Technically Not Tech: McJawn magazine’s quest to take over the world

The scholars at Urban Dictionary define “jawn” as “a word used by Philly cats to describe anything and everything.”
It’s almost as Philadelphian as the cheesesteak. Example: “Hey, hand me that jawn.” Or, “Later this month I’m going to the Geekadelphia and Technically Philly jawn.”
Which makes the word more than fitting for the namesake of the up-start Philadelphia arts and culture magazine McJawn.
Founded by Wen Vo and Yis Goodwin in the Summer of 2008, McJawn’s content ranges from the art on local bathroom stalls to what its like to spend time in a Philadelphia jail, and its blog has become a barometer of the Philly arts and music subculture.
Oh, and did we mention they are hatching plans to take over the 67th ward?Last June, longtime friends Wen Vo and Yis Goodwin gathered in a coffee shop. Goodwin started to lament the death of art and publishing when Vo finally asked Goodwin, “well, what are you going to do about it?”
Shortly after, the duo launched McJawn in blog form to build up some momentum for the release of the first magazine issue. The blog — as well as the magazine – is staffed by mostly students and artists working for free, though they get the perks of claiming the free stuff that is sent to the magazine.
Before McJawn launched its first issue, the blog caught on, receiving over 3,000 hits a day. So when Vis and Goodwin held their issue release party at South Philly gallery Rarebreed, more than 200 people showed up and attendees were spilling into the streets.
“We realized that we can throw [events] for free and market our brand, as it’s hard to get online advertisers” says Vo who added that one of McJawn’s early sources of revenue was throwing events and putting the leftover sponsor money back in the business.
Now, the magazine has more than 22 contributors and a masthead full of staffers. It has received its own dedicated display in the University City Urban Outfitters and has hosted or promoted dozens of events, including a block party with Philly.com property Phrequency.
“With online media, no one knows what’s going on,” Vo says, so the magazine is up for anything including expansion.
While spending her weekends covering Philly subculture, but going to school at New York-based Fordham University, Vo says she began to notice a large degree of overlap between Philly and NYC. As a result, the magazine is looking to release a smaller edition of McJawn in New York City. The new mag aims to be a welcome reversal of the NYC magazine exporting culture to Philadelphia.
“We’re just trying to bring integrity to Philly’s subculture,” says Vo.
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Every Monday, Technically Not Tech will feature people, projects, and businesses that are involved with Philly’s tech scene, but aren’t necessarily technology focused. See others here.