Kharli Mandeville, former SPM writer, is the co-founder of local Phoenix magazine, Tilt Magazine, which tailors to provide empowering feminist content.Photo by Noemi Gonzalez
What was the inspiration for "Tilt" magazine?
Around the beginning of summer, I was going through a period of really vivid dreams. I also wanted to start a project, but didn't know what I wanted to do. I'm a writer, but I started painting my dreams because they were so odd and colorful, so I thought I'd be painting all summer. But one night I dreamed I started a magazine. I was holding a copy and addressing a group of people I know, some of who are now contributors. I saw the name "Tilt Magazine" on the cover and we were discussing feminism as a theme. I saw the art on the cover and everything. I woke up and I was just on fire about it.
When did you officially decide to develop "Tilt"? Can you describe the exact moment you knew you wanted to pursue it?
I really needed an outlet for the things I wanted to write about - things that are important to me, especially things that pertain to gender roles. After my dream I started just kind of bringing the idea up to people and gauging their reactions. They were all very positive. Everyone encouraged me to pursue it. I brought the idea up to my good friend, Heather Maher. She's very much a go-getter. She doesn't sit around and just talk about doing things - she does them. She's a really great writer, and she's totally the practical one who knows and understands a lot about small business and start-up projects. She recently had us established as a limited liability company (LLC). We co-founded "Tilt" together.
Why aim towards feminism? Who is the demographic of "Tilt"?
Because of just, everything. I'm tired of reading and watching the media's portrayal of women. I'm tired of Photoshop. I'm tired of listening to people respond to cases of rape with things like, "Well, what was she wearing? How much did she have to drink?" I'm tired of Steubenville. I'm tired of Maryville. I'm tired of a culture that emasculates men who are raped to the point where they can't talk about it. I want to talk about consent. I want to talk about owning our bodies and our rights to birth control. I'm tired of still having to talk about whether homosexuality is unnatural, like it's some sort opinion we get to have anymore. It's not an opinion. People who believe that are on the wrong side of history. Period. Students our age will be studying how backward that way of thinking was 50 years from now. I'm tired of being told what role I am supposed to fill in life. My gender, your gender, our genders do not define our capabilities or desires. I'm tired of women's sexuality being such a taboo thing. Like, hello, it's not just men who can have and enjoy orgasms. We shouldn't be afraid to have them or talk about them. Our demographic is aimed toward college-aged people - somewhere between and around ages 21 through 30, but we hope everyone can enjoy it.
What is the main goal of the magazine? How do you plan to impact the community?
Our official mission is "to provide and encourage an empowered feminist response to mainstream media and popular culture, as well as to redefine power and beauty in our communities." We hope more than anything to push conversation about feminism into the mainstream in Phoenix. We want to help make the connotation more positive. We want to serve as an outlet for people who need to express how media and societal standards have affected them. Every month, we plan to feature someone in the metro Phoenix area who does something really amazing and positive for their community in a way that relates to feminism - woman or man, csi, trans, straight, gay, queer - anyone we find to be a positive role model.
What was it like to publish your own magazine?
Well, it's an ongoing process. The first zine we published took a lot of work and a lot of collaboration from writers during the course of the summer, but it's much more simple in its current form than where we hope to take it in the future. We were up all night writing, editing and designing. It was an awesome experience. We're continuously fundraising for quality publishing, and hopefully to pay our contributors. But, it was amazing to see everyone's works in print. Heather and I, and all of our writers worked so hard to put something tangible together as a first step in getting the project off the ground. It's really great to see everything coming together.
You had your first preview zine release at GRRL Fest. How did that go and how did it feel?
It was great! Aaron Johnson of Lawn Gnome threw that event. It was held to raise awareness about domestic violence. There were a ton of great performers, and people painted t-shirts in front of the store that will be on display at the ASU Tempe campus. Sister Lip played at the end of the night and they're amazing. We gave out copies of our zine and people seemed pretty into it.
What can you predict for the future of "Tilt"? What is planned?
It's hard to predict. We have great writers and are building a solid editorial staff, but we are looking for more contributors. We definitely want to incorporate multimedia projects, so we are also looking for videographers, designers and photographers. We're also looking for advertising from small, local businesses. Our website was finished this week and now we are about to begin publishing online, which I'm super stoked about. This week we are in the planning stages of our Kickstarter, which will help us publish on a larger scale. We're kind of taking it day by day.
Reach the reporter at alexis.andreopoulos@asu.edu
