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Erik & Laura Marie #38Erik & Laura Marie has a very fine traidition in the Perzine Genre, it is rare that she puts out a bad, or even awkward issue, and this one is typical of the high quality of writing you'll find. Just opening up, you find a fascinating bit about Laundry, which then turns into a sort of personal essay about the power of choosing to not raise children. The hand-written blurb at the bottom about zines is typical Laura-Marie, taking a hand and sharing with you not just her loves, but why she loves what she does. That's important, to understand ourselves, and the world around us. Laura-Marie is a literal pioneer in this concept. What's really interseting is how she responds to criticism, which is bold and upfront. She's learned to not be afraid to feel her feelings, and the follows in with some of her poetry. Articles about THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS, Breakfasts, and breakfasting in general, and a nice review about a Moroccan restraunt follow. I like her personal anxt about choosing to, or not to consume meat. Of course, to catch my eye was "10 Best Things a Man can Do For a Woman" which honestly, I think could go both ways. I'd like to see a rebuttal piece by Erik, "10 best things a woman can do for a man". The bit about tye-dye is very cute, and the handwritten piece about anxiety is very, very good. Toward the end is one of the parts of their zine that I like best, the Exerpts from Erik's Letters to his dad. This is an unflinching, unedited piece of personal corrispondance between father and son, and Erik's commentary about Buddism is serious food for thought, well, eggplant, in this case. I like his descriptions of events, concepts of the environments, and would like to have seen an address for the Long Haul Infoshop so that if I'm ever in Berkely, I could see it for my own eyes. This zine closes with a very cute bit of prose reguarding crushes on car mechanics (!) and then finally some contact information, as follows:
Laura Marie's Blog: http://dangerouscompassions.blogspot.com/
Excerpts from Erik & Laura-Marie Zine: http://www.erikandlauramarie.blogspot.com/
Laura Marie's Myspace Account: http://www.myspace.com/lauramarietaylor
Equilibrium #6
Bright and shining, like a lighthouse in the night, Equilibrium demonstraites the power of the art/litzine. Full sized at 8.5 x 11 square bound with high production values, and a full-colour cover, this thick zine is rife with innovative words and artworks. With a full compliment of Poetry, Prose and Art, Equilibrium is a feast for the eyes and feelings. Of particular note is Amy Garret-Brown's, "Mississippi Fair" and Thom Garzone's, "Miss Universe". Brandon Follett's "The Caged Monkey in Nampa, Id" is a powerful social commentary about the human primate. $5.00
Excuse me, Can you Please Pass the Privilege
While one would not initially think that a white male coming from a middle-class background would think themselves privileged, Joshn Russell destroys that myth with one simple photocopied zine. Looking critically first at privilege as a racial and social concept (including notes from Utah Phillips), he then leaps into aspects of privilege in media specifically in music. He forms a gay/straight alliance in high school with a very entertaining cartoon and then leaps into anti-racism. He discusses inner dialogue and finds resolution, yet, realizes the irony, and struggle even within his very own upbringing. From there he offers three well thought out planks on how to deal with privilege on a broad scale, touching on both the personal, and legal/social implications of each. This is a very well thought out piece of writing, and I highly reccomend it.
Figure 8 #3
Figure 8’s subtitle, “The most revolutionary think you can do is love your body” carries the concept of this zine throughout. Krissy Durden’s quest for size awareness, much less size equality does not carry its’ message quietly, but instead with the power of a marching band on steroids. Her words and articles are bold, powerful visions of people that need to be treated as people first, and as persons of size later. From its’ initial interview with Marilyn Wann (author of the zine Fat! So?) to the thought provoking article about Big Body Yoga to the too much fun of F.A.T.A.S.S pdx: The first Two years, Krissy’s romp is full of good, solid information for the person of size as well as the society that shuns them. Understand that Krissy isn’t the kind of person to just write some two-bit crap and slam it together, she chats with all the cheerleaders of FATASS, gives you some very pro-heavy-person size poetry blurbs, and gives you a Fat Liberation Manifesto. She makes you understand that persons of size are horribly biased against in our culture and it’s about damned time that someone did something about it. That someone is Krissy, and her zine is well worth reading. $3.00 digest sized, 40 pages
Homespun
Homespun is a classic DIY Zine, put out by Neomi Martinez and C/S Press. It's pages contain useful information including things like recipies, cooking techniques, ideas and concepts for better living and other things that a lot of our modern age seems to pass over. Issues reviewed:#1Homespun #1:
Homespun #1 is an excellent DIY rescouce with lots of goodies in it. Unlike many DIY zines, it has a nice and USEFUL table of CONTENTS and a neat, 'about' page which gives an interesting history of the concept of the zine. One of the first items that we come to is a vegetable I was completely unfamiliar with, Nopales. While I've not yet been able to sample this vegetable, this is the kind of concept you're dealing with - things that you might not be aware of, that you might want to learn about. There's a wonderful recipie for flour tortillias (one I may add I have been looking for a long time). Very touching is her concept about getting kids into zines (you can never start the deprogramming too early!). Great shampoo articles as well and finally toward the back we see a great article about making you own mensus pads. Great stuff, highly reccomended. 40 pages, $2.00
Girls are not Chicks - coloring book
Girls are not Chicks is a progressive-minded coloring book by Jacinta Bunnell & Julie Novak. 32 pages, with color cover. Girls are not Chicks provides young people with concepts that defy and just plain irk mainstream non-empowering society and culture. In it we find a plethora of people devoted to breaking stereotypes. We begin with the ballerina who has a wrench in her hand, continue to a young girl wanting to overthrough a dictatorship one person at a time, to a clown who lives to do nothing more than make people laugh. From body self-acceptance to Loving each other, this book teaches people, young and old to accept important things and to grow, reach and learn. Bold, clear illustraitions, make it easy to color, and ending with a very entertaining biography of the collaborators. I'm happy to distro this one, and am looking forward to seeing more work from this talented duo. $7.00
