the pub is a print only publication, which means it is found only on the paper distributed by hand in the Chicago area because we believe in quality over quantity. It is our belief that it is more important to have critical engagement than to have mass consumption.

the pub was created from a desire for a more intimate experience. It is a more independent way to consume during a time when the mechanisms of the system are becoming more and more concealed behind algorithms and censorship. Our publication hopes to remain transparent and accessible to the consumer. the pub is not just a publication to read, but it’s a method to engage with people and their surroundings.

the pub is a gathering place in town; the all-holy, watering hole. the pub serves the town as a community place to see your neighbor and socialize with your friends. Most importantly, the pub is a space for the public; there is no qualifications to enter, it does not cater to the rich or the popular, it serves all equally.

Something had been lost in the real world, where things hold a physical space and by consequence, hold a bit more longevity and weight. As things have been changing, what is lost is not tangible and it might not be explainable, but we do know that it is lost. There are ways to protect the physical identity of culture because it grows at the same moment when people begin to create things with their hands, and it finds a sheltered home in the spaces surrounding the people that care for these things.

A strong fire produced by an action on one end of the computer only reveals itself as a flicker of lights on the screen on the other end, but the power of the fire, the warmth, the rumbling chaos that lives within the fire is lost, only felt by those within its physical reach.

the pub is our small fire, a spark that needed to be lit, and as you hold this paper in your hands, you feel the fire from our hands to yours as the warmth has been passed through the physicality of the paper, and it’s beautiful because it exists in the real world, you can feel it, and you can share it.

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I’ve grown to like the act of picking up a magazine or a newspaper. I like when I can take something in my hand and carry it with me on the subway or in a waiting room. I sit down with a coffee or a tea on a comfy couch or sturdy café chair and open the pages to read slowly. I tuck it under my arm when I transfer trains and keep reading when I stand on the platform waiting. I carry it with me to see my friends, and I’ll have to field questions from them when I set it down on the table as I empty my pockets upon arrival. We can talk about a story in the paper. I can leave the paper on their coffee table so that it pesters them to open it when they have a free moment and to flip through it when they’re bored, so that maybe they’ll ask about it later.

welcome to the pub.

sit down, grab a drink, and stay a while.