Jane Said

If you hadn't heard, Jane Magazine is effectively shuttered and its website's closing up shop next month. We can relate, in the sense that that sweet Covance study that was going to finance some globetrotting and resolve our housing situation for a month, fizzled out on us yesterday afternoon. We're not going to pretend we were down with Sassy from the jump or anything, but we fondly recall visiting a friend's summer sublet in Logan Square, grossly extending bathroom trips perusing Jane back issues. [for the articles, really!] We even bought a copy a year ago, when we had designs on pitching a piece on womyn rap producers or something. So we thought we'd preserve the following Madison zine moments for posterity. No quips for now.

excerpted, without permission, from Jane, July '07, "Hit The Road: The MIDWEST," by Brekke Fletcher and Julie Bloom

Day Two
MADISON, WI

"After a warning from State Trooper Dubois, we roll into Madison ready for a drink. Inside the cozy Natt Spil (211 King St.; no phone!), we catch the attention of scruffy DJ Chuck Money and chef Dave. "I could tell you were tall by your long torso," Chuck says to Brekke, who totally digs Chuck's sardonic irreverence and his hand on her thigh. He escorts us to late-night spot The Weary Traveler (1201 Williamson St., 608-442-6207), where Julie approaches Ed, a truck driver who looks like Mark Wahlberg. "You can't go anywhere in Madison without running into someone you know," he complains. As if on cue, Andrew, our sexy waiter from dinner, shows up, sits on the other side of Julie, and sets up a love triangle. One $3 beer later, Ed bows out and the four of us head back to Andrew's bachelor digs until the wee hours. The rest is classified."

• The Plaza is on their "MIDWEST Top Ten: The top 10 (or more) places that we demand you visit, or at least, strongly encourage."

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via Window Shopping, a blog maintained by Shayna Miller, Madison Magazine's "Assistant and Style Editor" [unsure how to parse the blog bio: an assistant editor who has dominion over "style" content? An "assistant" conferred with an honorary title for stalking the style beat--for keeping the suburbs sale-savvy?]--and seamlessly integrated with the mag's website.

• Shayna concurs: "Natt Spil is one of my favorite places—a good people-watching place for fashion! I think the décor is pretty fab, too."