CONTENT Magazine's premiere issue was released May 12.

CONTENT, a new online glossy magazine highlighting San Jose culture and style, released its premiere issue on May 12.

The magazine was started by “cultivator” (they don’t seem to like the title of “editor”) Daniel Garcia to present our community’s art, commerce, politics, and lifestyle with “style and responsibility”, as he told me over coffee a couple of weeks ago.

The “beta” issue, which has been online for several weeks, was put together by Garcia, a professional photographer, with the help of his network of friends and contacts. As word has spread, additional volunteers have come forward to help with future issues.

The magazine staff plan to develop a theme for each issue. Where the beta issue focused on “traffic”, the premiere focusses on “dirt”, which they take to mean both the substance beneath our feet, and a place of renewal as when decaying material returns its nutrients to new growing plants. The issue covers topics like composting in the garden, the lives of migrant workers, and unemployment in Silicon Valley. The CONTENT website is also featuring a photo essay by Joe Claus (previously featured on Metblogs) on people who’ve been “let go”.

General areas the magazine will cover include music and fashion, in the print magazine tradition. A “Writings” section, covering current literature, is planned under the byline of “wordster” Jon Havens. Garcia plans to develop the magazine slowly, with no expectation of making it profitable in the near future. He sees it as a possible springboard and portfolio builder for writers, artists, photographers, and designers, although he is hoping to be able to pay for contributions at some point if the magazine takes off.

The beta issue showed great promise, with excellent photography and design, and good writing. Copyediting was one weak area, with a few typos and wildly arranged sentences sprinkled throughout the magazine. Luckily, Garcia told me one of his new volunteers is a self-described “copyediting geek” who can help them fill in this skill.