8 letters #1 (brooklyn NY)
this is such a genius idea for a zine: photos of knuckle tattoos & interviews with the people who've got them! i have knuckle tattoos myself ("spinster") & they are a serious conversation starter, like it or not. johnny has been traveling around the country for a while now, often via hitchhiking or trainhopping, which is a really good way to stumble across the population cross-section that is most likely to be sporting knuckle tattoos. examples here include "tall boys," "laff loud," "fuck NYPD," & more. the thing that really made this zine genius was that johnny didn't just subject his interviewees to a form questionairre with all the boring shit people ask about knuckle tattoos ("what's that say?...why'd you get that?...i don't get it..."; someone asked me the other day if my knuckle tattoos meant i was "just planning to be a widow for [my] entire life," which was hilarious, because "spinster" doesn't mean "widow," & once you are a widow, it doesn't really change, even if you re-marry, but anyway). the profile on the guy with "sinn fein" tattooed on his knuckles is a mini-history lesson on the fight for irish independence from england. the dude with "hobocore" tattooed on his knuckles talks about the time he spent in prison. several interviewees mention other knuckle tattoos they had considered (i thought about "dinosaur" for a while). if you have even a casual interest in knuckle tattoos, this a must-read.
quarter-standard * 32pp. * $1.40 (u.s.)/$1.80 (int'l)

8 letters #2 (brooklyn NY)
in this second issue of johnny's knuckle tattoo interview zine, we learn that two of the interviewees from the first issue have passed away, & one from this issue died before the zine was completed. johnny touches on this in one of the interviews, asking if the sometimes hard knock life of a punk makes for shorter lives. it's pretty sad. but some of these knuckle tattoo stories are very life-affirming, such as the couple about to have a baby, both of them sporting knckle tattoos (hers say, "i am a lady," & she talks about wanting to reclaim the lady appellation for punk women & redefine what it means to be lady-like, while his say, "i love mom," in tribute to his own mom & his baby mama). a woman with "cunt love" tattoos talks about the importance of queer visbility, someone with d.i.y. "last days" tattoos talks about the war in iraq, a guy with "1876" & "1931" discusses his favorite period in art history, a woman with "songbird" tattoos admits that she got them to motivate herself to get serious about playing music, & more. there's a letters section, featuring some of the responses to the first issue, & a special 10-letter toe tattoos addendum...is just what it sounds like: photos & explanations of toe knuckle tattoos. this zine brilliantly illustrates some of the hilarious & thought-provoking stories that are behind people's knuckle tattoos. genius!
half-standard * 56pp. * $3.20 (u.s.)/$4.40 (int'l)

america? #15 (gainesville FL)
travis identifies this as the comics & interviews issue, & it's true that there are a lot more drawings than usual inside. travis is apparently trying his hand at documenting daily life a bit more in the medium of sketches, so we have drawings of signs, windmills, parisian women pushing baby strollers, & the like. & there is also a smattering of comics that seem to always culminate in someone falling over when someone else says something that could either be really profound or really dim-witted. travis also includes an interview with japanther, in which they mainly address the intersections between japanther as a band & japanther as performance art; & a lengthy interview with mikey dread, a well-known jamaican reggae producer, which spans a lot of aspects of his career, from working with the clash to working on his own music to the commercialization of reggae music. & there is a kind of comic/story about the first gulf war & how travis signed up for selective service to get money for school. the deal with "america?" in general is that it addresses certain topical issues, like the war in iraq, or the commcercialization of subculture, in a kind of dialetical manner, like a conversation is opening up. travis clearly has his opinions about things, & although they are sometimes firm, they aren't strident. this issue treads familiar territory in topical ways, but does so from a slightly skewed angle, with the comics & interviews. all right! only 1 copy left!
quarter-standard * 52pp. * $2.60 (u.s.)/$3.60 (int'l)

arts & crafts revolution #2 (vancouver BC)
this was another find from the portland zine symposium. i was really excited to find this thick, detailed, & exciting zine all about crafting. terri comes at crafting from a pretty radical perspective, acknowledging in her intro that although the internet is teeming with crafting websites & blogs, photo shares, exchanges, & marketplaces, crafting has historically been a disparaged necessity for marginalized members of society. while rich women embroidered & tatted doilies to beautify their homes, working class women salvaged & re-used out of economic necessity. the point of this history lesson is to contextualize terri's goal in making the zine: she says that she wants to write about thriftcraft, which involves re-purposing materials as much as possible, & creating alternatives to store-bought mass-manufactured goods that may not be environmentally & ethically responsible. she starts with sewing, offering tips on where to find sewing machines you can use without having to buy a new one, & giving background of different kinds of cloth. there is an explanation of different stitches used in embroidery; a basic knitting tutorial (how to cast on & off, how to purl); different types of yarn, where to find them, & their pros & cons. she writes about making stamps out of potatoes, cork, & lioleum; dyeing with kool-aid; making a homemade silkscreen & the various methods you can employ to burn your screen; the pluses & minuses of various thrift store chains & what kinds of materials you can expect to find at each one; ideas on cutting up old sweaters to make new clothes, or felting wool sweaters to make new felted goods; & ideas for re-purposing practically everything you find in thrift stores. the "enviro-crafts" section is all about re-using & re-purposing--everything from using bits of old yarn as dryer balls to replace store-bought dryer sheets to melting down old stubby crayons to make new ones, from making a lantern out of an old tin can to turning an old pair of jeans into a craft apron. "damn the man crafts" include a pattern & detailed instructions for making re-useable cloth menstrual pads, a recipe for wheat paste, & a gender-neutral rag doll for your favorite child(ren). "d.i.y. kink" explains how to make your own restraints, floggers, nipple clamps, & pasties. this zine is chock-full of ideas, with detailed instructions & illustrations--great for beginning crafters or seasoned pros in search of new ideas & techniques!
half-legal * 68pp. * $5.10 (u.s.)/$6.70 (int'l)

beyond gallery walls & dead white men: anarcha-feminism in action (atlantic seaboard)
lauren & kendra compiled this zine, which is really more the size of a book, as part of their theses for college. kendra is a photographer & took care of snapping pictures of the interview subjects engaged in their daily activist lives, & lauren edited the interviews. they traveled all over the eastern part of the u.s. interviewing anarcha-feminists about what their politics mean to them, focusing on the following six questions: "how were you introduced to anarcha-feminism?", "what does anarcha-feminism mean to you?", "what form does your anarcha-feminism take?", "does your community help or hinder your anarcha-feminism?", "are you 'out' as an anarchist in all areas of your life?", & "how do you feel about privilege (both access to you & denial of)?". the result is a collection of nineteen incredibly detailed interviews with a wide variety of activists from a lot of different backgrounds. some of the responses are diametrically opposed to each other, which illustrates the wide variety of opinion than can fall under the umbrella of "anarchist" or "feminist," & you are guaranteed not to agree with every opinion put forth. kendra & lauren didn't, & neither do i. but all of it food for thought, as people talk about the activism they do in their communities, reproductive health, parenthood, gender identity, queer identity, sexual assault & abuse, punk rock, & a variety of other topics. the interviews are structured a lot like essays or monologues, allowing the subjects to talk in their own voices, & the photographs are all really beautiful & vibrant. i think this is an amazing resource--i was really excited to find it lurking on the zine shelves in my local infoshop one day, because there isn't a lot of writing out there specifically about anarcha-feminism, & of course, i am always fascinated to find out what projects people are working on or what issues concern the communities in other parts of the country/world. highly recommended, whether you consider yourself an anarchist or not.
half-legal * 104pp. * $5.90 (u.s.)/$7.90 (int'l)

big hands #5.5 (cary NC)
this very special edition of "big hands" is in fact a fairly exhaustive history of english anarchist punk band chumbawamba. chumbawamba has a certain widespread cultural currency as "that 'you knock me down, but i get up again' band," a reference to their worldwide hit song "tubthumping," which secured their place in history books addressing one-hit wonders. but many punks are aware of the fact that chumbwamba existed as a communally-minded & explictly political punk band for well over a decade before they opted to sign to EMI & release "tubthumping". responses to their decision to sign to a major have been mixed, with many punks believing that they sold out completely & are beyond salvaging. others respect their decision to funnel the money they made off the corporate music industry into anti-corporate political groups like indymedia & corpwatch. aaron more or less shies away from sharing his own subjective opinions on the issue, choosing instead to explain the history of the band, their move away from crass-style lifestyle anarchism, the debt they owe to english party/techno scenes for sharpening their pop sensibilities, & the varied political activism they have participated in, collectively & individually, outside of their music. this will of course be a zine that will greatly appeal to other chumbawamba fans, & it comes with a tape of hard-to-find chumbawamba music, of interest to both fans & other people curious about what this band has done besides that song we all saw nine thousand times on MTV in 1998. but it's also a really fascinating document for any punk/anarchist type wondering how one might live their ideals in the belly of the capitalist/imperialist beast. aaron reports the interesting phenomenon that chumbawamba's friends were split along class lines when it comes to the issue of the band signing to a major, with working-class friends supporting them, & more affluent friends accusing them of being sell-outs. i think this is something a lot of radical types can relate to, as they start wondering how to interface with the real world in certain necessary ways but hold on to their political ideologies. the zine is primarily aaron's own history, drawn from a variety of sources, & augmented with original liner notes from old releases & interviews with band members from "maximumrocknroll" & "flipside". pretty interesting shit.
half-standard & cassette tape * $6.55 (u.s.)/$8.15 (int'l)

big hands #6 (cary NC)
1>despite what were apparently my best efforts to discourage him, aaron has written a new personal zine. you just can't keep this kid away from a pen & a piece of paper, which is what some of this zine is about. he writes about his commitment to his undefinable work, which involves sitting in the library for hours researching various aspects of local history & writing, enabling a life of financial insolvency which prescribes his unsuitability as a romantic partner, culminating in a dumping at a party. he records this experience as he records so many others: with self-effacing detachment, saying that he "took notes on her merciful dumping technique". this could also be construed as something of a holiday issue, as aaron writes about getting together with his family for thanksgiving in years past, & how such experiences usually result in dysfunction. this ties in with his research into the moravians, a group of traveling puritans who settled in various parts of the country, including the greensboro area where aaron lives. he writes about visiting the re-created colonial village on an elementary school field trip & coming to the conclusion that the entire area is cursed somehow. the zine is laid out in aaron's usual style: big chunks of computer-generated text designed to emphasize the primacy of the stories, sparsely decorated with small images demarcating shifts in topic. i enjoyed this issue quite a bit.
half-standard * 24pp. * $2.40 (u.s.)/$2.80 (int'l)

big hands #7 (brooklyn NY)
aaron is back with another issue full of happy-go-lucky sweetness & light...oh wait. no, he's back with another issue of "big hands," which is the exact opposite of that. i imagine that the timepiece on the cover serves as some kind of symbolic representation of aaron's master thesis for this issue: we are all going to die, probably sooner rather than later, & while we wait to die, we are squandering our lives, & those of us who are actually making the effort to do anything original & inventive are being co-opted & marginalized faster than you can say, "where's my 'vice' magazine promotional trucker hat?" the zine is split into three pieces: music (stories of touring in a low-budget punk band & observing the constant onslaught of wretched new bands, technology-enabled hype, & the ironic embrace of failure); death (where aaron gets all tyler durden on us & poses philosophical quandaries like, "life is passing as you read this--was it worth it? did your time on earth make you laugh & cry?"); & home (in which aaron trainhops an amtrak back to his hometown to visit his mom & witnesses a grisly car accident). aaron's writing is a cut above most of what you will find in zines--he obviously takes his craft very seriously, & fittingly, the layout is text-heavy & sparsely decorated, in the manner of a book. i'd recommend this to anyone seeking a zine that will give them some good solid reading material to mull over & contemplate. only 5 copies left!
half-standard * 40pp. * $2.80 (u.s.)/$3.60 (int'l)

brainscan #21 (portland OR)
this is the first issue of this zine i have ever carried, & i wanted to pick it up because it's about an important topic that i think a lot of people will be able to relate to: surviving & eventually ending an abusive relationship. alex made a smaller version of this zine last summer, distributed primarily to friends & pen pals, but the response was such that she decided to expand it & make it more widely available with the hope that other people in similar circumstances could derive some insight & courage from her writings & get out of some bad situations. subtitled "irreconcilable differences," it is about her relationship with her ex-husband, whom she was with for close to a decade, running a business & owning a house, & how their relationship gradually fell apart as she came to understand the sources of her unhappiness & dissatisfaction. everything is laid out really nicely in stark black & white photocopies with key points written in bold typeface, & alex omits very little in the furtherance of delineating the breakdown of the relationship & her eventual departure. & yet, the whole zine has a very factual tone & doesn't really fall into the trap of recounting petty grievances or bitter recriminations. worth a read for anyone who has potentially been involved in an abusive situation, be it with a partner or not, although these things can always be potentially triggering.
half-standard * 44pp. * $4.20 (u.s.)/$5.40 (int'l)

brainscan #22 (portland OR)
alex subtitled this zine, "a practical body modification." it's all about her experience getting an IUD (intra-uterine device--a form of birth control shaped like a tiny T that is inserted into the uterus to prevent the implantation of fertilized eggs). she came up with this name after discussing birth control options with a bunch of different people & experiencing the irony of a punk with a face full of piercings remarking upon the ickiness of putting unnatural metal into your body. i personally have also always been weirded out by IUDs & the concept of storing foreign objects inside my uterus for years at a time, but alex explains how she came to this decision about her birth control choices in the zine. she also explains exactly what an IUD is & how it functions, with lots of objective information for people that want to explore their own birth control options. the IUD that alex got is non-hormonal & might be a good choice for people looking for something more effortless than fertility awareness, but less hormone-ridden than a pill. alex also describes the process of having the IUD inserted & what her immediate recovery period was like. i appreciated the balance between factual & objective information, & the personal story of alex's experience with the IUD. there is also a perverse ring toss reference that made me laugh for days & days. each cover is hand-crafted & each zine comes in a small hand-printed envelope. the layout, as always with alex's zines, is heavy on typewriters & high-contrast photocopies.
quarter-standard * 36pp. * $2.80 (u.s.)/$3.60 (int'l)

brainscan #23 (portland OR)
alex heralds a return to form with the newest issue of "brainscan". the last two issues were theme issues, about leaving an emotionally abusive relationship & getting an IUD, respectively, & were a departure from her typical style content-wise. this issue also has a loose theme, but the writing is much more in keeping with the zines alex has been making for the last ten years. the rough theme is travel, or "travel stories that never quite got as far as the travel written about". think of it as kind of like b-sides to those epic travel stories that you find in other personal punk zines. alex definitely covers a lot of geographical ground in this issue, criss-crossing the continental united states & venturing into mexico, a cruise ship leaving from england, various locales in eastern & northern europe, etc. but the stories are more about interesting inter-personal connections or irritations that happened along the way than the actual travels themselves, from a confrontation with the new wife of an ex-boyriend, to a quick kiss with a polish waiter, to killing time as a teenager growing up in salt lake city. the layout features the high-contrast negative imaging cut & paste style that has become alex's visual trademark. long-time fans of alex's zines will enjoy this new issue, as will new readers looking for a personable & engaging zine full of charming stories.
quarter-legal * 40pp. * $2.80 (u.s.)/$3.60 (int'l)

chainbreaker #1 (new orleans LA)
tagged "your favorite bicycle zine," & i think, for me, it really is. shelley is a bike mechanic in new orleans & together with a host of collaborators, she has produced this hefty, informative, & entertaining zine, all about bikes & bike culture. the history of bicycles in the u.s. is outlined, complete with illustrations of various bicycle inventions & innovations. there are pieces on the role the bicycle played in women's dress reform in the 19th century, & about historical figures that factor into the political landscape of biking. there are craft instructions involving common biking implements, pieces on street harrassment & bikes, the utility of bikes beyond simple transportation, & how to avoid being hit while biking on city streets. shelley writes about her experiences becoming a mechanic & especially being a woman mechanic, there are instructions on fixing a flat (illustrated), & a nice piece on plan B, a d.i.y. bike shop in new orleans. there are bike-themed book reviews, & even more. & it's all totally accessible, whether you're one of those 85-mile trip people or didn't learn to ride a bike until you were 13 years old, like me. only 1 copy left!
half-legal * 40pp. * $3.20 (u.s.)/$4.40 (int'l)

chainbreaker #2 (new orleans LA)
one of the finest bike zines around, because it admirably recognizes the multi-faceted world of bike culture, as well as the role of bikes outside the bike punk anti-car scene in which a lot of bike zines are ensconced. the theme of this issue seems to be bicycling outside the confines of mainstream USA. you will find no fiberglass frames or moisture-absorbing jerseys here, my friends! instead, learn about the role of the bicycle in other countries, like the many uses of rickshaws in india, or the multitude of useful machines people in guatemala construct with basic bike parts. (learn how to make your own bike-powered blender!) hear all about bike shop culture from new orleans to ireland, & tag along with a bike circus as it tours europe. learn about the wonders of bearings & the evils of vice grips, & the interrelationship of bikes & cameras. & more! fun & educational for anyone who has ever enjoyed a bike ride. only 3 copies left!
half-legal * 44pp. * $3.20 (u.s.)/$4.40 (int'l)

chainbreaker #3 (new orleans LA)
yay! another installment of the best bike zine i've had the pleasure of reading. every issue contains a whole stack of contributions on the bike theme from shelley's friends & acquaintances, so the tone is always fresh & the perspective is always a little different. in this issue, two women weigh in with their experiences as female bike mechanics, shelley trash talks fixies (huzzah!), we are instructed on how to pack our bikes for travel, we learn how to clean out our hubs & do a tune-up, we learn how to make bucket panniers (like saddlebags made out of plastic buckets), & contributers write stories about riding to the ocean for the first time after recovering from broken bones, staging a midnight food delivery alley cat race, teaching bike repair to middle schoolers, & , if you can believe it, more! some of the writing is just sweet thoughtful i-love-my-bike stuff that will inspire you to ride even if you don't actually know how. this zine truly has something for everyone, from the most nervous beginner to the most grizzled veteran. so good! only 5 copies left!
half-legal * 44pp. * $3.20 (u.s.)/$4.40 (int'l)

chainbreaker #4 (new orleans LA)
shelley's zine is a perennial must-have, both for bike enthusiasts (of all skill levels!), as well as people that need a kick in the rump to get out there & start learning. though the intro, in which shelley waxes all loving about her chosen hometown of new orleans & how the infrastructure of the city works so well with her love of cycling, might inspire a few misty eyes in the wake of hurricane katrina. but read on, as shelley & her merry band of contributers write about putting together audio documentaries about cyclists being hit by cars, the way city planning is informed by racism & classism (with bonus suggested alternatives), the seedy underbelly of bike culture consumerism, a report-back on a big-ass bike conference that happened in new orleans last year, riding & getting arrested in the huge critical mass that happened in new york city during the 2004 republican national convention, an interview with the chopper gang black label, bike zine recommendations, stories & comics about being a lady bike mechanic, how to fix your brakes, an interview with an organic urban famer who does all his gradening & selling by bike, bike art, several stories about just riding & the freedom & the way it clears your mind & makes you look at your surroundings with different eyes, & still even more bike-related goodness on top of that. this zine is always awesome because it doesn't talk down to anyone, it doesn't make anyone feel inferior if they don't know how to change a flat, or even if they're too scared to ride in the street. it's not a holier-than-thou bike zine--it's a really inspiring bike zine that will make you want to learn to fix flats & try riding in the street. it's all about pure unabashed passion for bikes, with a nice scrappy cut & paste layout, the personalities of the contributers bursting right up through the pages.
half-legal * 52pp. * $3.20 (u.s.)/$4.40 (int'l)

chick pea #4/risk oblivious youth #1/2 (pittsburgh PA/halifax NS)
last summer, mary did a residency at the anchor archive in halifax, & from whence came this zine. she teamed up with simone, who lived in halifax at the time, & they put together this really gorgeous split zine. the covers are multi-layed multi-colored screenprints. mary is well-known for her screenprinting prowess. she's taught workshops everywhere & done some print work for justseeds.com, so if her style looks familiar, maybe it's because you have one of her posters hanging in your living room & you didn't even know it. but aside from being a treat for the eyes, the contents of both halves of the zine are also really compelling. mary writes about the radical transformative potential of love, buying a house with a friend & having the partnership not work out, mentoring teenagers at pittsburgh's andy warhol museum & doing workshops for teenagers in other cities, doing a series of workshops in providence for teens when one of the participants unexpectedly died & how mary dealt with the grief as a community outsider, being a deejay & offering up very detailed step-by-step instructions on how to throw the benefit dance party of your dreams, crushes & cold feet, & more! simone intended to write about cities & gentrifcation, & there is some of that in the zine, but mostly the writing was hijacked traveling across the country while coping with the deaths of friends & acquaintances. there's quite a bit here about simone's attempts to come to terms with death, mourning on the fly, mourning as an outsider, other people's deaths triggering suppressed memories...this is important stuff. both sides of the zine are hefty & text-heavy & you won't want to put them down. an emotional rollercoaster, & a keeper.
half-legal * 44pp. * $4.20 (u.s.)/$5.40 (int'l)

culture slut #17/telegram ma'am #17 (montreal QC/lindsay ON)
amber writes "culture slut" & maranda writes "telegram ma'am," & they are twin sisters. they collaborated on this split zine to honor the seventeeth issues of their zines. amber's side is mostly handwritten & typewritten on a manual typewriter, augmented with X'ed out lines where she made errors. the text, which covers topics such as moving to montreal, leaving the town where her sister lives, the differences between them, finding out that she has an older half-sister by her estranged father, & changing her name, is built around vintage clip art from old-fashioned health books, garment construction guides, & a copy of alice in wonderland. it feels like something that was banged out in a big creative burst, maybe fueled by coffee or wine. maranda's half covers many of the same subjects--learning the news of the mysterious half-sister, changing her name (they both shed their father's last name), growing up in a haunted house, her parents' troubled marriage, the difficulties of maintaining a relationship with their father after he left, & what she is doing with herself in ontario since amber left. like past issues of "telegram ma'am" (look under the Ts to see more), the text is typed up on a computer in small fonts & pasted in blocks over backgrounds culled from old home improvement guides. amber's half is a little more spontaneous & energetic, while maranda's side is more contemplative & purposeful. it's interesting to see how they both address the same or similar issues. all in all, a classic perzine in two different styles.
quarter-standard * 40pp. * $2.40 (u.s.)/$2.80 (int'l)

doctrinal expletives #1 (asheville NC)
the tone of this zine reminded me a lot of my former zine, "a renegade's handbook to love & sabotage," in that it was unabashedly snarky, political, & a little intimidating (in a good way). & there is a reference to the phrase "the magical planet anarchotron," coined by yours truly, plus two mentions of rolling one's eyes so hard that one's retinas detach. the writing itself covers the gamut, from a comic condemning booze-happy college culture to thoughts about anti-psych med radicalism to helen's reasons for loving death metal to the false dichotomy established between activism & critical academizing. & there's more too! a slapdash cut & a paste layout, plenty of comics, & some handwritten pieces increase the feeling that helen trusts you & is writing you a personal letter about all the annoying shit she hates. there is even a whole series of paragraphs dedicated to puncturing the hubris balloon that mack of "evasion" & crimethinc fame has been levitating with regarding his passion for veganism (helen herself has been vegan for four years). lest i make this zine sound like a hate-filled downer, it's actually really smart & clever & funny. it had people like me nodding along in bemused agreement, chuckling & saying, "that's what i've been trying to say for three years!" & it will make other people think a lot. seriously good stuff!
quarter-standard * 38pp. * $1.40 (u.s.)/$1.80 (int'l)

doctrinal expletives #2 (portland ME)
i really love this zine because it is both smart & snarky, always a winning combination in my book. this issue is a mix of handwritten pieces & computer layout, all old-school cut-&-paste style, with an emphasis on the text. helen has drafted up her own (by no means exhaustive) list of rules concerning tattoos, directed primarily at people observing tattooed women. boy, did her writing on this subject ever resonate with me. as a rather heavily- tattooed woman myself, i sure do get sick of strangers asking invasive questions about my tattoos, openly judging me, & even grabbing me to get a better look at my work. she also writes about the class issues that come up as a person from a working-class background attending an expensive liberal arts college; the shortcomings of both cultural relativism & cultural essentialism, specifically pertaining to feminist issues around the world; a defense of radical scientists; brief reviews of some things she loves (such as arugula) & some things she finds really distasteful (such as the movie "secretary," which is a nuanced & intelligent critique, even if i don't agree 100%); & closes with some book recommendations. a fairly brief read, but it provides a lot of food for thought & helen is obviously really politically radical, insightful, thoughtful, & no-bullshit.
quarter-standard * 40pp. * $1.40 (u.s.)/$1.80 (int'l)

doctrinal expletives #3 (portland ME)
i opted to pick this zine up sight unseen because the last two issues were such powerful little packages of radical social thought & snarktastic writing. it arrived on my doorstep this afternoon & i was not disappointed at all. the zine opens with an essay entitled "why helen is tired of hearing sketchy anarcho dudes talk about 'identity politics'," which not only lays into said sketchy (white, straight, middle class) anarcho dudes for dismissing everything that doesn't apply to them as "PC bullshit," but also addresses issues of intersectionality within "identity politic" movements. & she does it in such an awesomely sarcastic & snarky way: "...it's a better strategy...to acknowledge how one might be complicit in upholding those hierarchies...& minimize that as much as possible, rather than pretending we're all on a level playing field lorded over by some vague puppetmaster who's making us all fight for his amusement." the next essay takes "sex positivity" to task--the sex positivity that plays orgasms & sex work off as tools of uncomplicated liberation & personal empowerment. helen also addresses the flip side of the coin: people who portray things like porn or sex work as inherently woman-hating & bad, & breaks the issues down as a lot more complicated than facile sloganeering would have you believe. & this is just the first few pages. helen also addresses "four things in the punk community that need to be stopped post-haste," explains "why [she's] a hater," talks about being an anarchist punk & "getting older" (even though she is only 23--lady, i thought i was "getting older" then too, but i was wrong), writes up some book reviews for our educations, explains why she loves rob halford (& it's not ironic or just because she's into judas priest), & explains her love of alan moore's comic ouevre. all of this is presented in a text-heavy, sometimes hand-written, hastily cut-&-pasted little package of photocopied attitude. love it!
quarter-standard * 40pp. * $1.90 (u.s.)/$2.30 (int'l)

doctrinal expletives #4 (portland ME)
helen herself refers to her project as a "surly little zine," which is as good a descriptor as any i could have dreamt up. she gets right into the good stuff with the very first piece, called, ""why 'allies' sometimes annoy the crap out of me". this is a breakdown of four of the more prevalent Bad Ally behaviors helen has noticed, mostly from dudes trying to be feminist allies, & white people trying to do anti-racist work. another lengthy & critical political piece of the zine takes to task the practice of conspicuous green consumption--buying organic, eco-friendly, or otherwise lefty-approved products that likely do little to affect one's carbon footprint but go a long way toward assuaging liberal guilt without significant lifestyle modifications. there is a lot of food for thought in both of these pieces, both of which raise salient & valuable points, but also maintain a (admittedly caustic) sense of humor. helen also writes a critique of anti-psychiatry advocacy, specifically skewering the concept that "friends make the best medicine," pointing out that she is unlikely to take mental health advice from anyone who hasn't bothered to consider her specific concerns & issues, be it a psychiatrist or a punk kid writing a mental health zine. she also writes an interrogation of "the magic redneck" phenomenon, in which working-class white culture is lionized at the expense of critical political engagement. top this with a round up of helen's favorite tiny metal gods, some book & record reviews, stir & serve for a surly but thought-provoking good time. only 3 copies left!
quarter-standard * 40pp. * $1.90 (u.s.)/$2.30 (int'l)

doctrinal expletives #5 (portland ME)
helen writes in her introduction that she made an effort to dial down the crabbiness with this issue & write a little more about things she enjoys & appreciates. personally, i never thought helen's zines were too negative, & i resent the culture of positivity that seems designed to silence critical thought, but luckily, helen's innate crankiness overwhelmed the best of intentions & the zine is still full of her trademark sarcasm & exasperation. & she is clear about her love for critical thought, especially in her piece on why she has decided to study history (it's important to understand how things got to be so fucked up if we ever hope to change them). but in an effort to keep it posi, she includes a bibliography of some of her favorite history books to try to inspire her readers to go out & study history as well. she also writes about getting an IUD, & has a lot of smart & interesting things to say, comparing radical discourse on gynecological health to radical discourse on mental health, with the entrenched divide between holistic, herbal, d.i.y. treatments & pharmaceutical/mainstream medical treatments, & all the accompanying baggage, stigma, & judgments. she writes about turning 25 & feeling alienated from the anarcho-punk lifestyle scene that had been so important to her when she was younger, & calls out the naive self-righteousness endemic to people who have read a few too many issues of "rolling thunder" (that's my editorial comment). she recommends her favorite films about heavy metal & profiles a couple of lady badasses from the ancient world. she writes a really interesting, thought-provoking piece critiquing the "fictive kinship" model of collective house living. if you have ever been frustrated by your roommate forgetting to pay the utilities or not washing dishes, but felt stymied in your attempts at holding anyone accountable because "roommates are supposed to help each other out & not nag," you need to read this. & the zine closes with a detailed recipe for pie crust. i think this is one of the best zines currently being written on a regular basis, in terms of how much it makes me think & chuckle. highly recommended, as always!
quarter-standard * 40pp. * $1.90 (u.s.)/$2.30 (int'l)

doris #23 (asheville NC)
i can't really pretend to be objective about this zine anymore. people come to my distro table at zine fairs, or just engage me in zine-related conversation, & the truth comes out: "doris" is my favorite zine of all time. & this newest issue is no exception. it is a continuation of her encyclopedia series--L is for love & ladies' lunch, M is for menstrual extraction, N is for nicky, & O is for ocean. i read this issue for the first time on a rainy day, sitting in my favorite coffeeshop that has since closed down, already moody from a big fight with a friend. it really did me in. i gave my friend a copy & he said it made him feel all raw & emotional & torn up on the seams too. but also hopeful, wanting to write things down, wanting to try to capture the essence of moments & make some sense of our messy lives. "love" is about a lot of things, the different ways love can make a person feel, getting older & feeling cynical, feeling stable after years of feeling crazy like there's no return. "ladies' lunch" is about cindy's grandma's weekly ladies' group in arizona, cindy being there to take care of her family & build up connections now that her mom has died. i was really excited for the piece on menstrual extraction, which i think is an important thing for zinesters to be frank about if they know about it. it can be used as a d.i.y. early abortion technique & a lot of folks i know are scared to even talk to their closest friends about it because legal issues & worries. but cindy offers an overview & an interview about its utility. "nicky" is stories about a woman cindy met in jail. "ocean" is misbegotten stories of hitchhiking & really bad camping experiences. "doris" is always funny, informative, evocative, moving...something for everyone. cindy has such a gift for expressing herself in a way that is accessible even to people who have never been exposed to the ideas she is writing about, but also captivating for people who think they've heard it all. just please stop reading this description & order the zine for yourself.
half-standard * 36pp. * $2.30 (u.s.)/$3.10 (int'l)

doris #24 (asheville NC)
another issue of one of my favorite zines is fresh off the presses & i am holding it here in my hand. cindy's encyclopedia series continues, slowing down this time for just the letters O (for ohio &, neatly enough, orders) & P (poison ivy, politics, the pitchfork strategy, power, punk, primitivism, & protection). for those unfamiliar with the encyclopedia concept, cindy uses the topics afore-mentioned pretty much just as jumping off points for her own stories & perspectives. "ohio" is less about ohio than about cindy's affinity for nature & rural america, told through the prism of some writing about she & her sister buying a farm in ohio. "punk" is about singing in punk rock bands, learning to scream, & using that body knowledge to harness a power that is systemically stripped away from women. "primitivism" is a long interview with chris somerville about the differences between primitivism & anti-civilization, the true meaning of sustainability, the value of cities & what cities might look like in a perfect primitivist imagination. (my fellow primitivism haters, stay strong. just try to roll with the knowledge that you are hearing out differing perspectives that may still have some value.) the piece on the pitchform strategy comes from the political collective that cindy used be in, AWOL. they developed a five-pronged strategy for ushering in the revolution & here cindy delineates its operation in a pretty straightforward, accessible, & useful way. as always, the layout is cut & paste, some typewritten, some handwritten bits, & could stand a run through the spell-check. but i will give the constant misspelling of "privilege" a pass because of the utterly charming & evocative drawings & that fact that "doris" continues to be one of the best, most consistent zines being published today.
half-standard * 36pp. * $2.80 (u.s.)/$3.60 (int'l)

doris #25 (athens OH)
yay! new "doris"! i feel like i run the last distro on earth to get copies because the first box cindy sent me got lost in the mail. but the second box arrived today. this is the continuation of cindy's encyclopedia series. i bet no one expected an entire issue dedicated to the letter "Q". the topics covered are "questions" & "quitting drinking," but of course, they both encompass a lot more than what lies on the surface. cindy put out a general call for questions several months ago, & used some of them as jumping off points to talk about specific issues, but answered others directly. she answers questions like, "what is your favorite comfort food?" & "what do you remember most about your mother?" one person asked, "how do you discipline yourself to filter out the unimportant stuff & focus on the important?", & cindy used that question to explain how to make a five-year plan & use it to guide yourself when it seems like you're spinning your wheels & not getting anything accomplished. i loved that piece because it mentioned my best friend, to-do lists. how would i live without my to-do lists? cindy squishes questions 8, 9, 10, & 11 together to explain how she discovered anarchism & how she allows anarchism to permeate all aspects of her life, complete with a book list. there are more to the questions, but the quitting drinking piece is like a little zine all its own. her story is so much like mine: growing up with alcoholics & drug addicts all around, thinking that substances like that can only be abused, but not even recognizing someone as drunk or high unless they're almost blacking out. cindy explains when & why she started drinking, & how it started to get out of hand, & all the ways she tried to quit before it finally worked for her. do i really have to say that this whole zine is really good? i know it's another one i will read over & over again.
half-standard * 32pp. * $2.80 (u.s.)/$3.60 (int'l)

doris #26 (athens OH)
cindy's zines seem to be getting more & more explicitly political, in a really interesting way. continuing her freestyle encyclopedia series, this issue addresses the letters R, S, & T, & has been professionally printed by 1984 printing in oakland, which gives us the gorgeous yellow covers on sturdy paper & layout bleed to the edge of the pages, which is always a stylish look if you can make it happen. cindy essentially sums up the mission statement of her zines in the intro to this one: "i've been thinking about the revolutionary project & how we have to fundamentally change the world. tell our true stories. be brave & open. learn our histories. learn to think deeply & critically & with compassion & empathy. learn to organize. learn [skills that are disappearing]. learn what it is to be human. learn. teach create." in "robin," cindy uses the story of a friendship with someone who doesn't completely share her political beliefs to illustrate her faith in the goodness of people & the desire of everyday people to want to change the world & live peacefully. in "shy," she responds to a question about whether the punk scene has room for shy women through a comic about her own punk rock origins. "social ecology" is a crash course on the unique arm of anarchist theory that has sustained cindy over the last twenty years. "truth" is about how people tell stories & why they tell stories the way they do, how objective truths change over time, & the power of youth. as always, "doris" is about the things i wrote here & more, & really needs to be experienced for yourself.
half-standard * 28pp. * $2.80 (u.s.)/$3.60 (int'l)

doris #27 (athens OH)
of course i was psyched to hear the news about a new issue of "doris"! this issue wraps up the encyclopedia series that started with issue #19. maybe it's time to compile the entire encyclopedia into a collection? until then, read all about cindy's experiences packing up & moving to portland, oregon as a teenager. she says she wants to come clean about her reputation as an adventuress & admits that she moved to portland because she was accepted to reed, & because she was running away from a difficult home life taking care of her mom in minneapolis. school didn't work out & she hated the apartment she'd found, so she started cooking for food not bombs & slowly learned how to talk to people & make friends. there is a comic about her desire to think of herself as a "real writer," in which she explains what her writing process is like & why she still works in the zine medium. "vamoose" is a long story about going on tour last winter with her band, sister shuffle (now snarlas), & all the cicties they visited & the interesting projects people have going on in their hometowns. the boston stop included a little aside about the time my boyfriend & his older brother moved to asheville, which was cute & funny for me to see. i knew the story already, of course; i just didn't expect to read about it in "doris"! cindy writes about how snarlas is her sister's first ever band & how everyone should be in a band. she writes about catching up with friends she has known for ten or fifteen or twenty years & the fascinating stuff they are getting up to know, still living according to a value system shaped by their political beliefs, & how growing up is not giving up. she writes about when she first moved to athens & how difficult it was to make friends, how it became a full-time job to try to talk to people & become important in a stranger's life. this issue is more stories & less self-help-y than the last issue, but still full of thought-provoking ideas & wisdom, cute drawings, misspelled words, & typewriting. can't recommend it enough!
half-standard * 28pp. * $2.80 (u.s.)/$3.60 (int'l)

doris: an anthology 1991-2001 (asheville NC)
i guess i haven't really been circumspect about the fact that this is probably my all-time favorite zine. several years ago, a new acquaintance gave me a big garbage bag full of old zines that were cluttering up his apartment, & much to my delight & amazement, the bag contained several really old issues of "doris". even the very first issue is utterly charming in its fresh writing voice, secret-telling, & lack of self-consciousness. when i heard that a book was coming out that would collect all those old issues together & make them available to everyone, i was really excited for all the people for whom the old issues would be a treasure trove of their new favorite writing. this book contains all of cindy's zine writing from 1991 to 2001-- all the old issues of "doris" (except one, excised for personal reasons) up to the beginning of the encyclopedia series, plus re-prints of her contributions to other zines, many of which are long out of print. this is a necessary book, both for people familiar with "doris" & looking for more, or for new folks wondering what i'm going on & on about. cindy just cut up the old zines & re-formatted them into a book layout, with all the clanky old typewriter font & simple drawings & breeziness we have come to expect, with stories about abortion, sex, gender dynamics, her family, her dog, punk rock shows, learning about radical history, protests, weaving, road trips, & more. what are you waiting for? order this right now!
half-legal * 320pp. * $16.95 (u.s.)/$24.30 (int'l)

dudes! 13 appointments (boston MA)
fanny has been working as a hooker for a couple of years now, & this zine collects stories of thirteen memorable appointments with different men in boston & new york city. she says she was inspired by tricks: 25 encounters by renaud camus, about casual sex encounters in the gay clubs of the 1970s, & although fanny is definitely a bad-ass anarcha-feminist with a lot of interesting political things to say about hooking & sex work in general, an overt political message doesn't really exist in this zine. she just puts the stories out there in a very direct & straightforward manner & allows the reader to draw her own conclusions. they actually read more like writing fanny did for herself, just to remember some of her experiences, & the stories here run the gamut, from crappy experiences with argumentative & bossy johns to really fun experiences with dudes that were all right. in a lot of ways, this is like any other work zine, sharing both the frustrations that make you want to quit, & the little joys that keep you at it, & so i will now offer my standard disclaimer on all sex work-related zines i carry: if you are thinking of picking this up in hopes of getting some cheap jollies off reading about someone being a hooker, do us both a favor & keep on walking. fanny does a great job here of not glamourizing sex work & making her life seem like a wild sex romp, but also not casting her work as a nightmare of desolate exploitation. i will never forget the skeezy dude at the new orleans book fair who asked if i had copies of "rocket queen" #2 because "that's a spicy zine, if you know what i mean. HOT!" i just about puked. way to miss the point, dude. & the point of this zine is not to get you off or make you feel bad for fanny. it's just a series of well-written stories that may make you re-consider your current understanding of sex work--whether you think it's good or bad. & fanny is quick to acknowledge that as a white, middle-class, queer lady documenting her sex work experiences, she is a minority in the larger world of sex work, & wields a fair amount of privilege (ditto michelle tea). but it's still a good read!
half-standard * 24pp. * $1.90 (u.s.)/$2.30 (intl'l)