Welcome to VICE Magazine's March Issue

It's a scary thing to be responsible for the redesign of a magazine, especially one that's more than 20 years old. You have to get comfortable with the fact that you're bound to inadvertently piss off a few fans. But I've worked on the magazine since 2008, and after being editor-in-chief for about a year now, it seemed the right time for me and my team to take a break and rethink the format and editorial direction.

Our magazine tends to be more news-heavy, which I love, but we wanted to strike a better balance when it comes to including cultural coverage. So now in our new "Briefs" section, you'll see recurring pieces, including profiles of cultural figures, like Hannibal Buress, and travel stories about places you'd actually want to visit, like a unique Day of the Dead festival in the mountains in Guatemala.

We also wanted to innovate with graphic- and photo-heavy pieces that use visuals to tell stories in new ways. To that end, we've given VICE News senior investigative reporter Jason Leopold two pages each month to decipher classified documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. For the first installment, Leopold uses his magic to explain the secrets behind the US government's trade of Taliban members for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

For the back of the magazine, we've also introduced a new section called "Field Notes," in which we've carved out a space for commentary, ephemera, and behind-the-scenes looks at the making of the entire VICE universe. "Field Notes" is all about the identities of our contributors and their thoughts on the world, so in this section, expect to find writing on economics, sex, and the internet age. We have columns by our digital channels as well, like VICELAND's Weediquette host Krishna Andavolu on the politics of weed and Motherboard's take on the future.

And then there are our longform investigative features and photo portfolios—our bread and butter. We gave these an updated look and feel, introducing a new restrained design, so the stories can speak for themselves. In this issue, journalist Jacob Kushner travels to Kenya to investigate the unexpected refugee crisis created after neighboring Uganda passed its notorious anti-gay law in 2014. We also have an exclusive new look at photos from an upcoming issue of Toilet Paper magazine, by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari (they're also the geniuses behind this issue's cover image).

It's been two and a half months of late nights at the office and daily freak-outs, but I'm thrilled to finally be able to share our newly redesigned magazine with you. Here are some more highlights:

-Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards talks about reproductive rights, sex education, and the Supreme Court

-An exclusive first look at Daniel Clowes's beautiful new graphic novel Patience

-Jean Friedman-Rudovsky heads to Thailand to profile Empower, a union of 50,000 sex workers fighting for rights in Thailand

-Photographer Jan Hoek snaps surreal images of Cape Town's transgender sex worker community

-The story of the mysterious and unsolved death of a Mexican migrant in a private, for-profit Arizona detention facility

-Photographer Kent Andreasen takes photos of the forgotten diamond mining towns sprawled up the west coast of South Africa and the people who live there now

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