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 and Jan DeSirey.
A voracious reader, I consumed books like M & Ms when I was a child, walking to and from the public library with my arms full almost weekly. I made the trip so many times I knew the exact number contained in each flight of stairs up the bluff, along a former cable car path. Summer was sheer heaven--I could read at any time and longer into the evenings. Biographies were most appealing to me. After devouring works on everyone from Crispus Attucks to Eli Whitney, though, I outgrew the children's room. Perhaps eleven at the time, a slightly older friend--equally avid--led me upstairs to the adult collection. There we sought--and (hurrah!) found--exciting books about POW escapes, and the world began to open a little bit. Soon I was reading more and more fiction, some of it recommended by an older sibling, some happened upon by chance. At the same time I was reading magazines (from Life and Look to Ramparts), going through puberty, and becoming ever more curious about sex. It wasn't easy to find, but the persevering and clever searcher could find sex in the Carnegie-Stout Public Library. Though vastly grateful for that experience, today I recognize some of my hometown library's shortcomings. Its small record collection consisted almost entirely of classical music, as if rock, jazz, blues, and soul didn't exist. Further, there were no Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries, no comic books, no Mad Magazine, and virtually nothing on sex education. Librarians are natural censors, I believe, and they do this especially by limiting choices. One way this is manifest today is in library Web pages which point to the Louvre and the Guthrie Theater, for example, instead of to sites which list and feature links to much more diverse ranges of arts institutions. Another way is by fearing sex, or at least by assuming that sexually forthright materials are more bother than they are worth, due to predicted theft, mutilation, and challenges. This issue of the newsletter features the text of a letter which appeared in several Minnesota newspapers during October, and MSRRT's response, as well as reviews of important sex-related books that belong in libraries. --C.D.
"Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can bring about reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences." --Susan B. Anthony, 1860 [from Lynn Sherr's Failure is impossible: Susan B. Anthony in her own words (1995)]
The following letter appeared in the Hibbing, Duluth, and St. Cloud daily papers in October. Written by a vendor at this year's Minnesota Library Association conference, it appeared first in Hibbing's Daily Tribune under the headline "Do you want tax dollars to buy porn?" Count the exclamation marks.
Do you want hard-core pornography purchased with our tax dollars? Do you want X-rated videos, how-to sex books (of every variation), books advocating public sex, pornography tabloids/catalogs, etc... in your public library, accessible by children? The MN Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table (MSRRT) does! They sponsored several liberal training sessions and featured "library alternatives" at their booth at the MN Library Association to get pornography and other "library alternatives" into your public library! One article in an X-rated sexual tabloid at their booth states "Bullies, prudes, and fanatics are destroying the sexual wonder of children by controlling what kids see and hear on television and the Internet, but also suppressing every other facet of childhood sex." The author of the article later describes a sexual experience with a 26-year-old woman when he was 12! This particular sexual tabloid also "...support(s) using our speech and press freedoms to advocate lowering the age of consent laws -- as they apply to pubescent teenagers." MSRRT's own newsletter states it was "taking a step backward in Brooklyn (when) its public library now offers a restricted access card for the children of parents who don't want them checking out adult material." There were also a few children walking around looking at the exhibits. MSRRT's booth was often unmanned. What was to prevent them from picking up the pornography amongst the other "library alternatives"? How is this being "socially responsible"? Pornography has no place in our public libraries or library conferences! Find out if your public library is developing a collection of "library alternatives" with our tax dollars! If your public library doesn't already offer a restricted access card for children of parents who don't want them checking out adult material, then request it! It would be a step forward, not backwards!
Becky Dean,Virginia
Signed by MSRRT co-coordinators Sanford Berman and Art Stoeberl, and MSRRT newsletter editors, the following response appeared in Hibbing's Daily Tribune on November 10. As far as we know, it has not yet been published in the Duluth News-Tribune or St. Cloud Times.
Becky Dean is misleading when she writes that the Minnesota Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table (MSRRT) "sponsored several liberal training sessions and [a] booth at the MN Library Association to get pornography and other 'library alternatives' into your public library!" ("Do you want tax dollars to buy porn?" Daily Tribune, Oct. 23, 1996). First MSRRT's "several liberal training sessions" at MLA's annual conference consisted of one panel program titled: "Women, Children and Poverty: What's the Connection and What Does it Mean for Libraries?" Second: Dean neglected to mention that MSRRT's exhibit tables contained dozens of Minnesota ethnic newspapers; catalogs and periodicals from such sources as Children's Book Press and Rethinking Schools; brochures from human rights and peace organizations; information about independent bookstores; poverty-related women's bibliographies...as well as the publication called EIDOS (subtitled "Sexual freedom and erotic entertainment for consenting adults"), which she found offensive. Third, the exhibit was neither explicitly nor intentionally aimed solely toward public libraries--MLA membership includes many academic, special, health, and law librarians--but was one small part of an adult, professional conference, not a public event for children. MSRRT presents librarians with a variety of materials they may not be familiar with, advocates diversity in library collections, and promotes open-mindedness.
New co-coordinators Sandy Berman and Art Stoeberl, along with Jim Langmo, join holdovers Michele McGraw and Pam Keesey to make up the 1997 MSRRT steering committee. Thanks to Michele for her efficient coordinating duties over the past year.
A review of Sue Coe's Dead meat in the September/October newsletter twice inadvertently referred to Sue "Cole" as the author and artist.
Many of the graphics in the "dead tree" version MSRRT Newsletter through the years are the work of Rini Templeton. Though she died in 1986, the socially engaged artist's work lives on, thanks to El arte de Rini Templeton: donde hay vida y lucha/The art of Rini Templeton: where there is life and struggle (Real Comet Press, 1988?). Featuring over 500 of her drawings, the bilingual book invites "activists serving causes that Rini supported...to use [its] drawings...freely in their leaflets, newsletters, banners, and pickets signs or for similar non-commercial purposes." This past July 18, on the tenth anniversary of her death, the Oakland-based DataCenter held a celebration in honor of Rini. Its focus: the hundreds of ways Rini's art has been used, from an immigrant rights rally flyer and an Earth Day button, to a Fuerza Unida T-shirt and a women's rights calendar in Japanese. A limited number of copies of Rini's book are still available from the DataCenter for $25 postpaid: 464 19th St., Oakland, CA 94612-2297, 510-835-4692.
"LIBRARY Q"; lesbian librarian links to "Queer resources on the Internet"
POCHO PRODUCTIONS "VIRTUAL VARRIO"; Chicano satire
TOTALLY UNOFFICIAL RAP DICTIONARY
ZAPATISTA articles and communiques, "solidarity links," Chiapas updates, etc.
The yoni: sacred symbol of female creative power. By Rufus C. Camphausen. Inner Traditions, 1996. 134p. Lush flowers painted by Georgia O'Keeffe, the "Venus of Willendorf," and naturally occurring shapes from oysters to clefted fruit--all are divine embodiments of "the Goddess and her vulva," according to social anthropologist Rufus Camphausen. Attractively presented with photos and reproductions, many in color, this sex-affirmative work covers a cross-cultural celebration of female genitals, from Tantrism to modern art. Beginning with an overview of prehistoric goddess images (complete with timeline), it extends to include fascinating (and sometimes humorous) historical details. Word lovers, for example, should enjoy the classification schemes taken from Arabic and Asian erotic manuals (e.g., "ka-tembo: the hairy fire yoni, ever sweet tasting and insatiable"), not to mention the list of over 200 synonyms for vulva, complete with cultural source citations. This thoughtful work deserves attention. Acompanion to Alain Danielou's The phallus: sacred symbol of male creative power (Inner Traditions, 1995), it includes an appendix covering female genital anatomy, as well as extensive notes and index. (One Park St., Rochester, VT 05767; $19.95, paper, 0-89281-562-0).
First person sexual: women & men write about self-pleasuring. Joani Blank, editor. Down There Press, 1996. 165p. The stories in this slim volume have one thing in common--they all celebrate masturbation as "real" sex. Ranging in tone from wistful longing to outright hilarity, these 45 pieces demonstrate that the whys and wherefores of self-loving are as varied as people themselves. Only a few are fictional (three or four, claims editor Blank), the rest are from the writers' own memories, or, in some cases, literally torn from their journals. Interestingly, many of the stories are from childhood experiences: experimenting with Mom's vibrator, the fear of getting caught, feelings of guilt, and the anguish of growing up. What emerges from all of these vignettes is the knowledge that everyone "does it," and whatever else it may be, self-loving is natural and healthy. (938 Howard St., #101, San Francisco, CA 94103, $14.50, paper, 0-940208-17-2).
American sex machines: the hidden history of sex at the U.S. Patent Office. By Hoag Levins. Adams Media, 1996. 280p. Covering everything from barbaric anti-masturbation contrivances to useful equipment designed for people with sexual dysfunction or disabilities, this fascinating account succeeds as a history of American sexuality itself. Beginning with the nineteenth century "war on wet dreams" and technology that belongs in the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, it also presents contemporary innovations aimed at safer sex and AIDS prevention. Illustrations throughout highlight the difference between bras designed by men and those invented by women, for example, and depict laughable contraptions apparently dreamed up by Rube Goldberg or Woody Allen (check out the "hydraulic orgasm machine"). Featured are chapters on the evolution of rubbers, breast implants (and their disastrous effects), anti-rape devices (ouch!), prosthetic penises, and vibrators, as well as material on diaphragms, Victorian-era contraception, and even sex furniture. Not so much titillating as simply engrossing, American sex machines shows how sexual attitudes are manifest in technology--from "sexual armor" to musical condoms. Notes and index included. (260 Center St., Holbrook, MA 02343, 1-800-872-5627; $9.95, paper, 1-55850-534-2).
Body alchemy: transsexual portraits. By Loren Cameron. Cleis Press, 1996. 110p. Beautiful strong men. Blue-collar and professional, young and middle-aged, gay, straight, and formerly lesbian-identified men. This powerful book about female-to-male transsexuals features black-and-white photographic self-portraits by the author, but the gender identity issues it raises are anything but clear cut. About body-building (Cameron is handsome, muscular, and macho), the mixed perceptions and prejudices of outsiders, and Cameron's relationship with Kayt, an FTM-identified person who has "more or less...accepted my female body," this self-documentation is an important step in moving transgender people out of the closet. Devoid of exploitative freak show sensibility, it is marked by pride and dignity. Included are instructive, artistic photos detailing surgical options for genital and breast reconstruction (Cameron's change has meant bilateral mastectomy and testosterone therapy) as well as portraits of other men. Beginners may be enlightened: gender identity and sexual preference are two different things. Men can be mothers. Never assume. (P.O. Box 8933, Pittsburgh, PA 15221; $24.95, paper, 1-57344-062-0).
More joy...an advanced guide to solo sex. By Harold Litten. Illustrations by Rod Jenson Shows. Factor Press, 1996. A masturbation how-to guide?The very idea may strike some as being no more necessary than an instruction book on breathing. Focusing on autoerotic "stories and testimonies from men," this update to Litten's The joy of solo sex (Factor Press, 1993) also addresses psychological issues like shame and narcissism. In a society where Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders can be fired for mentioning masturbation without condemning it, these are important considerations. Included is material on lubricants and lotions, genital piercing, sex toys, mutual masturbation, erotic showing off, and religious aspects of sexuality. (P.O. Box 8888, Mobile, AL 36689, 334-380-0606; $12.95, paper, 0-9626531-8-7).
Doing life: reflections of men and women serving life sentences. Portraits and interviews by Howard Zehr. Good Books, 1996. 124p. Disturbing and hopeful at the same time, this collection of compelling black-and-white photographs features excerpts from interviews with prisoners serving life terms in Pennsylvania. Convictions for first or second degree murder in that state mandate life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Intentionally taken with a neutral backdrop, the photos show human beings of obvious character, intelligence, and sensitivity. To some degree they represent model prisoners, recommended by lifers' organizations and prison staffs. What emotions do they deal with? What keeps them going? What are their fears and difficulties? Only ten percent of them get visits more than once or twice each year. There's a woman who's a practicing psychiatrist, a man who got a Master's degree while in prison, a woman to whom jail was--at first--a refuge from an abusive husband, a ninth grade dropout who older lifers fostered with books, and a Vietnam vet who says that "there you had a fighting chance; here...you're completely powerless." There are expressions of grief, remorse, and repentance, but as one prisoner notes, " If I went to my counselor and said, 'I want to talk about the guilt feelings I have,' he'd say, 'Why are you telling me?" Concerned about restitution, another asserts, "Victims don't exist in the criminal justice system...You've offended the state." While the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the developed world, this book makes it plain that real accountability and reparation are a missing part of the equation. The prisoners profiled here seem more contemplative, philosophical, patient, and wise than their fellow humans on the outside. (P.O. Box 419, Intercourse, PA 17534-0419, 717-768-7171, FAX: 717-768-3433; $15.95, paper, 1-56148-203-X).
For SEX EDUCATION, See librarian: a guide to issues and resources. By Martha Cornog and Timothy Perper. Greenwood Press, 1996.
Lesbian sex: an oral history. By Susan E. Johnson. Naiad Press, 1996.
Sexual correctness: the gender-feminist attack on women. By Wendy McElroy. McFarland, 1996.
XXX: a woman's right to pornography. By Wendy McElroy. St. Martin's Press, 1995.
Wellness directory of Minnesota. Minnesota Wellness Publications, 1995. 2nd ed. 190p. With interest in alternative medicine growing by leaps and bounds, the number of providers and services is also skyrocketing. Especially useful for those in greater Minnesota, this "yellow pages" compilation covers a spectrum ranging from acupuncture, body-work, biofeedback, dreamwork, food coops, and yoga, to astrology, crystals, naturopathy, psychics, and rebirthing. Several topics are prefaced with essays, and there are also articles throughout on cancer and the immune system, the special focus of this edition. Indexed by name and subject, this directory is a valuable pulling together of information not easily found in one place, and should be as helpful for skeptics as it is for those prone to suspend disbelief. (1775 Co. Rd. 6 NE, Stanchfield, MN 55080, 612-689-WELL, $21.95, paper, 0-9639845-1-9).
Betty and Pansy's severe queer review of San Francisco. By Betty Pearl and Pansy. 5th ed. Cleis Press, 1996. 189p. Plan on attending next summer's American Library Association conference in San Francisco? If so, consider checking out this "irreverent, opinionated guide to the bars, clubs, restaurants, cruising areas, performing arts, and other attractions of the queer mecca." Includes lodging information, maps, and separate "lesbians & dykes" listings. (Box 8933, Pittsburgh, PA 15221; $10.95, paper, 1-57344-056-6).
The butches of Madison County. By Ellen Orleans. Laugh Lines Press, 1995. 94p. In this amusing parody, a wandering writer heads for Iowa "to reconnect with the spirit of her incipient lesbian years...and write about it all in the process." Instead she becomes distracted by 39-year-old Patsy, the disaffected wife of an organic carrot farmer. The two women explore Patsy's newly realized lesbianism, while Orleans hilariously exploits dozens of clichis in the process. (P.O. Box 259, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004, 610-668-4252; $7.95, paper, 0-9632526-6-6).
Big yum yum book: the story of Oggie and the beanstalk. By R. Crumb. Introduction by Harvey Pekar. SLG Books, 1995. 2nd ed. After drunken student Oggie-the-toad kills a family of ladybugs, a beanstalk carries him to a paradise populated by a naked woman giant named Guntra. Drawn when underground comix king Robert Crumb was "nineteen years old and still a virgin," this full color graphic novel is a funny animal story gone awry (and a variation on at least two different fairy tales). (P.O. Box 9465, Berkeley, CA 94709, 510-525-1134, FAX: 510-525-2632; $20, paper, 0-943389-19-4).
London Bridge: Guignol's Band II. By Louis-Ferdinand Celine. Translated from the French by Dominic Di Bernardi. Dalkey Archive Press, 1995. Literature's elliptical wild man is back: "I'd pay for everything! They'd skin me alive! Christ, and how! in less than five! than two! then zero seconds flat!... Phew! a fiasco!" Though less coherent than Celine at his best (Mort a credit/Death on the installment plan), this raving unmistakably matches the tenor of our times. (Illinois State University, Campus Box 4241, Normal, IL 61790-4141; $23.95, cloth, 1-56478-071-6).
War is a racket. By Smedley D. Butler. CRISES Press/Veterans for Peace, Chapter 78, 1995. 39p. Includes "a partial list of U.S. military interventions from 1890 to 1994," compiled by Zoltan Grossman. PARTIAL CONTENTS: Who makes the profits? -Who pays the bills? (CRISES Press, 1716 SW Williston, Gainesville, FL 32608, 352-335-2200; $5, paper, 0-9640119-3-X).
Broken Pencil ("The guide to alternative publications in Canada") is a significant new magazine. The 72-page Winter 1997 issue (#4) features over 180 reviews of zines, comics, chapbooks, and alternative periodicals of all sorts, as well as interviews with Ian of Pas De Chance, Cerebus creator Dave Sim, cartoonist Rina Piccolo, and postcard artist Germaine Koh. Also: zine excerpts (e.g., "I was a dominatrix," from We Have Lives), cartoons, and short sections focusing on e-zines, music, and books. Arranged geographically by province, the reviews are also indexed and include complete ordering information. Issue #3 (accessed via the Web) includes an article about the implications of Canada's deposit law for alternative press publishers. (P.O. Box 203, Station P, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2S7, Canada; $12/$22; U.S. subs.: $14 cash/3 issues; $24 institutional; halpen@io.org, http://www.io.org/~halpen/bpen cil.html).
Drawn and Quarterly is an important all-color comic art magazine which has featured new work by such innovative cartoonists as Julie Doucet, Joe Matt, Debbie Drechsler, and Joe Sacco. The 40-page v.2 #4 contains part one of a story by Baru about "Algeria's...struggle to free itself from French colonial rule," Carol Tyler's riffs on the meaning of the word "gone," and Dupuy and Berberian's relationship tale "Monsieur Jean," as well as Seth's illustration of Charles Schulz narrative (from You don't look 35, Charlie Brown!) and striking cover and endpaper artwork by Josh Gosfield. (5556 Jeanne Mance St., #16, Montreal, Quebec, H2V 4K6, Canada, FAX: 514-279-2221; $19.95/4).
Anarchist Black Cross Federation Update is a publication focusing on political prisoners and prisoners of war in the United States. The 12-page June 1996 issue (#8) contains reports from branch and support groups in New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Maine, with material on a film being made about Puerto Rican POW/independentista Dylcia Pagan and information about a campaign against police and penal repression in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Also: letters from Sundiata Acoli, Ray Luc Levasseur, and other prisoners. (P.O. Box 8532, Paterson, NJ 07508-8532, 201-357-0994, yamjxabc@jaxnet.com; http://www.jaxnet.com/~yam jxabc/index.html).
Shelterforce ("The journal of affordable housing strategies") is published six times yearly by the non-profit National Housing Institute. The 32-page March/April 1996 edition reports on progressive city politics and a new housing program in Santa Fe, interviews Pittsburgh mayor and former community organizer Tom Murphy ("Reinventing housing in Pittsburgh"), examines how housing advocates can make a difference in the 1996 elections, and profiles Little Rock's grassroots New Party (now represented on that community's city council). Also: commentary on legislative issues and rural housing. Indexed in Alternative Press Index. (Editorial: 439 Main St., Orange, NJ 07834; subscriptions: Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834, phone: 201-678-3110, FAX: 201-678-0014; $18, $30 institutional; hn0344@handsnet.org; http://www.nhi.org).
Al Jadid ("A record of Arab culture & arts") is a monthly tabloid covering national and international issues. The 32-page May 1996 edition (v.2 #7) includes columns on anti-Arab media bias and how to counter it, an account of a trip to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain ("Visit brings new view on lives, choices of Saudi women"), commentary on the closure of the West Bank and Gaza, and a profile of late Palestinian author Emile Habibi, as well as an article about Algerian writer Ahlam Mustaghanmi, book reviews (e.g., The children are dying: the impact of sanctions on Iraq), and a 10-page Arabic-language supplement on Syrian playwright Saadalla Wanous. (P.O. Box 24996, Los Angeles, CA 90024-0996, 1-800-624-2686, 213-957-1291, FAX: 213-957-2380, aljadid@jovanet.com; http://www. hiof.no/almashriq/general/000/070/079/al-jadid).
Phoenix is the newsletter of the Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with the Native Peoples (CASNP). The 16-page January 1995 edition includes a summary of the Innu boycott of the Federal Environment Review Panel hearings on military flight training activities in Nitassinan, an action alert covering the Lubicon Cree struggle against Unocal Canada's sour gas processing plant, and coverage of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) effort to deny Saugeen Ojibwe fishing rights. Also: "Can non-Natives write Native history?" (P.O. Box 574, Station P, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2T1, Canada, 416-972-1573, FAX: 416-972-6232; $20, $10 senior/student/unemployed, $30 outside Canada).
The Archivists and Archives of Color Roundtable Newsletter is published twice yearly. The 8-page August 1995 edition (v.9 #2) contains information about the Louis Armstrong archives at Queens College/CUNY, a preview of the Society of American Archivists annual meeting, and relevant news briefs. (Joellen ElBashir, Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, 202-806-7480, FAX: 202-806-6405).
Bamboo Girl is a zine put together by Sabrina Sandata. The 60+ page issue #4 includes a right-on critique of Asian sexual stereotypes, an interview with Loi Calo (member of an "all-girl punk band" based in the Philippines), clippings and comments about "Asian pen pals" (with related material about the "fucker" who sent Sabrina his sketch book of drawings of Asian women as sex objects), as well as firsthand accounts of having a breast lumpectomy, surviving anaphylactic shock, and dealing with a dyke-basher. Also: coverage of a performance by New York Asian men ("Peeling the Banana"), material from the Net on the origin of the terms "Filipino" and "Pinoy", an excerpt from Modern Filipino conversation (on men who wear pony tails), notes from a Thorazine road tour by drummer Dallas Taylor, zine and music reviews, an open letter from Outpunk editor Matt Wobensmith, and "Who's punker than thou? Who fucking cares?!" (P.O. Box 2828, New York, NY 10185-2828; $2/each).
The Pink Paper is a well-established London-based lesbian and gay weekly. The June 7, 1996 issue (#433) contains national and international news (e.g., a piece on French railway partner discounts for same-sex couples), an article about American author Chandler Burr ("New US gay theory 'solves' sexuality with antibiotics"), a report on London's Pride festival and its "festmeister" Teddy Witherington, and an interview with k.d. lang, as well as reviews, AIDS news, a travel column, and classified ads. (Cedar House, 72 Holloway Rd., London N7 8NZ, England).
Pucker Up is a quarterly magazine of transgressive sexuality. Focusing on gender, the 64-page Fall/ Winter 1996 edition (v.1 #4) contains interviews with transsexual photographer Loren Cameron and Transgender warriors author Leslie Feinberg, profiles of New York drag kings and queens, and a piece by TransSisters editor Riki Ann Wilchins, as well as reviews, photos by Michele Serchuk, and a listing of queer Web sites. Also: a paean to basketball's bad boy (and "gender icon") Dennis Rodman, a Hothead Paisan comic strip, pieces by Rachel Pepper and exotic dance/zine editor Alvin Alfred Orlloff ("The proud and masculine porn star"), and "calls for submission." Yow! Previous contributors have in cluded Kathy Acker, Pat Califia, Wickie Stamps, and Kitty Tsui. (Black Dog Publications, P.O. Box 4108, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163, 718-486-6966, FAX: 718-486-5736; $18; blkdogny@aol.com).
Girly is a British transgender zine printed on both sides of a large sheet, then folded twice. The April 1996 edition (#4) contains advice from "men born with vaginas" on how to construct "fairly realistic" artificial penises and information about pending legislation in New South Wales which would allow post-op transsexuals to change their birth certificates, as well as film recommendations, Girly role model #2 (Angela Davis), and editorial comments on "my male self-image." (Mona, 33 Romford Rd., London, E15 4L4, UK).
W.I.G. ("Women in General") is a new quarterly glossy magazine intended as "a forum for discussion, shared wisdom, adventure, art, music, and sport." The 66-page issue seen (v.1 #4) includes a report on a snow boarding event/breast cancer benefit, an essay on competition ("A woman's place is on the starting line"), interviews with whitewater rafting guide Beth Rypins and several women environmentalists, an article on beginning rock climbing, and pieces about Ultimate Frisbee and women's boxing, as well as annotated lists of women's mountain bike camps and clinics, and feminist Web sites/online grrrl zines. Also: conversations with musicians (e.g., "Making punk history with Penelope Houston"), music and book reviews, anti-censorship resources, and a photo-essay on women in North Vietnam. Ad content: approximately 17%. (P.O. Box 158, Heber City, UT 84032, FAX: 801-654-5881, wigmag@aol.com; $14.95; ISSN: 1088-4947).
INLAP Times is a new publication of the England-based Institute for Law and Peace, a nine year-old organization promoting "the immunity of non-combatant civilians in future conflicts." The 10-page Autumn 1995 initial issue includes material on French nuclear testing in the South Pacific, an article about Pax Legalis, and coverage of a landmine conference held in Vienna, as well as a report on resolutions passed by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations questioning whether the threat or use of nuclear weapons is a breach of international law. Also: an interview with the chair of the World Court Project. (David Head, 17 Herbert St., London NW5 4HA, England).
Libertad is a monthly publication of the National Commission for Democracy in Mexico (NCDM). The 16-page May 1996 issue (#3)--made up of two parts, with the same articles appearing in both Spanish and English--includes analysis of events in Chiapas ("Judge's sentence jeopardizes peace process") and a long statement by Subcomandante Marcos, as well as a report on anti-immigrant repression, and material on ecological problems and industrial unemployment in Mexico. Also: "Women, war, and revolution in Chiapas." The October edition contains a satirical "story of the magic chocolate bunnies," as well as "What you can do to help." (601 N. Cotton St., #A103, El Paso, TX 79902, 915-532-8382, moonlight@igc.apc.org, $10; http://www.igc.apc.org/ncdm).
Semillero News Magazine is a bimonthly bilingual publication covering human rights in Mexico. The April/May 1996 special edition (#5) contains commentary on "treating the border like Bosnia," a piece by John Ross on Boise Cascade's Mexico operations ("Blood-stained...forests lure US investors"), an article on new alliances between immigrants and environmentalists, and coverage of a hunger strike in San Francisco for immigrant rights. The 16-page September/October issue includes an interview with a woman maquiladora worker and a report on Mexico City bus drivers' struggles ("War over privatization"). (Box 401205, San Francisco, CA 94140, 415-487-9223, voxpopul@ix.netcom.com, http://www.netcom.com/~voxpopul).
Acres, U.S.A. ("A voice for eco-agriculture") is an established monthly publication. The 44-page September 1995 tabloid (v.25 #9) includes commentary on farm loan practices, an article about weeds and soil fertility, a firsthand account by a small-scale poultry farmer, and part one of a piece about farmers markets, as well as an interview with "eco-leader" Ted Whitmer, news briefs (e.g., "rBGH-free still a legal label") and columns on homeopathic veterinary medicine and biological pest control. Also: "Understanding the commerce of crops" and Michael W. Fox's "The 'science-based' mythology of corporate and government policy." (P.O. Box 8800, Metairie, LA 70011-8800, 504-889-2100, FAX: 504-889-2777; $20).
Green World is a publication mailed to Green Party members in England. The pithy 32-page Summer 1996 issue (#14) includes commentary on police anti-terrorist measures against the Green movement, a report on an East Timor Ploughshares action, and coverage of resistance to a fifth terminal at Heathrow Airport, as well as arms trade news and material on a traffic reduction bill, road safety, low-level radiation, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the National Cycle Network, and efforts to scuttle a wind farming project. Also: an interview with the chair of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, a "doom & gloom" column (on ozone depletion), and information about Green activities locally and worldwide. (Editorial: 49 York Rd., Aldershot, Hampshire, GU11 3JQ, UK, green.world@gexpress.gn.apc.o rg; subscriptions: 45 Broadway, Fulford, York, YO1 4JP, England).
McClure's Labor News features a progressive outlook on union organizing. The 14-page April 1995 edition (v.3 #2) includes a critical article on Labor Party Advocates (now Labor Party) structure and strategy, an interview with the union local president representing A.E. Staley workers in Decatur (about lobbying efforts at an AFL-CIO Executive Council meeting), and a response--from Teamsters for a Democratic Union organizer Ken Paff--to an interview with "Real Teamsters" supporter Joel LeFevre. Also: information about Greg LeRoy's No more candy store (a publication on business subsidies), and news about the unionization of Impact Visuals (now represented by OCAW), workweek scalebacks in Europe, and a rally against "slave labor conditions" at New York's Jing Fong restaurant. (Laura McClure, 611 41st St., Brooklyn, NY 11232, 718-435-0542, FAX: 718-437-9044).
Moonlight Chronicles is a zine featuring the journals, travel accounts, and drawings of Dan Price, formerly editor of the now defunct photography zine Shots (MSRRT Newsletter, Jun 89 and Dec 91). In a larger sense about curiosity and awareness, each issue contains hundreds of drawings--representing everything from insects to church steeples--and Price's musings about his children and interesting things he has seen, as well as excerpts from such writers as Edward Abbey, Loren Eisley, and Henry Thoreau. The 168-page issue #17 takes Price to Texas and back via California, while #18 includes a round trip to and from Southern California where his sponsor, Simple Shoes, is located. (Box 109, Joseph, OR 97846; $18/4).
Murder Can Be Fun, an irreverent zine on crime and mayhem, reflects editor John Marr's extensive research and fascination with his topic. The 48-page issue #16 ("Zoo deaths") focuses on the mauling and maiming of zoo-goers and employees, and includes articles about drunken teenagers' pranks that backfired ("In the lion's lair"), the "magnetic appeal of polar bears" in New York City, and "the downside of being a zookeeper." Also: a thorough examination of recent books on the Lindbergh kidnapping, reviews of The Journal of Forensic Sciences and 21 "books I've read instead of working on MCBF," and reading recommendations for those who like Jim Thompson. Previous issues have covered such topics as "death at Disneyland," while #17 promises "naughty children." Nicely produced but marred somewhat (sorry!) by sloppy copy editing. (P.O. Box 640111, San Francisco, CA 94164, mcbfjohn@aol.com; $2/issue).
bOING bOING ("Media culture brainwash for now people") is a professionally produced zine for technophiles and hipster wannabes, heavier on style and attitude than it is on substance. Edited by Carla Sinclair and Mark Frauenfelder, the 64-page issue #13 includes reviews of "mostly cool stuff," a pranks column (on "Joey Skaggs and his latest media hoax"), a report on a weekend with 37-year-old "Gen X" columnist Anka Radakovich, and an essay by Gareth Branwyn on "why I hate the newage," as well as interviews with Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, Ben is Dead editor Darby Romeo, and Wired executive editor Kevin Kelly. Also: articles on goth, "human branding," and a cross country trip by four San Francisco-based women "media artists." Ad content: approximately 15-20%. (150 4th St., #650, San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-974-1172, FAX: 415-974-1216, carlata@aol.com; http://www.well.com/user/mark).
Candy Bar Gazebo ("The confectionery goodies journal") is the zine for those interested in the history of candy bar wrappers. With fascinating case studies in design and product naming (what is one to make of a company which names its candy bars Big Hunk, Look, and Sir?), the 24-page Fall 1995 issue (#48) also contains reproductions of wrappers from Cuba, Iraq, Morocco, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, as well as a look at new products and wrappers (e.g., Nestle's Pocahontas bar). Also included is info about the Candy Bar Museum and profiles of several candy manufacturers. (Ray Broekel, 6 Edge St., Ipswich, MA 01938, 508-356-4191; $15/4).
Access Press (MSRRT Newsletter, Sep 95, Aug 93, Mar 91) has new contact data: 1821 University Ave. W., Suite 185N, St. Paul, MN 55104, 612-644-2133, FAX: 612-644-2136.
Genuine Article (MSRRT Newsletter, Oct/Nov 95) has a new address, while MANzine (MSRRT Newsletter, Jun/Jul 95) has ceased publication: c/o Frank Wallis, 2665 Franklin, Suite Two, San Francisco, CA 94123.
Girl Frenzy (MSRRT Newsletter, Dec 91) has a new address: P.O. Box 148, Hove, BN3 3DQ, England.
Global Mail (MSRRT Newsletter, Oct/Nov 95, Aug 92) has a new publisher (Michael Dittman) and contact data: Grove City Factory Stores, P.O. Box 1309, Grove City, PA 16127.
Labor Party Advocate (MSRRT Newsletter, Sep 94) has been replaced by Labor Party Press (a debut issue appearing in June 1996): P.O. Box 53177, Washington, DC 20009, 202-234-5190.
Obscure Publications (MSRRT Newsletter, Oct 91, May/Jun 96) has a new address: 45 S. Albert St., #1, St. Paul, MN 55105.
Wilde (MSRRT Newsletter, Apr/May 95) and Steam (MSRRT Newsletter, Oct/Nov 95) have ceased publication.
Green Linnet Records, an indie label known for its catalog of Celtic music, now has a Xenophile label featuring recordings by such performers as Puerto Rican cuatro master YomoToro, Madagascar's Tarika, and Cuban big band Conjunto Cespedes. (43 Beaver Brook Rd., Danbury,CT 06810, phone: 203-730-0333, FAX: 203-730-0345, grnlinnet@aol.com, http://www.greenlinnet.com).
The Video Project ("Media for a safe & sustainable world") offers new titles on sustainable energy, urban planning, appropriate technology, environmental ethics, and related issues. (200 Estates Dr., Ben Lomond, CA 95005, 1-800-4-PLANET, 408-336-0160, FAX: 408-336-2168, videoproject@videoproject.org).
Consortium is the exclusive distributor for nearly fifty independent publishers, among them Alyson (recent titles include Leigh Rutledge's The new gay book of lists), Blue Moon, Coffee House, Eighth Mountain, Graywolf, Holy Cow!, Hungry Mind, Incommunicado, New Rivers, Marsilio, Sun & Moon (e.g., Tan Lin's Lotion bullwhip giraffe), and Women in Translation. (1045 Westgate Dr., Suite 90, St. Paul, MN 55114, 612-221-9035, FAX: 612-221-0124).
Making Contact is an important weekly half-hour public affairs radio program featuring such guests as Paul Farmer, Julianne Malveaux, Edward Said, Molly Ivins, and Dolores Huerta, on topics ranging from needle exchange programs to global food supply. Tapes are available on a subscription basis ($350/year) and individually for $5 each. (National Radio Project, 830 Los Trancos Rd., Portola Valley, CA 94028, 415-851-7256, http://www.peacenet.org/MakingC ontact).
The Largesse "size esteem catalog" offers such items as a commemorative sourcebook about the Fat Undeground ("original radical fat feminists"), a "size diversity empowerment kit," and Karen Stimson's Room to grow: nine poems of size. (P.O. Box 9404, New Haven, CT 06534-0404, 203-787-1624).
Nonprofit White Pine Press offers such new titles as What is secret: stories by Chilean women, Marjorie Agosin's Ashes of revolt: essays on human rights, and Mohawk poet Peter Blue Cloud's Clans of many nations. (10 Village Square, Fredonia, NY 14063, 716-672-5743, pine@net.bluemoon.net, http://www. bluemoon.net/~pine).
Leyland Publications new titles include Partings at dawn: an anthology of Japanese gay literature and Rough trade: true revelations & strange happenings, volume 7, the latter a compilation of "hot male-male sex stories." (P.O. Box 410690, San Francisco, CA 94141, FAX: 415-626-1802).
Masquerade Books new and recent titles include Pat Califia's Sensuous magic, Charisse Van Der Lyn's Sex on the Net, Erica Bronte's Lust, Inc., Alizarin Lake's Sex on doctor's orders, and Flashpoint: gay male sexual writing. (801 Second Ave., New York, NY 10017, 212-661-7878, FAX: 212-986-7355).
The Mary S. Calderone Library at SIECUS (Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States) provides "information on all aspects of human sexuality, including AIDS." (30 W. 42nd St., Suite 2500, New York, NY 10036, 212-819-9770).
Icon is a monthly reality-based African American superhero comic book produced by Milestone Media and published by DC Comics. Related titles: Hardware (big on high-tech weaponry) and Static. (Editorial: 1700 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10019, dcomilestn@aol.com; subscriptions: P.O. Box 0528, Baldwin, NY 11510, $30/12 issues).
Sportime's "Abilitations" catalog carries hundreds of items designed for "development & restoration of physical & mental ability through movement," from multi-sensory soft toys to six-foot diameter exercise balls. (One Sportime Way, Atlanta, GA 30340, 1-800-850-8602, FAX: 1-800-845-1535).
Women and history: voices of early modern England. Edited by Valerie Frith. Coach House Press, 1995. 262p. Disorderly women in the church courts. -Infanticide trials at the Old Bailey. -Wife-beating in the eighteenth century. -Mary Frith, commonly called Mal Cutpurse. (U.S. distribution: Consortium, 1045 Westgate Dr., Suite 90, St. Paul, MN 55114, 1-800-283-3572, FAX: 612-221-0124; $14.95, paper, 0-88910-500-6).
Soulful sex: opening your heart, body & spirit to lifelong passion. By Victoria Lee. Conari Press, 1996. 310p. PARTIAL CONTENTS: Sexual communication. -Solving common sexual difficulties. -Sex and aging. (1144 65th St., Suite B, Emeryville, CA 94608; 14.95, paper, 1-57324-006-0).
Tremors & faultlines: photo poems of San Francisco. By Arthur Nersesian. Portable Press, 1995. 68p. These fragmentary glimpses of the city where Nersesian grew up are the verbal equivalent of gesture drawings. The autobiographical prose-- where he writes about shoplifting, swearing in Chinese, and building go-karts--is best. (350 Fifth Ave., Suite 330, New York, NY 10118; $7.95, paper, 1-888451-01-5).
Getting to know you: the intimate connection. By Kay Francis. BookPartners, 1996. 230p. Includes material on self-love, solitude, equality, and manipulation. (P.O. Box 922, Wilsonville, OR 97070, 503-682-9821, FAX: 503-682-8684; $14.95, paper, 1-885221-39-8).
The dark side of Christian history. By Helen Ellerbe. Morningstar Books, 1995. 221p. PARTIAL CONTENTS: Sex, free will, reincarnation, and the use of force. -Controlling the human spirit: the inqui-sition and slavery. -The witch hunts. (P.O. Box 4032, San Rafael, CA 94913-4032; $12.95, paper, 0-9644873-4-9).