O reminds me of Cometbus but in a way that I feel like he took the same influences that Aaron did and that I am only seeing third generation influences of...well, whoever the originators of this style were. In any event, it's an honest stab at the world and documenting the lives of Pat and Mike, the two editors. There is a submission in this issue from Alex Wrekk too. I really like the honesty presented here as well as the modesty and lack of self importance.
Cassie's zine is about love and love lost, a design to make a sailor shirt, a love for old jazz music, and more all packaged up with little, cute drawings. On first glance the zine and aesthetic resembles Journalsong but the writing styles are a bit different. All in all though it made me smile over and over!
Adon does interviews with people from his community that persevere with activism or non-standard (birth-school-college-career) life paths after they turn 30. This zine fascinated me because I'm excited about perserving our history and explaining why we made the choices we did. The real gem here though is the interview with Kathy Wooldridge of Skrappy's, a teen community center in Tucson. She's a 44 year old mother of 2 who founded the center with her kids when she realized they had nowhere to hang out and they wanted to have a club where they could bring in bands. She quit her job, sold her car, and dedicated the rest of her life to supporting her children. In meeting Kathy a few times I was touched by her generosity and caring but not anywhere near the extent that I was after reading this interview with her. Other interviews include activist Rod Coronado, Sahee Kil, an academic activist, and Mike Mullarkey, an aging Tucson punk.
Julian is an idealistic punk rocker with a determination to change the world. The stories in here are about watching bands that put new life into his mind and learning from other people's passion and powerful speeches. It talks about the rewards of being contacted by bands he enjoys to setup shows for them and the release and power of watching them perform. The layout is gorgeous and reminds me a bit of In Abandon but that doesn't mean that the writing isn't just as great as well. Strong words for people who need positive encouragement. This issue also talks about sexuality, moving, winter, family, and anarchism.
A cool primer on some important moments in queer history. Our author, Conrad, states that the zine was inspired by learning at 21 of the assassination of Harvey Milk and wondering why this information had never come up before. The result is writing on a wide assortment of queer movements such as, the Queer Liberation Army, the Lesbian Avengers, Queer Nation, the Combahee River Collective, the Queercore music movement, Stonewall, the George Jackson Brigade, Out of Control, The Pink Panthers, and others. Whew. I told you it was diverse! A helpful place to start for those who want to know about radical queer history.
Normrat is a funny guy. Issue #6 contains news articles that I couldn't tell if they were fake or real. They were definitely scary though. I eventually concluded they might be real or exaggerated. It segues to taking his dog on a walk through rich neighborhoods and being regarded (or not regarded, rather) as noboby. It ends with a funny story from student gov't in high school. Issue #7 is a Halloween issue, with articles about scary things in nature, the spiritual side of the holiday, reviews of gothic and dark punk, etc. It reads well in anytime leading up to the holidays. Issue #8 covers a pro-Palestine parade that was held in D.C. last spring, from a philosophically neutral perspective. There is also an essay on career and education planning from a semi-serious, semi-punk rock perspective and a friend's comical take on dating.
In "Paco", thirty something stay-at-home mama Silvia explores her personal, family, and cultural histories through a given lens or theme. In #1, the theme is nicknames: how they are conferred, what they mean, how they can affect the owner, and how they can define or crystallize the nature of a relationship. It is written in a warm, conversational style: you can almost imagine Silvia telling you her stories at a large kitchen table over a plate of fresh tamales and a tall glass of horchata. Featuring a spectacular nickname family tree and a Spanglish glossary.
An extensive personal account of a printer's strike in England from the 1980s. The working class get things a bit heated up, including fights with the police, fights with scabs, being sold out by union leadership, shutting down distribution centers, and a great disruption of Rupert Murdoch's media monopoly! Despite things going worse than planned, this zine covers the events with tons of inspirational lessons.
Number five in the consistently inspiring comic collection, Papercutter. Kazimir Strzepek leads off with a post-apocalyptic tale of a society trying to rebuild...a society of sword-wielding animal creatures that play cards and do a bunch of Mad Max-y stuff. Liz Prince writes a sweet love story about bonding over shoes and Bwana Spoons draws an animal tea party.
A full length documentary, vibrantly bringing to life the history of the Black Panthers, and the story of one of it's favorite sons - Richard Moore, who served 19 years in prison for the attempted murder of two white New York City police officers. Richard Moore is now Dhoruba Bin Wahad, his conviction overturned on the basis of 'prosecutorial misconduct'. Check it out.
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, EZLN) is an armed revolutionary group based in Chiapas, one of the poorest states of Mexico. Their social base is mostly indigenous but they have supporters in urban areas as well as an international web of support. Their most visible voice, although not their leader, is Subcomandante Marcos (currently a.k.a. Delegate Zero in relation to the "Other Campaign"). Their leader is Comandanta Esther. Unlike the Zapatista comandantes, Subcomandante Marcos is not an indigenous Mayan.
The group takes its name from the Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata; they see themselves as his ideological heirs, and heirs to five hundred years of indigenous resistance against imperialism.
Some consider the Zapatista movement the first "post-modern" revolution: an armed, yet non-violent (despite an uprising in the early 1990s) revolutionary group that incorporates modern technologies like satellite telephones and the internet as a way to obtain domestic and foreign support. They consider themselves part of the wider alter-globalization, anti-neoliberalism movement. -Wikipedia
View All 5 Comments
View All 6 Comments
View All 18 Comments
View All 15 Comments
View All 7 Comments
View All 8 Comments
View All 30 Comments
Critical Mass is an event typically held on the last Friday of every month in cities around the world where bicyclists take to the streets en masse. Critical Mass events have no official leader. Participants meet at a set location and time and travel as a group through city streets. Critical Mass rides are self-organized, non-commercial and non-competitive, and they operate with diffused and informal decision-making. Participants have differing purposes for the event, such as demonstrating the advantages of cycling in a city, bringing attention to issues of facilities and safety, enjoying car-free social time on city streets, confronting police, motorists and other symbols of the status quo, and a variety of other purposes, many unstated.
View Cart