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The pandemic has taken a toll on a lot of businesses. Among the most visibly crippled in New Orleans have been restaurants, bars, live music venues, and most aspects of tourism. Less visible but also hard hit, have been media outlets that rely on advertising.

Print media was already struggling before the pandemic hit. A few weeks ago on Out to Lunch, our guest was the publisher of The Advocate. She told us how, during the pandemic when advertising dried up almost completely, to keep the newsroom running the paper had to solicit donations from readers. 

If it’s that hard to keep a well-funded major publication in business, imagine how much harder it is for smaller, independent publications. One of the treasures of New Orleans independent print media is a free monthly magazine called AntiGravity.

AntiGravity started publishing in 2004. It’s grown from its early days as an underground rag covering the indie-arts-and-music scene into an independent voice with carefully-researched and well-written articles on politics, social justice, and the arts, along with food reviews and opinion pieces.

The Publisher and Editor in Chief of AntiGravity Magazine is Dan Fox.

One of the effects of the coronavirus pandemic has been the overnight embrace by millions of people of working from home. Although working from home does effectively cut down on the chances of catching or passing on the virus, the social isolation that comes along with it – as well as the reduction in social contact outside of work - is taking a toll on many of us.

Social interaction, live music, going to a sports event or a bar or a religious service - sharing close, intimate moments with other people – they’re the kind of things that make us happy. So, here’s the dilemma. If our physical health depends on remaining apart from other people, which leads to social and emotional isolation - how can you make yourself feel happy? 

Well, there’s an app for that. It’s called Happy, the App. You download Happy The App onto your phone and it hooks you up with someone you can talk to about your problems - from loneliness, to relationship issues, to problems at work, and pretty much anything else.

The founder and CEO of Happy The App is Jeremy Fischbach.

Both Dan and Jeremy are making every effort to contribute to the sum total of human happiness and education. There are a lot of New Orleanians who appreciate the role AntiGravity plays in the media landscape, they’re very grateful for the magazine and they’re not going to let it go away. And as Happy The App gets bigger we\'re looking forward to the national press declaring definitively that Happiness comes from New Orleans.

Photos from this show by Jill Lafleur are on our website. And you can hear the conversation with Judi Terzotis, publisher of The Advocate here.

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