The "More" Child

Let’s talk about New Moon!  No, not THAT New Moon–the New Moon of vapid, moonstruck, misogynistic teen vampires.

I mean New Moon-the-empowering-healthy-diverse-and-supportive magazine for tween and teen girls.  The one that is on the verge of going out of business.  If it hasn’t already. (I can’t seem to get on their website.)

Honestly, I had no idea and wish I had known sooner.  We were New Moon magazine subscribers for several years.  I loved the artwork and the fact that it actually published writing by kids, a rare outlet for verbally inclined girls.  But then C. and M. grew up and moved on.  However there definitely was a window there, oh around 3rd-5th grade, where the stories, images and profiles about and by healthy, smart, strong, normal girls provided an important counterweight to the the Disney princess, Nickelodeon crap out there being pushed on kids.

The irony that the Good New Moon may have been done in by the cultural forces of the Bad New Moon is almost too painful to contemplate.

Here’s an announcement I came upon on a school listserv last week (it’s always a listserv )

You know how crucial it is to empower today’s girls with healthy, positive media–alternatives to the toxic media drenching our daughters. New Moon Girls online community and magazine gives girls ages 8 and up a safe, exciting, multicultural, international, supportive space to express themselves and hear from other girls around the world. Girls who could be the next Courtney Martin (a finalist this week in Washington Post’s America’s Next Great Pundit contest) whose first article was published in New Moon when she was a girl, 14 years ago.

Sadly, this will all end on 12-31-09 without your help.

New Moon has had a tough year like many other businesses. Even with a lot of effort, they haven’t succeeded in bringing in additional investors this fall, and it’s time to add a new strategy to keep New Moon alive.

They have until Dec 31 to reach monthly break-even so that New Moon can grow in the future.

Have they tightened their own belts? You betcha! Right now their monthly expenses are 65% less than they were a year ago. But they still have a gap of $7500 a month to break-even. The good news is that with your help they can close this gap. The gap amounts to only 250 additional orders a month @ $29.95.

You can help by:

• Sponsoring memberships for libraries, schools and programs serving low-income girls. It’s quick and easy to sponsor one, ten or 100 girls – every dollar matters!
• Buying memberships for all girls 8-14 that you know. Our holiday special saves you 50% after the first order.
• Telling everyone what you value about New Moon. Link to us, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter and share with your FB friends and Tweeps.

Please act today so the media universe for girls won’t be totally dominated by Stardoll.com, Seventeen magazine, and worse. With your help to sponsor memberships for non-profits and to give New Moon as gifts, we can continue to ensure a media that lifts girls’ aspirations, increases their power, and gives them an outlet for their unique perspectives and voices. I’m sending this email to everyone I know and asking you to do the same. Also, if you (or someone you know) would like to learn more about becoming an investor in New Moon, contact Nancy Gruver at nancyg@newmoon.com  (I’ll find a contact.)

I had just typed this sentence: “So all you Team Bella, Team Edward, Team Jacob Haters.  All you folks who want to support gifted girls.  Come on.  Let’s show our support for the strong women in our lives by gifting a subscription to a local school library” while simultaneously surfing for the website, a Facebook page…anything. But it seems I’m too late. There’s no trace of the magazine left online.

So sad.  Maybe they could have stayed in business by selling their domain, www.newmoon.com, to the movie folks.

UPDATE: See below!  There must have been some sort of weird cosmic Internet glitch this morning that made it impossible for me to get on their site.  See the comment below from New Moon publisher Nancy Gruver.  They’re still there…for now.  So show your support! New Moon magazine makes a great gift for girls!