Le Regard Libre, new formula: here we go!

Le Regard Libre N° 82 - Jonas Follonier

Yes, we're still here. Month after month. For a long time I wondered how many more weeks this media adventure could last. But for some time now, things have been changing: I'm wondering how on earth we could ever have the idea of calling it a day, such is the evil of the prospect.

Of course, each new subscription remains a victory, but our structure remains very modest, we're not rolling in money, and our name is hardly known in the towns, villages and valleys... But the older we get, the more my colleagues and I, especially the older ones, notice that most of what makes our situation humble is the most precious thing we have. Voluntary work, the thirst for recognition, the need to give of oneself, to believe in oneself, an independence akin to the most melancholy of solitudes - that's where we get our free spirit!

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In fact, I've got a scoop for you: Le Regard Libre has never been better. And I've got a second scoop: every year, we can make this announcement, and do so in all sincerity. It's that we're slowly but surely (at a Swiss pace, in fact) pursuing our trajectory as a balanced mountaineer. With a few landmarks that, symbolically at least, give us the impression of climbing faster than usual: the arrival in Payot bookshops last April, on newsstands in September...

Today, we're taking the next step, yet another one, with the smile of our beginnings plus the wrinkles of experience (giving it style). Our numbers become themes. With a few graphic innovations. And a pile of projects that will unfold over the coming months and years. Here we are.

What a joy it is to progress. I can think of no better words to express it than those written by Bester Langs, editor-in-chief of Gonzaï, in the special magazine issue, For those of you who think that taking the plunge into print is just «a little more romantic than opening an Instagram account»:

«That's forgetting that you have to be a complete idiot to launch a print magazine. That you have to be able to juggle so much crap that even a permanent job at the Pinder circus is a hobby. That you have to be a visionary (know how to screw up big time), a team manager (take more than ten people on a quest that won't make anyone rich), an accountant (don't open the printer's reminder e-mails), a strategist (completely rewrite the fifteen-page article that arrived in the middle of a deadline, without hurting the author's ego) and a master of the clocks (get your canard out just about on time). And do it again every week, month or more, depending on the rhythm of your publication. Without really knowing who on the other side of the wall will be reading you. And yet, designing a print magazine, whether it's a fanzine, a newspaper or even Télé Poche, turns out to be one of the greatest pleasures in life.»

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Drawing: © Nathanaël Schmid for Le Regard Libre