A soft news style will flow throughout the magazine with breaking news stories left for The Hurricane.

“We are aiming at producing a magazine that will not only attract our readers, or reflect our age group, but we are looking forward to creating a style that will be recognizable, ingenious, spontaneous, but simple,” said Wendy Muniz, the creative director for Distraction.

The purpose of the magazine is to provide a “distraction from all things academically agonizing,” said Erika Lavner, the managing editor for Distraction.  “The entire Distraction team has been working diligently in order to cultivate unique and engaging editorial content, photography, graphic design, and layout.”

Danielle McNally, a print journalism major specializing in the magazine track, was the driving force for the new publication.  She developed her vision of a new UM student publication with Dr. Sig Splichal, the Print Journalism Program director.

“He’s my go-to man when I have questions…to make sure that I’m doing everything right,” McNally said.

As for where it fits in the UM community media marketplace, Muniz said the magazine “is tailored to provide UM students with an alternative publication that is more focused on the needs and likes of students themselves.”

McNally said this is the first time UM will have “an outlet for more ‘feature-y,’ satirical, long-form journalism.” As the editor-in-chief of the magazine, she believes Distraction will “give writers the ability to learn what writing for a magazine is like.”

The feature-style magazine will be divided into two main sections: “In the Loop,” which will carry campus-related stories, and “The Main Event,” which will carry stories about the issue’s theme.

The first issue’s theme will be “Student Travel,” featuring stories about spring break, travel experiences, and study abroad.  Future themes are being developed, but some ideas include: a “Green” issue, and a “Your Future” issue. Students can expect to see issues in April, September, and December.

A meeting was held at the beginning of the semester for those who were interested in writing for the magazine.  More than 100 students attended. The first issue is almost complete.  However, student writers are welcome to submit story ideas for future issues, or email the section editors for possible story assignments.

As for how it will be run, McNally said she “set up a staff that’s based off of the hierarchical system I saw when I worked at Food & Wine this summer.” Each of the sections in the magazine has its own editor.  There is also a managing editor and an executive editor.

McNally explained that Distraction will fall under the School of Communication’s umbrella.  “The Comm School wanted to use this as an educational tool, so they’re going to try to incorporate some courses into working with it,” she said. 

“But the concept and the voice of it are not going to be dictated [by the administration].”
Professor Jackie Sousa, who teaches CNJ 382--Magazine Planning and Editing, has already told McNally that her students may be submitting stories to Distraction by Spring of 2008.  Basically, stories that students write for class have the potential of being revamped and placed in the magazine.

Those working closely with the magazine have high expectations for the new publication. 
“I hope this magazine will be a new outlet on campus for students to voice their opinions and share their creativity,” said magazine Executive Editor Veronica Sepe.