Editor & Photographer of Tomato
In the spring of 2006, three people gathered to achieve the same purpose. They wanted to create some thing special our city. They wanted to change Daejeon as a fun and exciting city. To realize what they decided to da, they created a culture magazine Daejeon. The name of this magazine is <Tomato>.
Beginning of Tomato
We did not get the background knowledge of the magazine and the production cost. It was like an adventure. So, we had to prepare every detail. Most of all, It was really difficult to make the title of magazine. After a lot of discussion,, we decided to use the name of fruit because we aimed to excite the people's senses. Then, we choose Lemon Store as our title. However. there was a famous culture magazine which uses lemon as a title already, Seoul culture magazine, <Lemon Tree>. After noticing this, we changed our name as <Tomato>. What caught our eyes were both sound image and a positive impression of the tomato.
People, Places, and Records
What we plan to make was a culture & art magazine. The Meaning of culture is very wide range. Therefore, we had to address the definition of culture. We thought culture is all the things made by human activities. And we realized that we could look at our whole life deeply, not just arts. 'People, Places, and Records' is che theme of our magazine. We thought this theme can include much significance of culture. Sometimes, people asked this question, "What is the concept and target of your magazine?" Actually, we did not have such things. What we would love to do is cover various stories around us.
Story of the Old Downtown
Tomato editorial office is located in Daeheung-dong, the Old Downtown. Staffs also run a book caf? Idee on the first floor. Every month, small performance and exhibition of bands are held. They provide the place for the artists who want to perform. Their shows are free.
When you read <Tomato>, you can easily get the story of the Old Downtown and suburban areas of Daejeon city. It uncovers hidden things in out city with personal warmth. This magazine delivers hope, warmth and compassion. By doing these things, they try hard to strengthen cultural identity of Daejcon.
The History of <Tomato>
The first <Tomato> was issued in 2007. Ar the beginning, many people were worried about us. People said that it was very grandiose plan. They also said that it would be hard to success in Daejeon as a culture magazine. Those harsh words made us try harder and harder. At first, we had to explain what <Tomato> is and what we are trying to do when we were reporting. In these days, many people recognize us and say they had read about <Tomato>. It makes us extremely happy when people say this. Tomato's subscribers are increasing steadily. However, it has been suffering from financial difficulties, which seems to be an inevitable barrier to regional magazine. Nonetheless, we need to maintain continuously quality and quantity.
The Dream of <Tomato>
Our goal does not lie in the success of magazine. We want to change "our" life more interestingly through magazine. we want to communicate with people. We believe Daejeon can be an interesting city when community cultures come alive again. Publishing magazine is the first step to realize this dream. I really hope members of <Tomato> realize their dreams in future.
yukixiah@cnu.ac.kr