Mumble Magazine - Black Lodges

INTRODUCTION BY BOB KRONBAUER

When I originally started Mumble in mid 2007, a large part of me was fed up with the way the internet was heading. The quality content I had expected to see as the medium evolved was nowhere to be seen and in it's place were "throwaway" videos and blip-like blogs with little to no substance, based around nothing more than consumerism. Around the same time my friend Steven Vogel - who is the former editor of Streetwear Today magazine and the editor of the book, StreetWear (which we featured previously) - must have been having the same thoughts because a few months later he launched Black Lodges, a web site that provides quality interviews and opinions from real people on real topics.

As you would expect, Steven's quiver of friends is a deep running river filled with skate, fashion, BMX and streetwear indsutry folks. A few months after Black Lodges launched he decided to ask a bunch of these folks to join in on a new blog contained within it. He wanted it to be different than what was out there, he wanted it to have substance and actually be engaging, so he asked the contributors not to focus on product hype so much as actually reporting on what they were doing and how they were feeling. The result is a network of about 50 people making posts about music, politics, and everything that real people are into.

Starting next month, each month we'll be bringing you 5 of Steven's favorite posts from the previous 30 days, along with some quick thoughts on each of them. As an introduction, we got him to ask a question of a bunch of the contributors. That question is:

If there is one thing you could change in the world right now, what would it be?

ANDREW
SANIGAR

"Make sure I could change more than one thing. There are too many things which need changing. When do I start?"

THE BROWN
BUFFALO

"I'm doing it right now! I'm giving my son a better life then I had growing up. As well trying my hardest to be the best husband, father and roll model a wife and son could have. Start at the cornerstone of life, which should always be your family."

ERIC
STRICKER

"People's understanding of fiat currency."

GAVIN
WATSON

"That there would be a mass realization of what the words PROJECTION and TRANSFERENCE really mean in peoples lives."

PETER
BICI

"It would that everyone would follow one religion one belief.
Whatever that may be.
If we all had one belief all of our suffering would fade away.
War would be a thing of the past.
We as humans would evolve even quicker , not only on a spiritual level,
But in a scientific,base, DNA level as well.
Belief, the most powerful thing in the universe.
Use it wisely. Use with caution."

FATS
SHARIFF

"Make People matter more than Coin, & in turn this could save our Planet."

HEIDI
HARTWIG

"I would throw out all the rich white strip mall Americans that have taken over NYC and made it like the rest of the country only really really expensive and give it back to the emigrants that made NYC the unique, diverse and opportunistic place it once was.
Oh and change the price of rent!"

ANDREW
SISWOJO

"SEEK MORE KNOWLEDGE."

KENTA
GOTO

"If there is one thing I would change in the world right now, it would be for everyone to SLOW DOWN.
Seems like the world is moving at a faster rate than ever. The bombardment of information from every angle being thrust down our throats.
Trends, phases, fads, whatever you want to call them are spinning in it's cyclic pattern even faster. Children are pushed upon higher academics levels earlier and at a younger age. Computers need faster processors, bigger storage, higher memory counts just to run the same programs. High rise condos go up in months now, where they used to takes years to build. Production of goods are all migrating to China to meet the high demands of consumerism. People need to make more money faster to keep up with their lifestyle that is the new standard.
It has just become a formula, it seems. Make more, faster, dont worry about quality. Where did the quality go? Quality in product, quality in life.
If everyone just took a FIVER, slowed down, dropped out of the rat race... perhaps we would all have time to see what this place has to offer."

MARK
WARD

"If I could change one thing in the world right now, it would be to spend less time in front of this machine. Predictable, but true."

NICK
SCHONBERGER

"There are two basic things that drive my social conscious. Literacy and access. At the core, I think these both relate to constructions of class and perceptions of what class affords. In the arts and in education, these constructs limit what people believe they can and should have and achieve. Changing that notion is central to how I approach work and life."

ROB
HEPPLER

"Make the military mandatory for everyone once you turn 18 in all countries. Then we wouldn't have so many whiney bitches running around and people would learn some respect."

RONNIE
BONNER

"I would say Hate. It is funny how society today always takes the easy route. Being that hating something is so much easier than appreciating something for what or who it is."

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