:
KATHERINE WESSLING
Since there was the threat of Speak's shutting down more than once over
the past few years, I've run the gamut of emotions— disbelief, anger,
sorrow and, finally, a sort of resigned acceptance and a feeling that
I've been very lucky to participate in something that meant something.
I've also been lucky to find a group of events, shows and publications
that speak to me. Yet most of them are either folding or on the verge
of folding. But other things will step in to fill the void— those
voices will be heard, I'm sure of it.
:
BRIAN BOULDREY
San Francisco, and maybe even the nation at large, is not interested
in art and literature, or seriousness in general. It's interested in money
and high-tech, and being entertained. I haven't had a down-and-dirty discussion
about ideas or writing, outside of a classroom, in a long time. And, one
by one, all my writer/musician/painter friends are bailing. The ferment,
it seems to me, is gone.
I am too. Northwestern University has offered me a position on its writing faculty and I'm jumping on it. A massive pay cut, a cold winter, but the money ain't worth it, the mild climate neither. If I sound bitter, it's because I am. It just seems the closing of Speak's doors has something to do with this. The loss is not immediately felt, it's a cumulative effect, and every time we go without one more cultural venue, whether it's the downtown rehearsal, or the Transmission theatre, or Speak magazine, the town seems just a little more arid.
:
KAREN LEVY
I'm
really sad to see Speak go. Its not surviving seems to me a sad statement
on the media these days. There's no room for anything that's different
and provocative and stylish outside the corporate bounds. Where's the
soul in the publishing industry? Sold to the highest bidder.
:
MARK SHEPHERD
Speak's demise does not surprise me. In this day and age when more and
more media and publications are owned and determined by megla/corporate/ fashion-of-the-minute/sodapop-guzzlin/ three-hundred-dollar-sneaker-wearin/ boob-augmentating
conglomerates that merge with other megla/corporate/ fashion-of-the-minute/ sodapop-guzzlin/ three-hundred-dollar-sneaker-wearin/ boob-augmentating
conglomerates, the stories must sell what is being forced down everyone's
throat. It all goes hand in hand in one neat package. What will I do now?
Not look to the magazine racks, unless I really have the urge to buy,
buy, buy.
:
JORDAN OAKES
I'm going to miss Speak. It was a noticeably dissenting voice in a village
of blank-paged idiots. Magazines that are at least metaphorically—intellectually—blank.
Magazines that, in their fondled, demographically correct rows, smile
with celebrity teeth as white as an advertiser's lie. When there are so
many of those kinds of magazines and no room left for a totally iconoclastic
pleasure like Speak, we may as well let Madison Avenue write the articles.
Don't they already? Corporate journalism has teased the magazine industry
into a designer-brand orgy of jean ads and bandwagon-jumping. The horse
is riding the cowboy. But where are the heroes?
In a way, the end of Speak is a sad confirmation that too much mediocrity can never replace just the right amount of excellence. And that it will continue to edge out excellence until journalism with real teeth is worn down to a mournful silence.
:
HAROLD JAFFE
To disinfect our sick and degraded culture by an anti-viral
agent called Art: that was Speak's self-appointed ambition, which Dan
implemented with intelligence, disciplined energy, and panache. It was
an ambition that, given our depleted social condition, was quixotic, but
it was an effort eminently worth making not only for the excellences it
produced but for its brave initiative.
:
RENEE LERTZMAN
It was clear to me from the beginning that Speak was filling
a niche, even if this niche was hard to define and slippery. It had to
do with being smart without being theoretical, fresh without being pretentious,
honest, and fun. I had fun reading Speak.
:
ALEC PALAO
I always thought Speak was a publication of the very highest quality.
Intellectually stimulating and visually stunning, leaving Speak lying
around for guests to browse gave me the suavest coffee table in town.
:
ELIZABETH KLEINE
My family has dutifully subscribed to Speak for years. When I broke the
news that it might end, my mom asked, "Would
it help if I bought subscriptions for my book club? We could have a bake
sale." My dad added, "Maybe
if Speak supplied a Cliff Notes version it wouldn't be having this problem."
My sister was the only one who understood. She cried, "Speak
can't end! What else will I read at night and go to sleep completely enlightened
and puzzled?!"
There's nothing quite like Speak out there. I still hold on to the fleeting hope that this is all just a clever marketing ploy— otherwise it's back to designing law-firm Web sites for me.
:
MATT NEUMAN
I'm sorry the rag's folding, but it now joins Collier's, the Saturday
Evening Post, and PM in the dustbin of literary history, and
that's not bad company. By the way, have you ever considered calling it
Rosie O'Donnell's Speak?
:
JOHN LARDAS
When Herman Melville was seven years old, his father wrote
that "little Herman"
was "very backward in
speech & somewhat slow in comprehension, but you will find him as far
as he understands men & things both solid & profound, & of a docile and
amiable disposition."
Speak is one of those magazines that fits somewhere in between Harper's and Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music. On one hand, dependable, tried and true, a critical look at the world today. On the other hand, misunderstood, misread, hard to read, a singular point in time. It will be reissued in twenty years or so by somebody, somewhere. And so it goes when everything is fed back.
 |
|
In
the 1930s, Speak's second-story office was warehouse space. Two
sixteen-foot-tall, metal doors open over the back alley and presumably
provided access through which to transport materials to street level.
|
 |
|
Speak office, January
2001.
|
:
TOMAS MATZA
The freedom to develop a vision is a rare thing. The fact that we could
make mistakes meant that we could scale a few mountains, too. I've learned
a lot about quality and intensity. I demand a lot from everyone who works
with me, but never any more than I demand from myself. I learned all of
that from Speak.
:
MARTIN VENEZKY
It has become a playground for me, and a chance to explore lots of new
visual things. It is such a rare project, and I'm sure that I will miss
it greatly, especially as the final issues get dustier and dustier.
:
DAN ROLLERI
This should be an exciting time for all of us, with lots of
possibilities for new projects and collaborations. But I'd give anything
to be able to work on this magazine, with these people, for the rest of
my life. :::::
: ORAL HISTORY BIOS
Brian Baise was a contributing writer for Speak #9, #12-14, #20 & #21
Kenneth Bernard was a contributing writer for Speak #10, #13, #15 & #17
Brian Bouldrey was a contributing writer for Speak #14 & #20
Barry Gifford was a contributing writer for Speak #7-17
Caitlin Hume was advertising director for Speak #3-11
Harold Jaffe was a contributing writer for Speak #11, #17 & #19
Elizabeth Kleine was a contributing writer for Speak #16 & #17 and designed Speak's current Web site
John Lardas was a contributing writer for Speak #13-21
Renee Lertzman was a contributing writer for Speak #14, #17, #19 & #20
Karen Levy was a contributing writer for Speak #9, #11, #18, & #19
John Lockhart was advertising account executive for Speak #5-11, and advertising director for Speak #12-21
Tomas Matza was copy editor for Speak #5-7, associate editor for Speak #8-21, and a contributing writer for Speak #6 & #9-21
Mark Mordue was a contributing writer for Speak #20 & #21
Elisabeth Morse was senior editor for Speak #7, and a contributing writer for Speak #18-20
Matt Neuman was a contributing writer for Speak #15-21
Jordan Oakes was a contributing writer for Speak #18-20
Alec Palao was a contributing writer for Speak #9 & #16
Sam Prestianni was a contributing writer for Speak #6-11, #15, #20 & 21
Dan Rolleri was publisher for Speak #1-4, and editor/publisher for Speak #5-21
Roger Sabin was a contributing writer for Speak #3-21
Isabel Sadurni was a contributing writer for Speak #7-9 & #11
Mark Shepherd was a contributing illustrator for Speak #6, #9, #10, #16, #18 & #19
M.G. Stephens was a contributing writer for Speak #6, #10, #12 & #18
Jon Sueda was assistant designer for Speak #8-13
Martin Venezky was art director for Speak #1 & #3-21
Katherine Wessling was editor of World Pages for Speak #5-18, and
a contributing writer for Speak # 4-10, #12, #15-18, & #21.