The editors of Hoot Owl, a biweekly newspaper in Arlington, Texas, are upset, witness the following item:
"Recently, a group of adults in Boston started a magazine called Kids. It is a magazine using kids as editors. Readers of The Hoot Owl know that we came out with our first issue on August 28th of 1970 with kids as our editors. Kids published their first issue on November 30th. The point is, Kids is not an original idea. The motto of Kids magazine is 'By children for each other.' On the first issue of The Hoot Owl we introduced the motto on the front page . . . 'By kids, for kids, about kids.' "
There really is no dispute: both publications are original. Hoot Owl appears to be a bit jealous-because it has been struggling for five hard months with next to no recognition, while Kids gained national attention in only one month. Its first guest editors, Candace Lowe, 12, and Marc Alonso, 10, have already appeared on the David Frost Show.
Cheap Arithmetic. Kids deserves its kudos. The first issue of the monthly literary magazine, printed on good quality paper with plenty of color illustrations, was fresh, funny and full of juvenile reflections of an adult world. "I think this generation is different," Alonso said, "because for the first time we know that things are bad and that the world could blow up the next second. And because we know this, we younger kids will try harder, because if we don't, we just won't have any more world." Issue No. 2, now at the printer's, contains a poem by Mary Mattos, 12, and Maryann Micchelli, 11, who un-cynically calculate the price of schooling and the value of happiness:
We're sitting on 2¢chairs
And doing cheap Arithmetic problems
And having a social studies test that
Isn't worth half a penny
We're using 25¢ Science hooks
And 50¢ Spelling books . . .
The 25¢, school bell rings
And whether you have 1¢ or 100
dollars You are $100,000,000 happy.
So far, Kids (50¢ a copy) is running decidedly in the red. Without advertising, the first edition of 60,000 copies cost $13,000 and left its adult founders in debt. But Jim Robinson, 34, a former fifth-grade teacher, and Jenette Kahn, 23, a freelance art critic, are optimistic. Recently Kahn noted, "The orders are coming at a rate of 50 a day. If that keeps up for a few months, we might get out of the financial bind."
Brain Rust. In a refreshingly novel way, Hoot Owl follows standard newspaper style. It has movie, TV and record reviews; it prints a clever pictorial TV log for those who cannot read time; it includes society, travel and sports columns. The tabloid was started by Dane Edwards, 34, owner of a small professional speakers' bureau, to help some neighborhood children. It now operates with a staff of eight (unpaid except for soda pop and snack expenses), a waiting list of 23 and a mandatory retirement age of 16. Edwards and his wife Janie keep their editing and layout help to a minimum. The strength of the paper is derived from Article Four of the Hoot Owl rules: "When writing: If it's wrong, say so. When it's right, congratulate. When no one cares, change things. Don't follow examples, be one." The area around Arlington (pop. 88,000) shows the results: