Bonedale|Amplified: an authentic Carbondale magazine

In Magazine by Genevieve Joëlle VillamizarLeave a Comment

What is Bonedale|Amplified?

Know what I think? Carbondale needs their own magazine– after all, what’s not to love in a good one?

We grew up with National Geographic. Who didn’t? It sat on a table in my uncle’s 100-year old summer home in the Catskills of New York, rubbing shoulders with The New Yorker and Smithsonian. My family feasted on high caliber content. Every issue of Nat Geo took me and my sisters on a ride ’round Planet Earth. The pictures were full of surprises; rich, in-depth storytelling enchanted us. It became a part of our family culture. As a teenager, I used to take the Metro into DC and meet my cousin at the Nat Geo building, where she was an editor. It was pretty darn special. We’d eat lunch on a rooftop patio overlooking the White House.

I miss good stories. I miss reading relevant stuff, instead of feeling marketed to. I miss finding meaning and the connection I feel when a story impacts me.

As a Carbondale magazine, Bonedale|Amplified is ferociously hungry to capture those qualities in a realm closer to home: our own town. There are two parts to Bonedale|Amplified:

  • Bonedale|Amplified Community is the ongoing blog. Functioning in real time, it carries the immediate stories, and stories or issues, outside the typical purview of a magazine. This ‘dialog’ component to B|A profiles  long-form stories to enlighten, reveal and spark.
  • Bonedale|Amplified Magazine, released First Fridays, is curated. Stories pivot on monthly themes, expounding and exploring. It will feature diverse writers– YOU– and our converging, diverging perspectives.

Together, the community and the magazine are a new tool for our community. B|A is our voices, our stories, about us and for us. Unfiltered.

We will cover all things Bonedalian, and not just the eye-candy feel good fluff. Got an opinion on City Market? Research it. Write it. Housing? We’re looking at it. As a matter of fact, housing and living is the first series in the magazine. Do you want to write a series? Pitch it or post it.

Does Carbondale, Colorado– population ~6800– warrant their own magazine?

Yes.

We are a remarkable community. There’s a reason Carbondale Arts was able to secure our town as a Colorado Creative District. We are forever creating and doing noteworthy things. It’s no wonder the Sopris Sun is inundated with requests of “Could you please cover this?” in their finite space. Bonedale|Amplified provides a platform for the overflow, as well as opens new pathways for storytelling in the valley. KDNK has diversely terrific programming. Lotta Bonedale vibes floating those airwaves. And yes, there’s Facebook, the Town Mothers and The Google Group.

With all of that, Bonedale|Amplified aspires to fill the voids, providing a collective landing place for inclusive dialog– a back and forth conversation in which any one of us are invited to participate.

Without this capability, we’re hamstrung.

We’re not able to respond as efficiently and effectively as we could had we a platform like B|A. Knowledge is power. Being informed is empowering. Being ‘in the know’ and ‘collective’ empowerment is just. More. Fun.

It’s only natural that we invest our time, money, attention and energy into what we know and care about. Long-format storytelling moves beyond the bare-bones Who What Where When. B|A  also explores the Whys. This helps to expand the circles of our personal or professional lives and interests. Our projects, our creations, our businesses and organizations, our passions, lessons, ideas. How often have you come across something in a chance encounter and felt a thunder bolt of new awareness? Wanted to give it a shout out? Bonedale|Amplified lets us.

How does Bonedale|Amplified work?

Launching in May, the first several months of Bonedale|Amplified are experimental. We’ll test drive the model all summer,  sussing out its kinks, weaknesses and possibilities with no cost to anyone. All of you will ultimately determine how Bonedale|Amplified evolves.

In alignment with quality publications and information outlets all over, Bonedale|Amplified will institute a member/contributor Pay-to-Post model in….the future. Figure the kinks and possibilities first.

For a teeny fee, members can submit stories for the community blog in real time, so long as it meets submission guidelines. Posting on the timeline positions it for feedback and engagement with member readers.

To use your new tool, review the magazine departments, check out the monthly issue themes. Decide when is most appropriate for your story and pitch it to the editor. Pitches that don’t dovetail departments and themes are welcome in Dialog, the community forum.

Why do we have to pay to play?

Nothing is free (except love, which actually amplifies, the more you share it). Blog platforms, web domains, site hosts, design, plug-ins, editing….all this jazz? Gotta get that gwop.

So, that being said…drum roll, please…

80% of profits from Bonedale|Amplified will fund two organizations contributing to the financial security and strength of our town: the Carbondale Creative District and GlenX.

Worth it, ain’t it? Look what they do for us. Let’s pay it forward and do this for each other. So. Magazine, blog. As a community member, you are investing your time, talent and money in strengthening and evolving our community in the ways we choose. Thank you, You!