Conscious Choice: Happy Birthday Conscious Choice

May 1998

Happy Birthday Conscious Choice

Celebrating 10 Years

by Bobbye Middendorf

In celebration of our tenth anniversary, we asked Bobbye Middendorf to help us tell our story to those of our readers who would like to know more about the people behind the publication.
— The editors

In 1987, Jim Slama and Ross Thompson were involved with an adult education group called Common Ground, working on a newsletter for the organization, and trying to drum up an audience for the philosophies that the group presented.

To help build the audience, they got the idea to start a publication, an independent publication, where issues like those discussed at Common Ground could be presented to a broader audience. Although neither Jim nor Ross had a background in publishing, the fledgling desktop publishing and affordable computer revolution was making do-it-yourself publishing a viable opportunity. After nearly a year of incubation, the first issue of Conscious Choice came out in the spring of 1988.

Doing Good, Having Fun, Making Money
"There are some people I want to acknowledge," says Jim Slama, Co-founder and Publisher. "First there’s Jim Kenney, Executive Director of Common Ground, who is our Consulting Editor. He has read nearly every word that would be printed in Conscious Choice for ten years. We’ve leaned on his intellectual rigor. He has helped us maintain a high level of editorial integrity."

"Leslie Limberg and Ron Hoffman have written in every issue. They’ve been with us since the beginning, as have some of our advertisers."

Ten years ago, Jim Slama had a successful financial planning practice. He also had some writerly ambitions, a desire to build an audience for the ideas under discussion at Common Ground, and a passionate interest in environmental issues, natural living, and healthful alternatives to the mainstream lifestyle.

"In the summer of 1987 I was backpacking out west. I knew when I came back that I wanted to start a magazine. I thought of Ross. He was a detail guy, knew computers. We thought we’d have some fun and do some good. We didn’t realize then that it would turn into a full-time profession."

"In January 1988, we had a‘Name that Magazine’ party. We came up with‘Conscious Living,’ but that wasn’t quite right. We kept coming back to the idea that the magazine would help people make‘conscious choices.’ I was in the shower, repeating the phrase, and suddenly I thought,‘Why not Conscious Choice?’ Later, I went to a service at Unity Church in Chicago, and during the talk, the minister, Sara Matoin, must have mentioned‘conscious choices’ a dozen times. I said,‘That’s a sign.’

"We got out 25,000 copies of the first issue on the hottest day of June in 1988. Ross and I rented a truck and distributed it ourselves. It was amazing how many people responded; people wanted to be part of it."

"We started out publishing from my apartment, then we moved it to Ross’ apartment, and when Sondra started after the second issue, she worked out of her home office. We had an advantage of being open to new technology and of figuring out how to do things as inexpensively yet professionally as possible. We had a growth spurt when Ross decided to commit to the magazine full time, about eight years ago, and we had another growth spurt when we moved into the loft office space on Franklin."

Slama speaks with obvious pride of the magazine’s four Utne Reader "Best of the Alternative Press" award nominations and of the quality of the work turned out by the small, dedicated staff. But outside events also served as milestones and enhanced the growth opportunities for Conscious Choice.

"Earth Day 1990 was a significant turning point," noted Slama. "We got involved in the planning, and helped produce the event. It was not just a party in the park. We had excellent speakers, a strong educational component. We created the official guide to the event, with mainstream advertisers in addition to the alternative advertisers. And I saw a lot of people walking around Earth Day with copies of Conscious Choice under their arm. It was exciting to see people come out for what they cared about."

The Exxon Valdez oil spill served as an environmental wake-up call, while the 1992 Harvard Study on Alternative Medicine, released a couple of years later, showed that a significantly large percentage of Americans tried alternative healing modalities.

Slama speaks passionately about the environmental backlash that gained corporate-funded momentum in the 1990s. "That was one of the reasons I got involved in starting Sustain [a non-profit environmental information group], as a response to the rabid anti-environmentalism. Corporations have public policy makers in their pockets, making it easy to get anti-environmental initiatives passed. And they also spend a lot of money on communications. Sustain was founded to help balance this by providing strong communication tools to create positive environmental campaigns. I’m happy to say it’s been very successful so far. I am particularly proud of our work on the national Campaign to Keep‘Organic’ Organic."

Conscious Choice, on the other hand, provides resources for individuals. It has grown in tandem with interest in the environment and in natural health. "The real key to growth for us was when Fresh Fields and Whole Foods came to town" acknowledges Slama. "Access to the natural foods industry brought with it a chance to make money and to make a difference."

As Conscious Choice expanded distribution through the new natural foods supermarkets, they found they were reaching a broader, arguably more mainstream audience. And with these major new sources of distribution, they experienced another spurt of growth.

Who, then, reads Conscious Choice? "We’re compiling the results of a new reader study. Prior studies have shown that more than 80 percent are college grads, or have done some graduate study. Somewhere between 60 and 80 percent are women. Readers have moderate to affluent incomes. In a different time, they would have been called‘intellectuals.’ Our readership includes thoughtful, educated people who care."

Slama comments, "In our niche, we serve advertisers and also readers. The magazine offers a convenient way to access providers. It’s part of the magazine’s mission to give our readers information that helps them better their lives and ultimately better the planet. We also give our advertisers access to the readers, while the advertisers themselves contribute to the well-being of the readers (their customers or clients) and to the planet. It’s a self-renewing loop.

"One of the things I’m most pleased with is that we have broken stories that were later covered by the mainstream press. We’ve done good reporting on sustainable and organic agriculture. We’ve helped to raise the consciousness of people about food safety, environmental issues, community supported agriculture, and family farms. We’ve also partnered with the environmental community, building strong relationships. We’re an advocacy publication. We report in a way that gets results. Helping to grow segments of the community is integral to our own growth."

Ten Years Behind the Scenes and Loving Every Minute
Since the magazine’s inception and for eight years full-time, Ross Thompson, Co-founder and Managing Editor, has been the one behind the scenes at Conscious Choice. He manages production, evaluates and implements computer systems and software, and generally maintains the hum of technical and daily activity that’s essential to keeping any publication running over the long term.

Asked about his motivation to help start the magazine, he replied, "The field of desktop publishing was in its infancy. I was interested in it, had been dabbling with computers. I’d done some newsletter work for Common Ground, and was also interested in the topics, and in the new technology."

Thompson had been working at a trade show exhibit company, managing the design, engineering, and graphics departments. Prior to that, he had been an independent carpentry contractor and aspiring musician.

Thompson recollects, "It was a huge effort to get an issue out in the early days. We would work on it evenings and weekends, and every issue we pulled a few all-nighters." He continues, "The new desktop publishing technology was enabling from the beginning. Two guys with full-time jobs couldn’t have done it without the Macintosh and the software. Established publications have had to change their workflow as desktop publishing became the standard, but we started out with the technology and grew up with it."

Thompson’s role has expanded over time, although he did hand off the bookkeeping a few years ago. He oversees day-to-day operations, the layout and design of each issue, and he manages the flow of information. "Meeting deadlines, keeping the machinery running; the tech side is not glamorous, but it plays to my strengths," says Thompson.

"The work has gotten more technological over time. We’re now producing the magazine 100-percent digitally, no manual paste-up or film stripping. Our connectivity with the outside world has become more immediate. We receive almost all article manuscripts and many ad layouts through e-mail. Effectively managing that technology has enabled us to grow without building a large organization."

Technology — via the Conscious Choice web site that’s been on the Internet since May 1995 — has also allowed the magazine to reach a global audience. "People worldwide are accessing and reading articles originally written for the local market. We’ve even had Bosnia show up in our web logs."

Thompson cites the Gulf War as a catalyst for the magazine’s growth, in addition to Earth Day 1990 and the 1992 Harvard study. "The war pushed us in a more political direction. We printed a list of reasons Bush got into the war. After that we began to publish candidate endorsements. That may have been a turning point.

"I feel strongly that Conscious Choice has helped make change happen at a personal level, though I can’t back it up with hard evidence. Based on the response we get from people who write in, we’re helping people make changes in their lives."

I asked Thompson about the magazine’s strengths and weaknesses, and he mused, "When we started, we were inspired by Utne Reader. Like them, we fueled much of the early editorial on reprints. It’s a strength that we now do mostly original editorial. We wish we had the resources to do more investigative reporting."

He is pleased with the magazine’s direction. "In the first few years," he recalls, "it seemed like we were preaching to the converted. We have always tried to present material that’s nonthreatening enough that a mainstream reader could pick it up and perhaps be open to the ideas. We try not to rant. We present alternative news in an accessible format for a mainstream audience. We let them know there are alternatives related to their health care, the foods they eat, and the environment they live in.

"I think we are reaching a broader group of readers than in the past. A few years back we added street boxes to our distribution and that made us visible to many people who otherwise wouldn’t have known about us."

Thompson expresses enthusiasm for a new database system he is developing to make advertising, editorial, and production tracking even more efficient, and he’s excited about the attention they plan to devote to the web site this year. For Thompson, it’s natural to embrace the new: no Luddites here!

Earth Mother, Visionary, and Her Clients Pay the Bills
For a publication with free distribution, advertising revenues spell life or death. It is a testament to this magazine’s effectiveness at reaching a targeted niche market that advertising revenues have never faltered over its first decade.

Sondra Brigandi, Advertising Director and Partner, recollects, with her characteristic laugh, the first time she met Slama and Thompson. "I have this vision of people sweating over a computer in the back of Ross’ apartment. There were these two guys who had been up all night, had a two-day growth of beard.... It was quite a shock.

"I first saw the magazine when the second issue came out," she explains. I didn’t pay attention to the frequency. I was working at the time at what was called a recycling company on the commercial and industrial level. I thought my efforts with that company would be a contribution to making the planet a better place. But it was a high pressure environment and not a good fit. I knew I couldn’t continue to do it. I was seeing a naprapath at the time for all the stress. While I was waiting for my appointment, I read a couple of articles in that second issue. It had excellent writing and good intentions. I called them right after my appointment, called from the car phone."

"Now at that time, both Jim and Ross were part-time, but when I called that afternoon, Jim answered the phone, and he was almost never available at the number. I strongly believe there are no coincidences or accidents. I talked to him about selling advertising, saying that I had a background in graphics and advertising. We set up an interview. I put on my knock-’em-dead job-getting suit, and I got the job. Then I got out of the other company.

"It didn’t sink in that I was starting to work for a fledgling company until the night I brought them some ads for the next issue. Jim and Ross had been up for two days putting the magazine together. At that moment I knew these people had their hearts in their company, and I remember thinking,‘This is going to make it. And I’m in it for the duration.’

"They subsidized it to get it going. It took devotion, believing in what they were doing. It needed a lot of‘getting along.’ We’ve always been pretty low on egos. We’ve tried to keep in mind what was needed for the common good — to get a product to readers and to get the message out."

Brigandi notes, "We were considered fringe when we started. But now I see the mainstream coming toward us." At recent Natural Products Expos, Brigandi observed numerous new products being developed from sources that she would never have expected to be involved in the industry. "But we had the heart for it. Jim and Ross sensed a need and filled it."

Brigandi’s role continues as head of advertising. She also does some training and functions in some instances like a one-woman human resources department. "Maybe it’s my positive attitude. I just think we can work anything out if we talk about it."

Brigandi credits legal attacks on natural health alternatives with focusing some of the magazine’s energy. At various times over the past ten years, the practices of naprapathy and acupuncture were driven underground and threatened with felony prosecutions for practicing. "Every time this got into the news, it brought to light alternative ways of getting and staying healthy."

Brigandi recalls Conscious Choice being particularly effective in bringing issues regarding recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH) to the attention of consumers. She’s also glad the magazine was instrumental in closing the west side incinerator.

When asked about strengths and weaknesses, she acknowledges, "We’re like the Energizer Bunny — we just keep going and going. We are willing to make sacrifices. Our hearts are invested in it. We’d rather be doing this than anything." On the other hand, she observes, "We can be a little starry-eyed and naive. But that’s also part of our strength: having the heart and the bullheadedness to just keep on doing this. And our strength is in our writing. There’s nothing out there with better writing."

The most memorable story for Brigandi was one of the first ones she read. "It was about the empowerment of the employee. It hit me hard because of the business I was in. I was feeling disenfranchised, powerless in that situation. I acted on my gut feeling by getting involved with Conscious Choice."

Brigandi’s gut continues to tell her she’s doing the right things. Discussing the complex interactions between advertisers, readers, and the magazine itself, she says, "I have the sense the market is expanding, that we’re not preaching to the converted. I’m getting inquiries from big insurance companies, and other mainstream industries. Conscious Choice tweaks their curiosity.

"But," she adds, "there have been ads we’ve refused. We feel a responsibility to bring advertisers in who will do business with our readers with integrity. Will they do right by our readers? Sometimes I feel like a sentry on watch, trying to keep shysters away from our readers. We don’t want to promote mere‘kooks.’"

She also notes that in recent years Conscious Choice has been attracting more national advertisers. And while they may be more savvy and educated about advertising, she holds a particular fondness for the local advertisers who, like Conscious Choice in the early days, are themselves challenged to get their businesses up and running. "I love supporting the people who supported us for so long. We built our success along with the success of small local companies and practices. We want to retain that mix, to encourage people to buy local products and services. And we do want people to act on the vision — when readers see something of interest in the magazine, follow that hunch and call or visit. Readers’ support of our advertisers ultimately supports us."

Doing Work That Makes a Difference
Asked about her inspiration and motivation to join forces with Conscious Choice, Sheri Reda, Editor and writer (and a talented teacher and performer) notes, "I wanted to start doing work that I believed would make a direct difference."

Like Slama and Thompson, Reda volunteered her services at first. Using editorial skills honed over many years working in educational publishing, she eventually satisfied herself that the magazine was a reliable source for alternative news. Slama and Thompson appreciated the effort, and "I became the editorial staff," she observes.

"In the beginning, when there were things we wanted the magazine to cover we often had to write them ourselves. We also spent a lot of energy looking for writers." Over time, the magazine became more of a forum for the many people with something to say about environmental and health issues. "Now," says Reda, "we handle queries and have developed established relationships with writers. The magazine is bigger, yet we can’t always publish everything we want to include."

Reda believes that the audience for Conscious Choice has grown more sophisticated over time. "People know more about alternatives than they used to. We used to spend a lot of print space simply introducing modalities and techniques. Now we’re able to cover improvements and innovations. It’s gone beyond just raising people’s consciousness. Now we explore the various opportunities for finding organic food and alternative practices. We’re no longer on the‘fringe.’"

Reda cites several positive sources of support for environmental awareness and natural health, including "Gore, who promotes the environment, becoming Vice President; the Parliament of the World’s Religions; the Earth Summits in Rio and Kyoto; the opening of organic supermarkets. But there are so many battles to fight," she continues. "The fights over rBGH and organic standards show that real commitment to natural and environmental health is still a ways off. But Conscious Choice helped close the west side incinerators. And we run columns that are geared to individual action, so readers don’t have to feel hopeless."

Though good and evil are easily identifiable in some cases, Reda comments that Conscious Choice has taught her that things aren’t always black and white. About the complex interconnections between the magazine, its advertisers, and its readers, she says, "That took some getting used to for me. I’d always worked under the belief that editorial had nothing to do with advertising, that it was‘pure.’ But part of our goal is to show options and alternatives to mainstream ways of doing things and mainstream products. Part of our mission is to support our advertisers."

When I asked her about the magazine’s strengths and weaknesses, she replied, "In one way our weakness is our strength. The magazine is pretty close to being run by consensus. We call each other on half-baked opinions. We argue — in a friendly sort of way. That slows us down and make us less efficient than we wish we were, but it does get all viewpoints out there.

"We’d like to break more news, unearth hidden issues and do more analysis," she says, echoing Thompson. And we continue in that direction with each new issue. But to be a balanced person," she explains, "you also need to revisit your thoughts. We support that kind of ongoing reexamination, both in our meetings and within the pages of the magazine.

"I’ll never forget the response to the article I wrote about eating meat," she laughs. "I got more passionate responses about that — both pro and con — than anything else I’ve ever written. We do try to challenge our own perceptions, and sometimes we challenge those of our readers."

She concludes, "One thing that makes Conscious Choice exciting is that readers will write with corrections, argue their point of view. It’s gratifying — to know the work is necessary and making a difference, and that people care enough to read it, criticize it, and offer some thoughts of their own."

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