Here We Go

Once upon a time there was a little television show about .. umm .. Friends. On that show was a character whose sister was a waitress on another show. Yeah, her. This girl played the guitar not well, and yet in a particular episode, this character attained a following because she dared tell the truth. People (very little people) went out of their way to find her because they wanted to hear her songs - about the truth. We here at The Irreverent Homemaker herald that character as a hero for our times. In our quest to be the only magazine anywhere dedicated to the first-person perspective, we also want to dedicate ourselves to something else - the truth. In this issue you'll find topics other media outlets dare not touch. Why? We're not sure, but we think it has to do with advertising dollars. However, our advertisers have nothing to do with ratings or volume or the political manipulation of our content (How can we say that so brazenly? Because our advertisers bestowed upon us a 2006 award for creativity). You'll not see an ad here for the latest prescription suppository from a large pharmaceutical corporation that also happens to lobby, "inside the beltway." We thought the role of the media was to REPORT the news, not make it. Therefore, you'll find nothing on our pages about Anna Nicole Smith or Britney Spears. Nobody from our staff will be camping out at an AA meeting to get you scoop on Lindsay Lohan. We don't care how much the Olsen twins weigh. And we'll never try to steer you by endorsing a political candidate. Instead, we'll touch on subjects that engage you to think for yourself, open your mind, and enliven your common senses. You see, life is not about falling in-line, it's about making informed decisions. If we play some tiny role in helping you make your own informed decisions .. well, our job here is done.

We've been away. Sorry. Some very real-life health concerns have kept us from keeping you happily filled with snark and sarcasm. Everything's ok now, and so we're back.

.. And we're bringing friends. I'm pleased to announce that we're finally realizing our dream of launching a sister site in Spanish - Irreverentemente-Latina. Why? Because English doesn't have to be the first language you speak at home for you to be funny. Snark knows no international boundaries. So, we're adding a little Latin-American sizzle to this little game of sarcasm we like to play, and we'll see what happens.

I'm delighted to let you know that the very funny actress and writer, Yeni Alvarez, is going to head up the new Spanish-language effort. If you're bilingual, you're really going to love Yeni and Irreverentemente-Latina. If you're not bilingual .. you really might want to think about a second language, because there are some very good (and very funny) writers who don't bother with English. If you think you only need one language to get you through life - get over yourself because this planet of ours is shrinking in a hurry.

NEW STUFF: A reader not named .. umm .. me wrote in recently and asked, "Hey Jes - why does it only say, "2008," where the dateline should go?" Well, it's simple, really. When we first launched, we used to "publish" quarterly - like a paper magazine. The thing is, we're an electronic magazine, not a paper one. We like it that way. By professing a rolling publication schedule, we won't confuse our readers (or ourselves). We'll be publishing new material all the time, from now on, so watch for it. We're working on all sorts of new and exciting things for our readers .. so do come by often. One of the things I hope to do with The Irreverent Homemaker is to make it more easily interactive. Don't worry - we have no plans to become bloglike - we do have a blog set up for our readers on the ultra-fantastic LiVEJOURNAL (and no, that's not a paid plug!), but we like doing things differently here, and really don't want to water down our legitimacy by becoming like everyone else.

Live. Love. Laugh a lot.
Viva. Amor. Rķase mucho. Simplify.

JES ALEXANDER
Editorial Director