Sent by priority mail, no less.
Sent by priority mail, no less. Christopher Frizzelle

I took this photo with my cell phone and emailed it to myself and when I typed Ville into the subject line my phone auto-corrected to vile.
Here is the magazine that was enclosed. I can't believe someone paid $6.45 to send this to us. Christopher Frizzelle

I flipped it open and, to my surprise, I have heard of the people associated with this magazine. It turns out that the editor is none other than Slog favorite Charity Mainville! You all remember Charity Mainville right? Of DList magazine infamy? The brooding Las Vegas gal who moved here even though there's nothing to do in Seattle and it's horrible here but her magazine DList was going to save us all from our boringness while also being "a piece of artistic literature to place upon your coffee tables for others to relish quarterly"? Yessss. Her!

If you still don't know who I'm talking about, maybe this image rings a bell?

1362783889-charitymainville.jpg

I haven't seen DList in a while. I'm guessing it went out of business? Anyway, Charity Mainville is now the "publisher/editor-in-chief" of Ville, and she begins her letter in the premiere issue by explaining why it's called Ville.

Screen_Shot_2016-02-05_at_3.27.55_PM.png

In case you don't have a magnifying glass, allow me to quote [sic throughout] the first paragraph:

Allow me introduce you to the all new, Ville Magazine. After torturing my friends and family with my indecisiveness over 100 names, I chose Ville because it means city in French. (It's also part of my last name, which at the same time I discovered I was part French as well... Oh la la.) With the Y generation coming into their own, the reality is that social media and technologically is now the norm. With an app for every single thing and services of convenience, we have it all at our fingertips. Seattle and the Eastside are filling up with the Y's as each year the average age of locals is getting younger and younger and are living closer and closer to downtown.

First of all: I'm glad she got to get out of those heels. Looked painful. Second of all, that marked up page is just the beginning of Stranger reader Ellen's work. (Is that what the name in blue marker says? Ellen?) I'm not about to pretend that The Stranger is typo-free; there are typos on Slog every day, and we publish enough print errors per year we make an annual issue out of it. But Ellen's editorial work really deserves praise. (Or a job at Ville?) Here are her proofreading marks on a travel article:

In the India there is even a forest...
"In the India there is even a forest..."

Here's Ellen's work on the contributor's page:

Screen_Shot_2016-02-05_at_3.32.00_PM.png

I'd hate to ruin the premiere issue of Ville "Because It Means City in French" Magazine for you, though, so I'm going to leave it there. Rush on out and pick up your own copy, and then maybe place upon your coffee tables for others to relish quarterly?

As for you, Ellen: You don't know how you've brightened my day. The world may seem gloomy, the city may seem filled with strangely named people from Las Vegas, but at least we have ridicule, sarcasm, and each other to keep us going. Oh la la.