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As I've surely mentioned, I got on the zine bandwagon sometime in the bygone nineties (did you?), a few years out of college. I've lately been pondering the current state of low-fi, slap-dash periodicals (cough cough typewriter journal cough cough) now that society has crammed every last conceivable print outlet into some sort of eyeball-scorching digi-gadget. Perhaps creating a DIY print periodical amidst 2009's all-digital regime is an edgier statement than it was in 1992.
I'm soon visiting Portland (OR), which, as far as I can tell, remains the holy land of hand-stapled screeds (and typewriters and vintage cameras-- what are you waiting for?). You can even download and print a zine that lists every place in Portland that you can find a zine, such as Powell's Books ("the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world") and Microcosm Publishing.
The city also has an annual three-day zine symposium, and offers year-round support to the low-tech print enthusiast at the Independent Publishing Resource Center. See you there.
On a note unrelated neither to this post nor the blog at large, I am a ginormous fan of First Aid Kit, a Swedish teenage singing duo. Oh, here they are again.
Banning the Big Black Box
5 hours ago
8 comments:
As opposed to actually looking around and finding out for myself, I ask the following: when are the Silent Type submissions due? Jun 15, right?
Also: Swedes kinda scare me ever since I started reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
I enjoy your writing. Today I just purchased, at Staples (forgive me if you can,) an extra long stapler, the kind one could (conceivably) use in assembling hand made screeds.
I lived in Portland for almost a year (business assignment) and loved the city. Powell's books is like Mecca. Enjoy.
~Joe
Thanks Joe. I have one of those staplers! It has been lost somewhere in my attic for years.
Mike, I have vaguely stated that May 30th is the deadline to complete submissions, but haven't defined what that means exactly (sent off? arrived here? what address are you supposed to send these to anyway??) I need to work on that.
I remember a rash of underground high school zines back in the 90s. Students were always leaving me anonymous copies on my desk. My favorite was the young lady who printed her zine out in pieces and posted each installment with masking tape inside the same bathroom stall each week. It was a brilliant marketing scheme.
There's been a recent zine revival around here at the university level, but they're all online. Students want to read them on their phones, you see. As a matter of fact, the last few poetry readings we had involved students reading from their glowing cell phones or laptops rather than from scribbled notebooks. The times, they are a'changin.
On that note, is it possible to scan our submissions to Silent Type and email them, or is it hard-copy only?
When are you coming to Portland? I live just across the river.
June. There is an event at the Independent Publishing Resource Center. Have you ever checked that place out? http://www.iprc.org/ It sounds really interesting.
By the way, I planted an actual vegetable garden this spring. AND IT IS GROWING. A minor step in the self-sustaining direction :-)
Monda, I am thinking to go low-tech and have people just send me hard copies so I can scan them all consistently myself.
Nobody told me, four years ago, that print zines were essentially dead. I've been doing them ever since. Call it Luddite or whatever, but I love paper and staples and real ink and toner and al;jdfaslkdfja XEROX MACHINES. Goes with the typewriter thing.
I thought every high school had a zine or two still, and I guess they don't. Huh. And in 1992, I was still peeing myself and couldn't read or walk yet. I sort of missed the boat by about thirteen years.
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