the plight of asian-american mags and general media amnesia

Reading How magazines made Asian America from the CJR last week was incredibly fascinating, not only as someone who would have absolutely killed to have grown up with something like A Magazine or Hyphen (could have done without Monolid though… like, we ~get~ what it was probably trying to do, but billing yourself as “The Asian American Magazine for Those Who Aren’t Blinking” is…some weird shit, my people!) in the house, but also as a study in how the perpetual struggle to get any kind of indie media funded means that every time an Asian American (or special interest of any kind) publication folds, the next one that crops up basically has to start the conversation from scratch.

We can’t decide if the digitization of media helps or hurts this collective media amnesia, either, because on one hand, online archives are more accessible than ever. On the other hand, without a physical presence to leave behind on coffee tables/get hocked on eBay…how will people remember if your darling little indie quarterly existed at all?

(H/t Claudia for the link!)