Afterbirth #2 + A zine started by friends in dedication to photographer/musician/thinker Jeff Patterson (R.I.P.). A compilation of writings about suburban naiveity, 9-11, excerpts from Jeff’s travel journals, bits and pieces about veganism, art, and stream of consciousness and prose-esqe pieces as well. Beautiful cover art. Contributions welcome. Email: Miriah@mindspring.com or Breathashes@hotmail.com

America? + America? is a quarter-sized zine, made by Travis of Drinking Sweat in the Ash Age. I was compelled to write him about how much I appreciated Drinking Sweat and to see how I could get his individual zine. He sent me two copies which I have enjoyed greatly. The articles are small, but jam packed with wit and observation. He takes personal experiences and applies them to larger ideas, without being redundant. Tour/travel, examining punk rock, conversations, and more. His writing style is very articulate and his perspective often insightful, amusing, and honest, make his wonderful writing abilities into a truly magnicifent product. Price: issues 5, 7, and 8 $1, issue 6 $1 + 2 stamps + Address: Travis/ PO Box 13077/ Gainesville, FL 32604-1077

April Fools Day #1 + I picked this up for a quarter at Stickfigure and began reading it on the ride home. Packed into 46 pages, this zine focuses on addiction and alcoholism, and why ridding the self-destructiveness of drug/alcohol use in one’s life can help you know yourself better and LIVE. Looks at being drug-free from the perspective of an ex-alcoholic, a more compassionate recovery-friendly point of view than a puritan sXe mafia sort of thing. A very insightful interview with Brian from Fitz of Depression focusing on how he overcame his heroin addiction, the creative blockages recovery panged in his music writing, etc. Lots of examination of the stereotypes surrounding addiction, some medical info about the stages of heroin addiction, cute recommendations of things to do other than get high/drunk/etc. Written by Kathleen Hanna. A reprint. Great and inspiring, at a very inexpensive price! Price: $0.25 + Distro: Stickfigure

Brainscan #19 + Alex Wrekk does it again! This issue of Brainscan full of beautiful typewriter murmurs of her active life in Portland, polka-dotted backgrounds and 1950’s magazine photographs. Lots of focus on her adventures in zine writing, what zine writing means to her, what zine writing can do for a person, how zinesters communicate and the difference between reading someone and meeting someone, and how there is community in the zine world. Tales of Against Me house shows, the Portland Zine Symposium, talking in front of crowds, pen pals in person, listening in at a mental illness workshop, being a staff member at the Rock N Roll Girls’ Camp, her recent punk rock marriage, and more! Inspiring, sincere… a true zine written by a real kid powered punk girl. Email: brainscanzine@ureach.com + Address: Alex Wrekk/ P.O. Box #14332/ Portland, OR 97293 + Distro: Stickfigure

Deviant Technology Superstar + When I received an envelope in the mail from Andrew Penland, I thought he had forgotten to put his zine inside. Indeed I found out it is a very very thin zine, made of 3 sheets of paper. The cover (which is the back page; it runs from back to front) has what appears to be a large anime doll on the front, unclothed, plus boxes of sleaze photos of girls with very large boobs, all surrounded by paint and little drawings. It’s mostly art with writing or writing with art, word collages, a couple of prose pieces (one about Patty Hearst, the President, and soapbubbles – sounds acid induced), scribbles. Based mostly on an electro-fear and erotica mix. One of the more interesting (content wise) zines I’ve seen in a while. Price: $1 + Email: DrFrankn1@aol.com + Address: Andrew Penland/ 149 Newfound St./ Canton, NC 28716

Drinking Sweat in the Ash Age + The literary efforts of two (proud) punk boys from Gainesville, with creative images to accompany a furiously fueled layout and their beautifully-written thoughts on all sorts of subjects. Travis and Mike often took one subject and both wrote about it in their own style and perspective, adding interesting input into otherwise simple subjects: bicycling, the South, crying during movies, etc. Well worth the cost, 90 pages of heartfelt, sarcastic, funny, and extremely well-written pieces about the inconsistencies and consistencies of life. One of the better zines I’ve ever had the pleasure of buying. Price: $3 + Address: Travis/ PO Box 13077/ Gainesville FL 332604-1077 + Distro: Stickfigure or No Idea Records

Girl Problems #3 + A small personal/travel ‘zine, compiled from the thoughts of Matt Smith, hardcore/punk kid extraordinaire. Rants about not fitting in, being punk, the "I hate the scene" scenester hypocrisy, the stuff college kids throw away (adventures of dumpster diving), journal of Chicago Fest ('01), why older hardcore bands shouldn't stay together, and music/zine reviews, all tied in with his personal experiences, presented from an honest non-bullshit approach. Price: one stamp + Address: Matt Smith/ 950 Main Box #1881/ Worchester, MA 01610-1477

Graffiti #1 + Graffiti has actually been around a couple of years now online and presents itself as a positive and inspiring “make a difference” zine, touching lightly on general subjects that effect mostly teens. Most of the articles in the print version are very small and stating pretty common opinions on the subjects discussed. Yet, no matter how under-developed or common place, this zine, in the hands of those who haven’t had much time to think about certain subjects, can present an option to open minds. This is the kind of zine I wish circulated at my middle school and that would have probably gotten many of my peers on a more intellectually stimulated roll for the future, especially in concerns to sexism, racism, religion, music, and other issues. The layout is set up like a mock of an actual glossy, making it pretty easy to navigate. The writers seem different from one another, and there doesn’t seem to be the impression that this zine is run by only “punks” or “hippies”, but just kids, a lot of different kids into different stuff with different opinions, and I like that kind of diversity. Snippets about over-weight discrimination on airlines, music as a form of expression, questioning destiny, rooting out avoidance, religion as a divider of the World, meditation (somewhat New Age hipster Zen, but credible), the emphasis of female body image, dispelling common misconceptions on lesbianism, the Reality Check organization against the tobacco industry, manic depression. Some things I found silly, the two pieces written by someone called Raven, about being used by a guy she hardly knew and having her heart smashed to pieces, and driving 14 hours to see a Saves The Day show, being mostly concerned that the musicians seemed tired, weren’t as cute as she thought they were, and hadn’t washed their hair. Writers such as Evelyn Goffman make up for above mentioned girl silliness with her wit and passion about serious subjects. This zine highly relies on contributions and loves feedback… I am glad this kind of zine exists (especially for a younger crowd who definitely need to be questioned on such subjects) and I hope this zine continues on. Price: $1 + Email: MadameGraffiti@aol.com + Address: Graffiti Magazine/ 136 – 81 72nd Ave/ Flushing, NY 11367 + Website: http://graffitizine.cjb.net

NeuFutur #6 + This zine is quite standard in a lot of ways: very cut and paste, and at times the quality of the pages are grainy and blurred. A nice little read, with the content focused on being informative, veering away from the personal nonsense so many people try to include in zines but never seem to be able to do effectively. Still very sparce… it feels incomplete. Lots of reviews, music and zine wise, of material which doesn’t seem too particularly interesting to me, but others may discover new things because of them. Also a review of the movie, ‘Torch Song Trilogy’, and a book (not too well clarified, but it’s something by Lawrence Booth). I liked the articles best. Many will appreciate the small how-to’s on copy machine scamming and making an electric bicycle. Also some small pieces examining the issues of the ENDA, the hypocrisy in Jack Chick’s Bible-beating antics, Vox (a Planned Parenthood youth feminista co-opt), etc. Has room to grow. Hardcore zinesters might not appreciate its thrown together d.i.y.-ness, but those who have patience will appreciate the fuel within the writings and the simplicity of the zine altogether. Email: Jmcquiston@depauw.edu + Address: UB Box 6064/ 408 S. Locust St/ Greencastle IN 46135 + Website: http://www.neufutur.cjb.net

Neufutur #7 + A more precise and straight forward issue. Small articles about the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations act, a story about racism and false safety by a contributor, a Hissyfits interview, red boxing instructions (free phone calls – woo hoo!), “Pops that Flopped!” (reminsing experiment colas passed), a small rant about Medicaid and the poor, the GLBT movie plot (‘Hedwig’), and zine and music reviews. A fun issue! Fans of the Hissyfits definitely check out. For ordering info see review for issue 6.

Neufutur #8 + James McQuiston seems to have hit a rough spot. Something is happening to him, and it’s more than apparent in his writing. So now we get to know the writer. Or at least bits of him. A window into the confusion of college kid life, questioning identity, speaking in Tyler Durden tones. Honesty without being a cheeseball – I heart writings of such a nature, the kinds that smirk, laugh at itself, and go back to moping. Not too much moping. Sections of the zine still seem to blend together, and sometimes it seems hard to tell where something starts and begins. Use of different fonts and sizes perhaps do some of this job. Some reviews of his own zine, the pledge of allegiance rant, a brief overview of ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’, frat houses and college stressors, Eminem, dreams, change, profiles of 16 and under zinesters (awww!), college, college. An interesting mix. For ordering info see review for Neufutur #6.

Pixystick Zine #1 – A stars N hearts type quarter-sized size, bound together by purple ribbon. On the front it says “L is for Ladies” and underneath that “An Activity Book”. Handwritten and full of cute pictures, this zine is made up of pointful quotes, beauty recipes, and cool lady shout outs, and it’s far safe to call this a mini crafty lady zine. Very small, about 28 pages (front and back) at max. Email: thirdwavegrrrl@hotmail.com

Womperjaw – #1 & 2 + A steady mixture of challenging/stating/retracting/regaining beliefs in attempt to get closer to clarity, art, politics, and poetry. Writings fueled by anger and realization, written one minute like beat prose to confessionalist rants, spawned from reflective punk kids. #1, from 2000, focuses a lot on commercialism, propaganda, lemmings=humans discontent, addiction & death, and the working class. #2 is very heart felt. More prose sorts: about Ben’s father and his struggle with his father’s death, dead assholes, suicide, beliefs, art, 9-11, faith, government, the working class, etc. Email: OB2275@aol.com + Address: Ben/Womperjaw/ 2641 Franklin #1408/ Mesquite, TX 75150

SPLIT ZINES!

Brainscan #16/ Cars in the Bike Lane Alex Wrekk seems like one of those downright charming kid-power scraggly punk types, with a love for doing smaller-than-pocket-size-but-not-too-tiny zines and bike riding, full of random thoughts as they come, and around the corner always a glimmer of honesty peeking through the casual flow of her writing. A “one night stand zine”, or a split zine made in one night (a pretty cute idea! If I knew some dedicated zinesters, I would love to try something similar). Alex shares her thoughts about the connection of autumn and her moods, the love-hate relationship with the mind, a snippet of life on the bus, Portland, and Joy Division. Cars in the Bike Lane, written by Alex’s live-in boyfriend, Joe (whose a bit more cynical and loves iced tea) discusses punk rock nights gone by, fall (as well), bizarre teenage incidents involving parents, cops, and judges, and humorous roommate reviews.

Brainscan #17/ Rock Star With Words #2 is also a one night stand split. Less extensive on Alex’s part from Brainscan # 16, if you want to count up words, but just as heartfelt. She talks about her visit to California, the fuzzy poster factory, Mrs. Piggy and meat, packing up boxes. Rock Star With Words is done by a girl named Korinna. Her writing in this split focuses on being a rock star with words, living life as a bipolar queer girl in the D.I.Y. punk scene, being in Portland, the lack of feminist role models, and more! Cute stick figure drawings and mini comic. Costs $1 for both Brainscan #16a and 17 from Alex + Alex = Email: brainscanzines@ureach.com + Address: PO Box 14332/ Portland, OR 97293 + Info on Rock Star With Words = Email: dietsodapopx@hotmail.com + Address: PO Box 4702/ Portland, OR 97208

We no longer take zines for review, sorry.

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