UA students will launch Selene and Sixty-Three this week — two magazines that are independent successors to Alice Magazine and Nineteen Fifty-Six, which the University abruptly shut down in December. The magazines are being published by Masthead, an alumni nonprofit.
Both publications will host several promotional events this week. Selene, the successor to Alice, will have a launch party Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Druid City Brewing Company. Sixty-Three, Nineteen Fifty-Six’s successor, will cap off its week of events with a launch party on Friday at Monarch Espresso Bar from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Editors of both publications said they are excited about the launch of their first editions.
“I think that in all the dark stuff that’s going on right now in the world, I wanted this new issue to serve as something that, despite all of that, we’re still happy and we still have things to smile for and that there’s still good,” said Kendal Wright, editor-in-chief of Sixty-Three, a magazine that, like its predecessor, is aimed at college-aged Black people.
To Gabrielle Gunter, editor-in-chief of Selene, the persistence of a women’s magazine on campus offers a chance for students to continue building their portfolios and work with like-minded people as they did with Alice.
“These kinds of magazines give people a space, especially for groups of people who are not always welcome in professional journalism,” she said.
Editors said the content of the new magazines will be similar to their successors, even though the names have changed.
Sixty-Three’s name commemorates the year that James Hood and Vivian Malone, the first Black students to enroll at the University, enrolled, just as Nineteen Fifty-Six did with Autherine Lucy, the first Black student to attend the University.
Selene’s name comes from the Greek goddess of the moon. To the staff, she represented femininity, new phases of life, and bringing light to dark places.
Gunter said the goddess symbolized the magazine itself as a “new phase” of Alice and as bringing “light to the night” after Alice was shuttered.
In addition to its launch event on Thursday, Selene will host a workshop on indie magazine publishing Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Druid City Brewing Company, followed by a “Safe Sex and Mags” distribution event April 12 on the Quad.
Sixty-Three hosted a game night Monday and dance class Tuesday. It will also host a day of service at The House Tuscaloosa Wednesday at 2 p.m. and a bowling night at Lucky Strike Bowling at 7 p.m. Thursday.
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The four-month journey to getting these publications off the ground has not been without challenges. When Vice President for Student Life Steven Hood notified students on Dec. 1 that they could not continue publishing, citing a federal memo on antidiscrimination law, they were caught off guard.
Masthead stepped to the plate, starting a fundraising campaign for what is now Selene and Sixty-Three. In under 72 hours, the nonprofit surpassed its $25,000 goal.
Masthead also launched a follow-up fundraising campaign on March 25 to keep the magazines in print next school year.
“It’s very hard to create a magazine from scratch,” Gunter said.
“There was a lot of uncertainty too at the very beginning. People didn’t know if they could get in trouble for doing it or not, but we made it through,” she added.
After the closures, the magazines’ respective staffs lost access to office space, a full-time advisor, and other support and resources they relied on to get to print.
Gunter and Wright said they were thankful for the community’s and Masthead’s support. Canterbury Chapel serves as a new workplace for the magazines, and Masthead has assembled a network of over 25 alumni to support the fledgling publications.
“Honestly, it’s unlike anything I could have ever imagined, the fact that not just Masthead was able to create the fundraiser, but for enough people to really see the story and find a reason to want to donate to what these students are doing here,” Wright said.
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Masthead president Victor Luckerson told The CW in March that the staffs have done an “incredible job putting together these publications amidst so much upheaval.”
“From the moment Alice and Nineteen Fifty-Six were suspended, they have been working hard to ensure that diverse viewpoints are still represented in campus media,” he said. “I’m glad MASTHEAD was able to support that vision.”
Still, Wright said she believes the University will reinstate Alice and Nineteen Fifty-Six. Students and faculty members have petitioned the University to revive the publications, and former magazine staff members sued the UA System Board of Trustees over the closures.
She said she hopes the de facto continuation of Alice Magazine and Nineteen Fifty-Six through the new magazines shows students their “voices are heard.”
“I hope that this shows that resisting works,” she said.
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