. Mynora J. Bryant, Linda M. White, Barbara C. Moore, Dr. Louise A. Rice...I'm saying take it to the next level. We're not all entertainers.

It's so interesting that you mention this b/c a friend of mine and I were just talking about how they had Usher on the cover of their most recent anniversary issue. We were wondering why this magazine dedicated to black women couldn't find a better person to feature for such an important issue. I mean really, an issue like that should be a testimate to what you were created for. Also, the Editor-in-Chief (who interviewed him) raved about how wonderful he was and how proud she was to feature him in their anniversary issue. Now, not to knock Usher or anything, but I've always heard that he was a little cocky and not the most selfless guy around. Again, this isn't to bash him, but it's to say if Essence can misrepresent him this way (by painting him as a Saint), then what else are they misrepresenting to us?

Here are somethings that I do like about Essence:
- The financial advice column (I forget the name of the woman who writes it each month)
- The career/business planning column (I also forget who writes it, but it deals w/how to handle various business situations)
- The sex ed column by D. Hilda Hutchinson (We don't want to be vulgar or anything, but some of what she says is more woman's health related)
- The 5-8 exercise poses
- Informative features like those on the black women killed in Iraq, or black women who have been missing, or the black women who own their own businesses, or black women who have been able to retire young, or even the woman whose son has schitzophrenia.

Here is what I don't like:
- The entire front half of the issue is dedicated to beauty. Not only is this too much, but it isn't well organized. Sometimes I have no clue what their recommendation is.
- There is too much focus on entertainers. I honestly don't care about Beyonce or Mary J Blige (though I did like the piece on Jill Scott). I wish that they could keep these to a minimum and intergrate in other prominent women in black society (as mentioned above)
- Underdeveloped articles. There was recently an article about men (I'm not sure if it focused on what they want from a woman, or why they cheat, or what, but the format was a conversation w/about six black men from different backgrounds). It could have been done a little better. Each guy only answered about 2 - 3 questions, so no one character really got developed. There was no theme or message for you to take away. It was just a brief conversation that left me :confused:
- Random articles that don't tie to the theme of the issue. They always have about 4-5 articles that are 1 page long. Sometimes they tie into the issue, but sometimes they don't have anything to do w/anything. It's like they have hundreds of these random little articles that they throw in as fillers.
- The last 20 pages. I hate flipping to the back of a mag to finish an article (that's just me), and I don't understand the need for the random recepie here and there or tons of tiny advertisements. I'd rather that the articles be complete, and if they want to add recepies then they should make that a legitimate portion of the magazine with a theme and some backstory.

Sorry for the long post and/or any spelling errors.

Quoted! :p

I totally agree with you, NP. I dont think the people at Essence would have anything to lose if they decided to concentrate, even for only a few issues, on REAL women. They do not even need to be big names to be important. Ordinary people make EXTRAORDINARY contributions to our communities everyday.

:cool: You rock, NinjaPoodle!

Love the idealism
 

But I may have to be a realistic voice in the wilderness. I suspect (although I don't work for the company) that Essence/TW did market research and found that celebrities sell better than non-famous AfAm women. Hence, Beyonce, Mary J., etc.

Bottom line: they're in the business to sell magazines. It's not a nonprofit that doesn't accept advertising and the like. In an ideal world, there would be a wider range of mags to appeal to us. We're not there yet, alas.

Re: Love the idealism
 

And I agree but I'm saying instead of ALWAYS having an entertainer on the cover, switch it up. It's one of the main reasons I stopped my subscription. (The other was the buyout)

Thanks for the comp and I agree.

This is why I haven't had a subscription in like over a decade. Because I knew it was about $$$ and selling magazines. :mad:

There was a time back in the day when the cover was an educational experience. It was someone new or someone who was important in the black community or someone to be discovered!! I remember buying Essence (around mid to late 70's) when I was in my early teens because I looked forward to being ENLIGHTENED.

Mary J. Blige has been on the cover 3 or more times. How much about Mary do I or the rest of the buying public need to know?:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

They should have put me on the cover by now. DO MY STORY! I won't charge.:D :)

I'll take it a step further, BlueReign...
 

I remember in the late 80's reading my mama's Essence magazines just thinking, "Sisters are the BOMB!!!" There was some variety in who got covered. Yes, they had celebrities, but there were so many sisters who were movers and shakers in business and education and service... I know those magazines sold. I remember reading about Marva Collins AND Phyllis Hyman in the pages of Essence. Now, I just want to write a letter demanding a refund for my subscription money half of the time. Mariah Carey the most misunderstood BLACK woman in America??? HECK HECK HECK HECK HECK NAW!!!! (y'all can tell I've stopped cussin, huh?)

Frankly, I think they could have done better than Usher. I would NOT have bought that mag on the stands. Most of the sisters with the MOST disposable income (you know those people whose money the advertisers are gunning for - and let's face it, THEY drive newspapers and magazines) would not have either.

They would have most likely thought the same thing that I did when I saw Ms. Carey (and that WACK WACK WAAAACCCKKK underdeveloped story) Maybe Time Warner is doing it's marketing in crackhouses or something.

Like I have said before, I'll be having a subscription to Black Enterprise and that's it. I am counting the DAYS to the end of my Essence subscription.

This should be sent to the editors at Essence. Will we get a chance to view it in print?