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Fusion Magazine was started in the fall of 2003 by founding editors Mandy Jenkins and Marie Ho and adviser Kate Common. Since then, the magazine has won several awards and continues to expand its audience base. Fusion Magazine is produced by students at Kent State University twice per academic year. The print and online publication (http://fusion.kent.edu) is supported by Kent State University Student Media and advertising.
Grants
The Gay Community Endowment Fund of Akron Community Foundation (http://gaycommunityfund.org)
Grant Recipient Profile: Fusion Magazine
GCEF awarded a $2,000 grant to Kent State University's award-winning Fusion Magazine. The grant to Fusion was made in our last grant award cycle in December, 2006. Published twice a year by KSU students, Fusion addresses sexual minority issues within the general population. Available in print and online, the magazine strives to unify people of different backgrounds through education and awareness, with stories focusing on depression, coming out, gay adoption, AIDS support groups, health issues, pride history, and more.
GCEF's grant helped the magazine increase its circulation, exposing more college students to LGBTA issues. Seventy-five percent of Fusion's budget comes from student fees via the Student Media Policy Committee, leaving twenty-five percent to be raised through advertising and fundraising.
Started in the fall of 2003, the magazine has won several awards such as the Society of Professional Journalist's 2004 Best Student Publication and Best All-Around Online Student Magazine.
Awards Received by Fusion Magazine (http://www.spj.org)
Annually, the Society of Professional Journalists presents the Mark of Excellence Awards honoring the best in student journalism. The awards offer 39 categories for print, radio, television, and online collegiate journalism. Entries are first judged on the regional level. Regional award winners are honored at spring regional conferences. First place regional winners are forwarded on to the national competition.
Since the beginning of its publication Fusion magazine received recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists and was presented with several Mark of Excellence Awards:
2003
Best Student Magazine (published once a year)-Honorable Mention, Staff, Fusion Magazine, Kent State University
Best All-Around Online Student Magazine-Second Place, Staff, Fusion Online, Kent State University
Feature Photography-Third Place, Pat Jarrett, Fusion Magazine Kent State University, My (Gay) Fraternity Life
Photo Illustration-First Place, Scott Galvin, Fusion Magazine Kent State University, Fighting homophobia on the field
2004
First Place: Best Student Magazine [Published More Than Once a Year]: Staff, Kent State University, “Fusion Magazine”
First Place: Best All-Around Online Student Magazine: Staff, Kent State University, “Fusion Magazine Online”
2006 Best Student Magazine • First Place: Staff, Kent State University, “Fusion Magazine”
Best Affiliated Web site • Third Place: Staff, Kent State University, “Fusion Magazine Online”
[edit] Sources
New Magazine to Discuss Sexual Minority Issues Story by Rekha Sharma (fall 2003 article originally published on http://jmc.kent.edu)
Promiscuous. Immoral. Depraved.
Such stereotypes - and labels far worse - are often used to describe sexual minorities.
To Marie Ho, Mandy Jenkins and Kate Common, they are words that keep heterosexuals from understanding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals, as well as a lot of other people for whom there are no easy categories.
Enter a new magazine that aims to bring people of all sexual orientations together in a spirit of education and awareness: Fusion. The publication will debut its fall semester issue in print and on the Web this November.
Kate Common, production manager for Student Media and adviser for the new magazine, said the publication isn't about sex, but about tolerance. Common said editors Jenkins and Ho hope to draw attention to such issues as legal and social discrimination against sexual minorities.
"Since the inception of the publication, their goal has been to promote awareness and education in both communities, both straight and gay, and in the entire university community," Common said.
Visual editor Marie Ho, who helped initiate the idea for Fusion, emphasized that the magazine aims to encourage tolerance of different groups and ideas, and to make people think about how sexual minority issues can impact them personally.
"It's not about homosexuality, and it's not about whether homosexuality is right or wrong. We're not debating that," said Ho, a photojournalism and sociology major. "We're saying that there should be a safe environment for every single individual, whether you're a minority or not."
After all, Ho cautioned, once a label is created, there's every chance it will be misapplied.
Editor Mandy Jenkins, a graduate student in journalism who has held editorial positions at the Burr and the Daily Kent Stater, admits that Fusion won't be the first student publication to have covered issues pertaining to sexual minorities. But she said a token story once a semester is not enough to really provide complete coverage of topics that pertain to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals.
In fact, the lack of publications in the Cleveland and Akron areas addressing the gay community led to the idea for Fusion, Ho said. With most of the coverage of sexual minority issues coming from Columbus or nationally based sources, Fusion will offer localized perspectives.
The Student Media Policy Committee allocated $3,710 to the magazine last spring, but all publications funded by the committee are required to bring in about 25 percent of their operating revenue through advertising or fund raising, said Lori Cantor, business manager for Student Media.
But controversial issues such as homosexuality sometimes make advertisers nervous, and that could pose a potential problem for Fusion, which will need to bring in about $1,000. Student Media Interim Advertising Manager Russ Lynn said he thinks the magazine is off to a good start, thanks to the personal commitment of ad rep Steven Harbaugh, who was offered the job after presenting Lynn with an extensive list of possible advertising contacts.
Harbaugh is secretary of PRIDE! Kent, a student organization that also centers on sexual minority issues, as well as a writer for Fusion. He said that local and national companies have shown an interest in advertising with the magazine, but he and the editors want to make certain that all ads in Fusion are tasteful.
"We're trying to be more conservative than the Stater and other student publications," he said. "The whole mission of the magazine is to shy away from the sleazy, sex-driven reputation that is sometimes given to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community."
Lynn and Harbaugh both said that once people see the first issue and understand that Fusion aims to educate rather than titillate, advertisers and readers will want to get on board.
But if Fusion is to stay true to its purpose, it will have to do more than print stories for the gay and lesbian community. It will need to draw in a general audience that may include people who are ignorant of or opposed to the magazine's message.
The important point for Fusion, the editors said, is to tell all sides of the story.
"The design of Fusion is an 8-by-8-inch square, almost in the form of a box," explained Ho, adding that the shape of the magazine was meant to allude to the hidden depth readers would discover upon reading the pages. "A lot of people are going to pick up this publication not knowing what it's about, and when they open that up, it's sort of like they're going outside their own box ... to see other possibilities."
For example, social constructs such as gender don't apply conveniently to people who don't think of themselves as traditionally male or female. To accurately reflect the people and issues they cover, Fusion's staff will need to be attuned to all of the various voices that are often unheard in other media outlets.
"What if I interview someone, and the person doesn't identify as 'he' or 'she'?" Ho said. "What do you use? The biggest thing that we've come up with is that you have to ask. Why do we have to make an assumption?”
Jenkins said it helps have a diverse staff that is familiar with sexual minority issues from different perspectives, with one person's knowledge balancing another person's inexperience.
"I've really learned a lot," she said. "I have friends who are gay, but I don't understand the issues, I don't understand the history, and they [staff members belonging to sexual minorities] help the other writers out with that."
But to gain further insight into the student population, Ho has organized a gathering for leaders of student organizations and other interested parties at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 13 in the Governance Chambers of the Student Center on the Kent campus. The goal of the forum is for Fusion editors to better understand how campus groups view sexual minority issues, whether the opinions are positive or negative.
"This population exists," Ho said. "You can't nullify the population. You can't nullify the opposition. We don't want to nullify it. We just want to see how different people deal with this."
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