BitchesinSadieMagazine

by SB Sarah Saturday, March 01, 2008 at 08:07 AM

Vadis Turner 2008Remember Sassy magazine? I do. I subscribed. I had no idea how revolutionary it was until it was no longer around and I missed it. It was the first and only magazine in my teen experience that wasn’t about iridescent taffeta prom dresses with three-foot ruffles, celebrity crushes, and interminable ad spreads featuring porny Lolitas shilling for “Love’s Baby Soft.” After reading an issue I felt unquestionable smarter, even if I didn’t quite get the fascination with Evan Dando and the Lemonheads.

Sassy bit the big one when it was absorbed into Teen magazine, which, really, is like the Death Star aborbing the entire rebellion fleet and belching into space afterward. Back issues are still on eBay, some at exceptional markup.

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Comments

Picture of Cat Marsters Cat Marsters said on...
03.01.08 at 08:20 AM |

You guys signed a book deal?  Didja tell us and I missed it, or have you been keeping secrets?

Picture of Eliza Eliza said on...
03.01.08 at 08:44 AM |

God, I was SO ANGRY when my Sassy didn’t show up for a few months and then I got Teen magazine in the mail.  Teen!  It was like a slap in the face after the kind of magazine with a multi-issue arc about whether or not shaving tips were encouraging girls to actually shave their armpits or if the advice was merely for the girls who wanted to shave.  I still use the info they imparted: shave pits in all four directions.  It totally works.

This Sadie looks pretty cool.

Picture of Jill Sorenson Jill Sorenson said on...
03.01.08 at 08:59 AM |

I totally remember Sassy!  It came out when I was eleven and my best friend subscribed to it.  We were quirky.  I think I love Smart Bitches because you guys remind me of her.  Of us.  Of my youth!  Sob.

Congrats on the Sadie article.

Picture of Katrina Strauss Katrina Strauss said on...
03.01.08 at 09:30 AM |

I loved Sassy Magazine. I even sent them some of my really bad poetry though they never published it. My own teenaged daughter snarks at Teen Vogue and such when we are standing in the grocery store aisle. Glad to see the Sassy spirit continues!

Picture of lilywhite lilywhite said on...
03.01.08 at 10:01 AM |

LOVED Sassy.  It was always in our bathroom magazine rack; even my bf was addicted.  If I try, I can visually remember an issue with Kurt adn Courtney on the cover, announcing that they were going to have a baby.

I am old.

she51 <-- not yet!

Picture of Charlene Charlene said on...
03.01.08 at 11:13 AM |

I feel so ancient when people remember things from their teen years, talk about how old it makes them feel - and I was in my mid-20s or even 30s when the event happened.

There are probably kids now who think they’re getting old because they remember Princess Diana dying.

Picture of Joanna S. Joanna S. said on...
03.01.08 at 12:14 PM |

Oh Charlene!  I totally understand this one...by many people’s standards I am still young; however, my students got me the other day.  Having a momentary brain lapse, I said, “Are y’all sure you don’t remember this court case, it was settled in ‘98, and you guys were in high school, right?” At which point they all looked at me, and someone said, “Uh. No. We were in, like, 3rd grade.”

And then my brain screamed.

Picture of dianewb dianewb said on...
03.01.08 at 12:42 PM |

I LOVED Sassy!  I subscribed after getting the very first issue in a grocery store. 

I love you guys, too.  Big, HUGE congratulations on the article and the book.

Picture of lilywhite lilywhite said on...
03.01.08 at 01:23 PM |

Didn’t the first issue have an REM single in it?  On floppy vinyl?

Picture of oakling oakling said on...
03.01.08 at 02:14 PM |

Sassy is/was awesome! And cmon, I love the internet like nobody’s business, but when I want to sit around reading a bunch of light/short/serious/funny/interesting/well-written things, magazines like that are way more reliable than hitting every blog I like to read hoping that enough of them will have new posts to keep me going while I eat dinner or whatever!

Picture of Tina Tina said on...
03.01.08 at 03:58 PM |

Congrats on the book deal!  Like Cat, I must have missed the news, unless Sadie let the secret slip.  And congratulations on being asked to appear in Sadie’s premiere issue.

Picture of Delia Delia said on...
03.01.08 at 06:24 PM |

What’s up with the code today, guys?  That image just murdered my RSS feeds.

Picture of Dragonette Dragonette said on...
03.01.08 at 07:29 PM |

omg - I subscribed to Sassy, too!  and was equally pissed when I got the fake mag in the mail.  and I remember at least one or two floppy vinyls in there.

BTW… Congrat’s Smart B’s!!

Picture of dillene dillene said on...
03.01.08 at 08:08 PM |

If white is innocence
And red is not
Then pink must be somewhere in between

God, I hated those Love’s Baby Soft ads.  And don’t get me started on Verve Body Spray.

Picture of Raven White Raven White said on...
03.01.08 at 10:41 PM |

#1 I LUV You bitches!!!
#2 You’ve been linked.

Picture of Raven White Raven White said on...
03.01.08 at 10:44 PM |

You’ve been linked HERE.
My bad.

Picture of Abney Abney said on...
03.01.08 at 11:36 PM |

OMG!!! I too was a SASSY girl. I thought I was the only one and hence the reason that the magazine went under.

I kept every issue in my bathroom until they became almost unreadable… good times.

I wanted to give my daughter an option we had something other than being girly pink or goth black.

I miss being SASSY ~A

Picture of Jen Jen said on...
03.02.08 at 08:01 AM |

Remember the issues where they’d let the teens be the writers and editors? I always applied. Never got in, but that’s probably where some of my journalism bug came from.

God I loved Jane Pratt and the rest of her staff. I still have most of the issues. Sassy was the one magazine I could never bring myself to throw away.

Picture of MplsGirl MplsGirl said on...
03.02.08 at 08:01 AM |

Oh wow, I had forgotten about Sassy. I loved that magazine. Wish I’d kept them.

Congrats on the book deal!

Picture of Laurel Laurel said on...
03.02.08 at 08:28 AM |

“And though I’m not sure the need for a Sassy-esque magazine still exists, particularly in light of the internet and it’s ability to connect any two people with like interests...”

I never read Sassy, and I’m not a teenager so I don’t know if they even read magazines anymore or it they’re all too busy texting each other LOLcats or whatever it is the kids are doing these days, but I totally disagree with this. Magazines are awesome, and I’d like to see better magazines for teenage girls. I was the antithesis of everything Seventeen stands for, but I devoured it every month. If I had known about something better, I would have gotten that instead.

More good magazines for young bitches, dang it!

Picture of Jessica Jessica said on...
03.02.08 at 12:26 PM |

Congrats on the book, Bitches!

I looooooved Sassy with a fiercness. I still have old issues that I refuse to give up, despite the husband’s eye-rolling every time we move.  And while I admit to also being confused by the Dando devotion, at least they weren’t idolizing whomever was the hot pop singer of the time (I don’t know, I was way into grunge and avoided everything else then). 

There’s actually a book about Sassy that came out last year, it was good enough that I admit to some tearing-up action while reading it: http://www.amazon.com/How-Sassy-Changed-My-Life/dp/0571211852

captcha: eight98: No, I was 18 in 1998, and thus prime Sassy target.

Picture of jenjen jenjen said on...
03.02.08 at 12:49 PM |

I too, loved my Sassy Magazine.  I was the only person I knew who read them. I recently cleaned out my attic and threw away EVERY issue ever printed. Now I could kick myself.
Jen

Picture of MeggieMacGroovie MeggieMacGroovie said on...
03.03.08 at 03:58 AM |

I adored Sassy. I was one of the “older” readers, being that I was 18 in ‘89. It seems, according to the book Jessica linked to, there were heaps of readers in their 20’s, so now I don’t feel so odd admitting I read it.

Oh, Evan Dando...yuuummmmmm..

I really need to order that book...if only it was paperback..ah well..

Picture of Heather Heather said on...
03.03.08 at 04:57 AM |

I subscribed to Sassy for two or three years - it was a huge part of my teenage years. None of my friends read it, so I felt all revolutionary and stuff. I was in love with Keanu Reeves, so I felt a special kinship with Jane. :D I’ve thrown out nearly everything from those days, but I still have all my old issues of Sassy. I read the Junk Food Taste-Off whenever I need a laugh.

Picture of Stephanie Stephanie said on...
03.03.08 at 01:29 PM |

I adored Sassy. I had that floppy REM vinyl thing—was that really the very first issue?

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