UL Press: New York Daily News, December 13, 1995
Cutting-edge issues, features in hip quarterly
Rodrigo Salazar takes the unheard voices of Generation X, Latinos across the country and puts them on the pages of his cutting-edge quarterly, Urban, the Latino Magazine.
"This is becoming the magazine for young Latinos to be in," said Salazar, 22, a New York University junior from Jackson Heights who is editor-in-chief of - and not shy about promoting - the year-old publication.
As managing editor of Conciencia, a now-defunct NYU student magazine, Salazar saw the potential of creating a magazine for urban 18-to 28 year-old Latinos.
That group, the Bayside High School graduate said, lacks an editorial voice - despite its growing numbers.
Salazar and his friend, Jorge Cano-Moreno, 25, a Borough of Manhattan Community College student and Urban's managing editor, came up with the Latino magazine's name because most Latinos in the United States like in cities.
Now, both Colombian natives relish the job of putting out the Jackson Heights-based periodical that features black-and-white photographs, politics and poetry.
Actor John Leguizamo graced the cover of Urban's first issue. Subsequent covers featured actress Lauren Velez , with the Fox television show, "New York Undercover," and salsa musician Mark Anthony.
Urban's current issue has singer Lisette Melendez on the cover and includes articles on fitness, fashion, Afro-Cuban music and Latino and African-American love.
"We really want to full a void," said Cano-Moreno, an Astoria resident.
"On newstands there are Hispanic magazines, but they don't speak to urban youth. They don't realize that 90% of all Latinos in the U.S. live in major cities."
Salazar, who also works as a record store clerkm and Cano-Moreno, a bank teller, pooled $4,000 and plenty of sweat and tears from friends and acquaintances who volunteered to write for the magazine.
Urban's first issue sold for $1.50 and was distributed to newsstands mostly in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, where young Latinos in the art and music scene hang out. The magazine now has a cover price of $2.50.
"Before we hired a national distributor, the cost of distribution was gas. We did it ourselves," Salazar said. "Now, we can be in more places."
Urban can be found on the shelves on Barnes and Noble bookstores at Union Square, Astor Place and Sixth Ave., besides a select number of newsstands nationwide. Computer-literate Latinos who are caught up in the World Wide Web often submit articles and praise the youth culture magazine's unique focus.
"We get comments from Latinos in their 30s 40s who like what we do. Being out here is revolutionary. We're giving oppurtunities to Latino writers and artists," Cano-Moreno said.
Assessing the impact of California's Proposition 187 to halt government services to illegal aliens, highlighting Latino authors and covering youth conferences are all part of Urban's mission, Salazar said.
"We're giving people a chance to read aout their culture. Latinos can't get away from it. It's in the food you eat. You can't walk away," Salazar added.
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