Reflections from Joshua Harris
on the New Attitude Back Issues

1993

The First Year:

Spring '93 Premiere Issue

Our premiere issue is notable because it broke every rule of design and journalism. I was just learning how to do layout on the computer, and as my mother will attest, I couldn't write to save my life. Somehow I managed to get it to the printer and scraped enough money together to print 3,000 copies. Reading it now hurts my eyes, but it is always a healthy reminder of how far New Attitude has come.

The cover story was entitled "Spirit of the New Attitude" and served as a constitution of sorts for what a teen's "new attitude" towards learning, work, and the future should be. The cover picture, borrowed from a World War n poster, tried to capture the "army of young people" I envisioned NA rallying. It ended up confusing people. One lady told me at first glance she thought it was some sort of Nazi magazine. Oh, well.

The issue also featured an interview with attorney Chris Klicka and a "Profile" of a home-school student who learned Russian from exchange students. Another notable article was the first installment of a four-part series on Mike Farris's campaign for Lt. Governor in Virginia. Although this issue's article was written by Mike's oldest daughter Christy, the remainder would be written by Christy's sister Jayme.

That first issue was mailed to approximately 500 people, many of whom were home-school leaders. We also had fifty or more actual subscribers. I had taken a "mock-up" copy of the magazine to the National Home School Basketball Tournament and managed to sell people on it. In all it's amateurishness, that 16-page premiere issue stirred the imagination of enough of my peers to keep the little dream alive.

Summer '93

The sophomore release of New Attitude added 8 extra pages and tackled a topic that would remain a staple item in the magazine: dating alternatives. The cover story entitled "Dating Problems, Courtship Solutions" was my first article on the subject. Although my thinking and presentation of this material has changed drastically since then, this article can be credited with identifying New Attitude as a "pro-courtship" teen magazine. But at the time the article was overshadowed by the cover picture. The photo of a guy and girl staring seriously at the camera had been inspired by a "Time" magazine cover on teen sexuality. Unfortunately, I was not a professional photographer, and my version didn't turn out as well. The picture featured one of my best friends and a girl from my church. The photos actually looked pretty good-in color. But the magazine was printed in black and white by a less than quality printer. The final result came out dark and made it appear the girl was wearing heavy make-up. I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I was wrong.

I'll never forget the day I received the now notorious "Satanic Punk-Rocker" letter. A lady wrote angrily canceling her subscription because the cover models looked like "punk rockers" and had the "look of Satan." She went on to say that having the magazine in her mailbox was a bad witness to her mailman and hoped we would scrutinize our covers more carefully in the future. Although it might seem the exaggerated accusations would have rolled off my back, it was my first real negative response to New Attitude. I was in a blue-funk that day, my emotions ranging from regret and self-pity to anger.

I dwell on this episode because it had a very profound effect in shaping New Attitude. First, because it was my first opportunity to practice Christ-like humility in dealing with criticism, and second, because we decided to print the letter. This established our continued policy to share the good and bad alike of reader feedback.

Although the cover dominated our second issue it also featured coverage of the Home-school basket-ball tournament, an article on preparing for college and a reader interaction on music in a section that was then called "Forum".

Fall '93

After our "punk rockers" fiasco, I decided to go with a much safer cover story and a lighter, completely uncontroversial picture. Written by Inge Cannon, the cover story on apprenticeship was not written to teens, but I was anxious to gain the credibility of having Mrs. Cannon's article in New Attitude.

Much of this issue was written in Colorado Springs where I spent a month working as a dishwasher at Summit Ministries. I had originally hoped to feature an interview with Summit's president, Dr. David Noebel, but Doc wasn't available. This was discouraging, but God was guiding the process. Instead of interviewing Doc, I turned to two of the "young guns" at Summit, Jeff Myers and Jeff Baldwin. What came out of this interview was not a only a great article, but a strategic friendship with both of these dynamic leaders. It was because of the interview and our time talking that I asked Jeff Baldwin to write a column for New Attitude on literature. He accepted the invitation and thus began one of New Attitude's most popular regular features. Also included in this issue was a "Forurn " on abortion clinic rescuing, an article on prayer by then assistant editor Brian Womack and a "Fun Spread" section devoted to cartoons and a zany "Dr. Science" question and answer column. With this issue we also left our "cheap" printer behind and started working with a much more professional printer in Portland.

Winter '93

With three, count 'em, three colors on the cover of this issue I felt like a real magazine. Even though the cover picture was one of our weakest to date, this issue had a number of memorable "firsts." Jeff Baldwin arrived with his column, "Christianity and Literature." Also invading the magazine were a pair of rowdy, flippant and obnoxious teens named Jiffy & Lou. This Christian version of MTV's "Beavis and his friend " (as my pastor likes to say it) was a chance for me as a cartoonist to poke fun at the inconsistencies of modern Christians. Jiffy & Lou were the epitome of everything that is wrong with teens today.

This issue featured an article on Rush Limbaugh and the final installment of "From the Campaign Trail " which announced Mike Farris' defeat in his run for office. We also announced our first fiction contest and the creation of "Interaction," a section that would feature letters from readers on various topics.

 

1994

Year Two:

Spring '94

New Attitude celebrated its one-year-old birthday and marked the occasion with our first full-color cover. The lead story on the National Home-School Basketball tournament was a last minute article. I had planned to run one on teens in business by my father Gregg, but neither of us was happy with the way it was turning out, so we canned it.

At the time the big news in the home-school community was "HR-6," the bill that had the potential to limit the rights of home-school families. If you missed the action, Mike Farris of Home School Legal Defense rallied home schoolers nationwide and flooded the capital with faxes and calls. We ran a story detailing the defeat of the bill and another commenting on what our options would have been had it passed. I doubt many teens got into these somewhat dry articles.

Other articles in the issue were strong: Rachel Garret wrote about her family's experience of "home schooling through " the California earthquake. Another article, "Ring of Hope, " was by a girl whose parents had been separated. It shared her feelings and emotions through this difficult time. This issue also had the last, and what I think was one of our best, "Profiles " of a home-school student. This one written by Rachel Johnston (a girl from Pennsylvania who tried briefly to work as an offsite assistant editor, but got fed up with me) was about Robin Phillips, the son of popular Christian author Michael Phillips.

Summer '94

I'm not sure if it was due to dissatisfaction with the last issue, but we really turned a corner with the summer '94 issue. It was one of our strongest to date, featuring a very solid mix of articles on diverse issues. The cover story written by Kara Griffith (one of NA's most faithful writers) was entitled "The Home Schoolers Road Map to College" and provided very practical guidelines for heading towards higher education. The winning story of our first fiction contest by Tim Lash was about a public school student trying out for the football team. In "Interaction" readers shared the ways in which they explained their decision not the date. And a story called "Reaching Out" gave ways students could touch their communities with Christ's love.

But the article that caused the biggest splash was the "Profile" of Trevor Massely. The article was a spoof -a story of an imaginary, disgustingly perfect home schooler. We were planning on running a story on a real home-school student, but I wasn't satisfied with the way the article was turning out. I was washing the dishes one night after dinner trying to figure out what to do when I hit on the concept of creating the "perfect home schooler." When I sat down in front of the computer the article practically wrote itself I laughed hysterically as I wrote. The story illicited a similar response from readers-mostly. The problem we ran into was that many people failed to realize Trevor was not a real person (even though the story said he had 22 brothers and sisters and had memorized the books of Genesis and Exodus in their entirety.) In part of the article it stated that one of the drawbacks of having such a big family was that when they were featured on the cover of the "Teaching Home Magazine," they had to be put on two issues. After the story came out, the Teaching Home called us to let us know someone had called their office requesting those two issues!

Since then, Trevor has become somewhat of a "cult hero" with NA readers and a constant inside joke. Recently he even appeared in Jiffy & Lou, providing a stark contrast with the "disgustingly imperfect" Lou Spielman.

Fall '94

Even New Attitude couldn't go untouched by the O.J. Simpson trial. But while many publications covered the fiasco, we were fortunate enough to have an insightful, Biblical article written by Randy Alcorn. The cover story for the issue was an article entitled "Emotional Fornication " by Greg Spencer, a college prof from southern California. It examined the unwarranted claim of loyalty made in many dating relationships.

Another strong feature in this issue was our exclusive interview~ with Christian historian David Barton. I was able to nab time with Mr. Barton at one ofmy dad's conferences where he was speaking. One of my goals for NA has been to make it a platform from which Christian leaders can speak directly to our generation.

Winter '94

Here's a bit of obscure trivia for this issue: Who appears on the cover? Any guesses? Okay, I admit it was me. I know it's terribly tacky for the editor to be on the cover, but since my back was to the camera nobody knew. We saved money on a model. The article on Cyberspace was written by Kara Griffith. At the time I was completely illiterate when it came to the internet. Though the article contained many technical goofs, it provided a lot of solid information on the reasons Christian home schoolers needed to "get wired."

Up until this point, I've neglected to mention one of the magazine's staple features: Josh Carden. Mr. Carden has been the "Dave Barry" of NA providing humorous articles in almost every issue. Josh is a good friend. In fact, we were "pen-pals" back when we were about 10 years old. This issue Josh contributed "You Might be a Home Schooler If…" This article turned out to be our most requested reprint article ever. Dozens of newsletters and magazines called and wrote for permission to use it.

Another significant part of this issue was "Interaction." To participate readers were asked to go without music for a week and then answer the question "Am I addicted?" The result was one of the most honest and thought-provoking Interactions ever.

 

1995

Year Three:

Spring '95

I wrote this issue's cover story in a Burger King in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I was visiting the island to be apart of Billy Graham's Global Mission-a crusade that was being broadcast to millions around the world.

The spring issue was a very strong issue, but it happened by accident. The original plan was to have a cover story on Creation/Evolution. It was being written by a student in California and was tentatively titled "Dancing with Darwin." The story was literally scrapped the day before we were going to

output the issue to film. It was not any easy decision to make. We already had a lot invested in the issue. I had commissioned a painting (a picture of a clergyman dancing in a circle with Darwin and a monkey) and had the magazine completely layed out. But I had a nagging feeling about the article. It was good, but it was very technical and not exactly enjoyable reading. I ran it by a friend whose advice I respected, and he encouraged me to rethink running the article. I finally made the decision not to use it. This decision threw me into a frenzy rearranging the issue and making up for the missing story.

First, I moved the article "Alternative Press," a story on home-school publications run by students, to the cover story position. Then I turned to my dad for an article and used a page for poetry that we usually never had space to run. The result was beautiful. My dad wrote an article called "The Sin of Procrastination" that tied in with the feature article, "Home-School Slackers"-an online chat with students discussing ways to overcome laziness as a home schooler. The poetry deeply affected many readers who wrote to thank us for printing it, and all in all nobody noticed that I had almost gone insane because of the cancelled cover story.

As a final note, this issue also featured the article, "The Room." This article is one of the few that I can honestly say God gave to me. While in Puerto Rico, I had this dream and woke to find that I was crying in my sleep. I immediately began writing and wept the entire hour and half that I wrote. The finished article was a very personal testimony of the forgiven

God has used that little article more than anything else I've ever written. I have a feeling it will outlive me by many years. Not only did we receive a tremendous response from readers, but the article found its way on the internet and traveled to many people who would not have read New Attitude. One of the most gratifying experiences for me has been to hear of the article being spread with the byline "Author Unknown. " My name was lost as it was passed along. This is the way our humble service for God should always be-we decrease so that He can increase. The original article is here online. I invite you to use it and distribute in any way you would feel led to. It belongs to God.

Summer '95

The quality of New Attitude took a giant step with the Summer '95 issue. With it I finally decided it was time to take the plunge and move to "glossy" paper. This was not an easy decision to make-it more than doubled the cost of production. But the reason we did it was to attract advertisers and gain access to Christian bookstores. Without glossy papers, advertisers wouldn't take us seriously and distributors to bookstores wouldn't consider us.

The move was definitely the right one. It's incredible how much more respect we gained from outside sources and even many of our own readers. Although the majority of our faithful readers enjoyed NA no matter what paper it was on, many finally viewed it as a "real magazine." Kinda silly, huh?

But it was the article printed on the paper that made this issue strong. Kara Griffith returned with a story on home schoolers and sports. Cartoon hero Lou Spielman found out his parents were considering the idea of home schooling him. And we did our first story on a Christian music artist with the article "Don't Bow" about home schooler, Rebecca St. James.

The cover story, " Searching for True Love Part I: Beyond Formulas, " was my first article on relationships since the second issue of New Attitude. I was using the series as an opportunity to be working on my book, "I Kissed Dating Goodbye."

Fall '95

Earlier in the year I had been greatly affected by Ken Myers' book on pop culture entitled "All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes," and was honored to feature an interview with him in NA. Even though I was rather nervous while I interviewed him, it turned out well and challenged many readers to reevaluate their pop culture intake.

We received a huge response to our Interaction on home schoolers and sports which helped to revive what had been a dying section the last two issues. Another feature was a story by Harmony Honaker on home schooler, Michael New, who had refused to serve under U.N. command. Our second annual fiction contest was featured in this issue, along with installment two of my series on dating. And in Jiffy & Lou readers voted to bring Lou home.

Winter '95

The cover story of this issue was a conversation between four home- school grads. Doing this article and photo-shoot was a total blast. Nate Hilman, who has done our cover pictures for the past several years, did another outstanding job at capturing the personalities of the people involved.

This issue featured the first article by freelance writer, Rebecca Livermore, a wonderful lady whose work has appeared many times since then.

This issue also had a review of two "courtship story" books. Readers debated whether or not Michael New was right to refuse to wear a U.N. uniform, and NA tackled the questions posed by secular artist, Joan Osbome, in her song "One of Us." All in all, it was a great issue and a good way to wrap up year three of a very exciting publishing adventure.

This article originally appeared on the New Attitude website in 1996.