STAND MAGAZINE
A little while ago I was followed on Twitter by a magazine called "STAND". I will admit I had never heard of it but as it was a "Man Mag" I followed back. After a bit of snooping on their Twitter page and their website it became apparent they were a fairly new magazine with only a few issues released. Clicking on the subscription services I was able to see that they are a quarterly magazine with a new issue released every 12/13 weeks. It also became apparent that they were aimed at the "modern man" and at "fathers" which is strengthened by their tagline:
"For Men Who Give A Damn"
I read a few of their articles online and found them interesting so when I saw that they were looking for bloggers to do reviews I expressed my interest. I was asked to contact the Editor, Dwayne Hayes, which I did and we exchanged details. A week or so later I received a print copy of "Issue 06" through the post which is the latest edition.
I had a quick flick through and I was visually impressed by what I saw. The images were crisp and clear, the paper was good quality and the layout was appealing. I particularly liked that it wasn't absolutely littered with hundreds of adverts, which is something you can expect from magazines these days, and that it didn't appear to be too busy or overloaded with information. But, as we all know, magazine aren't just about the visuals...magazines are for reading so the content is what matters. The contents page breaks down what is within the magazine and includes:
Memoirs
Poetry
Interviews
Photography
Cool Dad Style
A Woman We Admire
Health and Fitness
Reviews
And several other sections too.
So...I have to admit that having read the contents page and having had a quick flick through my initial thought was:
"This is a little bit of a hipster magazine. Maybe a bit too hipstery for my liking"
Like most men of my age I do have a few hipster quirks...I drink gin, I give a shit about my appearance, I have a desire to up-cycle something old in to something new or to make something out of packing pallets (although I never have...yet) and I have a beard (although I had mine before everyone else did...true story). I am not, however, full on hipster. I don't wear beanie hats that I crocheted myself out of reclaimed organic llama wool, I don't vape, I don't drink out of empty jam jars and I don't listen to music by Father John Misty or The Lumineers. My initial thought was that "STAND" might be more catered more towards the latter type of "modern hipster man" and I wasn't convinced I would enjoy it. However, there was only one way to find out and that was to read it. So that is what I did. And, guess what...I really enjoyed it.
The first article about "Reflections of Fatherhood" by Matteo Bussola was really well written (translated actually) and was totally relatable. The article by Gary Barker titled "Fatherhood Goes Global" was a fascinating read and a real eye opener. The interview with Brian Vander Ark about a modern dad working in the entertainment industry was a great read as was the article about "The Fatherhood Project". I particularly enjoyed the photography section about "Fathers and Sons" and found the images to be interesting and I even looked at all of the fashion pictures in the "Cool Dad Style" section which is something I would usually skip.
In the final third of the magazine was an article about Laura Austin in a section called "A Woman We Admire" which I think is a really wise move to include in what is essentially a magazine for men. This is a clever way to avoid the overly offended brigade of 2017 to try and call "STAND" a "sexist magazine" which, let's face it, is the kind of thing that would totally happen today. So by having an article about a strong female who is admirable is very clever and was also a great read. Dai Manuel's article was also a great read as were the reviews which were really well written, honest and fair. I also liked how they interviewed a documentary from 2014 and didn't just stick to brand new releases.
All in all the magazine was really well written, really well constructed and laid out in a way that made it flow very well. I really enjoyed reading all of the articles within the magazine. The standouts for me would be the "Fatherhood Goes Global" article and the "A Woman We Admire" which I found really interesting. The only thing that I would say I didn't enjoy were the poems. Not because they were badly written or because they were boring but mainly because I am not a fan of poetry. But for those who are fans of poetry I feel they would really enjoy these poems.
"STAND" is a cool magazine and I really enjoyed reading it and I would definitely recommend it to all my Dad friends...but suggest they leave it lying about as their partners will also enjoy reading it. This is definitely a modern magazine for the modern man and I really enjoyed reading it and will definitely be reading it again in the future.
You can follow "STAND" on Twitter here https://twitter.com/StandMagazine1
And check out their website here http://www.stand-magazine.com/
Until next time...
The Twiglet's Dad
DISCLAIMER: I received issue 06 of STAND magazine direct from the Editor free of charge - I have not been paid or received any reward for this review. All opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.
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