MSRRT NEWSLETTER

• Introduction
• Outsource This!
• Round Table News
• Anything But Comics!
• Zine News
• World Wide Web
• Recommended Reading
• Also Noted
• Recommended Resources
• Periodicals Received
• Changes
• Catalogs Received
• Miscellaneous
• Books Received

MSRRT Newsletter's alternative news, views, and resource listings were sent via snail mail to members of the Minnesota Library Association Social Responsibilities Round Table (MSRRT). Others subscribed by making a donation ($15 suggested) payable to MLA/MSRRT. Editors: Chris Dodge/Jan DeSirey.

(Back to the Top)

In the original version of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, "shit" was changed to "crap," "fuckin'" to "messin'," "Horseshit!" to "Baloney!," "Joan Crawford" to "So-and-So," "fucked" to "fooled," "up his ass" to "in his ear," and "fat-ass cops" to "cops" (1996 Library Of America edition, "note on the texts," p.1055). Of course, nothing like that happens in this day and age...or does it? One television network so strongly supports artistic integrity it has run a chest-thumping notice at the beginning of films, which, um, informs viewers some scenes have been changed (lately this has been reduced to a terse, "edited for content"). As if you can't tell when Clint Eastwood says "shoot" instead of "shit." Internet "filtering" software is reviewed seriously, even though it may prevent access to "dangerous" ideas about breast cancer prevention and reproductive health, by blocking out URLs containing words commonly found on "adult" Web sites. Intermediaries between producers and consumers lead the trend. Retail giant Wal-Mart, according to a November report in the New York Times, offers compact discs in packages marked "edited," "clean," or "sanitized for your protection." The article tells how the policies of Wal-Mart and other chain superstores are pressuring record labels to remove songs and mask "objectionable" words. Accounting for "an estimated 52 million of the 615 million compact discs sold in the United States" in 1995, Wal-Mart has clout which insidiously affects libraries. Does your institution purchase gangsta rap music in bowdlerized versions, with gaps where words like "fuck" and "motherfucker" have been electronically excised? If so, how does this differ from buying books with words obliterated? Some libraries are "providing consumer choice" by purchasing both censored and uncensored versions.

One problem with this is that it's the unedited versions which are more apt to come with labels already on them, "warning" about (or promising) explicit lyrics. The Library Bill of Rights says, "Describing or designating certain library materials by affixing a prejudicial label to them...is a censor's tool." As clearly as this is put, public libraries in Hawaii no longer have to worry about these decisions--they're resigned these days to taking what Baker and Taylor sends them. State Library Director Bart Kane, a proud supporter of what he calls a "Wal-Mart Approach" to libraries, has responded to criticism by arrogantly forbidding staff discussion of the topic and suggesting that they're afraid of change. In case you missed it, the federal government filed a civil suit against Baker and Taylor, alleging that the jobber bilked libraries around the country out of as much as $200 million through a scheme that inflated book prices. While a review in the February 1 issue of Library Journal rejects a title (Jock Sturges) by calling it "socially unacceptable," we think the "Wal-Mart Approach" is an abdication of responsibility and ought to be rejected on those terms. At the Midwinter Meeting of the American Library Association, seminars addressed how (not whether) to outsource--though the new doublespeak terms it "partner sourcing" or "co-sourcing"--with an eye toward "bottom line savings" and lip service to "reducing" repetitive motion injuries. One presenter did blithely note that contracting out entails a loss of expertise, staff morale problems, layoffs, and possible increased turnaround time. If library bosses keep it up, who will be left for them to supervise? Library workers everywhere--not just in Hawaii--need to summon the courage to speak out forcefully against outsourcing professional responsibilities like selection and cataloging, and for free expression and a wider range of choices. There's a meanness and cynicism rampant, and fresh air is needed. Besides, your job is just as much at risk if you join the ranks of the Stepford librarians by remaining silent.

Source: Neil Strauss, "Record Companies Remake Pop CDs to Win Over Wal-Mart," New York Times, Nov. 12, 1996.

Congratulations to Sanford Berman, recipient of the 1996 Downs Intellectual Freedom Award presented at the American Library Association's Midwinter Conference in February. The award citation notes that Berman "has maintained to the highest level the principles of intellectual freedom which many preach, but few champion." For details: http://alexia.lis. uiuc.edu/gslis/news/downs96.html

Make plans now to attend this summer's American Library Association conference in San Francisco. The Alternatives in Print Task Force alone is sponsoring four programs: "Watching the Left: What Librarians Need to Know," with speakers Michael Parenti and David Barsamian, (Sunday, June 29, 9:30-11 am); "Outsourcing Book Selection and Cataloging in Hawaii: A Critical Examination (June 29, 2-4 pm); "Beneath the Valley of the Mainstream: Dangerous Reviews" (Monday, June 30, 9:30-11 am); and "Free Speech Buffet," the annual alternative publishers' fair (June 30, 6-9 pm). Also on tap: "Fees and Fines: Barriers to Library Use?," chaired by Sandy Berman for the SRRT Task Force on Hunger, Homelessness & Poverty (Saturday, June 28, 2-4 pm).

Fear of comic books has reared its ugly head again, this time in Huntington Beach, California. The public library director there is lobbying to keep a comic book store from relocating next door. You can read all about it in rec.arts.misc.comics under the thread "Censorship in CA" (if you have Web access but no news reader, use Deja-News: http://www.dejanews.com). See especially director Ron Hayden's sarcastic and patronizing message posted January 3 by David L. LeBlanc ("I'm not going to bore you with my 26 years experience working in the public library. So what. What I will tell you is that I've taken on much tougher acts than you all..."). Feeling a bit threatened, are we?

alt.youth.media, a zine exhibition held at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City last fall, was devoted to "media works by teens and young adults." Nice try, organizers, but a scan through your list shows many publications from peoplewho can fairly be described as 30-something if not middle-aged: Bust, Global Mail, Murder Can Be Fun, Slug & Lettuce, Subliminal Tattoos, and Teen Fag to name a few. Thanks to the alert in advance to Pathetic Life (and now Zine World) editor Doug Holland, who also commented months beforehand that "the 'work space for visitors to produce their own publications' strikes me as tantamount to having a finger-painting room at an art exhibit..." For details: http://www.newmuseum.org/zines.htm

Whatever happened to Factsheet Five founding editor Mike Gunderloy? He's now a senior consultant with MCW Technologies (a Seattle-based company specializing in Microsoft Products), lives in a "28' long motorhome," and has co-authored such titles as Microsoft access client-server. For a resume that goes way back to 1977 when he was valedictorian at Simi Valley High, see: http://www.mcwtech.com/Gunderloy/

See Hear, the zine store in Lower Manhattan, has moved to larger digs: 33 St. Mark's Place, New York, NY 10003. Phone numbers remain the same: 212-505-9781, mail order/wholesale: 212-982-6968. Their "Zine Mart" catalog

The December issue of Street Spirit (see below) featured an article about a greeting card project contributed to by Berkeley street artists, among them cartoonist Ace Backwords. The piece notes that the 40-year-old zine luminary "has had many years of homeless experience and is currently homeless" and mentions his "riotously funny, book-length anthology of...satirical comic strips," Twisted image. Backwords "has done much creative work for 20 years or so in cartooning, writing, documentation, publishing and making a CD of street musicians," the piece says, but "lately...he reports feeling burned out." Twisted image (Loompanics Unlimited, 1990) is hilarious...and it's still in print.

DRCNETcriticism of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program

DISGRUNTLED, a monthly webzine focusing on "the darker side of the world of work"

EMMA GOLDMAN PAPERS, including photos, texts, reproductions of documents

gURL, a great webzine by and for young women (check out "Contraceptive Capers" in issue 3)

JAPANESE CULTURAL LINKS; fun and educational...for the ramen maven and others

McLIBEL TRIAL NEWS and information about McDonald's corporate practices

Drops of this story. By Suheir Hammad. Harlem River Press/Writers & Readers Publishing, 1996. 93p. The western stereotype portrays Arab women as voiceless, male-dominated people, silenced by religious dogma, trapped behind the veil. But, as Egyptian author Nawal El Sa'dawi's writing suggests, perhaps the "purdah" was (and is) less intrinsically related to either Islam or Arab women's submissiveness, than it was (and is) a systematic way of censoring the voice of a historically strong female culture. Suheir Hammad, a young Palestinian-American, helps shred those veils of clich?through her unique writing which uses diary-style entries to communicate what it is to be young, female and Arab in Brooklyn in the 90s, where hip-hop, curry and hummus are all elements of brown American culture. Liquid--wetness--is her muse, and stories come to her in poetic droplets and torrents. Some describe abuse or frustration; others are exhilarating tales of self discovery. Sometimes they are uniquely Arab, as she explores how foods like hummus and grape leaves both link her to the past and target her for lunchroom discrimination. Occasionally they are about connections with other brown cultures, the excitement she feels, for example, when she discovers the works of Bob Marley and Alice Walker. Always, there's a struggle to resist the ever-present image of Barbie, the blue-eyed, blonde doll no woman ever equals. Snapshots of the author throughout the book, from childhood to present, reiterate the feeling that one is peeking into her diary, but offer no evidence that Barbie homogeneity has anything over this beautiful and talented author. A strong book that ultimately celebrates the discovery that all "minorities" of color are the real American majority. (P.O. Box 461, Village Station, New York, NY 10014; $18, cloth, 0-86316-243-6). --Cathy Camper

Thinking class: sketches from a cultural worker. By Joanna Kadi. South End Press, 1996. 169p. Poor boys are bound for prison, working class girls fated for multiple unplanned pregnancies. Middle class kids are earmarked for college regardless of aptitude. Minnesota author Joanna Kadi remembers how these lessons were laid down--rich people smart, poor people stupid--from elementary days through graduate school. These accessible essays by a self-identified "working-class Arab halfbreed queer girl" examine how popular culture is marginalized (and appropriated), how middle class people tend to identify "up," and how links between classism and other forms of oppression--from child abuse to heterosexism--are rarely acknowledged. She writes heart-wrenchingly about how sensitivity is quashed in high school students who aren't on the college track. When a university professor spoke of building a house, Kadi learned to translate: "I hired some of you to build this for me." Fiercely sensitive to these issues, she diligently footnotes ideas throughout the book to which other people have contributed, thanking her partner and others for helping her express various points. Included in the book are pieces on anti-Arabism in the Disney film "Aladdin," queer classism and working class responses to queers, the author's own experience of child sexual abuse, and why country music is so belittled. Kadi is determined to stay true to her roots. Calling for the establishment of working class studies, she says: "I'll use my brains, and my hands, to take this system apart. I'll use my brains, and my hands, to get your feet off my neck." (116 St. Botolph St., Boston, MA 02115; $14, paper, 0-89608-547-3).

In my family/En mi familia. By Carmen Lomas Garza. Children's Books Press, 1996. unpaged. Vibrant and warm, Carmen Lomas Garcia's paintings about growing up in a Chicano family in Texas are filled with just the sort of realistic details children appreciate. Illustrating birthdays and other family occasions, their edges contain nursing kittens and pictures on walls, their corners things like a boy arranging bolls of cotton into a circle and a chameleon climbing on a screen. Bilingual text describes the author's pleasant memories about everything from horned toads and nopalitas (edible cactus pads), to empanada making and attending a Saturday night dance. A sequel of sorts to Family pictures/Cuadros de familia (Children's Book Press, 1990), this book is wonderful to read and to look at. Filled with red-orange flowers, deep blue evening skies, and colorful fabrics, it is both calming and full of life. In an appendix, the author answers questions from kids ("Which painting is your favorite?") and says that her favorite thing to paint is clothing. (246 First St., Suite 101, San Francisco, CA 94105, $15.95, cloth, 0-89239-138-3).

Food for life...and other dish. Edited by Lawrence Schimel. Cleis Press, copyright 1996. 171p. Food is such powerful medicine, even reading about it can be therapeutic. This benefit cookbook to help organizations providing meals for people with AIDS consists of recipes submitted by a host of lesbian and gay celebrities and authors. It's actually less cookbook than collection of often hilarious reminiscences about kitchen disasters, pets with eating disorders (don't miss Mabel Maney's "The trouble with Tippy"), and girlfriend-seducing apple pies. Some contributors don't put out--just the recipes, ma'am--but, thankfully, many write sensitively about the significance of a particular dish (e.g., Surina Kahn's aloo ghobi) or about the meaning of cooking in their lives. Dorothy Allison's "Sinful Red Velvet Cake" is a short story of its own. There are recipes and short writings here by Betty Dodson, RuPaul, Pat Califia, Jewelle Gomez, Kitty Tsui, Carol Queen, and Pam Keesey ("anti-vampire garlic pasta"). Need more be said? Go! (P.O. Box 8933, Pittsburgh, PA 15221; $14.95, paper, 1-57344-061-2).

Still eatin' it: a new Dana Crumb cookbook. By Dana Crumb. Illustrations by Robert Crumb. Introduction by John Bear. SLG Books, 1996. 114p. "My mother is a confused, bitter, cruel and vindictive person," Dana Crumb writes. "She is also a pretty good cook." This entertaining book by the ex-wife of cartoonist Robert Crumb is full of amusing anecdotes and memories of another time, especially the 60s. It's as much about cheap entertainment--and getting in the mood to cook and enjoy a tasty meal--as it is a practical, step-by-step guide to preparing comfort foods. The recipes are relatively simple, creative, and open to change, often eschewing exact measurements. You'll get hungry just reading about kreplach and blintzes, biscuits and chili cheese corn bread, and "Camp Dana's illegal chocolate cake." You've gotta love a cookbook that starts with dessert, and Robert Crumb's illustrations add to the fun. Excuse me while I go for a nosh. (P.O. Box 9465, Berkeley, CA 94709, 510-525-1134, FAX: 510-525-2632; $18, paper, 0-943389-18-6).

32 stories: the complete Optic Nerve mini-comics. By Adrian Tomine. Drawn & Quarterly, 1996. 97p. An important comic book series that deals astutely with teenage issues and growing up, Optic Nerve is now available on a subscription basis from Drawn & Quarterly. The wise and sensitive stories which make up this anthology are drawn from its seven issue incarnation as a self-published mini-comic. Though rougher hewn than Tomine's current work, its vignettes are wonderfully expressive and spare, whether looking seriously at relationships, bigotry, and dreams, or more humorously at a bad back, shitty jobs, and even the creator's allergy to peanuts. First-time readers may be shocked to discover that these stories, with their keen portrayal of girls' issues, is the work of a young man. Highly recommended, Tomine's pieces have international appeal; a German language edition of Optic Nerve stories (titled Echo Avenue) is now available. (P.O. Box 48056, Montreal, Quebec, H2V 4S8, Canada; $9.95, paper, 1-896597-00-9)

Getting by: stories of working lives. Edited by David Shevin & Larry Smith. Bottom Dog Press, 1996. 264p. Short fiction, poems, personal narratives, and black-and-white photos. Includes a preface by Sue Doro, as well as pieces by Philip Levine, Maggie Jaffee and Minnesota poet Mark Vinz. PARTIAL CONTENTS: Carpenter aunts: family & neighborhood. Working class education. Where you go when you don't work: struggles and getting by. Cleaning stalls in winter: work ethic & dignity. (c/o Firelands College, Huron OH 44839; $10.95, paper, 0-933087-41-1).

Between the sheets: sex diaries and gay men's sex in the era of AIDS. By Antony Coxon. Cassell, 1996.

Finger licking good: the ins and outs of lesbian sex. By Tamsin Wilton. Cassell, 1996.

How I got into sex. Edited by Bonnie Bullough, and others. Prometheus Books, 1996. "Autobiographies of more than forty people whose livelihoods are linked to sex."

Into the light, out of the darkness: erotic Black male photography. Photos by Vega. Vega Press, 1996.

Policing public sex: queer politics and the future of AIDS activism. Edited by Dangerous Bedfellows. South End Press, 1996.

Queer view mirror: lesbian & gay short short fiction. Edited by James C. Johnstone & Karen X. Tulchinsky. Arsenal Pulp Press.

Tales from the clitoris: a female experience of pornography. Edited by Cherie Matrix and Feminists Against Censorship. AK Press, 1996.

Doing and reflecting on adult education: from practice to theory. Edited by Anne Auten and Victor Klimoski. Minnesota Association for Continuing Adult Education, 1996. 126p. PARTIAL CONTENTS: Developing citizen leaders. Popular education. Learning to organize. Blue collar teaching. Information meets confirmation: a dialogue. Multicultural issues in adult learning. (Hubbs Center for Lifelong Learning, 1030 University Ave. W., St. Paul, MN 55104; $10, paper).

Animal rights: a beginner's guide. By Amy Blount Achor. Revised ed. WriteWare, copyright 1996. 452p. Includes material on companion animals, vegetarianism, factory farms, animal research, endangered wildlife, and animals in entertainment, as well as extensive annotated bibliographies, organizational listings, and entries for products and services. While absent any Native American viewpoint, this nearly comprehensive sourcebook will be useful in most library reference collections. (P.O. Box 51, 4785 Meredith Rd., Yellow Springs, OH 45387, 513-767-7986; $19.95, paper, 0-9631865-1-5).

Zine World is a new digest-sized review publication devoted to covering "small-scale amateur books and periodicals" (excluding "anything fancified enough to have a UPC, ISBN, or ISSN"). Edited by feisty Doug Holland whose personal zine Pathetic Life is a gem, it was begun in response to news that Factsheet Five is decreasing its frequency to twice a year. The initial issue contains over 300 reviews, with some zines examined by more than one person. Reviewer bios are a helpful addition ("a handy list of [who] to hate") and, as lagniappe, there are independent press-related news briefs and a list of North American zine retailers the editor has found to be "generally honest, efficient, and organized." Intended to appear "at least quarterly, maybe bimonthly." (Doug Holland, 924 Valencia St., #203, San Francisco, CA 94110; $20 for seven issues, "American cash or stamps preferred, but if you'd rather send a check...simply leave the 'pay to the order of' blank, and quadruple the amount").

Counterpoise ("For social responsibilities, liberty and dissent) is a new quarterly review journal issued by the Alternatives in Print Task Force of the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. The 66-page January 1997 premiere edition contains several review essays (including ones on Michael Parenti, the Australian indigenous press, and indie label O.O. Discs), as well as 121 signed reviews grouped by genre (e.g., books, pamphlets, magazines, videos, CD-ROM). Several titles are covered by more than one reviewer (a useful tack); many are reprinted from WorldViews, The Workbook, and MSRRT Newsletter. Thoroughly indexed by author, title, subject, and publisher, it also contains a resource guide to other "bibliographic tools for the alternative press." Focus, at least for now, seems to be on recommended titles. (1716 SW Williston Rd., Gainesville, FL 32608-4049, phone: 352-335-2200, willett@afn.org; $25, $35 institutional, $15 low income; ISSN: 1092-0714).

Fucktooth is a zine investigating the personal issues behind punk culture. Heavy on text, (but cleanly laid out and easy to read), the 90-page issue #21 contains insightful interviews with several zine editors and activists (part of an ongoing "50 ways to be punk project), writings on identity politics and "counter-community," and an essay on non-monogamy, while #19 included articles on piercing, bondage, HIV Testing, birth control, freedom of speech, and relationships, as well as a travel story from three weeks in southwestern United States, an interview with Louisiana collective Pourquoi Pas, and Donny the Punk's "Punk primer." Zine and music reviews appear in each issue, as do letters from readers. (Jen Angel, P.O. Box 3593, Columbus, OH 43210; $5/3; angel+@osu.edu; excerpts from #19).

Nancy's Magazine is whimsical evidence that good things take time and can't be rushed. Appearing somewhat less frequently than once a year, it is worth the wait. Who else but Nancy Bonnell-Kangas has published a Dewey Decimal issue in which each article is assigned its own classification, as well as editions devoted to dirt, tracts, buses and trains, and "Mark" (the word and name)? Fun and interactive, N's M features readers' polls (e.g., "What do our words really say about us?"), poetry starter kits, quizzes ("Test your bus part cost awareness"), and board games ("Puberty: Everyone Must Play"), as well as product reviews (doormats) and articles on overlooked topics ("From revered to repulsive: the pigeon"). Filled with everything from whimsical cartoons and recipes ("How to make your own goo") to personal reports ("A brief history of why I dress the way I do"), it is also a visual and tactile pleasure, often containing inserts involving envelopes, flaps, and other movable parts. The Spring 1996 edition (#13), the "Mark" issue, also contains questions and answers about "blue light specials" by a former K-Mart employee, as well as readers' opinions on tofu, electric can openers, and self-motivation. (P.O. Box 02108, Columbus, OH 43202; $7/2 issues; ISSN: 0895-7576).

Jobs for All is the newsletter of the National Jobs for All Coalition. The 6-page Fall 1996 edition (v.2 #3) includes a report on the work of the Coalition's Welfare Reform Task Force, an article about "Jobs for All" Week activities, and news about individual coalition members who are active "around issues of unemployment and underemployment." (475 Riverside Dr., Suite 832, New York, NY 10115, 212-870-3449, FAX: 212-870-3454, njfac@ncccusa.org; $35 membership).

Spectacle is a thoughtful zine edited by Theo Witsell, a vegan inspired by--but frustrated with--the punk/hardcore scene. Having returned to school to complete degrees in ecology and environmental science, in issue #4 Theo reflects on being called "sell-out" and "adult." His zine's low key but attractive and easy-to-read design reflects contents which have also been put together with care: short essays on adulthood and idealism, pictures from a weekend caving trip with two preteen cousins, accounts of junior high pranks ("the...locker fire of 1989,") and thoughts about a semi-rural house/ punk rock retreat he lived in which was encroached upon by developers. There are also interviews with an ex-roommate (about his friend's train hopping adventures) and with poet/activist Wendy-o-matic, as well as ten columns by other people, including a prisoner in Indiana, a Belgian zine editor, a young woman whose parents just broke up, and even the editor's artist mother. Hearteningly cynicism-free. Issue #3.5 was a 40-pager on veganism titled "AHIMSA: A Comprehensive D.I.Y. Guide to Non-Violent Revolution in the Kitchen." (1010 Scott St., Little Rock, AR 72202, 501-374-0371, ctwitsell@ualr.edu).

StreetWise is a biweekly nonprofit newspaper "sold by the homeless, formerly homeless and economically disadvantaged men and women of Chicago" (who keep seventy-five cents for every dollar issue sold on the street). Reviews of "budget eateries," profiles of street musicians, a nutrition column, and resource listings (of drop-in centers, shelters and other services) are regular features. The paper also recently covered the first nationwide conference of street newspapers, an event it cosponsored with the National Coalition for the Homeless. The 16-page August 1, 1996, issue (v.4 #22) included an article on a food voucher program ("to give to people...without worrying that the money will be spent on drugs"), while the October 16 edition contains material on domestic violence in same-sex relationships and a protest against police brutality. (A suspended Chicago police officer faces involuntary manslaughter charges in the July 1995 shooting of a StreetWise vendor). (60 E. 13th St., Chicago, IL 60605, 312-554-0060, FAX: 312-554-0770; $40).

Street Spirit ("Justice News & Homeless Blues in the East Bay") is a monthly tabloid published by the Homeless Organizing Project of the American Friends Service Committee in Oakland, with all proceeds going to homeless vendors. The 12-page December 1996 issue (v.2 #12) reports on a face-off between an upscale Palo Alto restaurant and Food Not Bombs (the latter serves semi-weekly meals in a park across the street), a homeless people's protest in San Jose, and stepped-up enforcement of Berk-eley's "Poor Laws" which restrict sidewalk sitting and panhandling, as well as a holiday card project bene-fiting street artists (among them, Twisted Image creator Ace Backwords). Also: an editorial by a "downsized" woman middle manager who now lives illegally in a motorhome and a profile of a homeless activist in St. Petersburg, Russia. (1611 Telegraph Avenue, Suite 1501, Oakland, CA 94612, 510-238-8080; $30).

Anishinaabeg Today ("News from the White Earth Reservation") is a new tabloid publication. The 8-page edition dated September 11, 1996 (v.1 #5) contains news about Winona LaDuke's vice presi-dential candidacy and the removal of White Earth's Housing Authority commissioners by the new tribal council, as well as trenchant cartoons and commen-tary on police harassment by Richard MacPhie ("'Cowboy' cops with agenda assume rights they don't have"), an editorial on Indian law enforcement problems, a report on the sentencing of Leech Lake officials convicted of stealing tribal funds, and a profile of Erma Vizenor who is now tribal Secretary-Treasurer "in a building she...demonstrated at for so long." (White Earth Tribal Building, Box 418, White Earth, MN 56591).

Aboriginal Voices ("The magazine of evolving Native American arts and culture") is a glossy quarterly Canadian magazine. The 50-page April/May/ June 1996 issue (v.3 #2) focuses on music, and includes profiles of John Trudell, Buffy Sainte-Marie, rap artist Litefoot, and Pura Fe, as well as an article on the history of "resistance and protest in contemporary Native music." There's also a piece on actor Graham Greene, commentary by M. Annette Jaimes on the dearth of realistic cinematic portrayals of Native women, criticism of a CBC television series called "The Rez," reviews, and event information. (Subscriptions: 201-116 Spadina Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2K6, Canada, 1-800-324-6067; $20, $25 institutional; editorial: Millie Knapp, 416-703-4577, 416-703-4581, abvoices@inforamp.net; ISSN: 1201-060X).

L'Ouverture ("The Black marketplace of ideas") is a promising new digest-size multicultural literary magazine. The 52-page September/October 1996 edition (v.1 #2) includes an essay about poverty, homelessness, and hunger in the United States ("Separate and unequal"), a short story about ownership of African art, and information about the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, as well as poetry, political commentary ("Red necks, white asses, blue collars"), and the second part of a serialized story by Chizomam Okehi. (P.O. Box 8565, Atlanta, GA 30306, 404-572-9141; louveatl@aol.com; $15/12).

Chicas in the Mix is a new glossy "'zine" written by a group of "teenaged girls from different cultures and racial backgrounds...from the Twin Cities." Published by the Old Arizona Collaborative, Inc., it is supposed to appear twice a year. The 13-page initial issue includes profiles of the writers, bilingual essays and poetry (many on "gangs, violence & racism"), and "Five ways to say 'no' to a boy," as well as restaurant reviews and information about the Arizona Bridge Project. (2821 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55408, 612-871-0050, FAX: 612-871-0355; $4.50).

BookWomen ("A readers' community for those who love women's words") is a new bimonthly publication of the Center for Feminist Reading, Minnesota Women's Press, Inc. The 28-page premier issue contains a profile of retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Wahl ("My books are friends"), thoughts on sexism in canon selection ("'Great' because we say so!"), an essay on reading aloud to a young daughter, and an article on why "children's books have much to offer adult readers," as well as material by book group members, comments by mystery fans on which writers they'd most like to meet, and two readers' comparisons of print and film versions of "Housekeeping" and "Dead Man Walking." Also: annotated book lists (e.g., "Across generations"), "All you wanted to know about audio books," and biographical data on women authors born in October and November. (771 Raymond Ave., St. Paul, MN 55114, 612-646-2816, womenpress@aol.com; $24).

Full Moon ("A forum on menopause for women in their prime") is a new newsletter intended for publication six times a year. The 8-page May 1996 issue (v.1.1) contains an interview with "hormonal researcher" Elora Gabriel, poetry, and resource listings which focus on alternative therapies. (2659 Camille Dr., Atlanta, GA 30319, 404-261-3453, mawrites@onramp.net; $9.95).

National Network for Women in Prison (NNWP) is a nonprofit with a newsletter published occasionally. The 8-page Winter 1995/96 issue (#5) includes news about an NNWP roundtable being planned by the Center for Children of Incarcerated Parents, commentary on visiting room "disempowerment of prisoners by depriving them of love and touch," and a statement sent by a group of battered women prisoners to the UN Conference on Women, as well as litigation updates and coverage of an advocacy program for grandparent caregivers of prisoners' children. (100 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94103).

Dangerous Assignments ("Quarterly news about press freedom around the world") is the newsletter of the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The 12-page Summer 1996 issue (#51) contains an article about the assassination of Irish crime reporter Veronica Guerin, statements from a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the CIA's use of journalists as spies, and international news accounts covering attacks on journalists, press restrictions, and legal cases (e.g., a defamation trial involving the satirical Croatian weekly Feral Tribune). Also: an op-ed piece from the Washington Post (on media control in the Balkans) and an article on free press abuses in Ethiopia. (330 Seventh Ave., 12th Floor, New York, NY 10001, 212-465-1004, FAX: 212-465-9568, info@cpj.org; excerpts; $10).

The Sunflower is the newsletter of the Green Party of Minnesota. The 2-page Spring 1996 issue contains information about the Ralph Nader presidential campaign, 1994 election statistics ("U.S. Green Party candidates receive over 1.1 million votes"), and a brief article about the Party's endorsement of State House contender Cam Gordon. (P.O. Box 582931, Minneapolis, MN 55458, 612-871-4585; $12/4).

indy Magazine ("The guide to alternative comics and film") is published six times yearly. The 56-page #16 includes artist profiles and interviews (e.g., one with Optic Nerve's Adrian Tomine), reviews, and reports on the Festival International de la Bande Dessin?/em> and the Alternative Press Expo, the latter "a one-day convention for the ghetto dwellers of the comic book industry." Issue #17 contains a Harvey Pekar profile and an interview with Shannon Wheeler, the creator of "Too Much Coffee Man." (611 NW 34th Dr., Gainesville, FL 32607-2429, 352-373-6336, jrm@grove.ufl.edu, http://www.indyworld.com; $13).

Media Diet, a new zine from Karma Lapel editor Heath Row, features essays and commentary on "the state of the media and the meaning of a mediated life." The Spring 1997 initial issue includes "From fandom to feminism: a historical analysis of the zine press," dialogue on "the state of science fiction fanzines," a piece suggesting indie comics publishers use Japanese manga anthologies as a model, and tips from Billie Aul about getting zines into libraries, as well as coverage of the Mike Diana/Boiled Angel case. Also: a rundown of punkzine distri-butors by Jen Angel, a dozen or so reviews, and a reprint of Mark Frauenfelder's "Cheap memes: zines, metazines and the virtual press." An interview on Paper Tiger Television is promised in #2. (P.O. Box 441915, Somerville, MA 02144, kalel@well.com; $2).

Mt. Terror is a zine done by a library worker at the Minnesota History Center. The "all comics issue" #2 contains an illustrated oral history of an unrepentant Chinese Maoist ("Down with stinking intellectuals!"), and shorter pieces, one depicting Batman coming to the "rescue" at Planned Parenthood, one which imagines cartoonist Joe Sacco winning the Nobel Prize for literature, and another about a hell-raising punk who goes mainstream. (John Fulton, 383 Dayton, #9, St. Paul, MN 55102).

The Microphone, the Massachusetts Music Industry Coalition Newsletter, reports on music censorship issues. The 4-page February 1997 edition (v.1 #2) contains an action alert about Wal-Mart policy not to sell CDs which have parental advisory stickers (email Wal-Mart: letters@wal-mart.com), news about attempts to stop performances by Marilyn Manson, and information about a teacher in upstate New York who has formed Musicians United for Songs in the Classroom (MUSIC), along with some contact data for Rock Out Censorship (P.O. Box 333, Leominster, MA 01453, crowleyn@ultranet.com).

QECE (Question Everything, Challenge Everything) is a new zine worth continued attention. Highlights of the 32-page August-October 1996 issue (#3) are an article about the British TV show "The Prisoner" (guaranteed to provoke interest in people who've never seen it) and a straightforward editorial about "half-ass censorship" ("What the f-ck is this sh-t?") and the taboo in mainstream movies against showing penises. There's also material about the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement, criticism of vivisection, and a not altogether successful attempt to define "the System." Least compelling: poetry, short fiction, and cartoons. Was the running page header idea cribbed from Kathy Biehl's Compendium? Interviews with a neo-pagan and someone with cerebral palsy ("My life as a gimp") appeared in issue #2 under the heading "Lifestyle review"; the feature continues in #4 with a conversation on S/M with the editor of Boudoir Noir. (406 Main St., #3C, Collegeville, PA 19426, qece@voicenet.com; $8/4).