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Spring '06 Articles:

• Good-Bye from IMPACT

• MLK the Revolutionary

• So That's It?

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• The Muddlemarch: 2

• War on Dissent Intensifies

• Maturity is for the Weak

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IMPACT press has reached a fantastic milestone. This issue marks our 10th anniversary. Sadly, it's bittersweet. While this issue does mark ten years of hard work, hundreds of unpaid hours and incalculable levels of stress, it also marks the last issue of IMPACT. Issue #60 is where it all ends.

For the last few years, IMPACT has struggled financially. It stayed around this long because I was simply too passionate to let it slip away. Unfortunately, after a while, my ability to keep it afloat has diminished and it's no longer a burden I can shoulder.

Still, 60 issues later, IMPACT has left its mark. While the magazine is not well-known and was often taken for a punk rag as opposed to the political magazine I always strived for, I'm still quite proud.

I think that despite the failure to generate the necessary ad revenue, IMPACT accomplished plenty in the ten years it was around. Sixty issues were published with at least 10,000 copies of each; that amounts to over 600,000 copies of IMPACT press.

Those copies were spread across the United States for the most unsuspecting of readers to wrap their hands around the finger-dirtying newsprint gracing its free pages. Sure, there were fans and regular readers, but I was more enamored by the possibility of someone picking it up who was completely unsympathetic to IMPACT's perspective. I'd like to think the magazine has awakened some of those people.

My goal when I started IMPACT was to publish a magazine that covered important socio-political topics, something the mainstream media rarely does, or at least rarely does well. IMPACT was started with the slogan, "Covering Issues the Way the Media Should." After a few years, I realized how pretentious and immature that slogan was.

That slogan was dumped and "Enlightening Readers Since 1996" took its place. Still, though, while IMPACT wasn't necessarily the way "the media should" cover issues, it was as close as I could get, in my opinion and with my limitations.

I'm not one to second-guess how things could have been done differently or whether now was the right time to call it quits. It's right. For the first time, I'm sure of it. IMPACT nearly folded more than once over its ten-year existence. Usually, I sucked up the financial burden and moved on.

Last issue, though, was something special. Met with the prospect of the magazine folding, several people (readers and advertisers) stepped up to contribute financially. While for those people, seeing the magazine end only one issue later may be disappointing, I want to thank them all for making it possible for IMPACT to reach 10 years. I didn't realize it then, but I now understand how important that is to me.

So ten years are behind me, and IMPACT is riding 48 final pages into the sunset. It has been a good, bumpy, exhilarating, gratifying and exhausting ride, but a lot of people have helped IMPACT along the way. It's these following people that I have resisted thanking before because I find it to be quite corny. That said, I'm not going to have another chance to thank them within the pages of the magazine they so helped to make possible.

Chris Netram, who financially helped to start this magazine back in October of 1995 when it was only a concept. He's never asked for the money back (thank goodness) and, while we're not as close as we once were, I'll never forget him for that generosity and support.

Marty Kelley, who sat in the same room with Chris and I as we tried to figure out what the hell this new magazine would be and, more importantly, what it would be called. "What about IMPACT?" Marty suggested. Fuck yes!

Morris Sullivan, who was with the magazine from very early on and served as a Contributing Editor. He helped me direct IMPACT over the years and was always available for feedback and guidance, no matter how busy he was. Without his educated and valued opinion, IMPACT would have greatly suffered.

And finally, Stacey Matrazzo, my girlfriend of over eight years, who served as Copy Editor and Contributing Editor, but more importantly was my support through all the tough times and my fan during all the good times. I never could have kept this magazine going, nor made it so good, without her.

Email your feedback on this article to editor@impactpress.com.