User:Atharris8/sandbox

Section 8 Magazine is a 40+ page, digest-sized print “zine” produced mainly for the artists, intellectuals, students and general population of Northeast Florida. All art forms, including poetry, music, fiction, non-fiction, performance art, theatre and visual art is covered. Along with art, news on local/domestic issues and national politics are included.

The magazine is an open forum for public opinion where we publish submitted works from all walks of life. The design of Section 8 is unique—different in size, style and color from any other local publication thus far.

The Genesis

Section 8 was founded last century by the creative minds of A. Tywaun Harris (aka Otis Mohummed) and SDH (aka Archibald Bobo) under the business wisdom of Miss Suzy Metropolis. Over the years, many other intelligent and ambitious men and women have joined our organization, leading Section 8 to be the general partnership it is today.

We have a dedicated board of directors all working together for the advancement of the Section 8 media empire. The organization is composed of three layers: the Section 8 Society, the Section 8 Squad, and Suzy Metropolis.

Suzy Metropolis (CEO) is the code name for the core collective of Section 8. This group consists of those individuals who alone or with cooperation with the other members can completely compose, produce and assemble Section 8 magazines. This could legally be called a limited general partnership.

Editor in chief—SDH Promotions & Marketing—Ty Harris Photography—Bill Dowling Event coordinator—Gary Jones Treasury Chair—William Rayburn

The Section 8 Squad: The collection of artists, writers, organizers and collaborators whose talents comprise the body of most Section 8 works and projects. The official Section 8 Squad for the year 2000 includes: Marshall Bradford, Andre Dimapilis, Diogenes the Dog, Mark Feest, Shah Ishmail von Fukovich, Cheryl Goodison, Autrelle Holland, Kathy 007, Alyssa Key, Chris LaBarbara, Al Letson, Odins Ravens, “Bhodi” Sheridan, Tony aka Mr. Wright, Shaun Thurston, Alan Justiss and countless volunteers.

The Society: The Section 8 Society is a group of loyal, informed subscribers who receive the benefit of membership into the Section 8 Society. (See chapter six.) The north Florida art community comprises the largest percentage of our society today, due to our open door contribution policy. As the number of magazines produced grows, so will the organization’s customer base and infrastructure.

Chapter 3: History

Section 8 Magazine began as a small, 20-page photocopied newsletter in February 1999. In the course of one year we expanded to produce live shows, merchandise and event calendars, and grew our small publication into a 40-page bimonthly digest.

SDH and Tywaun Harris created and manufactured the first Section 8 zine in February 1999 from a collection of submissions and self-composed works. After editing by hand the original magazine format, it was then copied at Kinko’s in small quantities and distributed to friends and acquaintances with good response. As time progressed, we produced more issues and interest grew. The first few issues were printed from out-of-pocket funds at local copy centers for about $1 each in batches of 50. These were then taken to coffee houses, book store, record shops and concerts around the city.

After the first year of paying for small pressings on our own, we felt the need to include advertisements from stores in order to raise money to produce larger quantities of magazines. This proved to be a difficult task because most potential customers wanted a larger circulation for their advertisement dollars. This produced the “catch 22” familiar to most start-up businesses: We were unable to sell ads without a larger press run, and unable to produce a large press run without money from ad sales.

Seeing this dilemma, other means of fundraising were needed. Still seeking to collect ad revenue, despite the small press run, we began hosting music shows and other events to raise funds for supplies. This spawned the birth of Section 8 Productions.

In order to succeed as a growing business, we needed to own our means of production. By paying an average of $1 per issue at local copy centers, our printing capabilities were limited to our access to funding. This could only be changed by owning machinery and maintaining supply costs. The first S8 machine was purchased in early 2000 with hopes of being able to self-manufacture 100-200 issues monthly. Unfortunately, our cheap machine was far from capable of meeting our modest expectations. This equipment proved handy, though, and sparked the idea for the five-year plan for cheap in-house production. While still searching for affordable printing methods, we continued as was.

After the first year of the magazine, our fundraiser events began to take on a life of their own. Seeing a successful opportunity in both industries, we continued to develop our two-man photocopied newsletter into a much larger organization capable of producing media, advertising and entertainment. An assembly of ambitious, intelligent, kindhearted people formed into the now infamous Section 8 Squad.

Time passed and the organization’s activities expanded, but the original dilemma of capital woes continued. To counteract this tragedy, a small treasury fund was started. In this fund is a collection of donations, advertisement revenue and show profits to be used for our project budget needs. This fund, established in 2000, is the Section 8 Treasury, operated safely by Chair Franz Q.