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About My Disappearance
About My Disappearance is a pezine dedicated to Crohn's disease by Dave. It is an unflinching, brutal, honest look at a difficult part of one man's life, and we are thankful to have like people like Dave as a part of the zine commuity for giving us a first-hand perspective. He talks about the early onset of the disease, the various samples he has to give, the medical people he encounters, and how this illness weakens him and causes him to become more dependant upon those around him. Instead of breaking him, he chooses to take these experiences and strengthen him. Weak from the illness he is forced out of work for a time, and his father comes to his aid. Touching, insightful between an adult son now reliant to his father, Dave's work is a must-read for anyone dealing with any kind of debilitating illness.
America #13
America #13 begins with an introduction to the 2004 new year, and wanders about, touching upon bicycles as a lifestyle, fighting cynacism, to an entertaining t-shirt story. This 1/4 sized zine (with stenciled cover in assorted colours), then goes into interview mode, chatting candidly with Sam McPheeters (punk planet), Mary (tree of knowledge distro), Lance Hahn & J. Church (the FEST in Florida) then ending with a scene report and a reading list and soundtrack list. Travis, clearly had a gift not just for interviewing, but creating good, insightful dialoge between the interviewer and the interviewee. I'll be looking for more of these when I can find them. NOW IN STOCK
Diamond in the RoughDiamond in the Rough is a Perzine, written by Caroline Tigeress. Initially dealing with her Gastric Bypass, she has branched into various other eating, and non-eating issues. The following issues have been reviewed: #1
Diamond in the Rough #1
Personal Travelogue of a Gastric Bypass, text heavy no illustraitions. May have some triggering effects on readers who have eating disorders, and is heavy in the medical genre. Caroline talks a lot about food in realtion to the mainstream media and the specifics of the surgical process. 24 pgs, 1/2 sized $2.00 + postage. Click here for current stock
Diamond in the Rough #6
Diamond in the Rough #6
DITR#6 celebrates the one-year anniversary of its’ first publishing; this quirky little perzine has gone through many changes, from digest to ¼ and back. This issue is the thickest of all its’ incarnations, a whopping 40 pages for two bucks. Far less text heavy than in previous incarnations, this issue displays the more creative and artistic side of its’ author. Still with interesting insights regarding compulsive eating, Ditr #6 carries us along at breakneck speed. Heavily interspersed with poetry, clip ins with lots of handwriting, this issue seems to be a bit more cohesive than previous episodes. Heavy ranting against the mass media seems to be a consistent theme as does quirky bits of anti-advertisement propaganda. Later into the issue we see deep delving into personal psychology, what makes the author who she is, and in her mind, why she is who she is. Wedding dress designs, a trip to the hospital, and some real physical evidence of how loosing over a hundred pounds affects your daily life. Toward the end a couple of character bios for an upcoming novel, and an amusing article about the things that people keep of their children round out the issue. New to this is the, “Lil Witch” comic strip, which I’m hoping will appear more often. A steal at two bucks. Click here for the etsy site
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
Just That Good #12
Just that Good No. 12 centers upon an event that affects everyone’s life a little differently, high school graduation. Becca’s collection of images and thoughts are sound, and well thought out. She includes a Table of Contents (something that I’m seeing more and more of in zines of all varieties – and it’s welcomed) containing a number of insightful, interesting articles all about the rituals and concepts of graduation. The collage work is both clear and meaningful; I found it very appropriate that a couple of key pages were collaged over the sheet music to, ‘pomp and circumstance’. I liked the half page, ‘Some things I know’ which was toward the front of the work, and is backed up by, “The graduation thing is a scary business.” I liked the honesty about the fear when the writer talks about breaking her routine, being forced to pay for credits – things of that nature. Of particular power is four pages – almost a mini-zine within a zine, “we would like to ask for a moment of silence.” Very poignant text there that I feel is good reading for just about anyone, high school or not. I found of particular interest, “Graduation Blurb” by Andi Kay Rogers, which refers to High School Graduation from the perspective of College Graduation. Poems, reviews and short prose follow. A nice handwritten blurb near then end with a snipped from No. 9 of the same series, and then the issue winds down with “The Stupid Files Case #8, the case of the stupid senior year.” The work ends with contact information, and an interesting little side note. A solid read, especially if you’re in high school. 24 pages, ½ (digest) sized. $2.00
