your market will multiply exponentially, and the loads of free exposure you’ll get from the inevitable SBS hitjob documentary will only ramp up the hype.

not to mention the easily accessible “talent” pool of potential contributors hanging out at esl cafe and other bitch-festival sites of its ilk. i’d guess most would be willing to pay you to print their random diatribes about shoving on subways, horror stories about MT, or getting the evil eye from adjoshi whilst holding hands with their korean girlfriends.

you’ll be rolling in it within weeks.

In my mind, while ROKon aims to serve the entire expat audience, it’s really kinda comfort food for that person who has been here for about 3 months and they realize that they’re not on vacation and they’ve actually got nine more months in their contract.

A lot of youth culture (or alternative media, for that matter) back home is pretty much exactly like ROKon. Western life as a youth is kinda crass: you dig it when chicks trash talk like dudes and you seek out thought provoking things about stuff you care about.

My magazines says, “It’s ok. We know you’re thinking about grad school after your contract is up and you are starved for reading material in English. We know you read a lot of trashy websites from back home. We know what you’re thinking about. You’re different here in Korea and no matter what you’re always going to stick out. Yes, most of your fellow expats are totally batshit insane. We’ve been there, we feel your pain. We know you drink too much, smoke too much and generally lead a life that would be considered excessive back home. It’s ok, kiddo. You only got nine months left. Rock on!”

Now, along the way, I want to talk about the arts, museums, going to the DMZ, etc, etc. But I want to do it in a fun, oddball kind of way. A creative way that really gets peoples jucies flowing. Our name says it all, “ROKon.” In my mind, it’s saying this is about Korea and it’s fun. We “get it” about what it’s really like to be an expat.

I plan to tease my fellow expats a great deal. All the stupid things we do that make us look bad are going to be the thing I attack again and again. If I have anything to say about it, we’re never going to attack Koreans or Korea. This magazine is a conversation between expats about expats. We may address problems between the two, but that’s kinda besides the point. This magazine is kinda you have a chat with your best friend at a pochangmacha late one night and you’re talking about all the adventures you’ve had and all the cool places in Korea (and beyond) you wannt see.

You know what my magazine says about its audience?

ROKon!

Don’t 24-year-old “po-mo” women love to shop? The pre-modern and modern ones certainly did.

How about some map/shopping guide inserts? I realize that’s probably not too hip for the likes of Mr. Bum, yet it should keep you solvent a while if you do it right with local advertisers.

Don’t forget those free anchor ads, they’ll pay off in the long run by attracting ads.

What does ROKon say about its reader?

i cannot respect your quoting a Christina Aguilera song to make a point or express your feelings. (it does not matter how post-anything you want to be. that’s just wrong.)

Yes, ok. Let me fill you guys in on what’s happening.

I have a “circuit” of people I talk to on a regular basis, and I use their collective wisdom to guide me about the future of the magazine. I use the “24-year-old Canuck” as our audience to get the point across that we’re not KScene and we want to be a magazine people look forward to reading.

I’m all for having stuff for old timers, too, it’s just I used to work as a freelancer for an alternative weekly magazine called Punchline in Richmond, Virginia. It was a lot like ROKon and it’s audience (people in their early 20s) loved it. It was really weird and different and kinda represented the life that people in Richmond that age felt they were living.

Anyway, I have a vision and I’m sticking to it. I want quality writing and photography and a magazine that is enjoyed and appriciated by the expat community as a whole, be they young, old, male, female, newbie or oldbie. It’s just folks about 24-year-old seem like the “sweet spot,” the audience we should keep in the back of our heads while moving forward. Maybe we’re a bit more crass than people were used to with KScene, but we’re going to have a great heart and try our damnest to serve our audience well.

I’m going with my gut right now and to quote a great song “I am beautiful, no matter what they said, words can’t bring me down…so don’t you bring me down today…”

That mag title sounds like its funded by USFK–sounds really dated for your po-mo 24-year-olds.

if nothing else, considering all the free advice you’re getting from Mr. Carr, you should at least print a map to his house in the next issue so that your young and drunk female readers will know how to find him.