Fanzines

[eyeamflesch]

Peite ti gnwmi sas kai diabaste allwnwn.

What other genre is as apt to articulate popular dissent, vent "extreme" views, innocuously cover narrow topics, or rant incoherently as the zine? Sometimes loosely understood as being any low-circulation, non-mainstream magazine or newspaper, zines (from "fanzine") are more narrowly self-published periodicals. Usually issued by one person outside the profit motive, they are a budget means of unhomogenized self-expression. Some are cobbled together quickly using office photocopiers; others are carefully designed using the latest in word processing technology. Their content may be sexually explicit, politically revolutionary, or blatantly anti-social. All embody one maxim: freedom of the press belongs to those who own one. Like punk rock, graffiti, and home taping, however, zines are a part of a larger do-it-yourself movement, one that runs beneath if not counter to the prevailing currents. Within this "otherstream", the veritable zine community somehow manages to foster both individualism and interpersonal relations. Zines are produced and traded, then communication begins.

- Chris Dodge (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7423/zineog2.html)

[UmbilicalResidue]

Peite ti gnwmi sas kai diabaste allwnwn.

What other genre is as apt to articulate popular dissent, vent "extreme" views, innocuously cover narrow topics, or rant incoherently as the zine? Sometimes loosely understood as being any low-circulation, non-mainstream magazine or newspaper, zines (from "fanzine") are more narrowly self-published periodicals. Usually issued by one person outside the profit motive, they are a budget means of unhomogenized self-expression. Some are cobbled together quickly using office photocopiers; others are carefully designed using the latest in word processing technology. Their content may be sexually explicit, politically revolutionary, or blatantly anti-social. All embody one maxim: freedom of the press belongs to those who own one. Like punk rock, graffiti, and home taping, however, zines are a part of a larger do-it-yourself movement, one that runs beneath if not counter to the prevailing currents. Within this "otherstream", the veritable zine community somehow manages to foster both individualism and interpersonal relations. Zines are produced and traded, then communication begins.

- Chris Dodge (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Cafe/7423/zineog2.html)

propswpika enisxyw opoiodhpote fanzine peftei sta xeria mou.
merika, opws to carusel (mousiko zine), gia paradeigma einai kai poly kalhs poiothtas.

[eyeamflesch]

ZINES -
zine history, the zine network, topics, and teaching zines in classrooms

by Elke Zobl
(April 2004)



HISTORY OF ZINES

- Underground Press: One could argue that in their loosest form zines exist since people began to write, copy and self-publish. Zines stand in this long tradition of self-publication. Historically, they could even be traced back to 1517 when Martin Luther published his "zine", the "Ninety-five Theses," a time when Johannes Gutenberg had just invented the printing press and self-publication began to spread. Self-publication has always been a political medium and frequently used to express resistance, for example during the French Revolution.

- Art, Artists' Books, and Mail Art: Self-publishing has been a method closely associated with several art movements in the 20th century. In journals, magazines, leaflets, and mail-art, Dadaist, Surrealist, Fluxus and Situationist artists employed techniques such as collages, bricolages, and detournment of magazine images and had a strong influence on zine editors later on. Since the 1990s, many young artists use zines to create their own creative spaces, distribution networks and audiences independent of the established gallery and exhibit system.

- Science Fiction Fanzines (1930-1960). As a distinct form, zines originated in the 1930's in the United States when fans of science fiction began to publish and trade their own stories. The term "fanzine" became recognized as the abbreviation of "fan magazine" and later on was shortened to "zine."

- Punk Zines: In the 1970s, when punk rock music emerged, the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethos found a fertile ground in zines. This ethos combined with the increasing accessibility of photocopy technology fueled an explosion of zines.

- (Riot) Grrrl Zines: When in 1991 the riot grrrl movement emerged out of the alternative and punk music scene in the United States, thousands of young women began to produce personal and political zines with explicitly feminist themes. Bikini Kill called in their manifesto upon young women to form bands, to mutually learn and teach instruments and to publish zines. Nowadays, some women ("grrrls") who grew out of the riot grrrl movement have chosen to reclaim the title and call themselves "ladies." Their politics remain devoted to assertive feminism and activism.

- E-Zines: During the 1990s the zine network expanded enormously into the realm of e-zines. In addition to the typical objectives, these online zines serve often as resource and network sites. But although the Internet makes e-zines available worldwide and allows geographically isolated people to correspond, one should not forget that it is still a privilege to have access to computer-technology.


History resources:
Zine Book: http://www.zinebook.com/directory/zine-history.html
Heath Row: From Fandom to Feminism: An Analysis of the Zine Press (1997) http://www.geocities.com/echozinedistro/history.html


How do zines look like?

Who does zines?


TYPES OF ZINES and THE INTERNATIONAL ZINE COMMUNICATION AND DISTRIBUTION NETWORK:

- Print zines
New Pollution: national print zine directory (Australia) - http://evolver.loud.org.au/nupoo/print/

- E-zines [electronic zines] (or 'Cybergrrrl zines')
Geekgirl: Australian, network platform, http://www.geekgirl.com.au/
Come on grrrl! Brazilian e-zine http://geocities.com/comeongrrrl/

- (Grrrl) Maga-Zines
Bust - http://www.bust.com/
Venus - http://www.venuszine.com/
New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams - http://www.newmoon.org/

- Comics
Action Girl - http://www.houseoffun.com/action/index.html
Ackward
DIY comix: An instructional pamphlet
Comics Resources: http://www.zinebook.com/directory/comic-books.html

- Review and Resource Zines [online and print]
Zine Guide - http://www.zineguide.net/
Zine book - http://zinebook.com/
Bibliotheque: http://www.lunar-circuitry.net/bibliotheque/
Zinesters - http://www.zinesters.net/
Zinesters Travel Guide -http://www.zinesters.net/travel/index.html
Zine World - http://www.undergroundpress.org/
Queer zine explosion - http://www.io.com/~larrybob/qze.html
Grrrl Zine Network - http://www.grrrlzines.net/
Stolen Sharpie Revolution - http://www.microcosmpublishing.com/
Book Your Own Fuckin' Life - http://www.byofl.org/
Slug & Lettuce: A Zine Supporting The Do-It-Yourself Ethics Of The Punk Community

- Distros [distribution service provider/mailorder catalogs]
International zine distros: http://www.grrrlzines.net/zines/distros.htm
Microcosm Publishing: http://microcosmpublishing.com/
Grrrl Style! Distro: http://grrrlstyle.org/

- Online mailing lists, message boards and live journal communities:
Edgy-catin Mama: http://pub15.ezboard.com/btheedgycatinmamas
Pander Forum: http://messageboard.panderzinedistro.co ... nboard.cgi
Zine Yahoo groups (mailing lists): http://groups.yahoo.com/search?query=zi ... mit=Search
Stolen Sharpie Live Journal community: http://www.livejournal.com/community/stolensharpie/

- Zine archives
Zine archives: http://www.zinebook.com/directory/zine-archives.html
Zine Libraries: http://www.zinebook.com/resource/libes.html
Independent Publishing Resource Center (Portland) - http://www.iprc.org/about.php
SDSU: West Coast Zine Archive (San Diego): http://infodome.sdsu.edu/about/depts/sp ... gaid.shtml
Che Caf

[eyeamflesch]

http://www.zinebook.com/resource/perkins.html

[eyeamflesch]

Whatcha Mean What's a Zine?

Excerpted from The Book of Zines

Most zines suck. There's no nice way to say it. The truism coined by Theodore Sturgeon applies: Ninety percent of everything is crap. Most people forget what Sturgeon said about the remaining 10 percent. He said it was worth dying for.
I'm dying! Zines (pronounced "zeens," from fanzines) are cut-and-paste, "sorry this is late," self-published magazines reproduced at Kinko's or on the sly at work and distributed through mail order and word of mouth. They touch on sex, music, politics, television, movies, work, food, whatever. They're Tinkertoys for malcontents. They're obsessed with obsession. They're extraordinary and ordinary. They're about strangeness but since it's usually happening somewhere else you're kind of relieved. You can get to know people pretty well through their zines, which are always more personal and idiosyncratic than glossy magazines because glossies and the celebrities they worship are so busy being well known.
Most zine editors can recall the moment they first saw Factsheet Five, the zine that reviews zines, and asked themselves (1) that's what I've been doing? or, more likely, (2) I can do that, and why not? Everyone cleared space on their kitchen tables, and estimates flew like confetti—10,000 zines, 50,000 zines, a million readers. Nobody knows. A zine dies, a zine grows. Over the years since I assembled the first issue of Chip's Closet Cleaner and sent copies to my puzzled relatives, I've exchanged zines and letters and e-mail with hundreds of underground publishers and found we share the same desire—the same need—to create. Factsheet Five used to ask its readers a deceptively simple question, "Why publish?" and always received passionate (if sometimes long-winded) responses.
Most zines suck, but you find that golden 10 percent and you're hooked for life. Found mine.

—Chip Rowe

[eyeamflesch]

An Interview with John Marr
of Murder Can Be Fun
by Lynne Lowe

Why do you think people have such an attraction to murder and other crimes?
I could go on about this for a few days, but won't because I want to spare you, and I still probably wouldn't make much sense. There are probably 20 million reasons—our obsession / repulsion / denial of our own mortality, morbid curiosity, and so forth. But the big one is the drama. Murder is dramatic. It's more sensational that stubbing your toe, and bound to be more emotional on some level than simple shoplifting. Contrary to the current crop of true crime paperbacks, murder is inherently interesting.

Who is your all-time favorite criminal?
You ask a question like insisting a mother select her favorite child. It's hard to say—it changes depending on whatever I'm reading. Bundy and Gacy were quite interesting fellows in their ability to get away with it, and you have to hand it to weirdo Ed Hickman. One thing I can tell you—it's not Manson.

Why do some women fall in love with known seller killers? What do you think the attraction is?
This is related to why women fall for drunks, drug addicts, and musicians—there's the thrill of the rescue, the naughty, rebellious part, the publicity, and the fact, as John Waters has pointed out, everyone looks sexier under indictment. Besides, can you think of a better way of pissing off your parents?

When did your fascination with all this murder/crime stuff begin?
I've always been interested in weird, off-beat stuff. I was completely obsessed with Dan Mannix's Memoirs of a Sword Swallower when I was 10, reading it repeatedly. And of course, I have always has a taste for violent, off-beat fiction. But I was a bit of a latecomer to true crime. I didn't seriously start collecting true crime until I was in college in the early '80s and discovered all these great books and crimes that I'd somehow been missing. Now I'm bored with the whole thing. The '80s are over, and so is serial killing.

Do you know any murderers personally?
Oddly enough, two childhood friends grew up to be murderers. One smashed an old lady's head in with a brick, the other one shot up a shopping mall. I also knew a murder victim—a co-worker at a high school summer job came out on the short end of a murder-suicide. I'd like to write about this one of these days if I ever get the time.

How did you come up with the name of your zine? Was MCBF your first choice?
I got the name from a Fredric Brown mystery—great writer, good title, even if it isn't one of his better books. I had a few other ideas which I've long since forgotten. It has been 11 years, after all. One I remember as being even better than Murder Can Be Fun, but I forgot that one before it came time to do the first issue! You've always got to write this stuff down.

Where do your topic ideas come from?
From my head, of course. I read a lot (as if you hadn't guessed that already) and things cook and jell and all of the sudden it pops into my head—sports deaths! Zoo deaths! Naughty children! The idea is the easy part. As any writer can tell you, ideas are a dime a dozen, even the good ones. The telling thing lies in the execution.

Would you like to share some of your researching secrets?
I don't have secrets. I have a collection of 10,000 books, three library cards, and a paralyzing phobia that I might overlook something. Mostly I rummage around, digging through old magazines and microfilmed newspapers. Sometimes you get lucky.

Who is your favorite fictional detective?
I'm not a big fan of series detectives, probably out of sheer orneriness. But I must confess to a great fondness of Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder, especially before he stopped drinking.

Have you ever come across a hideous crime during your research that you found too shocking to publish in MCBF?
No. As a matter of fact, I don't find many crimes that shocking.

What advice can you give someone who is new to the zine world?
Do something exactly how you want to do it, not to be like someone else.

What zines do you enjoy reading in your spare time? Are there any that inspired you when you first started MCBF?
I'm not too in touch with the latest, greatest zines these days. I tend to stick to the tried and true old favorites: Cometbus, Mystery Date, Sidney Suppey, Thrift SCORE, Beer Frame, the various review zines, etc. I'm still mourning over the demise of Pathetic Life.

Have you ever been approached by any mainstream publishers?
I've talked to editors informally, but until I get off my ass and write a book proposal or some green editor comes a'knockin' waving a large amount of green, nothing's going to happen.

What is your opinion of zinesters who sign major book deals?
I hope they're not in it for the money.

Have any real-life criminals ever tried to contact you to tell their story?
Every once in a while I get letters from prison from these guys who want me to tell their life story in exchange for half the profits. But I think they have more money in mind that he $50 I could get them if I was willing to give 'em 50 percent.

Would you consider interviewing someone like Charles Manson, the Night Stalker or the Hillside Stranglers if they asked you to?
No. I hate talking to people, especially those people.

Were there any TV shows, movies or books that had an impact on you as a child/teenager?
One of my big influences was a lack of tv. I just could never get into the damned thing (except for "Leave It to Beaver"). Bookwise, heavy influences were the aforementioned Mr. Mannix, Alfred Hitchcock, anthologies, Cornell Woolrich, Harlen Ellison, Fredric Brown, and dozens of others I can't think of right now. But even at an early age, my tastes tended towards the obscure, the out-of-print, and the arcane.

If an award was given for the murder of the century, which one would come in first place? Second? Third?
I'll pass on this. I take these questions very seriously, so I'd have to research, devise a weighting scheme, do the statistics, and come out with a definitive answer. I don't think I can get it done tonight.

If it were possible to have a roundtable with 13 famous people, living or dead, who would they be? Why? Where would this gathering take place? What type of meal/drinks would you serve?
I hate dinner parties, so I would probably pick 13 famous jerks at random, and slip them thallium (in honor of Graham Young!) in their pre-meal cocktails. That way I'd save myself the trouble of cooking for them, too.

Do you believe in the death penalty?
I've done a lot of research into this topic, and have come to the conclusion that the death penalty does, in fact, exist. Sorry!

What are some of the things that you have received through the mail from your readers? Any threatening mail/items?
I get the usual stuff, mostly: books, records, CDs, zines, catalogs, letters exhibiting varying degrees of mental disturbance, and (my favorite) checks! Perhaps the weirdest thing I ever received was a photo of a very pregnant woman with a rash on her stomach sleeping in a motel room. No further explanation. That was even stranger that the sex pictures. I've never gotten any threats, though the occasional irate letter comes along from time to time. Some Disney fans just don't get the Disney piece and give me impassioned defenses of the park.

Have you ever been hassled by the "authorities" because of your zine?
No, not once.

This interview first appeared in Java Turtle, available for one dollar from Lynne Lowe, P.O. Box 20028, Santa Barbara, CA 93120. Posted with permission.

[eyeamflesch]

Doug Holland, Pathetic Life

Age: 40

Selection: "Pathetic Doug: Babysitter" (page 167)

Recent review (from FaT GiRL): "Doug's unapologetic living and disclosure of the personal (beware if you have a thing about bodily fluids) and most of all, his witty writing style, alternately pain me and make me laugh out loud."

Sample: No longer available. But an anthology may be on the way.


When did you launch your zine? What inspired you to do so?
Because I had no friends, nothing better to do, nothing interesting to write about. So I wrote about my life. And now, a couple years later, most of the characters in the zine are people I'd never have known without my public diary to provide the introductions. There's Judith, my housemate; Jay, my boss; Bill, my other boss; Josh, my friend; Sarah-Katherine, my almost-girlfriend....all these characters are more came into my life the same way you did, by sending three bucks for the zine.

Why publish a zine?
If you don't do a zine, you should.

Have you published any other zines?
Zine World, a zine of zine reviews (now A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press). It's $3 cash from P.O. Box 330156, Murfreesboro, TN 37133.

Any general tips for aspiring zinesters?
I'm coming up blank on this one.

What's your favorite part of doing a zine?
Licking the stamps.

In my other life, I'm a:
Fat slob. I have no other life.



An Interview With
Doug Holland,
publisher of
A Reader's Guide to the
Underground Press

What you need to know: (1) A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press reviews zines. (2) Doug works with a sizable team of reviewers, and each issue of A Reader's Guide contains hundreds of reviews. (3) Most zine review publications don't get past issue 3 (4) Even more zine review publications stay away from publishing negative reviews (5) A Reader's Guide matters because: "We call a piece of shit a piece of shit." (6) A Reader's Guide also matters because it provides a way for zine publishers to connect, and for zine readers to find out about new zines. (7) Doug used to publish Pathetic Life, one of the best personal zines ever.

[Interview 7 / August 27, 2000]

Doug, how do you feel about being asked questions like, 'what is the current state of the zine scene?'

[chuckles] I feel like this interview might be fun, since that's a pretty bang-up opening question. Gives me a chance to say again what I say often: I've put out lots of zines for lots of years, and read lots and lots more, but that doesn't make me an expert on zines any more than dozens of other people all across the underground. There are no experts, except anyone who's doing a zine him or herself. I'm not "the spokesman" for "the movement," I'm just another guy who likes zines. The state of the zine scene depends on whether the last few zines you sent away for were crappy, so-so, or pretty damn good.

Has the end of Factsheet 5 impacted the zine scene?

Yeah, I think so. It left thousands of zinemakers and zine readers high and dry, not knowing how to connect with each other. But you know, life goes on. We're still here, and there are still other ways to make that connection.

Are people still asking about what happened to Factsheet 5? The last I heard, someone supposedly bought it, but that was years ago. Pretty much everyone assumes it's officially defunct, right?

Yeah, people keep asking, and who knows, maybe the answer will change one of these days. It looks like a corpse to me, but I'd love to see it brought back to life by someone with the drive, enthusiasm, and spare time it would take to do it right.

Whatever happened to Ruel Gaviola's Amusing Yourself To Death?

You'd have to ask Ruel. AYTD was a damn fine effort, but I haven't heard from Ruel in months and months, since he told me a new AYTD was imminent. Gotta assume he's burned out, and if that's what it is I can't *tell* you how much I'd understand. I go through burn-out phases myself, but fortunately we've got a super team of volunteers who kick my ass when it needs it.

Do you feel an extra sense of pressure knowing that A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press is the preeminent US-based zine review publication?

I don't do pressure. We're going to keep ARG going, cuz we love doing it and we think it's worth doing, but I don't give a damn about being allegedly "preeminent" or anything. There are still several good review zines out there, and I wish there were more. I would *love* to see someone step up and become "preeminent," but that someone sure isn't me. ARG is never gonna be Factsheet Fuckin' 5, and we're never even going to try. Which ain't necessarily a bad thing.

How do you handle reviewing all those zines, or editing all those reviews of zines?

Help, baby. H, e, l and p. There's no way to do this without lots and lots of help. Without Jerianne, Michael, Susan, Madeline, and a bunch of dedicated reviewers, ARG would've died a year ago. Running a "we'll review anything" review zine is not a one-person job, it's a team effort. I owe my teammates about six gazillion beers.

I know that when I was doing reviews for some of my now defunct zines - and never was I doing more than ten reviews at a time - I felt like I was saying the same thing over and over again. For me, that was the hardest part about doing reviews. What is the hardest part about reviewing hundreds of zines for you?

Yeah, you've nailed it. Staying fresh. I don't write reviews unless I'm in the right frame of mind. Figure if I let it become "a chore" that'll be obvious to anyone reading along. And of course, I don't review hundreds of zines in an issue, just dozens. Someone who tries to review hundreds and hundreds of zines every time out is going to bore himself and bore the readers.

Pathetic Life was one of the best personal zines. Have you ever thought about doing another zine like Pathetic Life, or starting Pathetic Life back up again?

Nope. ARG takes almost every ounce of my energy. PL is over.

And whatever did happen with the Pathetic Life book?

It's a work in progress, two years late for the publisher, mostly because I refuse to shut down ARG in order to work on my book. That's what Mike Gunderloy did, that's what Seth Friedman did, and I was there for those big disconnects. I'm not going to do that.

About how many zines come in the mail to A Reader's Guide every week?

Not that many. Dozens and dozens, not hundreds or thousands. I've noticed there are fewer incoming zines lately, as more self-publishers migrate to the web. And of course, ever since our first issue there's always been the Hurt Feelings Factor: when we call a piece of shit zine a piece of shit, it often means we're off the mailing list for that particular zinester's next piece of shit. I don't spend much time weeping for the shitty zines we don't see any more.

What's the best new zine you've come across recently?

Oh jeez, I never know how to answer that question fairly. I'm impressed by at least several zines a week, and one or two every week completely knock me on my ass. There's fabulous stuff being published, far from the mainstream publishing houses -- things you'll never read about in your local paper, things Oprah will never hold up to the camera and recommend, things a hell of a lot better than the latest bestsellers. Don't make me pick one or two, man, when any issue of ARG has hundreds.

[eyeamflesch]

THE ECONOMICS OF PUNK PUBLISHING

© 1995 Second Guess




Truth is comar'd in Scripture to a streaming fountain;
if her waters flow not in a perpetual progression,
they sick'n into a muddy pool of conformity and tradition.
- John Milton, Areopagitica.

Introduction

Compromise can mean a lot. In the following, while not discussed as thoroughly as possible, the notion of compromise comes about. Tom Frank, who edits The Baffler, elaborated best on the subject: It's hard, infeasible in most instances, he says, to make a living as an independent writer these days. If you want to write and make a living at it you often have to treat your writing like any other job. Most zinesters take their writing so personally, they won't do that. Otherwise they wouldn't be publishing zines.

This article discusses problems independent publishers face, dilemmas that force publishers to retain their integrity while tending to remain in obscurity. Or, as is more often the case, editors compromise themselves in order to support their art. Advertising is an obvious example: somebody pays you to print an endorsement for their product, something you may not otherwise do, but it helps get the next issue out. Distribution through large distributors, who take a large cut of sales, is another fact of the publisher's life.

Probably the most dramatic obstacle publishers face is censorship, a vague, sneaky concept that never seems to die. Publications have been censored since the day they've existed. From religious doctrines that revised age-old religious principles, to contemporary xeroxed fanzines that question mainstream standards, the written word has always had a tendency to piss people off. John Milton, a free-speech enthusiast, wrote the protest essay Areopagitica in 1644. The text criticized the English Parliament for de facto licensing of all publications in limey-land. Approval of printed matter had to be granted by the government prior to its dissemination to the public. This kind of pissed off ol' John, so he churned out a lengthy essay loaded with big words and ancient anecdotes that argued for a free and open spread of information. (Incidentally, Milton later favored censorship in certain areas while working as a censor himself). Unbeknownst to Milton at his time, people would still be struggling with the fundamental notions of a free press long after he was dead.

The U.S. considers itself civilized, way beyond a time when governments had direct control over the distribution of information. It is common, however, to see a muddied handling of how information is disseminated. The government often doesn't need to exercise censorship. People themselves can form lobbyist groups, grass roots organizations, churches, or exist as business or quasi-governmental entities, all of which can effectively retain a loose, systematic reign over what kind of information is and is not appropriate for people to be exposed to. The government doesn't have to tell record companies to put warning labels on CDs, a citizen's group can do it for them. In truth we are in control of ourselves in a lot of ways we tend to casually disregard or outright ignore. Since our society is structured to place a lot of freedom on the people, as opposed to the state, a great deal of power lies with the individual. That power is often abused when it comes to respecting the freedoms of others. The system-wide attitude toward deviants and subversives is no different than among the deviants and subversives themselves. In a lot of ways it's worse.

People with power exercise it in whatever ways necessary to get their point across. As we will see, it's often ordinary people that carry out most censorship today. This isn't to say there is not a system-wide hierarchy the restricts many freedoms we as humans have. There is. But any type of authoritative entity that exercises control over independent publishing is responsible for creating obstacles that hinder the flow of the written word.
To illustrate how these obstacles are placed, we will first look at Fred Woodworth.

Bureaucratic Censorship

Fred Woodworth is the long-time publisher of The Match, an anarchist journal from Tucson, Arizona. He is no stranger to the abuse of authoritarian power, both from officials and from people who just don't like his publication. He says, "I've had my bellyful of (censorship). I used to have coin-operated newsstands--about 10 of them--here in Tucson. One day in 1977 the authorities seized every single one of them and, according to what I later heard, trashed them by running them through a trash compactor. I never could afford to replace them, and while I could in later years have picked up one or two and set them up again, by that time I was printing it myself, so it wasn't a tabloid, it was a lot more expensive to produce, and by then I no longer could get by with charging 10 cents a copy from the coin-operated stand--or even 50 cents or 75 cents. So I never sold another copy out of a coin-op stand. Basically, they censored me completely out of existence on that market."

In addition to local authorities outright stealing his newsstands Fred says federal agents wanted The Match extinguished as well. "The FBI visited my printer in 1970 or '71 and tried to get the guy to stop handling The Match even then." Moreover, "the Post Office discarded every single copy of the issue of The Match for February, 1977, I think it was. As far as I know, no copy of that one was ever delivered."

You'd think with such heavy-handed governmental intervention in The Match's endeavors, other bastions of free speech, such as local libraries, would be more sympathetic. Nope. Not according to Fred. "In about 1985 my publication and that of my friend Jeff who was then publishing Black Star, were kicked out of the University of Arizona library--that is, they wouldn't even let Jeff give his away in the lobby as all the local shoppers, tabloids, etc., did; and mine was not allowed to be in the reading room in a single reading copy. We wound up raising a tremendous amount of hell about this, and did manage to get some support from a community weekly, now defunct. With the threat of something winding up in court, the university's lawyers managed to hammer out a big press coup that 'allowed' us to distribute in the library, but now everybody distributing there would have to follow 'guidelines' about the esthetics of newsstands. You guessed it: the 'guidelines' were vague and orally transmitted only, the mainstream local rags put in classy professional stands, and we who had started the whole thing were frozen out. Only now because the university had made a 'concession,' nobody was interested anymore in the fact that we still couldn't distribute our publications in the goddamn library."

Fred doesn't ask for this treatment, but he readily tells about it: "I could write several thousand words more about this issue all alone. For instance, there was a public bulletin board in the library, and when I posted an open letter to the head librarian on it, my letter was removed instantly. I printed copies up and kept coming back--over and over they were taken down. Finally I built up some publicity about the fact that not even this criticism was tolerated, while right-wingers' bizarro comments on the bulletin board (such as one suggesting that the way to deal with anarchist publishers was via homosexual rape) were allowed to stay up for two weeks at a time. (In fact, that vicious bit of graffiti even had an amusedly approving note from the head librarian appended to it--something on the order of 'Maybe so!')

"Anyway, I kept this going for a while and finally made 'em leave my open letter up, but the library censored off the return address of The Match so that students couldn't even order a copy from me! The official bureaucratic response there was that my having The Match return address on my letterhead amounted to 'advertising on University property.'"

You can't get The Match in Tucson, Arizona, anymore. Its existence has been officially declared null and void, yet Fred continues to publish in less visible light. "At this time, not one single copy is put out for sale or reading in the University of Arizona library here, the public library in any branch, or any bookstore or newsstand in Tucson. Not one copy is sold. I leave a copy or two in a cafe downtown about once a week, and it's always gone the next time I come in, but it may well be just thrown away by the owner."

What can be done about this kind of censorship? "Nothing," Fred says. "When the Tucson bureaucrats stole my coin newsstands (complete with money and copies of the publications inside) I tried to interest the news media, ACLU and anybody else who might listen. I reached a deaf ear everywhere. No dough to pay a lawyer... I just had to eat it."

The Problems with Distributors: More Censorship

With the small-press fever getting hotter, you would think there's hope for marginal voices to be heard. We do have a free press in this country after all. It says so in the Constitution.
Freedoms conflict though. You may have the freedom to publish, but your right to distribute your words may be severely limited as businesses also have the freedom not to promote what you say if they don't want to. What if coffee shops were forced, by law, to sell The Match? The commotion would be immeasurable.

Society has standards--imposed by force or by its own doing--that it follows. People who think, act and dress differently than Sally and Joe Average are left in the dark, often where the rest of society would prefer them to stay. Fortunately, with the small press comes the small-press distributor. When the powers and masses that be rigidly enforce mainstream standards, those supportive of the small-press step in, network and provide distribution outlets. Quite adequately, small press distributors such as Fine Print Distributors [a company that went bankrupt a few years ago owing small-press publishers thousands of dollars. - Bob, Nov. 11, 2000], Desert Moon Periodicals [which no longer carries publications without commercial appeal. - Bob, Nov. 11, 2000] and Tower Magazines have been distributing small-titled publications to bookstores, record stores and chain stores around the U.S., and even stores overseas. Where those distributors haven't been able to help the smallest of publications (Desert Moon Periodicals habitually sends back form letters to fanzines--fanzines they send letters to asking for a copy--saying glossy, two-color, full-size formatted magazines would increase their chances of being distributed by them), smaller distributors and mailorders take up the slack. It sounds great. In theory it works.

In reality, well, in reality people don't have very nice things to say about distributors of underground publications. With payment, consistency, sending back returns and censorship, some editors go so far as to say the only difference between smaller D.I.Y. distributors and large, corporate-owned distributors is one of mere size and volume.

Jim Goad, editor of the nasty, grotesque, politically incorrect, offensive and ... highly popular ANSWER Me!, is one of those people. He acknowledges the fact that his magazine's content (the latest issue, about rape, is filled with photographs and graphics of mutilated bodies, genitalia and corpses) will turn people, even former distributors, away. In fact, he credits Daybreak Distributors in Boston for openly admitting to refusing ANSWER Me! on the grounds that it was "too disgusting to look at."

But what happens when distributors suddenly don't like the content of your zine after not having problems in the past? Speaking specifically about the Austin, Texas-based Fine Print Distributors, Jim says: "As they had requested, I sent them 1,000 copies of ANSWER Me! issue four. They apparently found it too offensive, or their stores found it too offensive, to sell. No problem so far.

"Ignoring my instructions, they sent the copies back to LA. Since I'm now in Portland, the copies were bounced back from LA to Austin. I cleared up their misunderstanding about my new address. When I asked their representative to send the copies to other distributors instead of to me (the postage would have been less for them, since the distributors in question were closer to them than I am), the representative (Tom) hung up on me.

"Just to spite me, they sent all the copies back to Portland, forcing me to pay postage a second time as I re-routed the copies to hungry distributors. This extra postage so far has cost me over $200.

"It gets worse. Being the curious type I am, I opened one of the last boxes before sending it out. On every copy they had affixed a big, fat, unremovable 'Fine Print' sticker with bar-code, date of sale, etc. Then they individually shrink-wrapped each of the thousand copies. And then, it was only then that they realized it was too offensive and sent the copies back to me.

"As far as I'm concerned, these copies have no resale value. If I were ordering ANSWER Me! through the mail, I wouldn't want to receive it with a big, ugly 'Fine Print' sticker. The face-value loss to me is $3,950. Even counting Fine Print's massive 55% discount, the loss is still $1,775.

"Although Fine Print stated that they rejected this issue for economic, not content-oriented, reasons, I've heard through the grapevine that they told another distributor, 'We don't distribute Nazi literature...why should we distribute this?' So obviously, they had some 'moral' objections. But to my mind, the only one who's acting 'immoral' is Fine Print. I've always been honest and fair with them, to the point of tolerating their claims of innumerable, invisible 'affidavit' returns from them issue after issue."

Similarly, but paling in comparison, after Blacklist Mailorder [another distributor that, unofficially, went bankrupt. -Bob, Nov. 11, 2000] had been consistently taking 20-30 copies of each issue of Second Guess, I received a box from them filled with all the remaining copies of issue #8. Blacklist had reordered #8, an audio zine, and was now sending back the reorder and the remaining copies of my initial shipment. In the box was a letter from Missy saying: "I'm sending back the remainder of the Second Guess #8's--the reorder was actually a mistake, and some of us here decided that we no longer want to carry it, finding it offensive and not really worth our time to deal with (since we all volunteer, we feel we can be pretty picky about what we carry)."

It put me in a bind. I only copied a small amount of #8 and had already crossed it out of my old catalog. I didn't list it in my new one which had been copied a few days earlier. I had considered them all sold. I called Missy and asked her what the problem was. She said she didn't really know because, it turns out, only one person at Blacklist had a problem with Second Guess. Somehow though, when she wrote the letter that one person was "some of us." She wouldn't tell me who it was, nor could say she tell me how the issue in question was offensive. I asked her to have this person call me so I could find out what the deal was.

I never heard another word. Not until issue #9 came out and Brian Of, a Blacklist volunteer, e-mailed me after reading a copy he bought at Epicenter (who has been selling Second Guess without problems) [and, again, Epicenter is another entity that closed its doors. -Bob, Nov. 11, 2000], basically apologizing for what happened and saying that Blacklist was still interested in carrying Second Guess. I did send them another issue feeling Brian was kind enough to resolve the matter intelligently. It turns out the one person who had a problem with Second Guess dropped out of the punk scene shortly after trying to have Second Guess banned from a mailorder her heart apparently wasn't into in the first place.

Censorship? You decide.

The funny thing about censorship is how its viewed. What gets censored is what is unpopular to somebody in a position of power to declare it unacceptable. Since people put themselves in that position it can't be argued that only officials or government entities can censor. For example, tossing publications off newsstands, like militant lesbians did in Seattle to the lesbian sexuality magazine On Our Backs, was preventing its distribution altogether. Providing prearranged, consistent distribution in one instance and denying it on moral grounds the next comes close to censorship.

Joseph Gervasi had a related experience. His zine, No Longer A Fanzine, is in some ways a typical punk zine. It has amateur, typewritten layouts and loosely-placed graphics. But what sets it apart is that NLAFz has a strong will and is challenging. Joseph, bored with leftist politics, interviewed radical rightists, but didn't necessarily endorse their views, in a recent issue. An anarchist bookstore in Joseph's area, which had been carrying NLAFz, suddenly decided it best be No Longer Carried At Wooden Shoe. Joseph suspects the reason Wooden Shoe discontinued carrying his zine is that "they don't believe in the free exchange of ideas. They'll present 'alternative points of view' as long as those points of view are those of a tiny minority of homosexuals, 'people of color' and guilty left-wing activists." Joseph tried to find out exactly why Wooden Shoe, a store he openly promoted over the radio at one point in time, decided not to carry No Longer A Fanzine. His calls were unanswered.

Had Joseph been called back, I bet he would not have received a straight answer. A common tactic is to twist language around when censoring, to make what really happened appear something entirely different. By twisting her language around Missy at Blacklist made Second Guess unacceptable by taking one person's view and making it a more prominent group view. Either more than one person really did have problem with Second Guess, or Missy is a liar. Whether or not this is censorship is debatable. As with ANSWER Me! and Fine Print, and No Longer A Fanzine and Wooden Shoe, these incidents are fucked because they were arbitrary and poorly handled. Blacklist liked Second Guess before and after #8, but it was #8 they didn't want to carry. They sent it back at my expense.

Censorship or not, Blacklist's selection process is flaky at best. If one person out of who knows how many has control over what zines Blacklist will carry, and when, zinesters are obviously going to look at Blacklist's practices with suspicion. Ben Weasel said that after what they did for Second Guess he wouldn't sell them copies of his zine Panic Button. "I don't like Blacklist," he says, "'cause of their screwball, arbitrary ideas of what offends their sensibilities and what doesn't. Hippie punks have never impressed me, particularly when they're as snobby, self-obsessed and sanctimonious as most of the people at Blacklist." Jen-Angel, editor of the digest fanzine Fucktooth, echoes this criticism: "I've had problems with Blacklist, mainly because the zines they carry are run by one person and subject to that person's opinion, when I for some reason had held them to higher standards than that."

Perhaps the problem is holding such organizations to these standards. In the same space as Blacklist Mailorder is Epicenter Zone, a not-for-profit record and zine store. It too is collectively run by volunteers. This collective, like Blacklist, also has problems with deciding what will and will not be sold there. Sometimes people will walk in off the street to volunteer their time at either place. Does that give that person the right to say certain zines shouldn't be sold there?

Apparently so. Just ask Aaron Muentz, editor of The Probe. The Probe is a zine chock full of reviews, interviews and amusing, drunken anecdotes. It also has photos of tits. Boy tits and girl tits. Some people at Epicenter don't like that The Probe has photos of girl tits.

Aaron tells his story: "Aside from a few encounters with individuals of the religiously far right, Epicenter is the only place I've ever had a problem. The first issue was taken from the shelf, denounced as pornography, and thrown in the trash. The same two girls that did that met me at a party a couple of days later. One of them hinted I could interview her band and the other one slept with me. She explained that she didn't have a problem with me personally, but felt my zine was inappropriate for a P.C. haven such as Epicenter. She promised not to do it again and I didn't have another problem until the second time I brought in copies of issue #2. I was surprised because I had both male and female nudity. I wrote Epicenter a letter and said they were objecting to sex, not sexism. I compared them to the fanatical Christian who used a black marker to cross out all the private parts, circled the word masturbation and wrote 'SICK!' on Probe #1.

"Timojhen [a Epicenter volunteer] called me and said to bring it back in and he'd make sure it got on the shelf. Recently the place has gone through some changes. I guess Timojhen quit so I went in there and this girl I've never seen before refused it. I told her Epicenter took the previous issues and she said, 'Really?' Well I feel uncomfortable with it as a woman.' She didn't read any of it. She just looked at the cover and flipped it open to a few pages. I use pretty tame photos. I don't attempt to shock or offend anyone. My own mom buys extra copies to give to her friends and clients. The only objections seem to come from really far right Christians and the politically correct. It even seems wrong to label the objectors politically correct. The Probe is distributed by AK Press and was sold on tour by the band Propagandhi. You can't get much more politically correct than that.

"I think it's more a case of people who were brought up in households where anything sexual was a forbidden evil. Some also argue that 'pornography' (which in this case seems to refer to any girl not wearing clothes) causes violence against women. Those people aren't taking The Probe in context. There is no objectification of women in Devon's interviews with [porn stars] Aja and Cristy Canyon or in the dominatrix stories. If anything it's the men that are made to look silly in this issue. Last issue it was easier to defend because there was only one other male on the main staff. Everything from lay-out, cover art, guest writers, to all of the photos were done by women. I didn't do that for credibility. It just worked out that way. This issue we mostly happen to be a bunch of disgusting het males. I also interviewed my roommate who was violently raped twice. Her experience testifying against her attackers in court was just as ugly. As a result she learned to have a basic dislike for most sex in media--everything from romance novels to Penthouse, but she thinks The Probe is fun. She finds women's magazines more disgusting.

"Anyway, Jacqueline Prichard used to work at Epicenter and she's naked on the cover of this Probe. She told me the next time she's in the city she wants to go in there and raise a little hell about it. It's kind of insulting when people reject you just because you're naked. I'm also naked in this issue, but the girl didn't open it to that page 50 so I don't feel quite the same indignation."

Is it confusion, denial or embarrassment that causes people to act patronizing toward things that appear unlike themselves on a surface level? Is it a combination of all three? I've never understood the mentality that justifies censorship of any kind. Like Christianity, it just doesn't make any sense.

Jim Goad doesn't take the censorship of ANSWER Me! personally. But he does have a militant approach against the censor mentality. As an example, he says Epicenter carries the ANSWER Me! book (a compilation of the first three issues of ANSWER Me!). Issue #4, he says, miffed some Epicenter sensibilities: "Those free-thinking radicals over at Epicenter rejected Issue #4. It's worthwhile to note that some of their heavy hitters also fell for Chocolate Impulse (a purposely sloppy fake zine done by Jim and Debbie Goad) and probably saw this as a way to retaliate. Oh, well. Check back in ten years and see who won the cultural war."

The Small-Press Mainstay: Payment

Aside from moral dilemmas, where distributors are also judged is by their ability to effectively distribute publications and make sure payments are made for what is sold. On payment, Blacklist Mailorder has been consistent about sending zines the money due to them. Jen Angel says so. So do others. Larger distributors could learn from Blacklist in that regard.

Fine Print, for example, has problems with paying on time. For Fred Woodworth, this could mean him going hungry. "Right now (November 7, 1994) Fine Print Distributors ... owes me around $140 for issue 88 of The Match which was sent to them in June, 1993. I called Fine Print up this July and pointed out that I had a letter from Fine Print from about two years earlier bragging that they fronted money to a lot of publishers. The letter spoke of how they'd even paid in advance to somebody or other who needed to have the dough to go to a funeral. So, I said, how come you can't come up with what you owe me, right now???

"I wound up canceling my arrangement with Fine Print, and was told that since I was canceling, they would not pay for my Summer, 1993 issue (remember, it's July, 1994) for 'another 120 days.' I started laughing on the phone, and I said, 'What do you take me for? What a bunch of crap!' 120 days, indeed.

"What this is is censorship. They used my money to perhaps make loans to preferred publications. But since my publication (which is not preferred) is clearly not in their track of periodicals to be granted an advantage, I am at this moment, late 1994, still awaiting payment for the Summer '93 issue. '120 days' will be up on Nov. 26th, but I doubt very much that I will get paid even then. There'll be some other excuse at that point, and even if I did get the dough, Jesus--that's 17 months after I had to confront the expenses of printing and mailing it!"

Fine Print has what they call an "automated tracking system" by which they can supposedly track the zines they sell. Since many of the periodicals they carry sign an "affidavit" contract with them, editors have no way of knowing for themselves how many copies are actually sold. Fine Print says that in order for publications to receive back unsold issues, or at least the torn off covers, they would lose distribution, as most stores, according to Fine Print, won't do copy returns. One of Fine Print's representatives said they base actual copies sold on the word of the store. They rely on trust, saying that if they suspect stores of under-reporting sales, they'll cancel their arrangement with them.

Jim Goad says this practice is a guise for distributors to claim copies as unsold. "The distributors to be wary of are those who demand that you consign magazines to them on what is known as an 'affidavit' basis--no full-copy returns, not even returned mastheads. They simply claim how many copies were unsold, 'destroy' them, refuse to pay you for them, and you are forced to believe them and swallow the loss. I stopped dealing with these distributors around Issue #3--we had thirty distributors, only two of whom dealt on the affidavit basis. Twenty-eight of our distributors sold clean out--guess which two claimed hundreds of invisible unsold copies? Against Bob's better wishes, I won't allow you a second guess."

Giving the benefit of the doubt, such distribution practices may be legitimate, as a lot of cost is involved in sending back hundreds of zines or torn off covers. From the publisher's perspective though, I wonder why it is hard for the stores Fine Print deals with to send back cover sheets when distributors such as Tower Magazines will send back each unsold issue and charge the cost back to the publication.

How sales are figured is one aspect of distribution. Making sure zines receive their money is another. Fine Print has failed in at least that respect. Probably in the interest of getting big and popular, Fine Print has literally shortchanged the small-press that gave them their name--and their money.

The Good Distributor

Contrasting Fine Print's flaky business practices, Tower Magazines, the magazine distributor for the Tower chain, seems to have its shit together by being supportive of the small press. Joseph Gervasi of No Longer A Fanzine says: "Tower has always been fair to me. They are my largest distributor, and thanks to them (and, specifically, Doug Biggert, the head of Tower Magazines) I've met a lot of great people, got interviewed in Time (they didn't use me) and Details and made some money. I have no problem with dealing with Tower, and don't condemn anyone who does."

Jim Goad, however, always has a gripe: "Although Tower is one of the better distributors regarding prompt payment, they saw the need to send out a warning package to all their stores concerning our new issue. The package consisted of about 20 shrunken-down xeroxed pages from the issue accompanied by heavily cautionary text. They erroneously stated that our 'purpose was to offend.' They also stated that they weren't trying to 'cencor' anything. Personally, I'm more offended by misspellings [than] by anything in our new issue."

Good, reliable distributors are hard to come by. Tim Yohannan has been lucky enough to have Maximum Rocknroll distributed through Mordam. He explains: "We go through Mordam, which is an umbrella for a bunch of different entities. Mordam sells direct to stores and it also sells to other distributors. Mordam guarantees our payment whether Mordam gets ripped off or not. They take 15 percent for that service which is totally worth it to me. Mordam (has a system of) collective protection amongst all the different entities within, so if somebody's gonna rip us off, well then they aren't going to get the next Lookout record when it comes out. It protects us and it especially protects the smaller labels that are within Mordam." The problem with Mordam: It carries, according to their June, 1994 catalog, a mere seven different publications.

So publishers are forced to either rely on smaller D.I.Y. distributors who are often highly unreliable and selective about what they will carry. Or editors do business with larger distributors who tend to favor larger, inoffensive publications and care more about making money.

Ethical Considerations of Distribution

I thought there would be criticism about zines using more mainstream outlets, such as Tower Magazines, for their distribution. Maximum Rocknroll has held a consistent stance against large corporations, especially those involved with selling aspects of culture, mainly music. A recent article in Maximum's "major label" issue took no prisoners when discussing trends of independent punk bands such as Bad Religion and Green Day signing to major labels. Tim Yohannan went so far as to criticize Lookout Records, a fast-growing independent label, for allowing its releases to be sold to Caroline. Caroline, a distributor partly-owned by a major label, buys from Lookout's distributor, Mordam. The criticism also fell on the shoulders of Jello Biafra, owner of Alternative Tentacles Records (also a Mordam-distributed label), for consistently having an anti-establishment stance and allowing its records to be sold through Caroline. Simply put, the larger Mordam-distributed labels received what their owners considered to be unnecessary jabs.

I too found this criticism to be insignificant. Maximum Rocknroll is distributed through Mordam as well, albeit not to Caroline, and it is available on a monthly basis in chain stores such as Tower and Barnes & Noble.

When asked about the connection, and why he makes an exception for Tower, Tim replied: "I make a distinction between Tower and other chains mainly because Tower from day one was interested in distributing us long before punk was hip or whatever. There's a guy at Tower who is totally into zines and not only has bought Maximum, but he buys small zines, medium zines, whatever, and has gotten them all over the world. All these johnny-come-lately's, like Barnes & Noble and this mega-chain and that, who are now interested in buying zines, fuck them. They weren't doing it because they give a shit, whereas the guy at Tower--he's a zine freak and he has totally been supportive of independent zines since the early 80s. We have anti-corporate stance at Maximum but we do make distinctions; for instance, Epicenter is a corporation. They are incorporated, so should we be anti-Epicenter? No, I think it has to do with what they're all about. Not that Tower is so wonderful, but Tower has always, way back in '77, stocked punk stuff ... in most of their stores."

Larry Livermore, co-founder of Lookout Records and editor of his zine Lookout, finds Tim's justifications to be glowingly inconsistent with what is printed in Maximum. He says, "The word 'corporation' is virtually meaningless in terms of the way it's used and misused in punkland," he says. "Maximum Rocknroll itself is a corporation in everything but name, i.e., it's a big business, and one of the main reasons it's not legally a corporation is because if it were Tim Yohannan might have to relinquish some of his absolute control. But to ask whether it is 'consistent' for MRR to deal with Tower or whoever is ridiculous; the only thing MRR has ever been consistent about is that whatever Tim says is okay is okay, and everything else is fucked. End of that story. I think it's hard enough for zines to get out to the public without placing artificial restraints on them in terms of how they get distributed."

Aaron, creator of Cometbus, says he's concerned about chain-stores because they threaten small book shops who have been supportive of the small press. "I deal with distributors who sell to B. Dalton and all the K-Mart shops, but I specify not to sell to the chain stores." Furthermore, Aaron offers his view on the economics of publishing: "I am (excited) about what's going on right now in the small press, fanzines and small publishers really taking back the industry and the excitement of the printed word. I'm amazed by the variety and amount of people that tie into our community. It'd be great if we can stay self-sufficient and exciting and vital without having to worry about money too much. Either way, in the mag business being broke is not so good, but being rich would probably be worse. Luckily, we don't have to worry much about that."

Advertising

Worrying about money is something most editors do, especially if they spend a lot of it on their publications. To help get around this, many editors turn to advertising. Some do so blindly, without considering how advertising can potentially affect a publication's tone. Imagine, you just started a zine and Epitaph's zine-scouts get word of it. They want the latest PENNYWISE CD reviewed. They also want to give you $50 for an ad. Do you take it? Do you review the CD? Give it a good review? Does Epitaph's money change how you feel about their music? What about when they start calling you, bugging you to give them a good review. [Note: Epitaph does all these things.] For some naive, punk kid, Epitaph's cash might be considered gold.

Here's an actual dilemma with advertising: Pete Menchetti, editor of a free Reno tabloid called Enema, depends on advertising to keep his publication afloat. "Twenty percent of my zine is ads," he says. "That's not necessarily something I like, especially considering I only have eight pages, but I would rather give my zine away than have to ask people for money. Ads don't color my opinion of a publication, unless they're from a major corporation. In fact, I like to see ads from independent underground publishers, musicians, etc. Maximum Rocknroll wouldn't be nearly as interesting without ads. The underground 'movement' of publishing and music wouldn't exist without some form of advertisement...."

Pete admits, though, that he gives products he advertises special treatment in his zine: "I definitely appreciate when people advertise in my paper and they do end up getting extra plugs at times, for several reasons. For one, their ad lays around my desk for weeks, and the advertisement works on me. For two, I can make references to their ad in my column or whatever I happen to be writing. I don't give better/worse reviews to people who advertise or don't. That's dishonest."

Pete's situation represents an ethical dichotomy. On one hand you don't necessarily give the product advertised a good review, but the money from the ad may color your opinion, especially if your publication's existence depends on it. As Pete admits, that ad may lead you to "plug" that product a little more. For labels like Epitaph Records, which buys ad space in just about any zine, enough plugs eventually means they will achieve gross amounts of success in marketing their bands.
Advertising in punk-land has become this critical. At one point advertising in independent publications often served more of an informational role, to see what new records were out in a time when it was harder to get them distributed, for example. Today this is still true, but mainstream marketing standards have also crept in so that it's not uncommon for independent record labels to spend thousands of dollars on advertising.

As a result, the division between ad-based income and ethical standards gets blurred, and too many publications fall into the trap of allowing advertisements to run the publication in order to keep costs down to little or nothing. Tom Frank of The Baffler explains: "(You) should ... be suspicious of anything that is free, since there's almost certainly an ulterior motive involved. The truly independent journals, on the other hand, are what is called 'subscription-driven,' which means they make their money from sales and subscriptions, not advertisements. These are very rare in the world of big publishing. In fact, the only one I can think of off-hand is Ms. magazine, which was started as a serious feminist journal in the 60s, but by the late 80s had become just another Vogue or Elle, thanks to advertising. Wanting to restore the magazine to its original state, its editors stopped publishing for a year and relaunched it as a subscription-driven journal with almost no ads. Sure, it costs more than Elle or Vogue, but it's a real magazine that publishes real thoughts."

Jim Goad equates advertising in the print media to the music world: "Imagine the uproar if someone placed ads in between songs on their record or between scenes in a movie. Is the printed word somehow a lesser art form?"

Tim Yohannan takes a slightly different position in that he says advertising has no affect on how bands get treated in Maximum Rocknroll. "Some magazines would sell as many pages as a particular advertiser would want. We limit it to one five-by-five ad per advertiser per issue so that it keeps it more democratic in a certain kind of way. We have no qualms about trashing a record that someone has advertised, or conversely, you don't have to do an ad to do an interview or get a review in the magazine. It doesn't matter at all. The way the magazine is set up (is that) the worse thing that could happen is that no one likes the magazine anymore, no one buys it and we stop doing it. That's okay because it's not my livelihood. It's my passion and I'm definitely not going to compromise my passion."

"We have cut our own throats many times and have lived to tell about it. I want to be in that position. It feels great. I need to be able to say, 'Caroline, fuck you. I don't want you to distribute us, (and) I don't want to run your ads.' I need to be able to have that freedom.

"If other people need to make money off their publication, cool. I just hope they can maintain their independence and integrity. When they start taking a lot of corporate ads in order to pay those bills and to get the glossy cover and to be competitive, then I start to wonder about just how independent they are. They could not take an anti-corporate stance even if they wanted to. They'd be fucked."

Cost, Quality and Compromise

The trend to produce zines has left the underground flooded with countless self-made publications: most of them not very good. The Match editor, Fred Woodworth, considers this problematic. He says the zine explosion has left us with a situation akin to that in which "when everyone speaks, nobody listens." The rising popularity in punk has turned people on to an increased amount of communication, the reason for fanzines in the first place: to cover a lifestyle that was being trivialized, or more often ignored, by a clueless mainstream media. (Incidentally, this continues today: a recent article in Time magazine quoted none other than Combetbus, Mudflap (they called it Mudslap), Die, Evan Dando, Die, and other such zines.) The idea that the small-press is democracy at its finest, that anyone can partake, is a fair assertion. The problem is a lot of people lack effective communicative skills, much less basic technical know-how on how to effectively reproduce their ideas.

Doing a zine automatically means people will send you their zines. For hours on end I've read through ill-thought out, poorly constructed, logically inconsistent, pieces of crap. Despite this, I appreciate that everyone can do a zine. Expression of one's self can be a healthy practice in self-confidence, and a lot of people can benefit from doing a zine and communicating with others they wouldn't ordinarily communicate with. Just knowing that you are doing something rather than nothing is good enough for some people.

But it's one thing to do and another to sweat. When self-aspiring zinesters put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, I can only imagine how little thought goes into what's being said. Even if it does, a certain gift for creating is often needed in order to make a publication great. The fact is, some publications that have been around for awhile are completely dull. Some people can pull off doing a zine, some cannot. I wrote this article out of frustration, in part because I feel so much of the human existence is inundated with performing the meaningless, and also because the meaninglessness disseminates and our society becomes a glut of mediocrity. To put it simply, with few exceptions, the publications I respect are small, relatively unknown and often unpopular even within the underground where they reside. Part of this is natural, a lot of it is economical and I'm sure those two are interdependent on how morality plays into the equation. But the fact remains, there is so little out there that is great, even good. As a result, it makes for cheapened publishing standards.

Jim Goad offers this as to why this is: "I'll never make statements about the relative quality (or lack thereof) in ANSWER Me!, but I'd bet my life that I spend more time working on an issue than anyone in existence, D.I.Y. or not. That isn't because I'm a good person, it's because I'm an obsessive psycho. It's also because I'm competing against slacker morons, a breed which has flourished under the 'punk' enshrinement of unprofessional idiocy. To my mind, the original intent of punk was that professionalism wasn't nearly as important as passion, an assertion with which I still agree. Somewhere along the line, though, punks forgot about the passion and made unprofessionalism a religion of its own. Lack of talent and commitment are now seen as virtues. Americans are a lazy bunch, and I fear that all the young'uns out there are even lazier than their forefathers. Excellence--of any sort--is viewed with suspicion in America. Excellence is uncool, dude."

As an example Jim says that "the idiots at Blacklist rejected the first issue of ANSWER Me! but ordered ten copies of Chocolate Impulse, a purposely shitty 'hoax zine' we produced to dupe all the zine boobs. It just proved that if you make it bad enough, the D.I.Y. lemmings will gobble it up. Slickness-phobia is the zine community's brand of reverse racism."

Devaluing quality could be partly why there is such a low-cost standard on zine pricing. While the spread of information has democratized itself, with most mainstream newspapers costing about 50 cents or less so that just about anyone can afford them, punk zines seem to follow this trend as well. Information should be cheap, a typical punk zine's price would seem to say.

HeartattaCk, a newsprint fanzine out of Santa Barbara, is about 50 pages and costs only 25 cents. They rely on advertising to cover their expenses and there is no profit motive involved. Thoroughly enhanced in HeartattaCk's pricing is the notion that all things punk cost nothing or close to it. Thoroughly lost in this idea is sound reasoning.

First, most punks are middle class and can easily afford $2 fanzines, well above what HeartattaCk charges. That alone nullifies the argument of zines being inaccessible because of their cost. Second, zine-makers who sell their zines for 25 cents will have a hard time keeping themselves, let alone their zines, self-sustaining without some sort of compromise. Most zinesters work jobs. Jobs, chances are, that probably support the very things many fanzines criticize, such as working at a fast-food joint owned by the same hierarchy that owns Green Day.

Tom Frank says independent zines should be priced for what they're worth. To complain about prices that are too high is a waste: "This is a simple error that people make because there are so many publications that are free or very cheap: daily newspapers, 'alternative' weeklies, etc. What they don't realize is that these papers are 'ad-driven,' i.e., subsidized by their advertisers. To say that such an arrangement biases what they publish would be an extreme understatement. Most publications in America exist mainly to serve advertisers: just go to any 'journalism' school and you can find that out very quickly. 'Content' is just there to catch the eye and pique the interest, to get you to read the ads. Of course they're free. Just like TV is. That doesn't make it all right."

Tim Yohannan says having a job for him keeps his reality shaped in an important way. "I have a regular job, I like going to it, I meet different kinds of people than I would normally meet, I have to work with other people... I'm just a lowlife, blue-collar worker and I like that. It keeps a lot of things in balance and in perspective. It's totally important to my psychology and stability that I have that. Otherwise all I would be dealing with is punk rockers and I would get sucked into this mono-dimensional music scene. I think if you get sucked into it, your reality perspective changes a lot. I don't want that to happen to me."

Tim is also in a position where, theoretically, he could revamp his policies at Maximum and turn it into a for-profit enterprise. He chooses to keep Maximum the way it is, and he chooses to work. Most people don't have that choice.

Joseph Gervasi's outlook on jobs is typical for most people who see beyond a nine-to-five existence: They are virtually forced to partake in a process that is devoid of any real meaning and benefit to them. Joseph says: "I am a writer. That's one of the few things I can do very well. When I sell my soul at a dead-end bullshit job, I know that what I am doing to live isn't me. When I write, I am using my talent. If I could live off my talent instead of just scamming writing or computer time at my jobs, then I would be living the life I want to live without engaging in soul-crushing slave labor.

"Provided I persist to publish creative and challenging work that I feel is important, then I have not sold out. Selling out is working like a slave in a job you loathe."

Jim Goad relates the same sentiment: "Is it more noble for me to make money typesetting business cards and resumes for jerkoff Century City lawyers than by publishing a magazine which is very dear to my heart? How so?"

For some people, the same standards seem to apply to music and fanzine production. It's not a rare occurrence to read in the Maximum Rockroll zine reviews section complaints of zine prices being too high and looking 'too slick,' similar to how CDs are criticized for, well, for being CDs, and for looking and sounding good.

Arguing against these kinds of aesthetic standards is Alex Coolman, former editor of the small and virtually unknown Monster Zine. He says: "I have yet to find anything politically worthwhile (witness Tim Yo's Maximum Rocknroll agenda) or musically radical in the punk scene. Punk rock for me is a never changing parade of people who view politics as a choice between fascism and anarchism, and music as the thing produced by mixing screams with power chords."

Match those screams and chords with a Xerox machine and slapped-together graphics and you get the readable medium of punk. Alex says, "The true artists (very few of whom are punks) really do have to struggle with integrity and should give anything to make their art the way they think it should be made. Even if it means struggling in obscurity until death. But having said that I think it also must be admitted that real artists are frequently helped, not hindered, by corporations. The punk view of corporations as evil monsters is, like all things punk, incredibly simple. In real life, art and money sometimes go together."

Still, Tim explains Maximum Rocknroll's pricing: "We charge $2 for (Maximum). We'd actually like to charge less and could afford to charge less, but the problem is that then there would not be enough profit in it ... for the distributors to make it worth their while to distribute. So we actually have to keep it at $2 so the distributors and stores can make enough money to make it worth their while to order it.

"People should charge for their zines what they need to charge to at least break even or put out enough money to put out the next one. If they can't afford to keep doing it, they're cutting their own throats."

Is the answer to charge just enough to keep your product afloat and nothing more? That sounds like, as if editors should, in the punk world, cower to what is true for the mainstream; that is, living off of something other than your talent--in this case, writing. Tom Frank presents a harsh reality about writers today. "I once read some statistics on how few people make a living writing in America, and they were truly disheartening. Now lots of people make a living from the media in some form or another, but very, very few of them are actually able to write what they want to. It would be wonderful if we could enable a group of people to both write what they want and make a living from it.

"I'm not sure how this could conflict with the D.I.Y. aesthetic, unless you were absolutely prostituting yourself, as the vast majority of publications in this country do. But to allow people to write about things other than how much they love their favorite celebrities, and to also pay them for it, would be an astonishing boon. Just ask anyone you know who's tried to make a living as a writer."

So are we left with two options, to be broke and ethically sound, or to be a whore? Many of us are whores in one or another anyway, so where are the lines drawn?

Without compromise, small publications are ultimately left to fend for themselves. Or they have to find a niche. ANSWER Me! is so dramatic and of such quality that even though Fine Print and others won't carry it, Jim predicts he'll make about $11,000 on his latest issue. Marginal publications like The Match save face by being self-printed. Being around for a long time and establishing a reputation is another key factor to survival. Nobody is going to get rich from D.I.Y. publishing, and chances are most won't ever make a living from it.

But it is something to consider.

I don't call for a revamping of the zine "revolution." I'm not saying editors should charge $6 for fanzines just so they don't have to hold "real" jobs. If nothing else, what has been discussed is asking for an increased awareness about the realities editors are faced with when doing things for themselves.

People need to take into account what they are doing and why. Censorship, for whatever reasons, is always a slap in the face to the intellectual process of discussion; and, inherently, zines are generating much of the viable discussion going around these days. To alter that because it doesn't fit with one group's view only puts us back to the days of Milton's Areopagitica. Distributors need to be more aware of their role in handling the small-press. Somewhere along the line of trying to do publishers a favor, they forgot fundamental aspects to the small-press, basic things like paying on time, or at all. Distributors also need to carefully rethink their moral positions. Convoluting one person's point of view and tagging a group's name all over it is shoddy and careless. Ordering 1,000 copies of ANSWER Me!, ruining them with bar-code stickers and then sending them back is fucked. Fine Print paying over a year late, despite their "accurate" tracking system, is fucked. And so forth. These things, in addition to being just bad business, are a slap in the face to D.I.Y. publishers and the D.I.Y process in general.

A lot more goes into independent publications than most readers could ever imagine. If all the editors I heard from spend at least an hour or more a day on their publications, aside from their jobs, school and personal lives, that says a lot. I'm not sure exactly what. Maybe independent publishing is a lost endeavor after all. Much of what's being said in zines has been already said, many times over, often better. Even still, it is hard to gain a wide audience going the D.I.Y. route.

You could say that struggle is what keeps ideas pure. That's fine. What kind of statement is it, then, when those sweating their asses off to create a quality product, to put passions onto paper, find their work shit on, rejected and ignored, not just by the clueless status quo, but by those claiming to provide outlets for supposedly underground ideas--people who should know better?

Such people jeopardize the independent function by selfishly trying to make it a process for self-selected endeavors, be they economically based--whichever brings in the most cash--or morally based--the reaffirmation of their own beliefs and the rejection of ones with which they disagree. When this process is toyed with in the ways this article illustrated, we cannot depend on each other. And if we can't depend on each other, we can't depend on anybody.

Postscript

Just after I began editing this article, Fred Woodworth sent me a letter saying he has yet to receive money owed to him by Fine Print despite numerous phone calls and letters. He says Fine Print told him they didn't have his correct address even though they sent him "junk mail ... correctly addressed." Fred writes: "This is really a pathetic situation. Small publishers like ourselves are really being taken for a ride by these creeps, and I'm damned tired of it. I wish we could all get together and exert some kind of force on ratty distributor outfits that take our stuff and give us runarounds in return. My own runaround with Fine Print has even more dimensions than I've related, with them doing other incredible stuff that I'm too tired to relate, and you're too bored to hear, right now. It all points up to the need to perhaps have some kind of small-press organization that could as a collective grab these fuckers by the throat and force them to come up with timely and fair payments. Alternatively, we need some means to circumvent them completely and reach newsstand readers directly (though I'm beginning to think that may really be impossible anymore, considering how the distributors have sewn up the bookstore/newsstand deal). It's a racket, and we are victims of racketeers. We certainly can't turn to the government for help; not only would it not help us, it would probably put the bite on US for not conforming to 5,000 regulations; and anyway our credibility with readers would plunge into the toilet. No, if anything is done, it has to be on lines of solidarity: collective refusal to deal with ripoff outfits, etc.

"I don't mean to imply that I'm resourceless; I'm not. After 25 years, I have a huge mailing list. But lots of small publishers don't, and the distributors have 'em by the nuts. All I know is, the idea of a free small press seems to be getting lost in all this."

In other news, Jim Goad has informed me that a bookstore in Bellingham, Wash. is facing legal charges for selling ANSWER Me! #4, a magazine considered "pornographic" by local authorities. The case garnered so much media attention that Jim and Debbie have encountered anonymous threats and may face legal hassles of their own. When asked if he was going to go after ANSWER Me!'s creators, the Bellingham D.A., according to Jim, replied: "No comment."

[Note: The bookstore owners won this case, and I believe are counter-suing for damages. Not sure on the outcome... - Bob, Nov., 2000.]

On a positive note, just as this article was being completed I received a check for $150 from a much talked about zine. Apparently at year's end they had some money left over and sent it to 150 fanzines to help them out. This gesture is admirable and should be noted. Despite the hardships which independent writers, editors and publishers face, these kinds of acts, no matter how large or small, are reason enough for us to keep doing what we're doing. In the end maybe only a few people will care, but that's more than enough for some of us.

[eyeamflesch]

The DDIY Spirit
by Jack Boulware

Italy has found its newest star. Not Marcello Mastroianni, not Ciccolina, not even Madonna's badmouthing of the Vatican can measure up to the mighty Joan Ellis. Oh, you haven't heard of her? You are out of the loop, my friends, because Joan Ellis is it. Internet lines are cooking in Rome over this babe. She's captured the imagination of an entire country, birthplace of strong coffee and sunglasses with attitude. Not bad for a 64-year-old mother of three from Redbank, New Jersey.
You see, Joan's got herself a home page. That's right, a little DIY coming at you. Joan's weekly film reviews have earned her the sobriquet "The Pauline Kael of the Internet," according to Virtual City magazine. They even call her cinematic criticism "surprisingly witty and literate." Hungry for a sample? Jesus, so am I. Here's a tidbit from a recent assessment of "The Bridges of Madison County": "That bad book has come a long way."
Can we say it? Yes we can. DIY is tits up.
Oh, it was a fashionable enough buzzword a few years ago. Man, those were the days. Zines! Punk! Grunge! Pirate radio! Public-access television! Yeah! Throw it back in the face of the man! We're not sucking corporate cock, nossir, we got our own thing going! We don't need anybody to get the message out there, and if you don't like it, well, then you're a dick! Whaddya think of that?
Now it's come to a New Jersey housewife writing movie reviews for salivating Italians.
Please don't misunderstand. The DIY impulse is a great one, and has produced many worthy offspring. We also have the Rhino "DIY" punk anthology, booming camcorder sales, how-to books on suicide and selling one's body parts—even Sunset magazine keeps telling us how to build attractive household additions out of redwood. But let's not kid ourselves: DIY is now a shorthand keystroke for editors of Newsweek.
This trivialization of technology hasn't stopped the heartbeat of America, however. The postal system circulates roughly between 20,000 and 50,000 zines to all corners of the globe. Conservative estimates place the number of e-zines at several thousand, and any chucklebum with a modem has the potential to slap together their own home page ("Hi, I'm Kevin, and this is a picture of myself as a seven-year-old—here's a list of my favorite bands!") If you've surfed the Web, you've witnessed the damage. And how about that cut-out section at the CD store? Isn't it a treasure trove?
"We are becoming boisterous and arrogant in the pride of a too speedily assumed literary freedom," wrote Edgar Allen Poe back in 1836, who might as well have been discussing the DIY media. "So far from being ashamed of the many disgraceful literary failures to which our own inordinate vanities and misapplied patriotism have lately given birth, and so far from deeply lamenting that these daily puerilities are of home manufacture, we adhere pertinaciously to our original blindly conceived idea, and thus often find ourselves involved in the gross paradox of liking a stupid book the better, because, sure enough, its stupidity is American."
Of course, Edgar never experienced the sheer ecstasy of his own home page. Plus, he died in a gutter in Baltimore.
Our current tsunami of homemade information can be blamed on Dr. Spock—or should we say Dr. Frankenstein. Unjustified positive reinforcement of children has produced legions of deluded youth teeming with the confidence, the responsibility of creativity to carry us into the next Millennium. Getting patted on the head as a child does not a genius make, especially in our SAT-saddened Golden State of California. And the finger of blame must also be pointed at our nation's art schools, jettisoning scads of young bohos eager for a medium to express themselves, because, you see, their ideas are new. Turning society on its ear. They've studied it.
No, sometimes a kid has to be told, "You don't count. Not yet."
Clearly we've succumbed to the banality of bandwidth. The public can't endure many more zines of shitty poetry, lousy bands that have no chance in hell, boring camcorder video "projects," or lame Web sites that take forever to download a photo of somebody's beer bottle collection. Hooray, you did it! You actually put together a collection of information important to you personally! Congratulations! You're a brilliant, sovereign individual, and your pinhead world view is now available!
Yes, the DIY impulse has been influential in our popular culture, but the essential truth is obvious. Some of us are inferior. We can't help it. We're pretty crappy at what we do. Some of us are terrible editors, publishers, musicians, filmmakers, artists and "multi-media" artisans. Most of us don't belong in the business of presenting information. We should all shut the fuck up and go work at a hardware store.
But you wouldn't know it from the DIY peer industry. Magazine after magazine runs glowing reviews of sloppy bands, blurry slapdash videos, Junior's kooky Web site, and zine after zine of putrid nonsense barely legible even to its creator. These zines then offer reciprocal blowjobs to other zines, and Web sites link to other sites without thought or logic. And Joan Ellis sits at her New Jersey kitchen table, bravely pounding out another concise appraisal of Hollywood's newest.
No, the time has come for a new trend: DDIY. Don't Do It Yourself, America. GAJ is our newest zeitgeist: Get a Job! Relax, sit back in your ratty sofa and enjoy the show. Just because there's bad stuff out there doesn't mean you have to participate. That's what surfing is all about. And if you're an art student, what could be more transgressive, more punk, more anti-anti than saying fuck you to DIY? Can you see the slogans? "DIY sucks!" "DIY is for people who can't handle being spoon-fed!" "DIY? I don't know, do you?"

[eyeamflesch]

Photocopied Politics: Zines (re)Produce a New Activist Culture
by Hilary Clark

Putting out a zine, any zine, is a political act. Whether it's the high school kid who does a zine about Sloan, or the collective's newsletter advocating environmental awareness, both are reclaiming what was essentially theirs to begin with.

You see, it was never supposed to be this way. Governments weren't supposed to free trade away the needs of the populace, and the media weren t supposed to end up in collusion with the corporate bad-boys who wrote the mantra of consumerism in the first place. So when individuals start recognizing and seizing their place in the discussion, rather than merely consuming what s dropped on their doorstep, it s not radical, it s a restoration of the printed word as it was meant to operate. And the printed word has always been political. Doing a zine, publishing anything on an individual or collective basis, basically says, 'ya, that's fine, but here's what I think, here's what I care about.'

"Media, entertainment, all of it says 'just sit back, we'll do it for you'," explains Toronto's Carly Stasko. "I started doing my first zine [Quit Gawking] as a self-defense tactic, lots of teen magazines for girls aren t, shall we say, very productive."

And there's the beginning of the rift. Seventeen sells maxi pads with tips on kissing, while headlines proclaim things like "Recession over!", "Canada rated the number one country to live in!", "Ozone layer repairing itself!". But it all seems hollow and absurd to the many people who, like Stasko, observe the very large gap between what they are told and what's really happening in their lives.

Marc, who puts out the fiery Ottawa zine Human Error agrees: "It's just that most mainstream media don t provide any real content, it's all filler, and so I guess I'm doing my little bit to try and change that." His little 'bit' produced, most recently, a sprawling article called The Game Becomes Reality (the title refers to the board-game Monopoly). The article/list provides a comprehensive guide to multinational greed - from Disney to General Electric to Time-Warner - by detailing a global economy in the hands of the few and the very rich.

In zines, institutionalized information is replaced with pure individual energy - expression and communication. The idiosyncratic format of the zine allows people speak directly to one another without the mediation of any profit making body. Even the way zines are distributed reflects a profoundly different sensibility: okay, so I'll slave for hours and pay to make the thing myself, so that I can trade with you and find out what you ve got to say.

"If you don't try and communicate," says Brian from Agree to Disagree in Vancouver, "you might as well give up. Communication is the key...there is still a chance to make a difference."

Of course, none of this has anything to do with markets or target audiences or demographics. In the end, it's about sharing information and finding community. And that, quite naturally, is the genesis of political action.

"Instead of fighting corporate, monopolized media, you can achieve the same effect by doing it yourself, by changing the rules of the game - if you lessen their power, you increase your own," says Mez, a Toronto-based culture jammer, who puts out the monthly activist calendar Gossamer and contributes to the Media Collective's virulent Anarchives. "It's all about people expressing themselves, not corporations selling us a life." And, in the true spirit of action, he adds: "All billboards must die!"

It's not surprising, then, that in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver very different zines articulate a similar sounding message. As the great crucible of the federal election turned, once again, into Beach Blanket Bingo, zinesters from coast to coast marked the big event with a notable silence on the subject of federal politics, and loud protests on the subject of cultural homogenization and corporate take-over (issues made famous by the influential Vancouver based mag Adbusters).

"Mainstream politics is at best an exercise in mass delusion/distraction," explains Vince Tinguely, who does the weekly activist broadsheet Perfect Waste of Time out of Montreal. "Rather than deal with actual problems like poverty, or women s issues, or the environment, we get treated to a) the deficit, b) national unity, and c) the deficit. It's unfortunate that corporate business has such a strangle-hold on political culture, because it has made things like the federal election pretty much beside the point."

One election after another have come along offering up messages of salvation; first it was the global economy which got us Free Trade, then it was the 'deficit crisis' which brought massive government cutbacks (and of course there s always the constitutional crisis which never seems to get anyone anything). And so, after a decade of recession, deficit reduction and global corporate market planning, things aren t going so well and capital P politics have become increasingly remote. When institutions established for the common good instead claim that the province is open for business more and more citizens recognize that their needs as human beings - as opposed to consumers - are not being addressed through government.

Zines speak to what s happening in people s lives, what they see around them, what s happening to their friends, their community, their futures. And that s an important distinction, particularly in a society trained to view politics as institutional, as someone s job. By taking the discussion in other directions, zines move away from institutional politics towards communities of consensus.

Consider Lisa Rizikov zine, Discharge, which focuses on women s health issues, specifically, health issues about women s bodies. "I feel that I get some pretty cool, empowering info out there," Lisa says. "It can be a powerful thing when someone gains some basic knowledge about their body, sexuality, etc."

The impulse is the same for the women who do C.U.N.T, a zine that advocates for the place of women and bikes on the streets of Toronto. "C.U.N.T is an activist zine...our tone and mandate can be very charged," say Kathy, Nancy, and Bridget. "As cyclists, we feel very vulnerable and we talk about that. At the same time, we talk about how great and strong we feel to have a lifestyle where we get around on our bikes."

Even with the most specifically political zines, It's still about community. Cory and Giselle who put out Punk Fiction - a suburban Toronto zine that uses rants and cut-and-paste to examine politics in punk - comment: "It's a tool to strengthen our movement by hopefully getting people thinking again, and setting an example of things other punks can do."

Collages that say 'fuck capitalism' or 'smash the patriarchy' further articulate the difference between mainstream society's attempts to deal with the so-called new world order and zine culture's approach: It's not about tinkering here and there, It's about a fundamental realignment of where actual people come in on the food chain. Activist zines angle for another approach, something like - live your politics, engage your world, inform anyone willing to listen that there are other ways to do things. Because, as Victoria Stanton, also of Perfect Waste of Time points out, "it will take a critical mass. A huge number of people doing subversive work, independently, who eventually connect with each other."

Activist zines are about opting out of the internal machinations of politics (trying to change things through the system). These zines reflect the need for a direct action model where diverse groups of publishers inform and assist each other in their diverse but interconnected goals. The expression of this in practice finds the Punk Fiction people supporting and working with groups like Anti-Racist Action and Food Not Bombs, the women from C.U.N.T active in the Critical Mass Rides, Rizikov doing workshops on women s health, and Mez's Gossamer providing a meeting ground for all these events to come together.

Hardly a zine in the country said a word about the election. This shouldn't be mistaken for apathy or acquiescence about politics. Rather, It's a vigorous and overtly political discussion that challenges those who decide the way we live our lives. It is nothing short of revolutionary, with a small but virulent group of the population refusing to participate in the evidently flawed system of governance we have in Canada. Imagine great social movements like the French or American revolutions had there been a copy-shop on every corner. How might they have transpired - and ended - differently? Of course the analogy is overstated, but the point is that the ebb and flow of how people responding to the exercise of power over their lives by elites always leads to resistance and eventually to change. That said, lasting change can only be achieved through a genuine educating principle that continues to asserts itself.

A multitude of activist zines all dealing with different issues in diverse ways is evidence that the massive upheaval of this waning decade has politicized several generations. As these zines so succinctly demonstrate, governments are not the primary targets for the new culture of political action in Canada. It's as much about standing up to the monoculture as it about politics. In the glare of the photocopier's blazing light, publications are born as testaments to the power of people to assert their individual and collective concerns. This is, perhaps, a longer but more effective process then advocating violent revolution (which few zines do), or demanding a new prime minister (which no zines do). In the end, Zines publishers might not run for office, but they might just change the world.

from broken pencil 6

[The Nerd]

elafrws offtopic

exeis teyxh apo
"Παπάρι"
"Βρωμιά"
"Ανοιχτή Πόλη"

[eyeamflesch]

Egw oxi, isws exei i Medousa.

[eyeamflesch]

Publishing a Fanzine
During Wartime
by Mike Gunderloy
from "How to Publish a Fanzine"

Fanzines are, for most of us, just a hobby. But somewhere in the back of our minds, at least for those of us who occasionally give vent to mildly "subversive" words, there's always one little worry: what if THEY don't let me publish?
For most of us, human beings that we are, the choice is inevitable: to submit to suppression in the hope that things will shortly get better. After all, the government knows what it's doing, right? But some few will find themselves pushed to the edge by censorship and resolve to fight back. In particular, during times of intense repression, whether by a domestic government or a foreign occupying force, some individuals will continue publishing, and form the REAL underground press.
The power of the press is multiplied when the competition is lessened. Major H. von Dach Bern, author of the guerilla-warfare guide Total Resistance, says, "Keep in mind that a typewriter is often more important than a pistol, a reproduction machine is worth as much as a light machine gun. On the other hand, he also says, "If, during a search of private homes, supplies or paper and repro duction machines are found, the inhabitants will face imprisonment or execution," so this is not a subject to approach lightly by any means.
To a large extent it's arrogant of me to try and discuss this real underground press, as I've never had to be terribly clandestine about my activities. But on the other hand, there are people publishing even today, even in the United States, who need to make use of security measures in order to get their words out. For example, zines devoted to pedophilia are increasingly the target of police activity, often in blatant violation of their civil rights. Anarchists preaching "direct action" have had similar problems. If you're thinking about publishing matter that could get you arrested, perhaps I can pass along a few hints from others in similar circumstances.
There are two basic rules to remember. The first is that you can't trust anyone. The second is that you can't afford to leave any evidence behind you. These are not graven in stone, and the first, especially, will have to be violated by, say, a resistance movement in wartime. But I'm not concerned with getting ten thousand copies of a leaflet scattered across occupied territory as much as with putting out 100 copies of something that personally and graphically insults El Presidente. With this in mind, let's look at how the two basic rules affect putting out a zine, from initial conception through final distribution.
Assuming that you can't trust anyone, you'll end up writing the whole thing yourself. This shouldn't be any problem, as no one is going to get into this situation who doesn't feel he has a lot to say. Of course, you'll have to do your own illustrations, if any, or do without. You never know who that artist might be talking to in his spare time.
For getting final copy ready, typesetting is of course out of the question. One is reduced to more primitive methods. In our current society, it is difficult to imagine any sort of effective control over typewriters and computers being undertaken by any oppressor. But it could happen. If your typewriter is registered with the local police, you can't use it for typing subversive literature. There are two alternatives. One is to go even more low tech, and handwrite everything this only requires procuring paper or pens and pencils. The other is to find a typewriter, perhaps in an office, to which you have access for other, more legitimate reasons, and use it on the sly. In any case, as soon as the copy goes from manuscript to typescript, the original should be destroyed. This does not, of course, mean pitching it in the garbage can for someone else to find. It means burning it, and stirring the ashes thoroughly so that they cannot be pieced back together into some bit of the original. Police procedures get more inventive all the time, so destroy things as thoroughly as you possibly can. (See the book by Background GMBH for more information on the battle of evidence.)
Comes time to print this stuff, once again you must remember that you can't trust anyone. This, at once, rules out all methods of printing that require a printshop. It probably also rules out home copiers, as someone is bound to notice that you're buying toner and other chemicals in large quantities. Ditto machines and mimeographs are the way to go, and my preference would be for the former, as it is smaller and requires less supplies to operate. A ditto machine can be run on grain or wood alcohol if only you have had the foresight to lay in a stock of master sheets before the crunch. A mimeo requires ink, which is potentially subject to much tighter controls, although making your own ink is possible. In either case, the master should be destroyed as soon as the press run is finished. If you need to reprint, you can always make another master. The destruction must include the backing sheet of the mimeo stencil or the carbon sheet of the ditto master, as either of these will easily reveal what has been typed.
A problem with these machines is that the kachunka-kachunka noises which they make are quite distinctive and thus easily recognized by anyone who has heard them in the past. If you are in close proximity to other people, some sort of noise cover may be needed. Run your radio full blast in the next room; arrange for a large truck idling in front of your house; or get a confederate to do some noisy wood or metal work as you print. The problem with these latter two methods is that they bring other people into the big picture. An alternative, if you have a closed vehicle such as a van available, is to drive the press out to a remote area and print where you can't be overheard. Of course, this again becomes very difficult if the machine you're using requires electricity, or if gasoline is tightly rationed.
Mailing is right out under these circumstances it's too dangerous for you and for the recipient. Some sort of hand distribution system is essential. The basic method to use is to pass the zine along to people you trust directly, while intimating that you yourself got it from someone else. At the end of the zine, there should be a request for the reader to pass it on to someone else trusted this will maximize your circulation, although it, of course, also increases the chance of a copy falling into the wrong hands. But the latter outcome can scarcely be avoided, which is why you must be very careful to be untraceable.
For wider, random distribution, several subterfuges are available. The boldest move is to put on a postal uniform and stuff copies in mailboxes as you go down the street. Another possibility is to buy a newspaper from a vending machine and leave fifty copies of your own paper behind in the box. A third means of distribution is to leave a stack atop a tall building, letting the wind distribute them as you leave.
Finally, if you're seriously thinking of dangerous propaganda in an occupation situation, you should consider posters instead of newspaper. Posters can be seen by people who don't care to carry subversive literature, and thus garner a wider audience. Perhaps the cleverest idea is to make mini-posters modifying the official one. These can range from a simple "ALL LIES" to long diatribes against the Glorious Leader or whoever. Self-adhesive stock is readily available today, and can be printed on by any of the methods we have discussed. Failing this, there's always plain paper and flour paste. Just make sure that you're not noticed as you sidle up to the Big Brother poster with the sticker that says "Sisterhood is powerful."

Copyright 1988 Mike Gunderloy. Posted with permission. To download "How to Publish a Fanzine," click here.

[eyeamflesch]

Zines Suck
by James Hetfield

Four in the morning, and where is Matt? Sitting as his desk, pounding away at his keyboard. He was writing his 'greatest' text file ever, "anarchy elite warez end here!" At the same time, on another part of the globe, Riyu, a screwed-up Japanese university dropout was writing away at his underground zine, "The role of humanity vs. humanity." Johnny, the 12-year-old from Vermont, grinded away at his keys writing down his unique processes that, went performed, would blow up the White House in one swoop. Mike, where is poor Mike? Mike is writing bad poetry about the sand and the sun.
Which of these four should gain the most recognition? I would say the poet, because chances are his horrible poetry isn't just for the computer world. Zines are crap, folks. Always have been, always will be. Until people actually form a 'zine where they are actually writing for themselves and not a retarded "underground" audience, the work they create will not have any relevance to real time life. Let's find some classic examples, shall we?
Classic example #1: "Scene whining."
EVERY FUCKING ZINE has a criticism about the scene. Look, this is a criticism about the zine! How fucking ORIGINAL of me! It seems no one can shut their fucking mouths about the 'zine. Every chance they get, they're talking about the scene. Did you ever notice that in successful institutions, they don't whine about the scene, they whine about individual products of the scene? Take something disgustingly male; football. when was the last time you heard a football player whine about football? It doesn't happen often. but 'zine writers continually whine about the scene. It's never anything new, either, it's always the same old shit. and it gets really old and monotonous.
Classic example #2: Bad poetry/parody. Listen, if you've got a piece of poetry you've worked on for a actual significant amount of time, it is a piece of work. However, if you're printing up poems in your 'zine that are still in their rough draft form, have little or no description, only 'big catchy words' like hell, heaven, pain, suffering... well, you're helping to bring down the scene. A scene can only take so much crap. after a certain amount, it begins to drown... and that is what the underground 'zine world is doing. Drowning.
Classic example #3: Prose vs. essay Most 'zines these days are almost all essay, with very little prose, if any. If it does have prose, it's usually crappy and about little trolls that kill humans or magical penises, etc. Prose is an important element of a 'zine; it gives it a polar look. People who are really into prose (like me) might actually not skip over the essays people wrote. And people who generally read essays might read the prose as well. A good balance helps out the 'zine a lot, and very few 'zines have this balance.
Classic example #4: Underground gibber. Let's face it, ladies and gentlemen. there is little that is 'underground' about the 'zine scene. Anyone who can get their hands on a computer can write up a 'zine. Anyone who goes into #new_irc_user will probably get bcc'd a copy of Jonas or Klunk or whatnot. One of the big problems of 'zines is they all say the same things. They are redundant, and redundant they are, with a little recursive recursivity. I don't think there are many people who could write anything new about hacking and phreaking, and put them in a general reader 'zine. "How to eat your eggs fried" probably has been written about less than "how to blow up your dog."
Classic example #5: Eye owns joo. Why is Cult of the Dead Cow so popular? Because it is one of the few old 'zines still alive, and many talented people write for it. Does everyone want to run a group like cdc? Hell yea. Can everyone run it? nope. just like everyone can't be the Perdue chicken man, not everyone can run a popular 'zine. But everyone tries to. I know I have, way too many times. If I listed all the different gimmicks for 'zines I've had in the past, this article would be 300k long. So very few people stay together long enough to create a work of art. Will Doomed to Obscurity stand the test of time? The odds are against it. [In fact, it didn't last.—Ed.] The odds are against every 'zine, because just about every talented writer wants to run a 'zine... So the people running 'zines have shitty submissions. The writers core for a decent 'zine is usually two or three good writers (including the editor), while a great 'zine would have maybe five or six good writers. Once a 'zine has six or so great writers, we come to the next problem.
Classic example #6: I'll do it tomorrow.
Everyone is lazy these days. Zines are the antithesis of Pringles; once you stop, you can't pop. Never once in the days that i have known 'zines have i had a good core of writers all writing for the 'zine at the same time. It would be three here, three there, but never at the same time. So the talent pool was efficiently diluted. If a 'zine could effectively have a good talent pool of writers, who continually produce, with a relatively balanced amount of prose and essay, they might have a chance at having an excellent 'zine. But those products are few and far between.

This essay originally appeared in Doomed to Obscurity. Posted with permission.

[The Nerd]

Giannhs kernaei, giannhs pinei