Friends of Slide Ranch

Ode was founded in the spring of 1995 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands by Jurriaan Kamp and Helene de Puy. Kamp, a former editor and correspondent with the leading Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad, and de Puy wanted to create an alternative to mainstream publications, a magazine that was open to new inspirations and new visions from around the world. The cover of the first issue - a close-up image of a radiant woman laughing out loud - captured the joy and spontaneity they wanted Ode to embody.

For the first nine years of its existence, Ode was published in Dutch. But in the summer of 2004 Kamp and de Puy, who are partners in marriage as well as in publishing, moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to launch the English-language edition of the magazine. Ode now appears ten times a year in both English and Dutch, with a worldwide circulation of more than 100,000. Over the past 12 years, Ode has helped make the 'alternative' media space more mainstream. The magazine profiled people like clown-doctor Patch Adams, guru Deepak Chopra and Dr. Andrew Weil long before more conventional publications made them household names.

During this time, Ode also built a community of readers who are passionate about the magazine and the issues for which it stands: positive social, environmental and economic change. Because these readers have a lot to say for themselves - and to each other- Ode created a new webiste that allows them to communicate, socialize and contribute to Ode. Odemagazine.com's mix of print and online journalism with user-generated content and social networking makes it unique on the Web.

In print and online, Ode's aim is to bring a new reality into view, to explore opportunities for positive change in our daily lives and our daily minds.