Yah! I said it…
Quilters Home Magazine ‘CAN’ survive without Mark Lipinski!
There I said it again! And I don’t care who reads it or sends my updates to their fallen leader. I didn’t care that his name was on the Mag before he quit and I don’t care that his name isn’t on it now.
The reason I faithfully drove to the book store to hunt down every issue of Quilter’s Home Magazine minutes after it hit the shelf had very little to do with the Man who’s face was plastered all over the mag giving you all the illusion that none of you had anything to do with the success of the mag.
Here’s my theory.
The Mag succeeded because of it’s awesome readership! Every issue, I ran to the book store to pick up my copy and sit in the parking lot and read it while the kids slept in the back seat(s).
I loved the mag because of the letters and comments from readers. Hell, most of the articles were written based on reader input. I never read it for any one person, I read it to feel like part of the ‘rebel’ quilting community. I hope that community can come together and keep this awesome mag alive because without it, we’re all stuck reading 100 pages of patterns!
The truth is, the reason we all read the magazine was to feel like a part of that ‘rebel’ quilting community. We were sick and tired of all the quiltzilla’s in this world telling us that we had to follow the rules. We were tired of the stereotype that quilters are a bunch of old ninnies!
ML wasn’t afraid to admit that he didn’t give a shit what anyone thought and that definitely started the snowball rolling. But let’s not forget that without the thousands of us readers that echoed his feelings and flooded his mailbox with letters sharing our experiences, that (quilter’s) mold would never had been shattered to pieces the way it was.
The truth is we all shared something pretty special within those glorious pages of Quilter’s Home. Sure it may have taken Mark Lipinski to point out all the little things that brought us together, and for that I am grateful. But I would never trade one person for the lineup of quilter’s still writing for quilter’s home. I love Meg Cox, Scott Murkin, Annie Smith, Megan Dougherty and Judy Busch, not to mention the 31 other names hidden behind the giant Photo of ML three pages in on every issue. The entire editorial staff that is. And to tell you the truth, I love the community of readers that write in to the mag every month.
This totally reminds me of high school. When I was in grade 11, the quarterback quit the football team because the coach wouldn’t let him wear his favorite Edmonton Eskimo Jersey to practice. For those of you that don’t know, the Edmonton Eskimos were our Championship CFL football team that happened to be the kids favorite. Long story short, the disgruntled quarterback wouldn’t play for the team because he was told he had to wear the sponsors jersey’s for practices and games cause they were paying for the team’s travel expenses and equipment. The kid abandoned his team and ended up ruining the schools entire football program because he convinced a bunch of his teammates to quit with him. This, combined with an ugly display of nasty gossip, caused the team to lose their sponsor and they had to shut the school’s team down.
Let me make myself perfectly clear!
It’s important to realize that it’s not always a choice between one or the other. It’s a big happy quilting world where everyone should be loved and respected. We are all blessed to have found such an awesome past time. When so much passion is involved, it’s hard to put the emotion aside at times. I completely understand. If ML comes out with another Mag, I will be the first one at that very same bookstore buying both magazines. I’d even make one my babies go without diapers to make sure I could afford them both LOL! Think Bradie would allow that?
My point is, I saw Mark speak last year at MQX and he was a riot! In fact he was nothing short of comical genius. Never the less he doesn’t define me! I can take him or leave him. Lucky for me, I’m the kind of quilter that needs as much inspiration as I can find, so I’ll be buying both mags for shizzle me nizzle! Comprehend?
Back to QH. I’m grateful that I found a magazine that made me feel like I finally belonged. This being said, I’m not about to abandon the team, which as a reader I felt I was a part of.
OK.
There.
My rant is finished!
I’ve been holding this in for a long time and I don’t know why I’ve been so afraid of all you posse members. Let it be known, You aren’t defined by one person either. Time to stand on your own two feet and come back to the team that we we were all a part of. Take the emotion out of the decision and just buy it cause you love to quilt. With all of our support, we can return Quilter’s Home to it’s glory!
