Natalie Wright, a December graduate, founded and runs the online Sophie Zine. The site has had its share of criticism for being too “trendy,” but is also read and like by many people.
Sophie is a long-haired brown tabby, best known for biting at unexpected moments, sitting in window sills, licking herself, pouncing, growling and performing a variety of other feline activities.
While this rambunctious kitty doesn’t write for her namesake — an online magazine known as Sophie Zine — many students from across Oklahoma do.
It’s a sassy publication named after a sassy cat, said editor-in-chief Natalie Wright.
Wright, a December 2007 public relations graduate, created Sophie Zine a little more than a year ago.
She wanted a creative outlet where she, friends and basically anyone interested could write about music, movies and other aspects of culture in Stillwater and other parts of Oklahoma.
“I also had all of these extremely creative friends — graphic designers, photographers,” Wright said. “And then there were musicians and artists I wanted to promote. I guess that was my motivation to get things started.”
Thus, the site http://www.sophiezine.com was born.
A little more than a year later, the site has about 30 students from OSU, OU and a few high schools who contribute through writing, taking photos and designing.
The site’s content includes album, book and movie reviews, opinion pieces, a blog Wright updates daily, and sections about art, travel and fashion.
For example, one article, a group effort from a few writers on the site, suggests 99 things to do before you die.
Along with supplying a variety of content online, Sophie Zine has held events and parties in Stillwater and Oklahoma City.
On Feb. 2, Sophie Zine will host a Groundhog Day celebration at The Conservatory at 8911 N. Western Ave. in Oklahoma City.
The event, open to all ages, will feature The Neighborhood, The Uglysuit, The Workweek and The Peña Trio. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang will DJ. It will cost $6.
Wright, who worked at The Daily O’Collegian as a feature writer for two semesters, said some people may initially think the site and events are for “hipsters.”
Defining Sophie Zine is trickier than one would expect.
“If you read my stories, you’ll noticed that I’m constantly making fun of hipsters and making fun of the whole concept that we are so cliché in some aspects,” she said. “It’s not like we take ourselves really seriously and think that we’re like super ultra hipsters or anything like that.
Calvin Son, a journalism senior at OU, writes for Sophie Zine.
Son remembered reading the site’s description when he first visited.
The Web site explains that “Sophie Zine attempts to satisfy the needs of not only Stillwater’s hipsters, scenesters, hippy scenesters, hippy neuvos, and scenesters of the hardcore variety but also the regional young persons of these discerning tastes who are perhaps equally interested in tapping into the left side of their inquisitive little brains.”
Son said he never quite figured out whether the description was being sarcastic or serious but he decided to stick around regardless.
He liked the idea of younger people running a publication that appealed to a specific crowd.
Son writes articles, usually focused in Norman or Oklahoma City, about hip hop culture and music.
After writing for the site, Son has heard feedback from friends, some who enjoy it, others not so much.
“I personally have a lot of people who read it pretty constantly,” he said. “But I also know a lot of friends who completely hate it and think it’s pretentious.”
Kellen McGugan, a hotel restaurant administration senior, has written for Sophie Zine since the site began.
McGugan said people criticize the site but he feels confident in the content they publish.
“We write about what we enjoy,” he said. “I’m sure some of the reviews may look pretentious, but we don’t mean them to be. We just write what we know.”
McGugan said he didn’t expect Sophie Zine to grow as much as it has.
But with the connections that writers and Wright have made in the past year, Sophie Zine has the capabilities to reach out to New York and Los Angeles, he said.
“It’s just about us making it happen,” he said. “The gun’s loaded — we just haven’t pulled the trigger.”
With about 1,500 friends on Myspace and about 15,000 hits on the site, Sophie Zine is seen as the cat’s meow for some.
Wright said regardless of the definition of the site, its purpose is simple enough.
“People like to say there’s nothing to do and there’s nothing cultural about Oklahoma,” Wright said. “But that’s one of the things that I try to make a point of — is to show people what there is in Oklahoma and what they’re taking for granted and just to get their asses out of the house and do something. Then, maybe they wouldn’t think it was so boring.”
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