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.
With this edition, consecutive issue #96, the current incarnation of MSRRT Newsletter completes its eleventh year, prompting its editors to ask "When does a groove become a rut?" According to Webster's Third, inertia is both "the property of matter to remain at rest or in uniform motion...unless acted upon by some external force." The same tendency holds true in self-publishing. Like drivers of carts pulled by runaway horses, Mike Gunderloy published 44 issues of Factsheet Five and Noel Peattie churned out fifty numbers of Sipapu. Seth Friedman has recently called it quits after nineteen issues of Factsheet Five. As their work influenced ours, now so do their decisions to free themselves to engage in other pursuits. To paraphrase Edward Abbey, unchecked growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. A "more is better" mentality leads to dysfunction. MSRRT Newsletter is going for a long walk in the desert amidst saguaro, boojum, and cholla. We vow to vacation more, write poetry, breathe fresh air, slow down, laugh more, and hang out with friends and loved ones before our increasingly peevish ways alienate us from them completely. We've been short-tempered, assailed by technological demands and besieged by requests from a widening network of readers. Enough of self-imposed constraints. From now on, no more deadlines: MSRRT Newsletter will appear irregularly. In the meantime, Street Librarian continues to be updated several times a week with reviews, links to alternative presses and zines, and sundry "brain farts." Thanks to all our contributors and readers for your forbearance.
Just can't get enough alternative press reviews? Check out Counterpoise (1716 SW Williston Rd., Gainesville, FL 32608; $9 each, back issues); Zine World (537 Jones St., #2386, San Francisco, CA 94102; $3 single copy); Amusing Yourself to Death (P.O. Box 91934, Santa Barbara, CA 93190; $3 sample copy); and Queer Zine Explosion (Box 590488, San Francisco, CA 94159; $2/4 issues).
"The highest form of literary sublety, in a corrupt social order, is to tell the plain truth," wrote Edward Abbey. The patron saint of the curvy-edge movement, Cactus Ed was fired as editor of his college literary magazine for printing on its cover the Voltaire quote "[Humans] will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest," and attributing it to Louisa May Alcott. Occasionally puckish, usually goading, Abbey's doggedly immoderate writings have something to offend nearly everyone. That said, no one wrote as fearlessly (and lovingly) in defense of the voiceless. Known as a "nature writer" and picaresque novelist (e.g., The monkey wrench gang), Abbey's journals describe much more than desert walks and raft trips down the Colorado. They elucidate his complex inner life, a brew of self-criticism, doubts, longing, depression, lust (and concomitant self-analysis), wanderlust, familial love, friendship, and determined independence. Full of wise-ass opinion on everything from authors and composers to Park Service politics, Confessions of a barbarian: selections from the journals of Edward Abbey, 1951-1989 (Little, Brown, 1994) is imbued with a personal philosophy which idealizes freedom and justice. Reading Abbey is like opening a door: "Without courage, all other virtues are useless."
By Cathy Camper
It seemed like a generous gesture. "Here's a gift for you," the clerk at Target said, tucking a little box in my bag of purchases, when I went shopping in early November. "It's a card game you might enjoy playing with your children or friends." When I got home, I took a look--"Terrific Toy Box Card Game--Two Fun Games in One," the packaged promised. Then I dumped the contents on the table. Instead of suits the cards featured full color photos of toys--Barbie, Bug's Life, Teletubbies and Hot Wheels, all kinds of products lining Target's shelves to feed the upcoming holiday frenzy. What were the two "terrific" games? One was "Concentration." (Kids, if you weren't introduced to these toys on TV commercials or in newspaper supplements, there are still two months before Christmas for you to memorize their names.) The other was "Go Fish"--I was surprised they hadn't renamed it "Go Shop!" To make this fishing game their own, Target threw in a card called "The Empty Toy Box." The instructions say the one left holding this card loses, but I say that kid's the winner in a card game involving so much adult sleight of hand.
MSRRT sponsored two sessions at the 1998 Minnesota Library Association conference in Rochester. One was described in the last newsletter ("Beyond the Valley of the Mega-Publishers"). The second featured Rocky Ralebipi addressing "Rural Library and Information services in South Africa." Formerly Director of Library and Audiovisual Services at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Ralebipi is now chair of the Department of Information Studies at the University of the North in South Africa. At MLA she presented demographic details about the rural Northern Province where most citizens have not gone beyond the fifth grade in school and most do not currently have access to a library. Two Minnesota librarians serving rural populations responded to this talk, Jodi Reng (Director of the Plum Creek Library System) and John Christenson (Director, Traverse des Sioux Library System). While it may seem remote, there are some connections between rural library service in South Africa and Minnesota. For one thing, an interesting footnote showed up recently in the South African library journal Innovation concerning a kind of homemade library. Zakhe, the note said, a Xhosa word meaning "build yourself," is a "small private community resource center and service agency which operated from offices in Hanover Park, Western Cape, initiated in 1978"). Christine Stilwell, the article's author, was not difficult to contact, and she responded to our query. "There is such interesting stuff from Zimbabwe, where donkey drawn carts are used to peddle books and information around," she noted. Stilwell mentioned "a precursor here in the 40s in the form of H.I.E Dhlomo's bicycle library" and mentioned the contemporary emergence of "telecentres" (fax, phone, Internet) in rural areas. "We visited one near Wartburg recently," she wrote, "next door... to a mud house with pumpkins on the roof. Unfortunately the centre has IT support problems but some of our group hope to set up support more locally. Some of the areas where my students come from, and do needs assessments in, don't even have public telephones."
"I intend this zine to cross-pollinate the interests of some of its readers," Mike Gunderloy noted in his two-page initial issue of Factsheet Five, dated May 1982. One of the half dozen items Gunderloy listed was The gospel according to Fred the Publican from The Church of the Anarchist Avatar based in Tampa, Florida. In Factsheet Five #3, a review of The Paranoid Flash Illuminator ("Sectual Organ of the First Commercial Evangelical Erisian Orthodox SubMoron Church of the Anarchist Avatar of Ladder Day Saints") notes: "product of the mad, mad brain of Kerry Thornley." A resident of Atlanta during recent years, Thornley died of cardiac arrest on November 28. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obituary highlights Thornley's connections to Lee Harvey Oswald, but also notes that he "wrote for alternative publications, providing articles, short stories and black-humored send-ups of society for nearly 30 years." Three years ago this newsletter reported on a visit to the Factsheet Five Collection at the New York State Library, noting Thornley's manuscripts there "handwritten on tiny spiral notebooks." The author of Zenarchy and co-author of Principia discordia, Kerry Thornley is gone but won't soon be forgotten. His creative and mischievous spirit lingers. For more, read a eulogy by Sondra London.
Speaking of Mike Gunderloy, he's now (among other things) an aficionado of recreational vehicles. See pictures, travelogue, etc., on Gunderloy's web pages.
Though not on the scale of the Gunderloy archive in Albany, two recently established special collections have been added to the UCLA Library. The Darby Romeo collection of zines (54 boxes) "consists of privately printed and distributed arts and literary magazines," from the longtime editor of Ben is Dead. The Mark Rose collection of mail art, artists' stamps, and zines (38 boxes) includes artists' books, exhibition catalogues, books about mail art, and related documentation, as well as "various issues of zines including Farm Pulp, La Langouste, Leighton Look, The Mad Engineer, ND, Obscure Publications and Video, Peltex, PhotoStatic Magazine, The Printers Devil, Lo Straniero, and Umbrella."
ABBEY'S WEB (Edward Abbey site with articles, searchable quotes database, y mucho mas)
ADAPT (disability rights bulletins, contacts, articles)
COMIC ART COLLECTION (Michigan State University Libraries)
DESCARGA (Latin music source)
DIEGO RIVERA MUSEO VIRTUAL (a bilingual multimedia site)
THE ORIGINAL FRIDA KAHLO HOME PAGE GLOVEBOX ZINE DISTRO MUMIA ABU-JAMAL (International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia)
Zine scene. By Francesa Lia Block & Hilary Carlip. Girl Press, 1998. Encouraging self-expression and providing a variety of springboard ideas, this "do it yourself guide to zines" is similar to two books published last year. In its favor, it's much "zinier" looking than A girl's guide to taking over the world and Chip Rowe's The book of zines, relying heavily on graphic examples and excerpts. Both anthology and how-to, it culls from a fair variety of publications--not just grrrl zines--and offers suggestions for content and format. Truly inspirational at times, it includes excerpts by turns hilarious and serious, covering a range from crushes on cartoon characters to self-mutilation. The authors touch upon such important issues as the relationship between free expression and responsibility, and strongly advise (no doubt with girls in mind), "NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR HOME ADDRESS OR PHONE NUMBER!" Certain to be criticized by insiders who question the authors' credentials (Block is best known for her Weetzie Bat novels), the book is neither candy-coated nor everything it might have been. Its foremost problem stems from the authors' decision to omit contact information. While addresses do go out of date, by not printing them they frustrate readers who'll wish to contact zine editors and procure their publications. Nitpicking: brief coverage of mini-zines gives the impression they occur as offspring of a larger publication. Also: the "no address" decision is carried as far as blacking out addresses from graphics. Three review sources are provided: Factsheet Five (publication suspended), Maximumrocknroll (punk music emphasis), and Zine World. (8273 Clinton St., Los Angeles, CA 90048; $14.95, paper, 0-9659754-3-6; http://www.girlpress.com).
Turnip blues. By Helen Campbell. Spinsters Ink, 1998 233p. What a joy to read about two seventy-five year old women taking a road trip. In a world that celebrates youth and beauty, it's refreshing to encounter a novel that portrays older women leading productive, self-sufficient, occasionally exciting lives despite arthritis, bursitis, and other ailments. Masha Kuzo and Masha Lemack, best friends since childhood who address each other by surname to avoid confusion, undertake an excursion to visit Bessie Smith's grave. However, this book is not so much a tale of their adventures on the road as it is Mrs. Kuzo's life story. Between a smorgasbord of snack food and Mrs. Lemack's flirting with young men attending service stations, Mrs. Kuzo remembers the pain and occasional joy of growing up in a dysfunctional (to put it mildly) family. The author cleverly uses foreshadowing to draw the reader into the story, and the slow unraveling of details piques interest. Flashbacks are believable as an elder's remembrances, but the best part of the novel is simply its depiction of strong older women who take care of themselves and each other. Their friendship, lasting long after husbands die and children disappoint, is inspirational. My favorite books share two distinctions. I become so involved with the characters and plot that I forget I'm reading, and I think about them long after I've consumed the final chapter. This novel meets both criteria. (32 E. 1st St., #330; Duluth, MN 55802-2002, 218-727-3222; $10.95, paper, 1-883523-23-0; http://www.spinsters-ink.com). --Chantel C. Guidry
Chiapas: el fin del silencio/the end of silence. By Antonio Turok. Introduction by Francisco ,varez Qui?s. Aperture, 1998. 137p. Like a nightmarish yet wondrous amalgam of Luis Bu? and Alfred Hitchcock, a dark sky fills with wind-whipped birds before a total eclipse of the sun. One ghostly figure skulks in front of a taverna seemingly located at the ominous address of 666. Photographer Antonio Turok, born and raised in Ciudad Mexico, has spent most of his life working in San Crist? de las Casas, Chiapas. This collection of black-and-white photographs taken from 1976 to 1995 represents such stark extremes it explains upheaval in almost biochemical terms. Here are images of wealthy men and women laughing, reclining on leopard skin, riding in carnival parades. Also here are stark faces of massed refugees, homeless sleepers, and survivors of rape (an old woman who daubs her face with mud). Inevitably, darkness appears at noon, Mayans resist and Zapatistas take up arms. While bleak, Turok's vision does not preclude hope. A Mayan boy, arms folded, appraises the harvest. A girl blows a seed and her eyes see a bird, joy, magic. (20 E. 23rd St., New York, NY 10010, 212-598-4205, FAX: 212-598-4015; $40, cloth, 0-89381-772-4).
Simple annals: 200 years of an American family. By Robert Howard Allen. Four Walls Eight Windows, 1997. 208p. "Where do the days go/That the sun grinds in the sky?" Beginning with the story of a millwright born in 1750, these deceptively simple poems and tales unfold from family "legends and folk tales" the author heard as a child in rural West Tennessee. The grist for many of them came from a blind great-aunt to whom Allen read the Bible twice through. With no wasted words, some retell humorous accounts of ghosts and "joint snakes," possums and crafty preachers. Still, a theme of survival prevails; a timeless elegiac tone pervades most of Allen's poems. The ancestors in whose voices he speaks struggled with hard lives. Their gentleness lingers at the edges of strife, threatened always by greed, meanness, lust, violence, tragedy, yearning, and dying. According to the book jacket, the author didn't attend a day of school until age 32, having learned to read "in a ramshackle farmhouse where he lived with...his grandfather." This is probably a good thing for the reader, since Allen's prose is remarkably free from academese. In clear measured words it brings to life Civil War veterans, lynching witnesses, farmers, abandoned wives, and eccentric aunts. Guaranteed to compel people to read aloud from it to anyone within earshot, Simple annals will persist in readers' minds. "The sound of the stream holds us/Like three-year-old children to a tale/That goes on longer than it has gone." (39 W. 14th St., New York, NY 10011, 212-206-8965, FAX: 212-206-8799; $22, cloth, 1-56858-090-8; http://www.fourwallseightwindows.com).
The Zinn reader: writings on disobedience and democracy. By Howard Zinn. Seven Stories Press, 1997. 668p. Highly recommended. Essays on race, class, war, law, "means and ends," and history, most published for the first time in book form. (632 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10012; $35, cloth, 1-888363-53-3; http://www.sevenstories.com).
The black book. Edited by Bill Brent. 5th ed. Black Books, 1998. 226p. Sex toy sources, fetish clubs, genital surgery specialists, purveyors of erotic gay videos, designers of sexy clothing, sex education organizations, sex-related catalogs, zines, and bookstores: The black book is a directory to all these and more. Its stated scope: "sex-positive services and organizations throughout the US and Canada." Arranged alphabetically, from Minneapolis' own A Brother's Touch bookstore to The Zoophilic Outreach Organization, entries include annotations, addresses, phone numbers, web site URLs, and--where applicable--business hours. It contains ads, as well as appendices listing nightclubs, bathhouses, lesbian bars, swingers groups, adult theaters and video shops, gay/lesbian newspapers, web sites, and computer bulletin boards. Separate indexes provide detailed subject access to "groups & gatherings," consumer products, professional services, and publishers. (P.O. Box 31155, San Francisco, CA 94131, 415-431-0171, FAX: 415-431-0172; $17, paper, 0-9637401-5-6; http://www.blackbooks.com).
Hot pantz ("Do it yourself gynecology") is a 48-page zine-like pamphlet describing "herbal remedies for yeast infections, STDs, hormonal imbalances, late periods, and other conditions. Now in its third edition (1998), it is the English translation of Isabelle Gauthier's C'est toujours chaud dans les culottes des filles. (CP 871, Succ. C, Montr?, Quebec, Canada, H2L 4L6; $4 postpaid).
Street posters & ballads: a selection of poems, songs & graphics. By Eric Drooker). Seven Stories Press, 1998. 79p. The struggle of homeless people and squatters against police repression in and around New York City's Tompkins Square Park is not widely known. Covered previously by Eric Drooker in the comic book World War III, the resistance is now further documented, most notably in radical artwork. This selection of intense posters "wheat-pasted on the streets of the Lower East Side over the past decade," effectively uses scratchboard technique, sometimes telling a story without a single word. Printed in four colors, black and white set off by gray and crimson shouts of fire and blood, they stand alone successfully. No less incendiary are the words and music to eleven songs, including new renditions of "Dem Bones," "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum," and (She's Got the Whole World) "In Her Hands." Includes an afterword by Allen Ginsberg. (140 Watts St., New York, NY 10013; $18, paper, 1-888363-77-0; http://www.sevenstories.com).
Living at night. By Mariana Romo-Carmona. Spinsters Ink, 1997. 257p. The protagonist of this coming-of-age novel is a young Puerto Rican working-class lesbian living in New England. Her problems include guilt over her mother's illness, an upper-class white girlfriend who just doesn't get it, guilt over having quit school, the strain of working at a home for developmentally disabled people, and having coworkers who ignore her identity as a lesbian and a woman of color. She breaks up with her girlfriend, gets assaulted, changes jobs (deciding to work in a nursing home), and ultimately reunites with her sister. The problem is that the character is portrayed as being so detached from everything going on around her that none of these events seem to have any impact or resonance. The writing is vivid and absorbing at times, but I kept waiting for something to happen and nothing ever did. In a way, this made the book more realistic. Maybe this book will make more sense to me after I come of age. (32 E. First St. #330, Duluth, MN 55802-2002, 218-727-3222, FAX: 218-727-3119, email: spinsters@aol.com; $10.95, paper, 1-883523-22-2; http://www.spinsters-ink.com/). --Katia Roberto
Baby help. By Marilyn Reynolds. Morning Glory Press, 1998. 222p. This is the sixth book in Reynolds' True-To-Life Series >From Hamilton High, aimed towards high school students in difficult situations. Other titles in the series deal with teen pregnancy, and sexual and physical abuse. Baby help is about teen mother Melissa, her young daughter Cheyenne, and her boyfriend Rudy. When Rudy's behavior towards the two of them becomes emotionally and physically abusive, Melissa and Cheyenne go to a battered women's shelter. They stay there for several months, eventually planning to relocate to a halfway house, but decide to return to Rudy instead. Eventually, Melissa realizes that this was a grave mistake and moves in with her estranged mother. While the book's plot is somewhat predictable, the writing--especially depictions of the abuse endured by Melissa and Cheyenne and descriptions of everyday life in the women's shelter--rings true. The characters are realistically portrayed (with the possible exception of Rudy, who tends to come off as a two-dimensional abusive alcoholic jerk). Reynolds certainly means well, and that's difficult to criticize. (6595 San Haroldo Way, Buena Park, CA 90620-3748, 714-828-1998, FAX: 714-828-2049; $8.95, paper, 1-885356-27-7). --Katia Roberto
My Evil Twin Sister is much more than a personal zine. A collaborative project of twin sisters Amber Gayle and Stacey Wakefield, the 155-page issue #3 is a full-fledged novel (Ramble right) set in northern Germany in 1990. It's a superbly poignant account about squatting, friendship, love, and hashish, told from the point of view of an 18-year-old "figuring life out." Like Agnes Varda's 1985 film "Vagabond," its young drifter meets people, chooses where to go next and who to accompany, but most of all seeks freedom and the ability to fully be oneself. Written by Amber, it's also a handsome artists' book designed and illustrated by Stacy (co-author of Not for rent: conversations with creative activists in the U.K.) and printed in black and green on "tree-free" paper. Issue #2 was an account about traveling in the U.S. along Interstate 95. (Box 1373, Jacksonville, OR 97530, ambergayle@hotmail.com; $5).
Punk Planet, a significant bimonthly magazine published since 1994, is currently held by just three OCLC libraries. That's a shame. Its focus is punk music, and while each issue contains related interviews, articles, reviews, letters, and ads, Punk Planet also contains interesting and thoughtful writing and debate about broader topics. In the 152-page July/August 1998 edition (#26) that meant a thorough article about the Whole Foods chain (in part about its anti-unionism) and a piece about the shooting death of a San Francisco graffiti artist, while the September/ October issue included a first-person account about a trip to Iraq, an essay on teaching a class on punk culture and history, and a substantial essay on public school violence (focusing on how mass media ignores the fact that shootings happen in white communities and often target girls). Regular columnists include zine editors Lisa Jervis (Bitch), Bob Conrad (Second Guess), and Larry Livermore, the latter often provoking long letters in response. Another contributor is indie filmmaker Sarah Jacobson who writes in #27 about film distribution. Each issue also contains zine reviews, as well as extensive "D-I-Y Files" on such topics as "how to get a vasectomy" and vaginal health. (P.O. Box 464, Chicago, IL 60690, 773-465-3365, FAX: 773-465-3367, http://www.punkplanet.com).
Brat ("Because your school paper sucks") is a nonprofit publication "written and produced by youth and young adults...to promote social awareness... activism, and...progressive cultures." The 54-page issue #7 looks at dress codes, curfews, the grading system, "unschooling," and so-called zero-tolerance policies, along with such topics as fatphobia, McDonald's, political prisoners, sexism in language, and nuclear weapons tests. Several of these straightforward pieces include resource lists with addresses. There are also extensive letters from readers, many responding to a previously published piece about straight edge, as well as reviews. Earlier editions (the first five of which have text on the web) contain material on "gang paranoia," skateboarders' rights, youth apathy, and temp work. (P.O. Box 4964, Louisville, KY 40204, 502-456-1409; $7/4 issues; http://www.verbivore.org/brat).
Dark Night Field Notes is a substantial quarterly nonprofit magazine in support of "the struggle for liberation of indigenous peoples." The 64-page Summer 1997 issue (#10, "Sovereignty in the Era of Neoliberalism") contained an interesting article by Ward Churchill about contemporary suppression of sovereignty in North America and related commentary by the EZLN's Subcomandante Marco, while #11 focused on the U.S. prison industry, with profiles of companies which run for-profit prisons, an extensive article by Churchill on Mumia Abu-Jamal's case, an interview with Geronimo ji Jaga, and material on Bear Lincoln's acquittal and retrial (some reprinted from Anderson Valley Advertiser). The 110-page #12/13 is an all-Chiapas edition, with a timeline, Zapatista communiqu? and material by John Ross. As with each issue, it also contains a book review and poetry. (P.O. Box 3629, Chicago, IL 60690, 773-373-7074, 773-373-7188, darknight@igc.apc.org; $15, $50 institutional, $10 seniors/prisoners; 1087-4592).
The Glovebox Chronicles is a zine devoted to stories about people and cars. Handsomely produced using part of a topographic map for the cover, issue #4 includes readers' responses to questions about accidents, breakdowns, "car art," traffic cops, and "long car trips as a kid" (most from other zine editors, including Stephanie Webb and Ruel Gaviola), as well as comics (one about being given a ride by a "born-again" Christian), and an account about attending the 1998 Churchville (Maryland) Car Show. Forthcoming: keyrings, getting lost, driver's license photos, and rest area stories. (P.O. Box 963, Havre de Grace, MD 21078; $5/3).
Slow Leek is Davida Gypsy Breier's personal zine, noteworthy first for the care with which she designs her covers. Issues #16-18 all contain letters from readers (including such zine editors as K.D. Schmitz, Donny Smith, Mark Hain, and Owen Thomas), humorous lists of "signs you are doing a zine," and entries from Davida's journal. From the latter we learn she is a bird watcher, an office supply junkie, and a school sports photographer. (Of young wrestlers she writes, "they...smell funny, not just sweaty, but moldy.") Davida also describes attending a zine convention in San Jose last winter where she turned a "virtual" relationship with Carrie McNinch into a real one, writes interestingly about working as a substitute teacher and as a film extra on the set of the TV show "Homicide," comments on "the darker side of cheerleading," and wonders about the collectibles industry. Each issue also contains zine reviews. (P.O. Box 963, Havre de Grace, MD 21078; $5/6).
Contemporary Social Issues: A Bibliographic Series is a long-standing quarterly available on a subscription basis, as a standing order, or individually. Published by the editors of Left Index, recent issues have covered environmental racism, affirmative action, NAFTA and GATT, Latinas, international feminism, health care, and disabilities. The 72-page issue #48 ("The Asian American woman: social, economic, and political conditions") contains 724 unannotated bibliographic citations arranged in nearly two dozen categories. Sources for these range extensively, and include theses and material from the alternative press. Especially notable: four pages of annotated web sites, from Mimi Nguyen's "links to critical chicks" to "Welcome to InspirAsian!" (Reference and Research Services, 511 Lincoln St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060; ISSN: 0887-3569; $55/year, $15 each).
Antifa Forum is a zine from Anti-Fascist Forum, a group which "collects and disseminates information and analysis on fascist activity and anti-fascist resistance." The 26-page issue #2 covers contemporary anti-fascism in North America, with articles on the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, criticism of the Montreal-based Ligue Anti-fasciste Mondiale (LAM), coverage of the ADL's spying operations in San Francisco, and material on 1995 mail bombings attributed to "the self-styled 'Anti-Fascist Militia'" in Canada. Also: international anti-fascist web site listings. (AFF, P.O. Box 6326, Station A, Toronto, Ontario, M5W 1P7, Canada, http://burn.ucsd.edu/~aff).
Screams from Inside should especially interest young women involved in punk music. A few years ago when issue #4 came out its editor, Carissa, was at the University of Minnesota where she wrote eloquently about her personal life, straight edge politics, and the dilemmas she was then confronting. Now with issue #7 ("The Punk Girl Issue"), increased self-assurance is evident. Attractively packaged (glossy cover with original art), it contains interviews with such women zine editors as Christine Boarts (Slug & Lettuce), Jen Angel (Fucktooth), Cindy (Doris), Stacey Wakefield (co-editor of Not for Rent), and Amanda Huron (Splatterspleen), as well as cartoons and illustrations by the incomparable Fly. There are also personal writings by the editor, historical items about Mother Jones and Emma Goldman, and reviews of books, zines, and music. Hopeful in tone, Screams from Inside models self-empowerment and inspiration. (Carissa, 4434 Ludlow St., Philadelphia, PA 19104, hopscotcharmy@juno.com).
The Tench is a new zine from Kaspahraster editor Jean Heriot who works by day in a transportation library and by night reads science fiction and radical literature. The 12-page initial issue (September 1998) features material on Luther Blissett (like Karen Elliott, a "multiple name...all are invited to adopt whenever we want") from an Italian public television conversation, a letter from a former library worker who writes about how Minneapolis is going to hell in a hand basket, and a translation of Ivan Chtcheglov's "Formulary for a new urbanism" (a critique of architectural "banalization"), as well as resource listings pertaining to "eco-action," anarchism, and mail art. (Jean Heriot, P.O. Box 7844, Olympia, WA 98507; http://www.teleport.com/~jaheriot).
The Alliance Reports is a publication of the Alliance for Democracy. The 20-page June 1998 issue (v.2 #6) includes agribusiness news briefs ("Corporate indigestion--from seedling to supermarket"), information about organizing against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment, and reports from regional chapters, as well as an events calendar. (Box 683, Lincoln, MA 01773, 781-259-9395, FAX: 781-259-0404, Peoplesall@aol.com; http://www.ea1.com/alliance).
ColorLines is a significant new magazine being published quarterly by the Applied Research Center and the Center for Third World Organizing. Springing from (and replacing) RaceFile and Third Force, it is devoted to covering "the politics, organizing, and creations of communities of color." Each 44-page issue contains original interviews and reviews, along with articles and commentary on topics ranging from "imperial rule in Puerto Rico and Hawaii" to the recent taxi strike in New York City. The Summer 1998 premiere edition looked back to the massacre of students in Mexico City on the eve of the 1968 Olympics, asked Harry Edwards "What happened to the revolt of the Black athlete?," examined threats to Native American sovereignty, and talked with a white anti-racist organizer in Montana, while the Fall 1998 issue (guest edited by Angela Davis) focused on the U.S. "prison industrial complex." The Winter 1999 edition features interviews with poet June Jordan and rapper Boots Riley of The Coup, reports on a program aimed at curtailing Latino youth violence, and covers the growing crackdown on "illegal" immigrants. (4096 Piedmont Ave. #319, Oakland, CA 94611-5221, 510-465-9577, FAX: 510-465-4824, colorlines@arc.org; ISSN: 1098-3503; $15/6).
Speak Out is the newsletter of the Philadelphia-based Women Organized Against Rape. The 8-page Winter 1998 edition contains articles about educational outreach efforts to men and boys, people recovering from addictions, high school students, Latinos, and Asian Americans (e.g., Mai Huynh's "Helping Asian women break the silence"), as well as coverage of two Take Back the Night marches. (1233 Locust St., Suite 202, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-985-3315, FAX: 215-985-9111, http://www.libertynet.org/~woar).
The Activist EpiZine ("A magazine of profeminist activism") is published bimonthly by the nonprofit Sexual Exploitation Education Project. A successor to the Activist Men's Journal (MSRRT, Oct 93), its editorial board is chiefly male. The 16-page v.1 #3 (undated but mailed March 1998) contains an article on starting a "men against rape" group, a series of letters to the editor and publisher of a newspaper about its ads for strip clubs, and Vernon McLean's "Tupac Shakur and Black masculinity," as well as a chronology of Chinese immigration to the U.S. (1811 NE 39th Ave., Portland, OR 97212, 503-284-1909, straton@science1.sb2.pdx.edu).
The Bullet is the Word is a tabloid issued by the Vancouver-based Third World Alliance, an organization "of and for people of color committed to the decolonization of ourselves, our histories and our cultures." The 12-page March/April 1998 edition contains an interview with Puerto Rico independentista Cancel Miranda, an action alert regarding the death in prison of Merle Africa, material on Robert Wayne Guy's death in King County Jail, and an update on the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, as well as an International Women's Day statement from Assata Shakur. Also: a review of Televisionaries: the Red Army Faction story. (c/o The Gleaner, 100 W. 49th Ave., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5Y 2Z6, 604-720-8782, FAX: 604-322-7547, thirdworldalliance@yahoo.com, http://mypage.direct.ca/e/epang).
Moxie ("For the woman who dares") is a glossy new independent magazine geared mostly to younger women and intended for quarterly publication. The premiere issue focused on workplace concerns, with articles about working as a landscape gardener, television executive, sex worker, and pastry chef, as well as a profile of two bands both named Moxie. The 64-page Fall 1998 edition (v.1 #2) looks at love and relationships, emphasizing men-women relations but not excluding women who love women. It includes material on "the inherent hilarity of sex" ("Laugh in bed"), stories about couples' first encounters, one woman's tale of an online courtship which led to marriage, and even an apologetic for virginity. Moxie's ads mirror its editorial focus away from fashion, beauty, and "air-brushed images of female facsimiles." (1230 Glen Ave., Berkeley, CA 94708, 510-540-5510; $12; www.moxiemag.com).
ScotsGay is a bimonthly magazine "for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals...in Scotland." The (October 97) issue examined (#18) includes material on age of consent and a so-called "Paedophiles' Register" set up by police, international news briefs, and commentary on the death of Princess Diana, as well as reviews, scene reports, and event information. (Box 666, Edinburgh, Scotland EH7 5YW; ISSN: 1357-0595; www.scotsgay.co.uk).
The Women, Food & Agriculture Network newsletter "links and amplifies women's voices on issues of food systems, sustainable communities and environmental integrity." The 6-page February 1998 initial edition contains an article on rural women's organizing in Australia and a call for public response on proposed changes to organic food standards, while the 8-page May newsletter reports on community supported agriculture in Japan, defines and lists resources on Community Food Security, and describes the Plant a Row for the Hungry program. Also: resource and event listings. (RR2, Box 79, Atlantic, IA 50022, 712-243-5752, katywhansen@igc.org).
Zero Cut Times is a tabloid publication of the Campaign to End Commercial Logging on Public Lands. The Summer 1998 edition (#3) includes editorials, coverage of pertinent court cases and legislation, regional updates, and poll results, as well as "How the Forest Service responds to Zero-Cut." (c/o Native Forest Network, P.O. Box 8251, Missoula, MT 59807, 406-542-7343, FAX: 406-542-7347, russell@wildrockies.org).
Arkangel is a substantial UK-based animal liberation magazine. Each issue contains British press clippings related to animal rights, international news, hunt sabotage updates, and reading recommendations, as well as contact data for dozens of groups working on everything from prisoners' "right to a vegan diet" to a campaign against fishing. Issue #18 includes an 8-page McLibel case update, an editorial on homelessness and pets ("the majority of shelters refuse access to...pets"), and material from the Animal Liberation Front. (BCM 9240, London, England WC1N 3XX).
Peace Matters ("Working for peace without violence") is a quarterly magazine published by the Peace Pledge Union, the oldest non-sectarian peace group in Britain. Free from cant and lazy thinking, the 20-page January 1998 edition (#20) contains statistics on civilian war deaths, material on child soldiers (and a move to establish a worldwide minimum age for military recruitment), and the second of two articles examining "the continuing reverberations of the Holocaust," as well as commentary on children and war toy ads, an essay on the meaning of citizenship, and coverage of a "Remembrance Day" white poppy campaign emphasizing peace education. (Peaceworks, 41b Brecknock Rd., London, N7 0BT, England; peacenow@gn.apc.org; http://gn.apc.org/peacepledge; ISSN: 1350-3006).
Home Education Magazine is a bimonthly publication aimed at homeschoolers, with practical articles, news, and reviews. The 66-page November/December 1997 edition (v.14 #6) includes interesting and thoughtful commentary on respecting children's needs by not forcing information on them ("My kids won't let me teach"), as well as a piece on starting a chess club, and material on "virtual travel" via the Internet. There are also penpal listings and a directory of organizations. (Editorial: P.O. Box 1587, Palmer, AK, 99645, 907-746-1336, FAX: 907-746-1335; Subscriptions: P.O. Box 1083, Tonasket, WA 98855, 509-486-1351, FAX: 509-486-2628; $24; ISSN: 0888-4633; www.home-ed-press.com).
The Progressive Populist ("A monthly journal from America's heartland") is a tabloid consisting largely of reprinted columns by Mollie Ivins, Jim Hightower, Ralph Nader, Norman Solomon, Michael Moore, and others whose writings appear sporadically in corporate papers. Each issue also contains letters to the editor and other original material. The 24-page October 1998 edition (v.4 #10) includes an article about right wing think tanks (Minnesota-based Center for the American Experiment, for one) and a report on a petition to revoke the charter of the Union Oil Company of California (Unocal), while the December 1998 issue has election commentary by editor Jim Cullen ("Jesse 'The Body" Ventura slams Minnesota politics"). Indexed in Alternative Press Index. (Box 150517, Austin, TX 78715, 512-447-0487, populist@usa.net; subscriptions: Box 487, Storm Lake, IA 50588, 712-732-4991; $18; ISSN: 1096-5971; www.populist.com).
Oop ("Your authoritative source for the oopist perspective") is a tidy zine which has examined brushes with celebrity, odd names, and "office supply fixations," while also reporting on Noam Chomsky, Elvin Jones, and "Dad." The 24-page issue #9 contains profiles and photos of three Ohio-based (or -born) zine editors--Nancy Bonnell-Kangas, Owen Thomas, and Candi Strecker. Baby Boomer editor Joey Harrison also remembers a Rolling Stones concert, writes about the 1998 National Coon Dog Trials, and enthuses about paraphernalia procured from a New Jersey-based business called Joey Harrison's Surf Club. Issue #7 included a substantial interview with cartoon music composer Fred Steiner while #8 featured a conversation with an antique toaster collector. (4454 Pennfield Rd., Toledo, OH 43612; $8/4).
Ten Foot Rule is mini-comic whose stories centering around youth culture often take an ironic view. For example, in issue #1 a member of a punk band exhorts his audience to "reject the false promises of...materialism," but later pimps the band's own t-shirts, stickers, and CDs. The second edition contains a piece about encountering new music on the radio while driving, while #2 1/2 features "a true story" about being hit up on the street for drugs ("How the fuck would I have some Special K if I don't even know what it is?"). The 16-page #3 includes "another tale of retail hell," a take-off on "the unsung heroes of zinedom," a portrait of a homophobic comic collector, and two dark stories about depression and violence, along with 17 short reviews. (Shawn Granton, 170 Beaver St., Ansonia, CT 06401; $1 + 1 stamp/copy).
Exapno Mapcase is a mini-comic created by Mark Campos. While issue #2 leads with a dry piece about a 1929 radio comedy, it also contains a story illustrating dysfunctional contemporary public library trends in selection and weeding. In a library with such hot new titles as Midnight in the garden of Martha Stewart and The Anne Rice diet, a mother and daughter seek an old book that's been officially withdrawn. (P.O. Box 95234, Seattle, WA 98145-2234, mhcampos@aol.com, http://members.aol.com/mhcampos/index.html).
Lavender Salon Reader (MSRRT Newsletter, Aug 94) has new contact data: 2611 N. Summit St., Appleton, WI 54914, 920-738-0497, www.athenet.net/~lavsalon
Profane Existence (MSRRT Newsletter, April 91) has ceased publication with issue #37. Get the skinny: www.profaneexistence.com
Wild Earth (MSRRT Newsletter, Sep 92) has a new address: Box 455, Richmond, VT 05477, 802-434-4077.
Common Courage new titles include Framing youth: 10 myths about the next generation, and Against the grain: biotechnology and the corporate takeover of your food. (Box 702, Monroe, ME 04951, 1-800-497-3207, FAX: 207-525-3068; www.commoncouragepress.com).
African American Images has published such recent titles as Brenda Wall's The Rodney King Rebellion: a psychopolitical analysis of racial despair & hope, Madeleine Wright's Sisters helping sisters, and Anthony Davis' Yo, little brother: basic rules of survival for young African American males. (1909 W. 95th St., Chicago, IL 60643, 773-445-0322, FAX: 773-445-9844).
Arsenal Pulp Press recent titles include Scrambled brains: a cooking guide for the reality impaired and Tess Fragoulis' Stories to hide from your mother. (103, 1014 Homer St., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, V6B 2W9, 604-687-4233, FAX: 604-669-8250, arsenal@pinc.com).
Feminist Press recent titles include A lifetime of labor: the autobiography of Alice H. Cook and Jane Gould's Juggling: a memoir of work, family, and feminism. (Wingate Hall, City College/CUNY, Convent Ave. at 138 St., New York, NY 10031, 212-650-8890, FAX: 212-650-8893).
Duncan & Duncan, Inc. has published such recent titles as David Foy's Great discoveries and inventions by African-Americans and Howard L. Wallace's Federal plantation: affirmative inaction within our federal government. (P.O. Box 1137, Edgewood, MD 21040, 410-538-5579, FAX: 410-538-5584).
Social Change Press recent titles include Falling through the cracks: AIDS and the urban poor and On deadline: labor relations in newspaper publishing. (38-15 Corporal Kennedy St., Bayside, NY 11361, 718-281-0403).
Golden Voices, Inc. offers "classic African American literature on...audiocassette," including works by Frederick Douglass and Paul Laurence Dunbar. (P.O. Box 24044, Lansing, MI 48911).
Not wet yet (I gotta go, v.2.00): an anthology of commentary (1982-1996). By Ian Shoales. 2.13.61, 1997. 268p. Satirical writings on gangsta rap, school prayer, movies, pennies, temp work, toad sucking, and celebrity. (P.O. Box 1910, Los Angeles, CA 90078, 213-969-8791, FAX: 213-969-9451; $15, paper, 1-880985-45-4; www.two1361.com).
Personal stories of "How I got into sex." Edited by Bonnie Bullough, and others. Prometheus, 1997. 480p. Fascinating personal accounts by "leading researchers, sex therapists, educators, prostitutes, sex toy designers, sex surrogates, transsexuals, criminologists, clergy, and more," including Bonnie and Vern Bullough, Bette Dodson, and Albert Ellis. (59 John Glenn Dr., Amherst, NY 14228, 716-691-0133; $29.95, cloth, 1-57392-115-7).
Globalizing civil society: reclaiming our right to power. By David C. Korten. 1998. 78p. Open Media Pamphlet Series, 4. (140 Watts St., New York, NY 10013; $5.95, paper, 1-888363-59-2; www.sevenstories.com).
Gene wars: the politics of biotechnology. By Kristin Dawkins. 1997. 60p. Open Media Pamphlet Series, 3. ($4.95, 1-888363-48-7).
Media control: the spectacular achievements of propaganda. By Noam Chomsky. 1997. 58p. Open Media Pamphlet Series, 2. (1-888363-49-5).
Corporate media and the threat to democracy. By Robert W. McChesney. Seven Stories Press, 1997. 79p. Open Media Pamphlet Series, 1. (1-888363-47-9).
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