MSRRT Newsletter's alternative news, views, and resource listings are sent via snail mail to members of the Minnesota Library Association Social Responsibilities Round Table (MSRRT). Others subscribe by making a donation ($15 suggested) payable to MLA/MSRRT.editors: Chris Dodge/Jan DeSirey.
The new issue of Public Library Quarterly (v.17 #1) contains an article so dense with specious logic that an adequate rebuttal would take pages. Snunith Shoham's "Fees in public libraries" feeds the frenzy for turning a tax-funded institution into a private club for the middle and upper classes. "Most library users," it states, "can afford to pay fees." Studies show, Shoham claims, that library users are "relatively young, educated, and middle- to upper-middle class" and that "low income persons make limited use of libraries." Instead of then concluding that fees will drive more people away, or keep those out of libraries who are already alienated from them, Shoham says fees would benefit "the poor" by relieving them of a tax burden. It boggles the mind. Quite evidently "the poor" does not equal us. It's someone else. Those people. Shoham says this, in fact, in arriving at a liberal solution, a policy that would give "the poor, the children, and disadvantaged persons free access to library services, while charging a small fee from the general public." In the United States, sadly, "the poor" and children do not constitute the general public. Why is it that library users are called patrons when it is the people who run libraries who are so patronizing?
Question: Is Katia Roberto the first student to turn in a cataloging class paper in the form of a zine? Answer: Probably. (Its title: Kiss My Filing Indicators). From the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Roberto reports on her first American Library Association conference:
Most library school students go to ALA to do three things: get a job, eat free food, and schmooze with librarian types. Since I won't be graduating for another year, I really didn't spend any time looking for a job. From what I've heard, however, using the job placement center at ALA is an inconvenience at best. In D.C. this was located, in the words of a friend of mine, "in the sub-sub-basement all the way at the back of a hotel across the street from the convention center." Besides the crappy location, the center wasn't prepared for the onslaught of anxious librarian wannabes. It opened an hour late and didn't have enough seats for everyone. Another complaint: people were only allowed to submit resumes for one category out of the dozen or so available, which obviously limits one's job selection. Maybe I'll try to get gainfully employed some other way.
I didn't do very well at getting free food, either, although a friend of mine bought me lunch. My cohorts and I did go to a Friday night Library Administration and Management Association function that offered a "taste of DC desserts." When we walked in, we saw important-looking people eating important-looking desserts (petits fours and pastries, I think). We took this to be an encouraging sign and waited in line for our sweets. By the time we got there, all that was left was a decrepit fruit plate and a bunch of Good Humor bars. We each took two, deciding that they were the most expensive ice cream bars we'd ever had. I did manage to get all the ice water that I could drink, though, so it wasn't all bad.
Socializing with librarians went better. I met up with a radical librarian bunch at various meetings and programs (such as a SRRT Action Council gathering and the session on infoshops), and they were all too willing to let me join their ranks. That made the convention much more entertaining. It was great spending time with people who don't think the phrase "activist librarian" is oxymoronic. Sometimes they even laughed at my jokes. It was a somewhat novel experience for me. I didn't feel as welcome among the horde of librarians as a whole, though. Since I wasn't looking for a job, I hadn't bothered to look "professional" (in other words, I wasn't wearing dress clothes). While waiting for the shuttle, someone asked me if I was aware that it was a bus for people attending the ALA conference only. After that, I made a point of wearing my conference badge while waiting to board ALA-sponsored transportation.
All in all, the conference was pretty interesting. I met some fabulous people, got stared down by others, and got to make sarcastic comments about librarianship for an entire weekend. What more could I ask for?
Cognotes is the official publication put out daily during both Annual and Midwinter American Library Association conferences. In June two issues of a tongue-in-cheek impostor, Cognots, appeared surreptitiously. The first featured info about such DC attractions as gay baths and the "Doing It God's Way Mission," a guide to free food at the conference, a schedule of "ALA indignitaries" appearing at the Chapter Relations booth, and a report on "First Aid & Laundry Care: What's A Library Worker to Do?" The second included results of the "ALA Fun Rum," a resolution against excessive air conditioning, and a review of "the (real) Cognotes." For second generation copies, send an SASE to the editors of this newsletter.
The Alternatives in Print Task Force session on infoshops was interesting and well attended (85 people on a Sunday morning at a remote hotel). The slides and overhead graphics will be missing, but audio tapes of "Street Libraries: Infoshops and Alternative Reading Rooms" are now available. Send $12 plus $1 shipping and handling per tape, to Teach 'em, 160 E. Illinois St., Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60611, 312-467-0424, FAX: 312-467-9271.
Author Angela Johnson and illustrator David Soman have teamed for some wonderfully subtle picture books. Raising as many questions as it answers, The aunt in our house (1996) is told from the point of view of a brother and sister. When "The Aunt" comes to live with their family, she sometimes plays a trumpet and is fun company, but other times "looks out the window all day." Virtually incidental to the gentle story is the fact that it depicts an interracial family. Something similar is at work in When I am old with you (1990), in which a young child spends time imagining fun things to do with Granddaddy. Is it a boy or a girl who looks forward to playing cards "till the lightning bugs shine in the trees" and looking at old family pictures which "might make us cry...but that's O.K."? Because this story effectively avoids the use of gendered pronouns, both girls and boys are apt to see themselves in it. This sort of empathy also pervades The leaving morning (1992), a story about an African American family preparing to move from the apartment they know so well. The reader can sense the children's mixed emotions when a brother and sister make lip prints on a frosty window, and gaze outside. Incidental to this story is the fact that the mother happens to be pregnant. Why can't more children's books acknowledge such realities without focusing on them? In a better world, picture books would be full of incidentally fat people. Acne would be matter-of-factly represented as characteristic of teenage siblings. Some old people would have age spots. Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach dares to show parents drinking beer at a rooftop picnic. Ludicrously, it has been criticized for this. Children's books are rife with idealized pseudogeneric depictions which do a disservice to readers. Exceptions which display authenticity and integrity are a joy to discover.
We mentioned earlier this year that Thrift Score and Temp Slave had been turned into books, neglecting to note that highlights from Paul Lukas' hilarious Beer Frame were published by Crown last year as Inconspicuous consumption. The onslaught has begun. Ariel Gore's The Hip Mama survival guide (Hyperion) and Roxxie's Girljock: the book (St. Martin's) were published this spring, along with books by Future Sex editor Lisa Palac (Edge of the bed; Little, Brown) and compiled partly by the editors of Prison Legal News (The celling of America; Common Courage). There are more to come. Inquisitor editor Danny Drennan's New York diaries is due from Ballantine this fall, while Feral House has scheduled poppy poster boy Jim Hogshire's Pills-a-go-go. What next? Marilyn Wann's Fat girl: the book (Ten Speed Press) and Doug Holland's Pathetic Life anthology from Black Books, so we're told.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently ran a story about the kidnapping and rape of a 16-year-old girl ("Party house became prison...," August 6). The article gratuitously identified the two women charged as "strippers." Had they been library workers, would the reporter have mentioned this fact?
AMERICAN NUDISM RESEARCH LIBRARY
BAD SUBJECTS ("Political education for everyday life")
BLK HOMIE PAGES (yes, queer people of color)
CRUEL SITE OF THE DAY ("Daily link to the world of the perturbed, peeved, pensive and postal")
INDUSTRIAL WORKER (monthly publication of the IWW)
MAXI (a feminist look at media, technology, body image, and sexuality)
SAVAGE LOVE (Dan Savage's weekly sexual advice column)
WHITE HOUSE ANTI-NUCLEAR PEACE VIGIL (camping out in protest since 1981)
Grand Central winter. By Lee Stringer. Seven Stories Press, 1998. 239p. Readers who pick up this book expecting an "ain't this awful" attitude are in for a surprise. From the early 80s till the mid-90s, Lee Stringer lived on the streets of New York. Summer nights he crashed in Central Park; winters he sought refuge in the bowels of Grand Central Station. No angel, the author expresses himself unabashedly here, about his former crack habit and about the resourcefulness necessary for a "non-domiciled" person to survive. For a time, Stringer collected cans for a living. While it wasn't so hard finding these, locating a place to return them could be hellish. He once spent an entire Sunday "attempting in vain" to cash in twenty dollars' worth. From borough to borough he went, encountering endless lines or other problems everywhere. After stashing his load for the night, he ran into an acquaintance who asked where he'd been all day. "'Well, this is the Lord's Day,' I told him. 'I spent it in search of redemption.'" Using this ability to a turn a phrase, coupled with concision, Stringer reports on dealings with fellow drug users and what it's like to risk arrest (and be busted) for hopping a subway turnstile. He also writes interestingly about his work at Street News, a paper sold by homeless vendors. At first a source of cash (Stringer writes about how to hawk a paper successfully while maintaining self-respect), this becomes an outlet for Stringer's writings, and eventually lands him the editor's job. One upside of this is a temporary home in the Street News office. Another is that Stringer learns firsthand about journalism, sniffing out a phony homeless advocate, for example, with the help of a persistent office partner. Primarily autobiographical, this brash account contains brief but cogent political commentary. Take it from someone who knows firsthand. (140 Watts St., New York, NY 10013; $21.95, cloth, 1-888363-57-6; http://www.sevenstories.com).
Raw deal: horrible and ironic stories of forgotten Americans. By Ken Smith. Blast Books, 1998. 287p. Art by Mack White. To generations of unquestioning students, U.S. history means a stultifying litany of presidents, battles, legislation, and court decisions. Additionally, everyone knows the nation thrives upon "rugged individualism" and has grown strong thanks to visionary leadership. Raw deal plainly contradicts this myth. Its fascinating case studies in victimization profile inventors who died penniless, dissenters pilloried for their beliefs, and peace-seeking First Nations people betrayed by government agents. Sure, some suffered bad luck or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, but many were preyed upon by history's "winners", a greedy and vicious lot indeed. Black Kettle survived an early American Mai Lai--the Sand Creek Massacre, only to be slaughtered at Washita River. Zookeepers exhibited Ota Benga behind bars with orangutans, while blind musical genius Thomas Wiggins was kept indentured long after slavery's abolition. Others profiled here include citizens unwittingly dosed with drugs and radiation, a Jewish lynch mob victim, Kerr-McGee whistleblower Karen Silkwood, and even one non-human animal (the harmless prairie dog, a creature which has been systematically bombed, gassed, poisoned, and vacuumed into oblivion). There's an element of voyeurism at work in these pieces, which will appeal to fans of Murder Can Be Fun or DC's "Big book of..." series. On the other hand, simply by having these stories down for the record, a certain retrospective justice is gained. Smith helpfully includes a bibliography for those whose curiosity has been piqued. (P.O. Box 51, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276-0051; $12.95, paper, 0-922233-20-9).
Juárez: the laboratory of our future. By Charles Bowden. Preface by Noam Chomsky. Afterword by Eduardo Galeano. Photographs by Javier Aguilar, and others. Aperture, 1998. 131p. Across the border from El Paso, Ciudad Juárez is a "bad car wreck on the highway." Maquiladora workers are raped and murdered; shantytowns burn. This is "not a city where people hope." Still, it is time to talk, writes Charles Bowden, "because silence only makes matters worse, bodies cold, murder sanctioned, and poverty invisible." It is also time to see deeply. This book is filled with the color images of "guerrilla photographers" who point and click inside this sprawl of desperate poverty, unemployment, and malnutrition. What do they think about their work? Dually influenced by Weegee and Manuel Alvarez Bravo, they document some of the depressing and stark results of economic brutality. These horrors are real and Bowden is not optimistic. "The future to me looks like the face of a murdered girl." No antidote is prescribed for the violence. Eduardo Galeano asks, "Does wealth bring freedom?" (20 E. 23 St., New York, NY 10010, 212-505-5555, FAX: 212-979-7759; $35, cloth, 0-89381-7776-7; http://www.aperture.org).
The snake that lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains & other Ohlone stories. Told & illustrated by Linda Yamane. Oyate, 1998. These oral tales were collected from First Nations people indigenous to what is now the San Francisco Bay area. No moralizing pervades these stories about thunder, the source of white people, and two bears who circumnavigate the globe, but rather an ever-so-sly humor. (2702 Mathews St., Berkeley, CA 94702 510-848-6700, FAX: 510-848-4815; $10, paper, 0-962515-6-9).
Maverick women: 19th century women who kicked over the traces. By Frances Laurence. Manifest, 1998. 264p. This book contains biographical vignettes about some U.S. women from the 19th century. A few are relatively well known--Sojourner Truth, Nellie Bly, and Carrie Chapman Catt. Then there are "the three Charleys" who passed as men, librarian Ina Coolbrith (mentor to Jack London and Isadora Duncan), and bandit Pearl Hart ("tough enough to hold up stagecoaches, stupid enough to get arrested, then wily enough to con herself out of Yuma Territorial Prison"). It is readily apparent that Laurence's writing background is in historical fiction. Some of the language eerily recalls a Harlequin novel. This is especially evident when Laurence writes about "the first white woman on Oregon's wild shore," Jane Barnes. "Blessed with a fine carriage, full breasts and a small waist, she held his gaze with her smoky blue seductive eyes. Her features were as flawless as her even white teeth and the crop of unruly golden hair that framed her creamy soap-scrubbed complexion. During Jane's three weeks as barmaid to the men who tippled here she'd become the stuff their dreams were made of." This bodice-ripping prose is offset by quotations from primary sources of the period (bibliographic references are included). As a biographical source, this book needs more details; as a romance novel, it doesn't have enough sex. (P.O. Box 429, Carpinteria, CA 93014-0429, 805-684-4905, FAX: 805-684-3100; $18.50, paper, 0-9627896-0-7). --Katia Roberto
All ages: reflections on straight edge. Compiled by Beth Lahickey. Revelation Books, 1997. 223 p. Straight edge (sXe) is a countercultural movement little-known outside of the punk/hardcore scene. Its participants abstain from alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs, while creating and supporting straight edge bands, zines, and record labels. Attempting to document the scene using oral history, Beth Lahickey interviews people who have been involved, focusing on members of such sXe bands as Youth of Today, Judge, and the Gorilla Biscuits. The slant is towards East Coast groups, most of whom recorded for Revelation Records. Tellingly, no one involved with the movement outside of the US is profiled, nor are people of color. Besides the editor, only three women appear in the book, and only one of them was ever sXe at all. Clearly intended for people already involved with the movement, All ages may disappoint anyone looking to learn more about the basic tenets of straight edge. It focuses on personalities behind the scene, with a lot of gossip. One major complaint is that the book primarily focuses on people no longer involved wi th sXe. This means the movement is often discussed in the past tense, even though it is an ongoing aspect of many people's lives. Neither does All ages deal more than cursorily with the activist aspects of the sXe (outside of ubiquitous animal rights/veganism references). Dan O'Mahony's comment about straight edge today--"There is no real intense analysis of human behavior going on, and I think that's sad"--applies as well to this book. In the meantime, however, it's the only one out there on the topic. (Box 5232, Huntington Beach, CA 92615-5232; $12, paper, 1-889703-00-1; http://www.RevHQ.com) --Katia Roberto
The senses of humor: self and laughter in modern America. By Daniel Wickberg. Cornell University Press, 1998. 267p. If you can wade through references to "the object-based ontology of laughter" and other such pedantic death-to-language constructions, this social analysis of humor contains insight and interesting historical nuggets. In 1948, for example, gag-writer Art Henley self-published a four-volume guide to radio comedy writing which was hilarious in itself. Wickberg describes how it elaborated "a comprehensive and exhaustive set of 'mathematical' rules for producing jokes." Interested in the difference between ridicule and raillery? Were the Victorians humorless? Read about it here, then consult the book's assiduously produced footnotes for leads to further research. (Sage House, 512 E. State St., Ithaca, NY 14850; $35, cloth, 0-8014-3078-X).
So far: words from learners. Edited by Jean Bennett, Richard Jaccoma, and Lee Weinstein. Photographs by Ann E. Yow. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1997. 81p. The eight "challenged" adults interviewed and portrayed in So far were participants in a literacy program at the Invergarry Learning Centre in Surrey, British Columbia. The effect is to humanize men and women living with conditions from Downs Syndrome and brain injury, to cerebral palsy. It's heartening to see photos of studying, reading, and library use, but the text is on the sketchy side. The book could have been improved by resource listings aimed at people with disabilities and their advocates. As it is, it might be useful in classrooms, around discussions of disabilities and difference. (195 Allstate Parkway, Markham, Ontario, L3R 4T8, Canada, 905-477-9700, FAX: 905-477-9179; paper, 1-55041-203-5).
Global focus: a new foreign policy agenda, 1997-1998. Tom Barry and Martha Honey, editors. Interhemispheric Resource Center Press, 1997. 282p. Produced in collaboration with the Institute for Policy Studies, this book of analysis and recommendations was put together with the help of consultants from the Minnesota-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Human Rights Watch, among others. Arranged first topically--with material on such issues as foreign aid, overseas drug control, international trade, and multilateral debt--and then geographically, this book is made especially useful by an extensive appendix listing related organizations, publications, and Web sites. (Box 4506, Albuquerque, NM 87196, FAX: 505-246-1601, resourcectr@igc.apc.org; $15.95, paper, 0-911213-62-7).
Multicultural literature for children and young adults: a selected listing of books by and about people of color, volume two: 1991-1996. By Ginny Moore Kruse, Kathleen T. Horning, and Megan Schliesman, with Tana Elias. Cooperative Children's Book Center, 1997. With over 350 annotations for recommended titles, as well as thorough index. (4290 Helen C. White Hall, 600 N. Park St., Madison WI 53706, 608-263-3720, FAX: 608-262-4933; orders: Friends of the CCBC, Box 5288, Madison, WI 53705, 1-800-243-8782; $18, $12 in Wisconsin, paper, 0-931641-07-1; http://www.soemadison.wisc.edu/ cc bc).
Guinea Pig Zero ("A journal for human research subjects") is an interesting, unique, and important zine. Without sensationalism, it covers medical experimentation and informed consent from the point of view of an educated "guinea pig." On one hand it's a jobzine for people who are paid to participate in medical tests, with report cards evaluating research facilities (reimbursement, food, and how they treat their subjects, for example). On the other hand it is a general biomedical watchdog, with news about dubious contemporary research (such as adopted triplets who were intentionally kept apart). It also regularly contains documented historical material about everything from guillotine use to Nazi medical experimentation. Since the second issue, each edition has included reviews of relevant books, videos, zines, and even Time magazine's special Fall 1996 publication, "The Frontiers of Medicine." Issues #4 and 5 included material detailing how Harper's ran condensed Guinea Pig Zero excerpts and then kowtowed to Allegheny University lawyers. The 48-page #5 (published January 1998) includes firsthand accounts of sleep deprivation testing and bone marrow donation. (P.O. Box 42531, Philadelphia, PA 19101, bhelms@iww.org; $10/4, $15 institutional; back issues $3 each; http://www.oocities.org/HotSprings/Villa/2529).
Groundwork ("Exploring community, mobility, scale and trade") is a new journal of the nonprofit Institute for Local Self-Reliance and its New Rules Project, intended for quarterly publication. The 20-page Summer 1998 initial issue contains a debate on states' rights between authors Thomas Naylor and John Donahue, a profile of Manitoba's Crocus Fund which provides equity capital to small and medium-sized business, and an article on "exercising citizenship in an age of big business," as well as reports on street design and the concept of community-owned professional sports franchises. Also: material on a proposed electronic commerce tax, "Bits, bytes & community," by ILSR Vice-President David Morris. Resource listings accompany all but one of the pieces. (1313 Fifth St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, 612-379-3815, enoll@ilsr.org; $28; http://www.ilrs.org).
Snowbound ("The zine with ice in its veins") appeared when we needed it most, as warm spring turned into stifling summer. The 32-page premiere edition focuses on ice hockey and winter in general, with the addition of a Finnish music section featuring reviews, source info, and festival listings. Nice looking, well written, ad-free, and printed by union labor, it includes an article on seasonal affective disorder, recipes for glög, reminiscences about building a snow castle, and an account of "holiday retail hell" in which Yanni's music is reviled. International hockey venues are compared, Helsinki players in the NHL profiled, and Hollywood's treatment of hockey considered. Finally, magician Maritess Zurbano writes about the culture shock she experiences living in Las Vegas, while Carol Genetti examines "the usefulness of breasts" in a comic. Scheduled for publication annually, issue #2 will feature art on the theme of unrequited love and a section on the life and labor of housekeepers, maids, baby-sitters, nannies, janitors, and groundskeepers. (3032 N. Clark St., #708, Chicago, IL 60657-5205, snow@mcs.net; $4.75).
Ink Reader is the newsletter of the Independent Press Association, a growing organization of magazines and newspapers that are independent and committed to social justice. The 4-page June 1998 issue (v.1 #2) contains a report on serving as a judge for the annual Campus Alternative Journalism Awards, news briefs (one about the firing of Covert Action Quarterly's three-person editorial team and another about the comeback of On Our Backs), and capsule info about four new IPA members. (P.O. Box 191785, San Francisco, CA 94119, 415-896-2456, FAX: 415-896-2457, http://www.indypress.org).
Cooties, a zine we first discovered on the Web, is recommended reading for anyone interested in punk, sexual politics, or sizeism. The 66-page issue #7 contains personal writings about abuse suffered by fat kids, lists of "fat resources" and "fat activism" ideas, a rant on the hell of shopping for a 40C bra, and related news clips from the FaT GiRL website, as well as an interview with a member of the Sweden Straight-Edge Sisterhood, an essay by someone who identifies as "Queer Edge," and commentary on straight-edge by Katia Roberto and others. Also: book reviews, vegan recipes, material on prostitutes' rights, an article on "DIY smut," and "How I became a porn star." Distinctly above average and engaging. (2504 Ravencroft Ct., Virginia Beach, VA 23454, cooties@rocketmail.com; $2; http://cooties.punkrock.net).
Anarchist Studies is a refereed journal "concerned with all aspects of anarchist theory, history and culture." The 92-page March 1998 edition (v.6 #1) includes a long critical essay examining anarchism in Ursula LeGuin's novel The dispossessed and an article on the radical politics of John Locke, as well as book reviews and responses to two previously published pieces. Also: Chris Atton's "Anarchy on the World Wide Web" (a look at three web sites, including Anarchist Librarians Web) and an obituary for Greek "gauchiste" Cornelius Castoriadis. (White Horse Press, 1 Strond, Isle of Harris, HS5 3UD, Scotland; $32 U.S./2 issues, $55 institutional; ISSN: 0967-3393).
The Hammer ("A working class journal of cultural thought and action") is a quarterly magazine in its third year. The 32-page Winter 1997/98 edition contains a reprinted essay by Richard Wright ("Blueprint for Negro writing") and short fiction by Albert Halper ("Scab"), commentary on Richard Wright's Native son, and a review of "Amistad" by Ewuare Osayande ("Black history gets whitewashed"), as well as poetry by Amiri Baraka, Bertolt Brecht, Martín Espada, Nicolás Guillén, June Jordan, and others. (64 W. Penn St., Philadelphia, PA 19144, 215-849-2793, stellhammr@aol.com; $10, $15 institutional).
Whazzup Magazine is a gay and lesbian monthly produced by and for African Americans. The 28-page June 1997 tabloid (v.2 #2) contains commentary by a transgender person on community infighting, an interview with Sounds of Blackness lead singer Ann Nesby, and impassioned commentary by Robert Wesley about a discussion of James Baldwin's Giovanni's room during which homophobic comments by a woman friend led him to bare his soul. Also: national event listings. (Box 30993 Oakland, CA 94604, 510-836-4759, FAX: 510-836-4758, Whazzup411@aol.com; $25/12).
The Good Red Road is a new "Native American home study guide" intended for bimonthly publication. The 12-page first issue (December 1997/January 1998) included an interview with Abenaki author Joseph Bruchac, a brief profile of the Zuni people, and "How to read the animal messages of nature." Plugs for Sun Bear and instructions for what items to "put...into yr medicine bag" raised our hackles, but the February/March second issue moves toward more substantial articles. These include a piece about Timothy Reed and the National Center for American Indian Prisoners' Rights and commentary on racist mascots, as well asan excellent mini-essay "Funny, you don't look Indian." Cut off from her cultural heritage, editor Terri Andrews has set about reclaiming it. (P.O. Box 750, Athens, OH 45701, 614-664-3030; $24).
Korean Quarterly is a significant nonprofit publication created by and for the Korean American community of the Twin Cities and Upper Midwest, including "Korean adoptees and their families and intercultural/interracial Korean American people." The 44-page Summer 1998 edition (v.1 #4) contains well-written essays about identity issues (e.g., "How to marry a family"), interviews with Korean American students studying in Seoul, an organizational profile ("Reflections on Friends of Korea"), and an article about Korean adoption researcher In Sun Park, as well as an interview with the author of A dream for South Central: the autobiography of an Afro-Americanized Korean Christian minister. Also: news briefs, poetry pages, event information, and extensive reviews of books, journals, films, music, and web sites. (Box 6789, St. Paul, MN 55106, 612-771-8164, $14).
Vietnamese American Studies Center Quarterly emanates from the Department of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. The 20-page Spring 1998 edition includes commentary on visiting Vietnam after eighteen years away, interviews with labor activist Do Thi Tho and the new director of San Francisco's Southeast Asian Community Center, and material on efforts to create a Vietnamese Cultural Heritage Garden in San Jose, as well as information about a poetry/photography book project. Also: reviews, news about two Vietnamese photography exhibits, and "What's in a name? Little Saigon: a lingo that became a community." (San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Ave., PSY 105, San Francisco, CA 94132, 415-338-6169, FAX: 415-338-2276).
Libido ("The journal of sex and sensibility") is a pansexual and gender-equitable romp of a magazine, less queer than Black Sheets and not as kinky as Masquerade, but both more erotic and intellectual than Yellow Silk. A quarterly now in its tenth year, it has previously gone unexamined here, in part due to its priceyness. Each issue contains black-and-white photography and erotic fiction, along with sex-related news and reviews, all driven by a refreshing playfulness. One regular feature is a "sex bio" column by Vern Bullough, about people who have shaped cultural attitudes about sex. The 88-page Spring 1997 issue (v.9 #2) includes one woman's account of visiting the British Museum's library in search of "Private Case" materials and a gently satirical filmography focusing on works by a fictional maker of "pornographic westerns" with such titles as "Circle Jerks Ride Lonesome." The Winter 1997 edition reports on orgasm in women with spinal cord injury and reviews seven other (mostly upscale) sex magazines. (5318 N. Paulina St., Chicago, IL 60640, 1-800-495-1988, FAX: 773-275-0752; $30; ISSN: 0899-8272; http://www.sensualsource.com/li bi do).
The Radical Mothers Voice is an activist-oriented zine about working mothers' issues. The 28-page edition seen (#2) contains a children's rights manifesto, statistics on "welfare reform," commentary on classism and raising boys, and questions & answers about war toys from the War Resisters League's Kate Donnelly, as well as an annotated article from Z Magazine (Cynthia Peters' "It takes a whole baby product and toy industry to raise a child"). Also: "The finer points of posture and lesbian motherhood," thoughts on children's crying, and "A poem for strong women." (c/o Sherry Milam @ Cricket Farm, Rt. 1, Box 750J, Elgin, TX 78621, 512-303-9224, osherry@rocketmail.com).
HazMat is a "feminist or woman-centered" zine intended for monthly publication. The 25-page digest-sized issue seen (#6) contains observations on parents who shield their young daughters, ambivalent commentary on a TV commercial which "appears to echo one aspect of feminism," and a contributor's account of dealing with sexual harassment by construction workers, as well as thoughts on pubic hair and a profile of "the feminist face." Also: eighteen suggestions for things to do to support feminism and women in general. (Jodi Bucknam, 1627 Bentana Way, Reston, VA 20190; $12/12).
Angles ("Women working in film & video") is a nonprofit magazine. The 36-page issue seen (v.3 #3-4), published May 1998, contains interviews with filmmakers Ingrid Sinclair (whose "Flame" focuses on women as active fighters in Zimbabwe's "Liberation War") and Shirikiana Aina (wife of Haile Gerima), coverage of the 1997 Pan African Film Festival of Ouagoudou (a.k.a. FESPACO) and two other international film fests (Toronto and Ann Arbor), and a conversation with three festival programmers, along with a first person article about scoring documentaries. Also: reviews, news briefs, and related resource listings. Indexed in Film Literature Index. (P.O. Box 11916, Milwaukee, WI 53211, 414-963-8948, FAX: 414-963-9018, angles@execpc.com; $20/4, $15 student, $30 institutional, $25/$35 Canada; ISSN: 1088-7830).
Fabula ("For the female mind"), a new magazine intended for quarterly publication, sports a glossy format and color cover, but an otherwise do-it-ourselves feel. The 52-page issue examined (v.2 #2, 1998) focuses on sexuality, with articles ranging from "the G-spot conspiracy" and transsexuality (complete with glossary of terms), to one man's analysis of how the aesthetic for Playboy models has changed over the years. There are also articles about a "new generation" of women filmmakers, the mother-daughter team behind Poor magazine, and young comic artist Ariel Schrag (though no info on how to order her books), as well as a review of The vagina monologues and profiles of two debut recording artists (Imogen Heap and Rebekah). Illustrated with black-and-white photos, Fabula's ad content is slight and focused on nonprofits, zines, and independent women-owned companies. (55 Norfolk St., Suite 202, San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-255-8926, fabula@vdn.com; $12.95; http://www.fabulamag.com).
Ecovillages (formerly The Design Exchange) is the newsletter of the nonprofit Ecovillage Network of the Americas (ENA) which seeks "active partnerships among community sustainability organizations and activists." The 8-page Spring 1997 issue (Design Exchange v.3 #1) reported on efforts to resist golf course development in Tepoztlán, looked at such topics as composting and fuel cell automobiles, and listed web sites and contact data for related projects. The Summer 1998 issue features material on sustainable agriculture in Belize, the Rainbow Peace Caravan, and visits to eco-villages in Russia and Korea. The ENA web pages are composed using both English and Spanish. (Box 90, Summertown, TN 38483-0090, 931-964-4324, FAX: 931-964-2200, ecovillage@thefarm.org; $25 membership; http://dx.gaia.org/index.html).
Earth Quarterly is a new publication springing from the regional Dry Country News (published "off and on since 1979") and intended to address sustainable living, from "homebuilding, gardening, [and] renewable energy" to "right livelihood and community." The 24-page initial issue reports interestingly about building houses out of fibrous cement, complete with step-by-step photos showing how the material is made using recycled magazines and newspapers, sand or screened dirt, and cement. There's also material on straw bale construction, as well as reviews (e.g., Homesteading adventures: a guide for doers and dreamers) and an interview with herbalist Steven Foster. (Box 23, Radium Springs, NM 88054, 505-526-1853, earth@zianet.com; $10; ISSN: 1098-9536; http://www.zianet.com/earth).
Low Hug is a new zine from one about to enter library school, which shows. Excellent organizational skills are evident throughout, from layout to thorough citations. "A mixed bag of articles and features" are promised in the future, but the initial 28-page issue focuses on music. This includes a Thrift Score-ish look at three pieces of "lo-fi" stereo equipment, an article about "BAD songs" (as opposed to merely lower case "bad" songs), brief profiles of five "underrated jazz legends," and reviews of records, music zines, books, and websites. A mini-zine supplement is included ("Dissecting the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll"). Also from the editor: Pleased to read me, a 32-page digest of bibliography of material on the Replacements. (A.j. Michel, Station A, Box 2574, Champaign, IL 61825; $2/issue).
Green Millennium ("Eco-fiction, green cities, eco-futurism") is a new zine published by the Midwestern Green-City Project. The 8-page initial issue promotes--in comic book format--a vision of a city without automobiles, comments on science fiction vs. eco-fiction, and offers a look back from the future at "the ruins of Panurbia" and the "environmentally benign city of Viridiana." (3010 Hennepin Ave. S., #194, Minneapolis, MN 55409).
Small Press Creative Explosion is a zine that reviews mini-comics. The tiny January 1998 issue (#8) looks somewhat like a shrunken Gunderloy-era Factsheet Five, and includes about thirty-five reviews (many with cover reproductions), as well as an interview with Jim Siergey (who does "Cultural Jetlag" with Tom Roberts), profiles of Starwarp Concepts and Blue Moon Comics, and suggestions for micro-publishers on how to work with "your local comic book store." The standard size 16-page #12 contains about a hundred reviews (including some zines), as well as convention reports. (Timothy Corrigan, P.O. Box 25, Houghton, NY 14744; $12/12 issues).
For the Clerisy (MSRRT Newsletter, Mar 94) is back from Latvia. New contact data for editor Brant Kresovich: Box 404, Getzille, NY 14068, kresovich@hotmail.com
Grandmothers for Peace International (MSRRT Newsletter, Dec 91) has new contact data: 9444 Medstead Way, Elk Grove, CA 95758, 916-684-8744, FAX: 916-684-0394, wiednerb@aol.com, http://www.netcom.com/~lorjacy/g fp
Green Anarchist (MSRRT Newsletter, Mar 92) has a new address: BM 1715, London WC1N 3XX, England.
Ram's Horn (MSRRT Newsletter Apr 93 and Aug 95) has new contact data: S-12, C-11, RR#1, Sorrento, BC, Canada, V0E 2W0.
Slug & Lettuce (MSRRT Newsletter, Feb 96) has a new address: c/o Christine Boarts, P.O. Box 26632, Richmond, VA 23261-6632.
Wow Cool publishes and distributes comics, mini-comics, small press books, and recordings. Especially recommended: Simon Gane's Arnie Comix, the first issue of which contains an irreverent "step by step guide to the art of fanzine making." (48 Shattuck Sq., #149, Berkeley, CA 94704, marc@wowcool.com, http://www.wowcool.com).
Circlet Press specializes in erotic science fiction and fantasy, as well as "speculative fiction with lesbian and gay themes." Forthcoming titles also include The erotic writer's market guide, edited by Lawrence Schimel. (1770 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 278, Cambridge, MA 02140, 617-864-0492, FAX: 617-864-0663, ctan@circlet.com, http://www.circlet.com).
Tilt-A-Whirl Press aims its publications toward "roots rock rebels, heartland insurgents, hillbilly nationalists, and working-class blues people." New titles include Ron Whitehead's Beaver Dam Rocking Chair Marathon. (635 Sawdridge W., Monterey, KY 40359; http://www.summersault.com/ tilt-a-whirl).
InBook distributes titles from such independent publishers as See Sharp Press (Resisting 12-step coercion), III Publishing (Down and out in the Ivy League), Arsenal Pulp Press (Queer view mirror), Common Courage (An enemy of the state: the life of Erwin Knoll), and The X Press (Single Black female). (LPC Group, 1436 W. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60607, 1-800-243-0138).
New from Four Walls Eight Windows (Spring 98): Evergreen Review reader, 1967-1973 and Phyllis Chesler's Letters to a young feminist. (39 W. 14th St., New York, NY #503, New York, NY 10011; http://www.fourwallseightwindo ws .com).
Knowledge, Ideas and Trends, Inc. has issued such books as Cristina Biaggi's Habitations of the great Goddess and Louise Gouëffic's Breaking the patriarchal code: the linguistic basis of sexual bias. New titles include Be an outrageous older man: action guide for men 50 & beyond. (1131-0 Tolland Turnpike, Suite 175, Manchester, CT 06040, 1-800-826-0529, FAX: 860-646-3931, http://www.booktrends.com).
Insomniac Press titles include Sonja Ahlers' Temper, temper ("If Emily Dickinson and Andy Warhol were comic book artists...") and Written in the skin, an anthology of writing and photography about AIDS. (393 Shaw St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M6J 2X4, 416-536-4308, FAX: 416-588-4198, insomania@pathcom.com; http://www.insomniacpress.com).
Lab Safety Supply has a massive catalog which includes items potentially useful in libraries, from office furniture, stackable boxes, and storage systems, to wrist supports, barricade tapes (e.g., "Police Line Do Not Cross"), and portable conveyors. (Box 1368, Janesville, WI 53547, 1-800-356-0783; http://www.LabSafety.com).
The History of Labor in New York State, a handsome folded full-color map (24" x 36"), depicts nearly 400 sites dating from 1600 to the present. Each has an annotated entry on the back, color coded and keyed according to nineteen categories. Inset maps represent three different eras in New York City. (Map Committee, NYLHA, Wagner Archives, Bobst Library, NYU, 70 Washington Square S., New York, NY 10012).
Vegan Outreach offers a 12-page pamphlet titled "Why Vegan" which contains material on animal welfare and nutrition, as well as resource listings. (10410 Forbes Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 412-247-3527, mba@andrew.cmu.edu, http://www.envirolink.org/arrs/vo ).
This Town Needs an Enema is a one-shot focusing on "zines in the Twin Cities." In 8-page mini format, it reviews 21 zines (and two novels by local zine editors) and lists a variety of resources for self-publishers (but it's Sarasota, Florida, not California). Editor Paul T. Olson is up front about his biases: "I hate poetry, music and fuck-the-man zines," he writes. (Box 3472, Minneapolis, MN 55403; PaulTOlson@aol.com).
McLibel: burger culture on trial. By John Vidal. New Press, 1997. 354p. (450 W. 41st St., 6th Floor, New York, NY 10036, 212-629-8802, FAX: 212-268-6349; $24, cloth, 1-56584-411-4).
Reclaiming San Francisco: history, politics, culture. Edited by James Brooks, Chris Carlsson, and Nancy J. Peters. City Lights Books, copyright 1998. 355p. Includes Nicholson Baker's "Weeds: a talk at the library." (261 Columbus Ave., San Francisco, CA 94133: $17.95, paper, 0-87286-335-2; http://www.citylights.com).
Purifying America: women, cultural reform, and pro-censorship activism, 1873-1933. By Alison M. Parker. University of Illinois Press, 1997. 286p. Includes "Guardians of public morals: professional identity and the American Library Association." (1325 S. Oak St., Champaign, IL 61820; $16.95, paper, 0-252-06625-1).
Soap, water, and sex: a lively guide to sexual hygiene and coping with sexually transmitted diseases. By Jacob Lipman. Prometheus Books, 1998. 191p. (59 John Glenn Dr., Amherst, NY 14228-2197, 716-691-0133, FAX: 716-691-0137; $18.95, paper, 1-57392-193-9).
Anarchy in the UK: the Angry Brigade. By Tom Vague. AK Press, 1997. 162p. (P.O. Box 40682, San Francisco, CA 94140, 415-864-0892, FAX: 415-864-0893; $14.95, paper, 1-873176-98-8; http://www.akpress.org).
Race, class & struggle: essays on racism and inequality in Britain, the US and Western Europe. By Louis Kushnick. Rivers Oram Press, 1998. 262p. (144 Hemingford Rd., London, N1 1DE, England; U.S. dist.: New York University Press, Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square S., New York, NY 10012-1091, 212-998-2575, FAX: 212-995-3833; $18.50, cloth, 1-85489-097-2; http://www.nyupress.nyu.edu).