I asked the universe (Google) for images of women's magazines and the universe offered me this:

[Source]

I asked for images of women's magazines because I wanted some photographic evidence or cartoon that would be like THIS IS A BLOG POST ABOUT HOW I AM NOW EDITING A MAGAZINE FOR WOMEN WRITERS, and because I outsourced my imagination to Google years ago. This is not the magazine I work for. It is a parody of the kind of magazine I could never work for, and since my grandmother reads my blog, a risky choice. But: "Lose 30 pounds fast! Chop off your leg!"? C'mon; that's funny. Feminist fun activity: Paste this cover onto a stack of other magazines and secretly place them in the cashier's aisle of the grocery store. See how long it takes anyone to notice.

I should have known that this was the kind of women's magazine that Google would present me with. At any rate I'm lucky that this sassy little critique of a photo was wedged in between real covers of Cosmo and Women's Health. But the point of this post was supposed to be that I am now on the editorial board of another kind of women's magazine: the smart kind that celebrates women by supporting their endeavors. The kind that I wish showed up in Google searches for women's magazines. The kind that might consider publishing found poetry from the words in this fake magazine. Our little literary zine is called Broad!, as in "having an ample distance from side to side; covering a large number or wide scope of subjects or areas; very noticeable and strong; a woman"! We publish gentleladies, otherwise known as female-bodied and female-identified people. We do this because the writing of women is not published nearly as much as the writing of men. If you didn't know this you can start reading about it here.

This is the very classy cover of our latest issue:

Don't worry. All of the sex and weight loss tips are on the inside.

The best part is it's all online in free PDF downloads, so you can read our first two issues now! The other best part is that we're accepting submissions for our next issue until October 13, 2012!

Starting next week, I will be blogging for Broad! twice a month about issues relevant to feminism and literature, along with editor Heather Lefebvre and my colleagues on the editorial board, T.R. Benedict and Hannah Baker-Siroty. We have things to say. So bookmark the Broad! blog, read the first two issues, and email us submissions, stat, broads. You will not be sorry.