Whoever said change wasn’t a good thing hasn’t talked to FAMU students about the latest edition of Journey magazine.
The magazine’s September/October 2003 issue uses a different approach to attract readers than it has in the past. Notable changes include “In Retrospect,” which catalogs historical moments from the university’s history and “On the Scene,” where pictures from across the city tell stories without words.
“When I became editor I wanted to change literally everything,” said Editor in Chief Naeemah Khabir, 21, a senior magazine student from Philadelphia. “I noticed that past issues of the magazine had a lot of emphasis on sex – raunchy and triple x type of stuff. I wanted Journey to look more like a college magazine.”
Some students agree with changes made by the 2003-2004 journey staff.
“It draws a lot of attention because of its graphics,” said Leeann Rizk, 18, a freshman accounting student from Atlanta. “It looks like a real magazine.”
Khabir said Journey’s face-lift is also due to its current art director.
“My intent was to emulate a professional magazine,” said Journey’s art director Johndel Barrett, 18, a sophomore graphic design student from Ft. Lauderdale. “We basically said that there would be no more illustrations and that everything would have a worthwhile visual element.”
Journey’s recent issue features stories on the university’s SGA president and vice president, along with Mr. and Miss FAMU.
“Everybody knows these people but they didn’t really know (anything) about them,” said Khabir
Students agreed.
“I read stuff that I never knew about the (SGA) president, vice president or Miss FAMU,” said Jon Stanley, 19, a sophomore, elementary education student from Ft. Lauderdale.
Khabir said she wanted Journey to speak for itself.
“I wanted there to be a variety of things in Journey, something for everybody.”
“Our final goal was to produce a magazine, not a booklet, pamphlet, brochure or a club flyer,” said Barrett.
Khabir said many students did not even know FAMU had a magazine.
“Some students were surprised that we even have a magazine because Journey was not circulating like it should have,” Khabir said. “It was always in Tucker Hall.”
“I never saw Journey before I was on the Set when they passed one to me,” Stanley said.
Khabir said several students may not have received a copy of the magazine because of budget limitations, which only allowed 4,000 copies to be printed.
As for Khabir, she has high expectations for this year’s issues and issues to come.
“I would like to come back to FAMU in the future and see that Journey is a monthly magazine.”
Ryanne Persinger can be reached at rdpersinger@hotmail.com