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Since I get the vibe that no one has any idea of who I am, I figured that my first editorial should be an overall introduction of whom I am and where this is going. Back in 1999, I picked up my first issue of Minitruckin’ at the local grocery store when I was a freshman in high school. Honestly, I had no idea of what I was really looking at because I had never seen a mini before but I thought they were cool so the next month I bought another issue. As fate would have it, that Christmas I received a set of keys in a box that belonged to a 1987 Chevy s10. Faded grey with ugly, factory vinyl graphics, the truck only had 36,000 miles having belonged to my father’s uncle, and it was all downhill from there. Today, that truck has a 7” bodydrop, all new floors and firewall, ¾ frame, narrowed 8.8 ford rear axle, right-hand drive, and the list goes on and on. After that first issue, which I still own, I was hooked. Having always enjoyed writing, I pretty much knew from that point on that I wanted to be working at a truck magazine. I started freelancing for Gauge Magazine back in 2005 until a local truck photographer made a post on a forum about needing help to write articles for the trucks he was shooting. I jumped on the opportunity, allowing me to write for a lot of the magazines that I had always dreamed about, such as Minitruckin’, Sport Truck, Tailgate, and several others. In 2009, Johnny O’ contacted me after reading several of my blogs about being his associate editor for the new Street Source Magazine. The rest is history really. This is pretty much all I’ve ever wanted to do with my life. I went to college for English and Journalism in hopes that that would help me along but I still have a lot to learn. I’ll be the first to admit that my photography skills aren’t the greatest but I’ll get there someday. In the meantime, I am fortunate enough to have a great group of guys backing me who do know how to handle a camera and I cannot thank them enough for all of their cooperation and help.
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As far as my plans for the magazine, there is no reason that SSM shouldn’t be the leading magazine in the industry. There are hundreds of thousands of members on this site who share the same passion for custom anything that I, and everyone else who works here, do as well. Sure, it’s an online magazine and I know that many people enjoy the feel of a print magazine and having them on their shelf or in their bathroom for proper reading material, which I can understand. But realistically, this is the way that the industry is headed. Print will be eventually phased out, especially when the media can finally figure out a way to create content that advertisers will willingly pay to be a part of. That being said, SSM is on the cutting edge and always has been. But it will take the combined efforts of everyone involved with SSM to make this happen. I want this to be a community magazine, an open forum that anyone can be involved in, which is why I introduced the Guest Column in my thread in the Minitruckin General section of the forum. If there is something that you want to see, read about, care about, or whatever, feel free to email me at anytime at wynnjl@mail.uc.edu. I welcome advice, criticism, or any help that people want to offer. I’m not saying that things will always go as planned or that Street Source will be the magazine that everyone and their mother will want to read, but I will guarantee that I will do my best to push out a quality magazine that everyone can be proud to be a part of. Thanks for all of the support so far and I hope to see more of it in the future! Remember to keep your heads held high and rides low, Justin
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