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I came back to the Utne library in late August, about a year after I completed an internship with Chris Dodge, Utne's librarian from 2000 to 2006 (and a one-man repository of independent press trivia). During my first weeks as Chris' successor, when the shock of it was still fresh, I recorded my most vivid impressions of how it felt to be immersed in independent media. Above all, it felt as if the fat, which I had grown so accustomed to seeing in the mainstream, had been trimmed away and left behind.

In the independent press, there is no room for reporting that favors scandal over truth, for petty partisan differences, for celebrity-stalking or false optimism. Writing is not always elegant. Photos are often black and white. The May issue might not be published until September. But I think most Americans, regardless of political affiliation or personal beliefs, would prefer these small imperfections to the more polished fluffy stuff that's becoming difficult to avoid.

Chris once shared with me a highly scientific system of fluff detection he'd pioneered. If a magazine dropped from chest level startled nearby editors and/or rattled the floors, fluff was present, possibly in high quantities. (This process does not apply to academic journals, whose bulkiness can very rarely be attributed to high fluff content.) Test it out at your local library or bookstore, if you dare. If you're not seeing as many independent titles as you'd like, talk with the librarian or the bookstore manager-if they know you want to read a title, they're a lot more likely to keep it around.

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