An Editor In Chief is Born with Think Magazine

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The inaugural issue of Adam Peck's Think magazine was published in February. Photo by JC Chan.

By Michelle Trauring

He beamed with accomplishment: it had finally come.

"It’s here," Adam Peck breathed out. "I can’t believe it’s here!" His voice cracked with enthusiasm.

He looked down at his hands. It hit him. It was Feb. 20, and he was holding the first issue of Think magazine – his vision, his journey, his dream.

It all began when Peck went to a conference last summer hosted by Campus Progress, an organization that helps students get their voices heard. He had toyed with the idea of a magazine in the past, but after talking to several directors who said they could help him, the idea suddenly became a reality.

"I worked things over in my head," said Peck, a junior at Stony Brook University. "It was a very overwhelming process starting a magazine like this from scratch."

To get the project rolling, Peck knew he needed money. He immediately applied for a grant from Campus Progress, but his application got lost in translation due to a management shuffle. The second grant came through during the second week of January – $1,500, just enough to lift his idea off the ground.

Peck pulled together the first issue in less than two months with the help of a small staff, about a dozen writers and editors. It was all the help he could get.

"I had a hard time getting people involved," he said. "It’s one thing to make promises. It’s another asking someone to subscribe to an idea rather than a product."

But now he has a product: a 24-page progressive magazine with stories from the presidential inauguration to gay rights to going green. Peck isn’t trying to hide his magazine’s perspective. In fact, he’s using it to draw in a readership while remaining "legitimate, credible and professional," he said.

"As a journalism major, this is something you have to mull over in your head: what’s the line between journalism and political activism?" Peck said. "You have people screaming, 'Liberal media!' That’s a legitimate concern. We’re not pretending to be something we’re not."

The magazine will be distributed once a month and publish four issues per semester. One thousand copies will feed the entire Stony Brook campus, and Peck hopes to expand off-campus someday. "Starbucks and Barnes & Noble," he said with a laugh. "We’re reaching out to liberal stereotypes."

In the downtime between issues, Peck will post teaser stories on the magazine’s website to keep readers engaged while remaining competitive with other media outlets on campus.

"We’re not trying to trample on the feet of other publications," Peck said, adding that he’s built in RSS feeds to The Statesman, The Stony Book Press, and The Stony Brook Independent on the website. "We’re not trying to take readers, writers or advertisers. Well, maybe advertisers," he said with a smirk.

With the first issue behind him, Peck’s hopes for next month’s issue are dismal without advertisement revenue and other funding.

"The biggest hump is the second issue," he said. "The first issue was taken care of. Now it’s a matter of raising enough money to physically print out the next issue."

But Peck remains optimistic and isn’t wasting any time.

One month and counting.