Dog Bites

In the Poor House
Moving into the unoccupied editorial niche just above homeless newspapers is San Francisco's Poor magazine. The debut issue of the 60-page glossy, created by "Dee & Tiny" and packed with poetry, prose, and art about poverty, has just hit the stands. (The mother-daughter duo prefer pseudonyms "created from poverty" to their real names in the magazine.)

The nonprofit Poor sells for $3.95 and is available at Borders and A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books. Copies are also distributed at shelters, where readers can get copies for free or for a donation.

"They'll pay whatever they think is right," says Tiny.
The magazine's name leaves little question about the target audience. However, Poor offers to sell display ads to "small and very small businesses" at lower cost, made possible by costlier ads sold to "capital rich businesses and corporations." Those ads don't exist yet. Meanwhile, the magazine's editorial statement leaves little question about its philosophy.

"We believe the American Brady Bunch family values and accepted United States family values should not apply to impoverished people in the United States."

According to the editors, the intent of Poor's high production values is designed to give "marginalized people" the same sense of magazine style as that of, say, Atlantic Monthly or George readers.

"One of our mottoes in this whole thing is that if JFK Jr. can do it for half a million, then we can do it for nothing."

The next issue is scheduled for June, if they can pull together the money to pay for it.

Boxer Punches Back
And we thought size jokes were passe.
Here's first lady Hillary Clinton on the subject of Sen. Barbara Boxer, on the occasion of Boxer's packed fund-raising luncheon at the Moscone Center:

"California has sent to Washington a truth-teller -- someone who is unafraid to stand at her full height and to look into the tie clasp of any senator without hesitation."

The comment brought a roar from the crowd, 2,630 people -- mostly women -- who'd paid $135 a plate to listen to the senator and the first lady speak.

It wasn't as though Boxer had been without her own barbs, although they were directed at Senate Republicans. Speaking of Bob Dole, who has declared that his No. 1 priority if elected president would be to run Boxer out of office, the junior senator from California said: "The other day I finally figured it out. I think he really must miss Bob Packwood."

The crowd loved that one, too.
But Clinton had nice things to say about Boxer as well. She lauded the senator for her ability "to take issues others skirt, to find in her heart the compassion and courage for those who do not have a voice."

By Lisa Davis, Ellen McGarrahan