How two students revived an NYU travel magazine

Baedeker, NYU’s longtime travel magazine, went out of publication due to neglect during the pandemic until students Johnny Rothberg and Shuhe Ma brought it back to life.

What happens when an NYU club or organization never transitions to new leadership? Last fall, younger Johnny Rothberg found out about it. After hiking in Switzerland, he decided he wanted to share his love of hiking with others at NYU. When looking for a publication, he could contribute to the use student media directoryhowever, Rothberg mostly found links to sites that either no longer existed or were no longer updated, including the university travel magazine Baedeker.

Instead of continuing to search for an active publication, Rothberg stayed with Baedeker, immersed himself in his archives, and began working on the revival of the magazine as its editor-in-chief.

Baedeker, a student publication dedicated to NYU students’ creative work on travel and study abroad, was running as early as 2007, Rothberg said. In 2020, after COVID-19 brought travel to a halt and disrupted student activities, Baedeker closed. Without someone new to take over after the release of previous editors-in-chief Christina Hayhurst and Sam Winslow, it went dormant indefinitely—until Rothberg asked the Student Activities Council to restart it three years later.

“It’s a really beautiful magazine and it doesn’t deserve to just die,” Rothberg said.

As he began to think about resuming publication, he hired his close friend, junior CAS member Shuhe Ma, as president. Since then, they have been working to gain access to stagnant accounts, learn about the magazine itself, and plan for the first issue, which is scheduled for the spring 2023 semester.

“We do something not just for resumes, something that can be posted on LinkedIn, but something that we really like. — talking to different strangers, other people who have different interests than we do,” Ma said. “It’s amazing to connect with people who have a different background than us, people who are interested in design, writing, who have a different skill level than us. Connecting with those strangers who have now become our friends is a really valuable experience.”

Ma, who majored in economics, and Rothberg, who studied business, both felt out of their comfort zone running a travel magazine, but found inspiration in a new endeavor.

“After all, we are business students. This is a completely new skill that is in demand. I’ve never heard of terms like Adobe InDesign or Illustrator,” Rothberg said. “For me, at least, there is almost a romanticization in bringing together all these people, several dozen people, we all work for several months to create one piece of art. It’s in itself, just art for art’s sake – not for readers, not for people to visit the Global Program Office – just for craftsmanship and work, there’s something beautiful about that.”

From reaching out to previous editors and agreeing on a budget, to updating the website and creating flyers for Club Fest, Rothberg and Ma have had a lot of work to do. They had to figure out how to run the organization together, and because of that, they became closer.

The new management of the magazine hopes to make its mark on this edition with significant revisions and updates. In addition to redesigning and welcoming not only writing students but also alumni and faculty, they also wanted to rethink the scope of the magazine. Previously, Baedeker had excluded travel writing about New York. But for Rothberg and Ma, travel is more than a plane ticket.

Sometimes, as in the case of Rothberg, it can feel like talking about the Tibetan community in New York over tea and receiving a silk scarf as a gift from a rug store just a few blocks from campus.

“It was one of the most special moments I’ve ever had at NYU,” Rothberg said. “It happened three blocks from New York University and I would have thought about this trip. That’s what I’m trying to convey through the revival of this organization. — travel doesn’t require you to travel half the world.”

Although Rothberg and Ma are still in the process of recruiting new members and preparing the upcoming issue, they hope to be able to publish by the end of the semester. They also received about 160 registrations for Club Fest, according to Ma. With these new members, they hope to keep the magazine alive for years to come.

“It contributes to the cultural tapestry of NYU,” Rothberg said. “Baedeker for us is not only us. It’s not just about the people who work for us, not only about the people who read Baedeker, it’s about people who will never read Baedeker. This should contribute to the culture of NYU.”

Contact Giuliana Guarracino by phone [email protected]