Leaving Essence?

Twenty years ago I raced to the mailbox to read Essence, then an avantguard black women's magazine. It was bold, radical, and appealed to my sense of justice, community, and love of black women. Now it's strains me to thumb through the ad-filled pages. Seems that three quarters of the magazine is Mabeline, Lexus, Walmart, Aveeno, Kodak, Revlon, and Verizon---to name a few. Oh, the articles are still there but they're buried between pages and pages of ads. It was never such a chore, as it is now.

Let me not sound too idealistic though. Magazines are a practical enterprise and corporate ads are the backbone of any upscale and classy publication. On the Essence website, there are even links to demographic and marketing data (i.e., African Americans spend 29.1 billion dollars on new cars and trucks, 6.5 billion on hair and personal care products) that makes it clear why we must wade through tons of ads. One could easily say that the magazine has sold its' soul to the corporate devil. I'm not going that far. We live in a global and market-driven world. I would just like to see a return of those bold years. Some would say that Essence still does a good job of raising consciousness. That may be true, but for once I'd like to just read the articles.