Our good friend Chuck Olsen came by Utne Reader headquarters again this year to film us as we voted on the winners of the 2010 Utne Independent Press Awards. It isn't always pretty, but if you don't come out of this video wanting to curl up with your favorite magazine (or one of our favorites!) there might be something wrong with you. Not that it's any of our business.

Who won? Here you go:

GENERAL EXCELLENCE: Orion

BEST WRITING: Boston Review

ARTS COVERAGE: The Journal of Music

INTERNATIONAL COVERAGE: Virginia Quarterly Review

ENVIRONMENTAL COVERAGE: High Country News

SPIRITUAL COVERAGE: Portland

POLITICAL COVERAGE: The American Prospect

SOCIAL/CULTURAL COVERAGE: Brain, Child

HEALTH/WELLNESS COVERAGE: Spirituality & Health

SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY COVERAGE: IEEE Spectrum

Learn all about the winners at Utne.com/UIPA2010.

Inside the 2010 Utne Independent Press Awards from Utne Reader on Vimeo.

Okay, not really. These are typesetters in the Government Printing Office, circa 1910. But I like to think that guy on the right is Andrew Sullivan, preparing something on the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. The guy next to him is Juan Cole, also hard at work. The person standing on the left? Why that's my favorite art blogger Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City (with a really short haircut) waiting for Sullivan to get off her damn machine.

All of this is really just my way of pointing you to a really great website that I never have the occasion to blog about, though I look at every photograph they post. It's called The Shorpy Historic Photo Archive, and I think you'll love it.

Source: Shorpy

Our library contains 1,300 publications—a feast of magazines, journals, alt-weeklies, newsletters, and zines—and every year, we honor the stars in our Utne Independent Press Awards. We’ll announce this year’s winners on Sunday, April 25 at the MPA’s Independent Magazine Group conference in Washington, D.C. and post them online the following Monday. We’re crazy about these publications, and we’d love it for all of our readers to get to know them better, too. So, every weekday until the conference, we’ll be posting mini-introductions to our complete list of 2010 nominees.

The following eight magazines are our 2010 nominees in the category of social/cultural coverage.

The only print magazine dedicated to feminist critiques of pop culture, the exuberant Bitch enlists dauntless writers to carry out its mission by combining serious study and a healthy sense of humor. The Portland-based quarterly also showcases indie art, music, film, and literature. www.bitchmagazine.org

Brain, Child invites “thinking mothers” to share everything—the joys of parenting, the sorrows, the hiccups—in each exquisitely written, sharply edited issue. There’s no sugarcoating here, but neither is there complaining: just reflection and wisdom to spare. www.brainchildmag.com

Oversized and stuffed, The Brooklyn Rail opens with an eclectic blend of cultural discourse and political debate, then segues into an engaging array of art reviews and down-to-earth interviews with both up-and-coming and established artists. http://www.brooklynrail.org

In setting out to cover the world’s colleges and universities, The Chronicle of Higher Education has become a must-read source for news and analysis of the “millennial” generation. It also features the volcanic opinions, underreported grievances, and groundbreaking research of those who teach them. www.chronicle.com

The hip, irresistibly designed Hyphen explores Asian American culture with wit and zeal, tapping the seemingly boundless energy of its all-volunteer staff to cover everything from eco-friendly nail shops to America’s obsession with MSG. www.hyphenmagazine.com

The editors and researchers at Intelligence Report are all over this country’s toughest and ugliest news beat. Published quarterly by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the investigative juggernaut tracks hate groups, which have become larger, and racist extremists, who have grown increasingly volatile. http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report

Make/shift’s tagline is “feminisms in motion,” and they whip through the pages of this biannual like an intellectual storm. Each issue hosts bold, one-of-a-kind arguments and creates a lively community of writers, artists, and activists who stretch the boundaries of gender politics. www.makeshiftmag.com

Urbanite has all the flavor and color of Baltimore, but its appeal is much broader. Its best stories explore the relationship between cities and their inhabitants, through the lenses of art, education, architecture, and grassroots action. Reading this monthly is the quintessential urban experience. www.urbanitebaltimore.com 

Want more? Meet our  political,  international,  arts,  health and wellness,  spirituality, and  science and technology nominees.  

I spent tax day with anti-tax protesters at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul. It was my first attempt at covering an event like that, so I arranged to meet up with my friend Lanny Linehan, a more experienced documentary photographer (see Linehan’s work at his Flickr page).

On my way to meet Lanny, I wandered through the vending area. I was drawn to a table with a sign that read “Sign up here to win a framed American flag signed by Michele Bachmann.” I asked if I could take a photo of the sign. One of the two guys at the table asked me which “side” I was on. I said I was on my side. He challenged me again, suspicious of my stance. I said something about nothing being black and white and he showed me the gun tucked into his pants. “Why don’t you take a picture of this?” he asked. “Sure, I’d love to,” I said, “why don’t you sit by the sign.” That wasn’t the answer he expected. “You better do it, you offered,” said his friend, laughing. So he posed for me—my first photo of the day.

Next I found a vendor selling “organic freeze-dried food” meal packs that last three years—you know, just in case. Their “sample girls” were more than happy to pose for a photo. There were free samples, but no thanks. When I found Lanny, he recommended I try to “blend in.” He had attended the same anti-tax rally last year and said it was a very hostile environment.

The speeches from the podium were predictable: Palin-esque dogma about the intentions of the founding fathers, the harm done by taxes, and government robbing us of our freedoms. At one point, two performers tried to stir some energy in the crowd, shouting: “Nancy Pelosi, we’re coming for you… (cheers)… to put you in jail!” Images of Ronald Reagan and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags were the dominant visual motifs.

From time to time, a speaker would poll the audience by asking direct questions like “Clap your hands if you voted Republican last election,” which was clearly the correct answer. Mention of a liberal or Democrat guaranteed boos. Mentions of Ron Paul were met with a smattering of applause. At these moments I acted busy and kept moving. On several occasions, speakers said things like “I’m pretty sure there are some liberals here!”

Surprisingly, the energy peaked when a speaker spoke out against racism. The speaker’s insistence that there was no room for intolerance in the Tea Party brought hearty (and, I believe, sincere) cheers from people in the crowd.

But mostly, the crowd just stood around enjoying the lovely spring weather—sometimes listening to the speakers, sometimes talking amongst themselves, and on more than a few occasions, glaring at photographers.

I can’t count the number of people who I caught photographing and taking video footage of me. Lanny said the same happened to him. What do they do with that footage? Mutual suspicion, I suppose. Only a few people allowed me to take their photo when I asked. Most people clearly did not want to be photographed and some even turned their signs away from my lens.

This is a group that feels it’s been unfairly portrayed in the media, and I can’t say they are wrong. They attract “fringy” people and that’s who gets photographed. Photographers are drawn to people like this because they’re interesting. My photos are no different. Of course, this is true of all protesters, no matter their political persuasion.

Related: Slideshow: Tax Day Tea Party Rally in St. Paul

All photos by Stephanie Glaros

Are you stranded somewhere because of the volcano? Writer and editor Andrew Losowsky has an idea, but you've got to act fast. Here's what he posted to his blog Magtastic Blogsplosion today:

This is an open call to designers, writers, photographers, illustrators, art directors and anyone else who is stranded by the ash cloud, and would like something to do.

If there’s one thing my ol’ ma taught me, it’s that when life gives you volcanoes, make magazines. And so we shall.

If you’re out there and interested, email me and tell me what you do. I’ll then give you an assignment to complete today/tomorrow. Depending on how long this thing lasts, we’ll work the rest of it out from there. The copyright will remain yours on anything you produce, I just ask for permission to include it in the currently-untitled ashcloud magazine (working titles include Grounded, SkyFail and Someday We’ll Fly Away.)

If you’d like to be a part of the core creative team who will put together this impromptu publication, let me know as well. The only criterion for any contributor is that, like me, you have to be stuck somewhere unintentionally.

If all goes well, the results will be published, probably via MagCloud and/or the Newspaper Club, and any proceeds sent to a charity that helps mitigate the effects of climate change on human populations. After all, we have to repent somehow.

Who’s in?

(Thanks, The Rumpus.)

Source: Magtastic Blogsplosion

Our library contains 1,300 publications—a feast of magazines, journals, alt-weeklies, newsletters, and zines—and every year, we honor the stars in our Utne Independent Press Awards. We’ll announce this year’s winners on Sunday, April 25 at the MPA’s Independent Magazine Group conference in Washington, D.C. and post them online the following Monday. We’re crazy about these publications, and we’d love it for all of our readers to get to know them better, too. So, every weekday until the conference, we’ll be posting mini-introductions to our complete list of 2010 nominees.

The following eight magazines are our 2010 nominees in the category of international coverage.

Given America’s entanglements in the Middle East—and its ignorance regarding the region’s history—you’d think every domestic newspaper would dedicate a daily section to the Middle East’s politics, culture, and conflicts. Thankfully, Middle East Report fills the void with reliable, thorough, and courageous journalism. www.merip.org

NACLA Report on the Americas covers Latin American people and politics with the depth, nuance, and historical context rarely found in mainstream media coverage of the region. From elections to revolutions, this bimonthly is on the front lines. www.nacla.org

New Internationalist weighs the world on the scales of justice. By tapping into a vast global network of activists, the compassionately written and tightly edited magazine breathes life into the struggles, projects, and people who are working to build a better planet. www.newint.org

New Statesman is an essential touchstone for anybody seeking an international perspective on current events. The British weekly allows American readers not only to look out beyond their borders, but also to stand outside those borders as they gaze.
www.newstatesman.com

Peace Review presents scholarly perspectives on peace, conflict, and human rights, often returning to long-forgotten crises to offer wise analysis or check in with people on the ground. The symposium on post-genocide Rwanda (July-Sept. 2009) was peerless.www.usfca.edu/peacereview/PRHome.html

Founded between the two world wars, the PEN American Center provides a forum for writers from around the world, especially those living under repressive regimes. PEN America is both journal and virtual gathering place, where inquiring minds share exceptional fiction and poetry, compelling essays and conversation.www.pen.org

Major media outlets are shuttering their foreign bureaus, and the leftover coverage lacks perspective and nuance. Into this sorry state of affairs steps Virginia Quarterly Review, reminding us what it’s like to read about an unfamiliar place and feel like you’ve lived there long enough to both know it and feel it. www.vqronline.org

Global reportage finds a literary home at The Walrus, a Toronto-based general-interest  magazine with international scope. Adventurous writing breathes life into scene-driven stories—of Bolivian miners, Persian musicians, Al-Jazeera in the West—without compromising intellectual depth. www.walrusmagazine.com

Want more? Meet our health and wellness , spirituality , and science and techology nominees.

In full view of the Cuban government’s ever-watchful gaze, internet activist Yoani Sanchez has started a school for bloggers. Classes on Twitter, Wordpress, and journalistic ethics are held in Sanchez’s living room, where some 30 students gather around a projector with no internet connection. Only about 1 percent of Cubans have internet connections, and Sanchez, whose blog is called Generation Y, lives under the constant threat of arrest by the state. Until the police shut it down, however, Nick Miroff reports for Global Post: “this classroom is a place where the digital revolution really feels like one.”

Source: Global Post