SENSA NOSTRA, formerly known as XXXTRAVAGANZA launched August 31, 2012. Magazine co-founder Marc digs deep into media’s malignant impact on social and intellectual development. He proposes a new media organizational structure simultaneously liberating readers and writers.
Berlin, DE
His leopard print pant legs cross and uncross as Marc Poggia gets set to deliver his life’s passion to the world: SENSA NOSTRA, a brand new online magazine. “Coming from a sociological background, you come to realize that there is no good, there is no bad, there is only what you perceive to be good and perceive to be bad. And that is what this whole magazine is about.” The August 2012 launch marks the official release of an idea incubating for a decade in the co-founder’s mind and 2 years of sweaty late nights pouring through articles, obsessing every minutia. Marc’s horn-rimmed glasses sit slightly askew as he lounges in Sensa Nostra’s Berlin office, “It’s about being able to give the individual a completely deliberative choice of what he wants to be. But to know what you want, you have to understand what there is – the variance between one opposite and the other.”
Straight Up Free
Sensa Nostra does this by offering readers completely and forever free content from correspondents located literally worldwide. The site is starting by releasing one every article every day, rain or shine. Half the staff are journalists articulating impassioned opinions challenging hegemonic thought structures in culture, art, science, politics, and sex. Complementing the journalists is a team of graphic designers producing cutting-edge digital artwork as aesthetic frames for each article. The office thumps with the decibels of Berlin’s classical music station, packed with a sweating, intensely focused cast of international characters.
Problematic
The problem is the internet bubble created by Facebook, Google, search engines sold as client services that give you exactly what they think you want. This is the oligopoly of information services that limits us to information that we already agreed with. According to Marc, people are now prevented by these mechanisms from changing the way they think. People are really lacking liberty when private and public institutions decide what to think for us. He elaborates, “…even supposedly adventurous travelers circle the globe, merely living the same lives and ideas from their home country, but with cheaper alcohol and services.” His fierce horn-rimmed gaze focuses straight ahead, “We are not free when we are stagnant within the chains of cyclical information.”
Atomic Bomb for the Mind
Some of Sensa Nostra’s articles are sure to offend: “I want to slap people in the face with our articles. We solicit the most provocative articles we can get.” The purpose of the magazine, however is explicitly NOT to offend readers, but to serve as an educational tool, presenting varied, passionate perspectives on controversial and critical issues society grapples with daily. Marc clarifies, “Society likes to claim we’re open-minded, but we’re only open to ideas we are told to be open to. We’re not trying to change people’s minds, just providing a previously nonexistent platform for everyone to be exposed to ideas radically different from their own.” Ultimately, Sensa Nostra is an educational tool everyone can access, with a range of topics sure to interest every reader. Marc likens his creation as an, “…atomic bomb for the collective human mind. We already wallow in the nuclear waste filling our minds with shit, Sensa Nostra blows it up leaving rubble from which we can rebuild.” The result is a readership perhaps for the first time thinking for themselves.
Passion, Nerve, Uniqueness, and Talent
Marc, who has a Masters in Management, has devised an organizational structure maximizing the impact of Sensa Nostra’s philosophy on readers and employees alike. “We are flexible, meaning that the people in the company create the company. There are only 4 daily requirements for employees: Passion, Nerve, Uniqueness, and Talent. It’s all about expression: founders, journalists, creative team, and readers themselves only work on what they want to work on, destroying the antiquated management of imposition that has held wage slaves in bondage for centuries.”
The Future of Sensa Nostra
Since the launch, Sensa Nostra is developing the vision further with a growing cache of articles. This is no bullshit Kony campaign people, this is revolution demanding that we, even when we believe completely different things, can still fight together for the freedom to share them with each other and to learn in growth. Marc sets the future in stone for us, “Believe me when I say that people have spent their life savings and sweat bullets for our readers to make this project happen. We’re doing as much as we can, and we’re not doing this for profit. We want to change the world.”