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Not quite two years ago, at a little place formerly known as The Cambridge Inn, Dare magazine first came into being... Sketched out on the back of a paper placemat, I had no idea that those first eclectic machinations would come to electronic fruition and evolve into what is now a steadily growing and thriving e-zine of erotica and much, much more.... In fact, only a few weeks ago one of the top alternative rock station's in our Nation's capital talked about our little 'zine on the air.... As I drove to work that particular morning I about wrecked my car when I heard the words "Dare magazine" float across the airwaves...... Dare's first issue went live on the net in March of 1999, now just a little over a year and nearly 60,000 hits later we are just entering our second year of publication and all I can think is "Who would have figured..."
So, what is Dare and what motivations compelled it into existence?... The first part of this question is easy enough to answer.... Dare's moniker states: "A magazine for the 21st century woman" - and yes - that is Dare's aim, Dare's intent.... But what is the 21st century woman?... Or rather, what is Dare's perception of the 21st century women?... Our perception is simply this: For those of you who know what you want out of life, from men, from women, from your hearts, your minds, yourselves - Dare aims to be your forum, your sounding board, your recreation, your "push" when you feel you need pushing. And it is the push that is actually the pivot point here - Dare's push comes from two things, taking risks and returning to basics.... Ah yes, there's nothing better than a good paradox......... Let's explore this a little further for a moment...
Perhaps the biggest paradox in recent memory is the turning of the millennium and while "we've come a long way baby" - women continue to be bombarded by society's continuing retinue of conflicting messages - thin is in, fat is all that, be sexy, be demure, burn your bra,... be Barbie - buy fake boobs, be perfect, be natural, have a career, stay at home, raise your kids, let someone else do it, be promiscuous, be a prude - the list is endless and ever changing....... This is where the risk taking comes in - you must define who you are and who you want to be.... Sometimes what you want is going to go against the grain - sometimes you'll find yourself going with it.... No matter the path you choose - it is your choice and yours alone.... But that doesn't mean that you don't need or want a little help along the way, or maybe just some acknowledgment and understanding as you wrestle with life's choices. Life is what we make of it and when it all just seems a little too overwhelming, that's when it's time to remember that it doesn't have to be tough, that it doesn't have to be complicated, that really what it all boils down to is quite basic.
The basics are this:...... The way Dare sees it, nothing much has changed - our society values and beliefs may fluctuate over time, but the basic instincts, responses, drives and motivations of people - of... men and... women - remain the same - and no one can truly argue that.... We are creatures of needs, wants, and desires - things sexual, instinctual, and even cerebral.... But, whether you tout the moral majority or the bra-burning 60's, or pick your battles somewhere in between - when it comes... to matters of the flesh - in the end our hearts and bodies rule our heads,... it just may take some folks longer to realize or accept that than others.
And now back to the second half of that initial question, the one that sparked this whole line of thought... So what did compel Dare into being?... To answer this we have to return to the Cambridge Inn, you remember - the place where Dare was born...... Indulge me in a little expose into history for just a moment...
The building that houses The Cambridge Inn is some 200 hundred years old. Over the years the structure has served in many capacities including home, apartment building, and retail space.... During the Civil War it was occupied by Union troops and is reputed to have been used as a hospital.... There is also a story that says a Confederate spy, the son of the building's owner at the time, was hidden from Union officers in one of the structure's chimneys. The poet Walt Whitman was a Red Cross worker in the vicinity during this time and it is believed he may have treated wounded soldiers within the same walls.Perhaps, he even composed some of his war poems there as well.......... The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand, ......... I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young, ......... Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad, ......... (Many a soldier's loving arms about this neck have cross'd and rested, Many a soldier's kiss dwells on these bearded lips.) ............From Walt Whitman's "The Wound Dresser" - composed 1865-1881
When I discovered Whitman's ties to The Cambridge Inn I couldn't help but smile and think "how fitting."...... Whitman beyond being an icon of American literary history is known as an artist who constantly revised and reinvented his verse.... His most famous collection of poems "Leaves of Grass" (first published in 1855) was republished with revisions no less than 9 times and when Whitman died in 1892 it could easily be said that only his death finally brought the work to a close.... Whitman, then with his ever-changing and evolving creativity, is in my mind a fitting companion to Dare's own philosophy of evolve, change, grow - physically, spiritually, and yes... sexually...
Thus, I have had much time to reflect on what lead me to start this little 'zine and also much time to contemplate the roots of its erotic nature. There is no rhyme or reason, or single tidy explanation, for why and how Dare came into being, just as there are often no simple explanations for why some of us do the things we do... Perhaps we tire of mediocrity, of routine, of the mundane, perhaps sometimes we dare to tap the parts of ourselves that so often are left merely to collect dust.... Or, in some instances we choose to finally acknowledge and face the more primal, perhaps even unsavory portions of our own characters.... Whatever our motivations, whatever our desires, there is a point where being true to oneself is the most fundamental truth of all...... Dare - if nothing else - is a product of that truth...
And so, there you have it - the how and why of it...... I'll finish by telling you that within the pages of Dare magazine you'll find contemplative essays, literary erotica, humor, art, photographs, letters, news, entertainment, and much, much more.... Some of our readers have even gone so far as to say they think Dare is "the woman's version of Maxim"...... With a high-handed compliment like that, who knows, maybe one day we'll take this baby "slick and glossy..."... Regardless, we hope you'll take a few minutes (now that you know us) to stop by our little (but ever expanding) corner of cyberspace. Give us a look, tell us what you see, what you like, what you don't, as ever our challenge to all takers is:... We Dare you...
R. M. Schmitt
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A Profile by R.M.Schmitt, |
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