Join us for Founder’s Weekend
November 14 - 17 in Philadelphia!
We are ALL Founders
What do we want the next 250 years of our country to look like?
DISCUSSION & RECEPTION
“Free Your Mind, Your Art Will Follow” at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression with Joe Boruchow (Visual Artist, Musician, and Inquirer Columnist), Jeannine A. Cook (Author and Founder of Harriett’s Bookshop), Angel Eduardo (Artist, Musician, FIRE Senior Writer), Franklin Einspruch (Painter, Dissident Muse Substack, and Founder DissidentMUSEum), Alice York (Actor, Writer, and Founder Lightning Rod Special), and Lincoln Jones (Dancer, Founder of American Contemporary Ballet)
FRANKLIN LECTURE
Nicholas Christakis, director of the Yale Human Nature Lab, on his book Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society at Old Swedes’ Church
BRAVER ANGELS WORKSHOP AND UNITY PICNIC
Braver Angels Red/Blue Workshop and Speech by John Wood, Jr., national ambassador of Braver Angels // Music by Deb Montgomery at Old Swedes’ church
Sponsorships and Advertising Available
“A joy to leaf through—and read. It is heavily illustrated, with a mix of photographs, drawings, and comic panels, and it makes creative use of typography. The content includes an eclectic mix of essays, fiction, interviews, reviews, and recipes, making for a strong new title.”
“A high-production arts and culture affair with fiction, poetry and essays... A New Yorker for Philly? Root Quarterly pulls inspiration from higher-brow general interest magazines like Harper’s, the Atlantic, California Sunday Magazine and the London-based Riposte.”
The Root Quarterly Fund
for
Regenerative Media
“A homerun.”
FALL
2024
“FOUNDERS”
DON’T MISS:
Editor-in-Chief Heather Shayne Blakeslee makes the case that we are all founders of a still-young country // Managing Editor Lauren Earline Leonard writes about the Mummers and their bid for cultural evolution and relevance, with photography by Joanna Nowak and Roberto Quezado-Dardon // Diana Lu pays homage to the co-founders of a beloved South Philadelphia patisserie // James Beard-award winning chef Cristina Martinez talks about immigrant entrepreneurs and authentic barbacoa // Artist Angel Eduardo on the opportunity costs of artists on the front lines of the culture war // Ginger Rudolph talks with Mickalene Thomas about her ‘All About Love’ show at the Barnes Foundation // Artist and critic Franklin Einspruch introduces the idea of ‘Institutional Plurality’ // Artist Joe Boruchow speaks out about censoring his own art // American Contemporary Ballet founder Lincoln Jones on artistic excellence and integrity // Books by Nicholas Christakis, Coleman Hughes, Dominic Green, Marilynne Robinson, Iain McGilchrist, Jeffrey Rosen, and Matthew Pearl // FIRE’s Nico Perrino on the future of the First Amendment // Jocelyn Jones Arnold deepens her understanding of her free Black ancestor, and joins the Daughters of the American Revolution // An exploration of photographer and mixed-media artist Shawn Theodore’s ‘Afromythologies’ // Ideas Editor Walter Foley gets to the rogue roots of the American self-esteem movement via Will Storr’s book Selfie // Heather Shayne Blakeslee examines the paintings of Charles Browning to make the case for artistic freedom // Author and advocate Greg Thomas on Albert Murray’s seminal work The Omni-Americans // Braver Angels National Ambassador John Wood, Jr., on American reconciliation // Economist Richard Vague on why Tyler Cowen gets growth wrong in Stubborn Attachments // JoAnn Garbin argues that Gen X women are quietly fomenting an entrepreneurship revolution //
“An ambitious, meticulously designed publication about arts, culture, politics, food, and Philadelphia. It offers journalism, fiction, poetry, photographs, graphics, and personal essays by a diverse and youthful crew of creatives... Clearly, RQ also is a place for writers to stretch, or perhaps meander, and for readers willing to follow.”
“Glorious. This is exactly what we need right now... This is our better angels and we owe it to ourselves, and all of us—and our future—to engage with art, and with science, with truth and with beauty, with honor, and without division.”
“Brilliant! I loved the entire enterprise”
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR PARTNERS
FREE BLACK THOUGHT // KOSMOS: JOURNAL OF GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION // THE PLURALISM AND CIVIL EXCHANGE PROGRAM AT THE MERCATUS CENTER // THE PHILADELPHIA CITIZEN
ON SENSE MAKING AND SLOW MEDIA
Don’t miss Publisher and Editor Heather Shayne Blakeslee on the UnityNow! podcast talking about civics, the necessity of slow media, the dangers of big tech, and Pennsylvania politics.
WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU’RE MISSING?
We’re pleased to announce that RQ was named by Library Journal as a best new magazine the year we launched! Check out the full article here. Their top-ten picks also included the U.S. edition of London’s The Spectator, a Copenhagen-based Scandinavian art and architecture magazine, and a title that covers global female skateboarding culture. We’re delighted to have Philadelphia in the mix, and that we were featured with a profile in the Philadelphia Inquirer, who called us “ambitious” and “meticulously designed.”
We were also given a wonderful review on the Darkhorse Podcast by Heather Heying, who called us, “Exactly what we need right now… glorious,” and encouraged readers all around the country and world to subscribe and support our work. We were also just given a lovely review in the Write Now Philly blog, who noted that we were here, “to cultivate a community that challenges beliefs and opens new conversations. Each issue also features a creative theme tying together all selected pieces.”
To find out more about our origin story you can hear founder Heather Shayne Blakeslee on the Artblog Podcast, or read her interview with Mr. Magazine. Billy Penn also reported on RQ’s launch last spring. We want to give a giant THANK YOU to the wonderful group of people who celebrated with us. Enjoy the photos and video now.
YOUR SUPPORT WILL HELP US SUCCEED
Your financial support helps us continue to produce an insightful publication and grow into a community. A monthly contribution directly to our project is the best way to support us, but if you need for your investment to be tax deductible, we’re happy to take donations via our fiscal sponsorship with CultureWorks. Visit our Support RQ page to learn more. Thank you for considering an investment of the mid-Atlantic region’s most exciting publication. Print is dead. Long live print.
SUBSCRIBE OR GET SINGLE ISSUES NOW TO BECOME PART OF OUR COMMUNITY