Former Toledo City Paper editor Jason Webber is breaking into the national publication scene while balancing a government job.

Webber, who served as public information officer for former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, works as the legislative aide to the mayor in Dayton. He has a review of an album by Grace Jones in the latest edition of bitch magazine and also freelances for the Dayton City Paper.

Webber

“I’m just trying to keep the creative well flowing,” Webber said.

In 2008, Webber sent a query letter to the publisher of bitch and submitted his first article. It was a small piece on Wendy O. Williams, the lead singer of the Plasmatics.

“I’ve been an avid reader of bitch for a few years,” Webber said. “There aren’t too many magazines that do what they do. They write about pop culture from an academic standpoint, but it’s always through a very feminist lens. You don’t see that much with pop culture lenses.”

Later that year, Webber wrote a 3,000-word feature on Prince and the feminism of his lyrics.

“That was pretty cool because that was the first time I had a big feature published in a national magazine,” he said.

Based out of Portland, Ore., bitch magazine was first published in 1996 and is distributed quarterly to more than 50,000 readers.

“bitch has good, strong editors working for them,” Webber said. “They know their craft. Whenever they send you back their copy, it is full with really helpful suggestions. It’s a pleasure to work with them. They’re really at the top of their game.”

Webber is in the minority as a male writing for the feminist publication.

“If you go through their masthead, I’m pretty sure I’m their only male contributor,” he said. “The reason there aren’t more men who write for bitch is I don’t think they have a lot of male readers. When I approached the founder and asked if I could write for her, she was more than happy to work with me.”

Webber knows he’s also in the minority as a male reader of bitch magazine.

“Some men can be intimidated with bitch because it is very staunchly feminist,” he said. “It’s a very left-leaning periodical. It’s a magazine that has a lot of attitude. I’m sure that would be terrifying to some men. My father saw an issue and was freaked out by it. My dad is kind of a staunch conservative.”

Tags: bitch magazine, Dayton City Paper, Grace Jones, Jason Webber, Wendy O. Williams

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 at 12:03 pm and is filed under Media, Star.
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