Maybe this is just zoomer talk but not until recently did I realize how many cool independent mags are out there, largely unknown. There are so many amazing stories and raw expressions of culture in such an amazing and niche medium.

I never really grew up with magazines and am now realizing I love the whole experience. Checking almost daily for the next issue when it’s almost that time, the excitement of opening the packaging and seeing what the subject of the issue is, the tactility of holding an actual “thing”, soaking in the pictures and enjoying the design, etc. Good magazines are a relief from social media and the internet. A chance to slow down and experience stories at a different pace in a different medium. You get more than a book but less than a computer.

It’s taking a lot of restraint not to subscribe to every magazine mentioned on stack magazines’ (a subscription service which sends you a different Indy Mag each month and who’s blog is the best place for discovering Independent magazines that I’ve found). I currently have a subscription to Fare and Delayed Gratification.

I cannot recommend Fare enough if you have the money to purchase a subscription. Twice yearly they create a travel guide for a city through the lenses of food and restaurants. The photography and writing really brings you to the place, whether it’s Naples (current issue), Mexico City, or Charleston, SC.

Delayed Gratification is a slow journalism magazine from the UK which brands itself as “the last to break the news.” The infographics and in depth reporting are nice although it’s only slightly left of the mainstream news. I’ll probably cancel my subscription and replace it with Lost or Safar. Nothing against the creators of the mag but I think i need less news in my life not more.