When Joe Kelly and wife
Nancy Gruver had twins 17 years ago, they never
imagined the girls would lead them to the moon and
beyond. They got a quick lesson in intense parenting
as the twins were born prematurely, so the couple
worked opposite schedules in order to stay home with
them. The twins were also allergic to soy and the
feedings were all consuming.
When the kids were 9
months old they moved to Minnesota and his wife
started her own business. Joe said, "I worked
bonehead jobs so I could be home the first 10 years
of their life." In Minneapolis he went to tech
school where he landed a job at a Duluth, MN, public
radio station where he was a reporter and news
director. He worked the 4am to 11am shift then cut
down to 4am-9am so he could be home more. "I
really liked being around the kids, it never occurred
to me not to do it."
As his twin girls got
older, he found that they feared being a teenager.
His wife found research done by Harvard's Carol
Gilligan and Annie Rogers, that showed that girls
have a profound loss of self esteem as they close in
on their teenage years. Joe stated, "When girls
are 8,9,10 they are full in body, loud in voice, and
very confident. But then at 12 & 13 their
shoulders slump and boys stop talking to girls. Boys
get more chances to have control and have power, boys
can grow into their ideas. Girls are told to shut off
their ideas."
With these ideas going
through their heads, they went on a weekend vacation,
without the kids, to a cabin in Copper Harbor,
Michigan. Nancy was between jobs and was doing some
career and soul searching. As Joe put it, "We
were driving down a 2 lane state highway on our way
back to Duluth, and Nancy just said, out of the blue,
`How about a feminist girls' magazine run by girls.'
And we were off!"
They took their
brainstorms to the girls and "they said we were
crazy." The couple then told the kids,
"Imagine if you could do it, what would you want
it to be?" The ideas flowed that day, and soon
they got 20 kids together, and with $10,000
refinanced from the house, put out the first issue in
March 1993.
Joe noted, "girls
go through a time when what girls expect of
themselves, and what society expects of them clashes
in such a way that many girls limit their futures by
giving up their voices and dreams." With that
focus, the magazine was titled, New Moon - The
Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams.
Joe says that the media
had a hard time believing that the girls actually do
all the work on their own. One thing that helped is
the fact that the girls were home schooled for
Kindergarten and from 4th - 6th grades. In an article
authored by Joe in Growing Without Schooling
magazine, Joe wrote, "After years of unschooling
it never occurred for us to do anything else. We knew
we could trust the girls with a big, opened,
relativity vague concept. We knew they understood
women's issues and problems of girls' self image,
because these concepts had been a part of their
real-life curriculum around the dining room table....
"Don't they get bored?" No, they don't. The
girls have a fierce sense of ownership of the
magazine of which they should. "What happens
when they disagree with each other or with us?"
We work it out. After covering a Girls Editorial
meeting, a reporter for the Minneapolis newspaper
told us, "This is like editorial meetings at the
paper - only quicker. The kids aren't worried about
jockeying for position or hurting someone's feelings.
They're honest and direct and know what they want, so
they get the work done more quickly than we do where
I work." With some "guerrilla
marketing", the idea got so much publicity that
500 subscribers sent in checks even before the first
issue was printed. They printed 2,000 copies of the
first issue. By the end of 1993, they had 6,000
subscribers. They now have 25,000 subscribers with
8,000 more sold on select newsstands (Borders and
Barnes & Noble).
The magazine has
enabled the girls to travel to Austria & China.
They also attended the 4th World Conference on Women
at the United Nations. One rule of New Moon is that
you have to be between 8-14 to be on the board. This
means the twins Nia and Mavis who are now 17, enjoy
doing the "grunt work". Nancy and Joe and
the kids draw a salary to support the family. For the
future, they are considering a magazine for girls 14
and older. A look at recent issues shows the
diversity the editorial board brings. The articles
range from the 'in' crowd in school, to a story by a
17 yr old student in Ethiopia about her life, to
interviews with the research director at Ben &
Jerry's ice cream and a zoologist who studies desert
turtles. Each issue offers letters, penpals and Ask a
Girl, an advice column for readers answered by
readers.
Joe says, like his
family, adults and girls should work together as
peers. He feels, "Any kid would take on more
possibilities if we would let them." The girls
are treated like celebrities by their friends. They
say "you are so cool" to which the girls
respond "We just do the moon, like you do
soccer".
New Moon for girls
(6x/yr) can be ordered for $29 yr, New Moon Network
(for parents) $25 yr, Both $49/yr. Send payment to PO
Box 3587, Duluth, MN 55803-3587, For Mastercard/Visa
call (800) 381-4743.
