When Language Runs Dry: A Zine For People With Chronic Pain And Their Allies #3 nevertwiceATyahoo.com
This is one of the best comp zines currently being created and I've got the first two issues, which I devoured. This one features articles by a cyclist who experienced brain damage after being hit by a car and a mother writing about her chronic pain and how this affects the raising of her child, a comic about fibromyalgia and forming a feminist theory around invisible disabilities, a conversation between two generations of women living with chronic pain, and a piece on learning how to say "yes" to activities that are often turned down for fear of exacerbating the pain. A must-read.
Utopia #1 datanodataATgmail.com
This is a pretty neat zine, although I'll admit that I cringed at the beginning when the author sorta romanticized being in a dirty punk house. I can't live like that and I don't think that dirty floors and unwashed dishes are "punk rock", I think they're mostly due to laziness. He does a lot of pontificating about spending time on the West Coast and about the way America does everything BIG, without sounding at all bitter. It was really well-written and I was surprised at the end when I found out that it was a 24-hour zine. Especially considering his other zine, Tall Tales #1, which to me was just a big cliché about hitchhiking and reading Jack Kerouac. But yeah, I liked this one. And it contains a lotta fantastic clip art.
Up The Kids #5 (no contact info?)
I did not like this zine. I thought I might. It's pretty lengthy at nearly fifty half-size pages with small text. I was looking forward to some good stories. It began alright. The author talked about his local railroad and the various towns it runs through and a bit about the tomato and rice plants in his area. I love reading about small towns and it's kind of exciting to discover a place I've never heard of. There was a drawing of a water tower - I love water towers, too. One day when I climb out of this debt, I will get Lindsay's water tower tattooed on my thigh. The next page is about an older black man threatening him on his way to school. He compares him to Ol' Dirty Bastard and then writes about a "young ghetto youth" in the next paragraph. First of all, "young youth" is redundant. Youth would suffice. I'm also not entirely comfortable with the word ghetto being used as an adjective, especially when a white person is doing the writing. Second of all, it seemed like all of the people of colour he wrote about were caricatures. He consistently wrote about people of colour starting fights and committing crimes in something of a tone of disdain, as if he were somehow above all that, yet wrote about Columbine in the same issue and voiced his understanding of their violence due to their outcast status and torture at school. It seemed odd that he was able to reconcile the white murderers' crimes with their troubled pasts, but give absolutely no thought as to why people of colour might also turn to violence. I was already feeling annoyed but continued on, only to find a whole page devoted to whining about being single. And I quote: "These were not the girls that I thought were out of my league, these were females whom (sic) I just wanted to be important to, and I'm not sure why, other than because I knew I wasn't. To these girls, I am the type of sweet guy who the (sic) may look up on MySpace in a few years when all the attractive guys they've let slither around on top of them have left them high and dry. And all the girls who I let slip away in much the same fashion? Well I'm sure they are doing really good (sic) since we stopped talking, so they can all thank me for being a stepping stone to a much better place, person or situation." I've bolded the best parts for your pleasure. I hate it when single guys pull the I'M SO SWEET WHY DON'T GIRLS LIKE ME nonsense. He also manages to include slut-shaming and guilt-tripping in the same paragraph. Charming, right? It reminded me of a certain other zinester who writes whiny zines about singlehood and acts like a douchebag and can't figure out why girls run away from him in droves. I'm not saying this guy is a douchebag, I don't really know him, but I sure wouldn't wanna date someone like that. Anyway. There is some stuff on religion, some more drawings and so many typos and grammatical errors that I almost got out a highlighter to track them for fun. I gave up on the zine at about the halfway point.
Jen(ny) Ambular #2: Our Summer Tour jtwiggATgmail.com
Hell yeah! Jen plays in pop-punk band The Ambulars and writes zines about being in a band and touring, and what these sorts of activities look like for a lady in a mostly-male environment. Some of the predictable behaviours include being written off as "the girlfriend", being looked down upon for using low-end gear, having to put up with sexist jokes and dealing with the physical (and emotional) discomfort of bleeding while on tour. (I'd like to add how much I hate it when I'm lugging gear for a band and they hand me things and say, "Here, this is light, you can handle it.") There is always a fine line between learning how to call these things out, and keeping it inside for fear of being a downer (or "that PC bitch" or whatever terms are being used these days to invalidate women who stand up for themselves). Of course, she also includes tales of awesome venues, meeting fun people in various cities and receiving props for being a talented musician. I could relate to a whole lotta what Jen has to say, and you'll be able to order this zine through Fight Boredom Distro very soon.
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