Midwest Zine Fest
Back in April, the Urbana Independent Media Center. I should have written a review sooner, but I didn't have the idea, or a functioning blog, until recently! Anyway, better late than never! Here's what I picked up...
Par (cell) ed Words
The Urbana Books to Prisoners is an activist group that sends prisoners literature. They also send radical librarians into prisons to tutor prisoners on writing and literacy. The COOLEST way they do that is through their experimental poetry zine, written by prisoners and give it away for free--radical (literally)! It's a great zine. Lots of really raw, emotive poems that make the reader feel humble. Here's my favorite poem railing against the Prison Industrial Complex, I hope Sidron doesn't mind if I share... (but if he does, I will take down--also, Sidron, if you're reading this, please email me let's chat!)
Brick Walls
By Sidron
Brick walls sick calls but the staff ain't 'bout nothing
Population got a 1,000 years and they still in here frontin'
Lookin' at the people in the cell right across from mine
I know our time is getting' lost but we ain't lost in time
Things better me like lotteries, so I sit & wonder
They got money to send satellites to space, but can't end
world hunger. Man, stop it, I'm tired of being tricked
Basketball causes convention & you can't see why I why I
don't want to be picked
If you lose something precious, you prey that you find it
I once was lost & everyday I'm reminded
Nobody goes back to a place that they hated
What if Eve could see the difference in life from that fruit
'fore she at it
Majesties brought casualties & they wanna be addressed as
your honor
If I came from the flame in my brain it wouldn't be nothin'
but damram
No love in the hugs so I look for somebody to save me
Went from the streeets to institutions, stuck in modern day
slavery
Pot to beans in the refridgerator been in there since the 12th
I'm tweleve, but it's the first so I snatch a purse, cuz I gotta
help myself
Hood life ain't good life but I just wish I could taste it
13 year old girl sodomized and her father's the rapist
I can't take it can't escape it 'cuz I can't fly into space
So I gotta make it even though I hate it 'cuz it's right in our
face.
The internet is full of comics--but rarely are those comics funny. Until now! Stop reading this and check out the comic art of Steve Schaburg! Steve's cast of comic characters ranges from a group of disgruntled wizard teens (Teen Wizard Academy), a sad alien/monster who works in an office (Office Comics) and a drunk baby (Drunk Baby). Without getting too heady, Steve's comics mock life's banality with the juxtaposition of unrestrained absurdity! To see what I mean, please inspect the above alien/monster failing to make coffee, which that ends up being taffy(?), and gets stuck all over his multi-antennied body. It's also really hard to guess where the strips go, giving them a really hip sense of visual timing. I bought an old zine on accident, but lately Steve is working on a new comic series, A Dope Mouthful (already up to #4!). Also check out @extranapkins, for a similar, yet text based, sense of strangeness.
Butch nor Femme #4 / Currioddity #2
Butch nor Femme/Currioddity is a Chicago zine made by two people; I got issue four/two, which reviewed every animated Disney movie (all 51) in a couple sentences--twice! Both authors, Dalice and Lynne watched every Disney cartoon that ever came out, then elaborated their reactions. The zine's design feels naturally subversive, since the authors used cutouts of Disney backgrounds, Disney princess stickers, and other things the Disney Corporation would get mad about. My two favorite parts are the zine's price (like, $2? How'd they print it so cheap!) and the great fun facts about Disney movies....Like: Upon release in Russia, John Travolta's Bolt had to be retitled as Volt, because Bolt is Russian slang for penis; David Bowie was considered for the voice of Hades in Hercules; there's six million black spots in 101 Dalmatians! More in zine! I <3 this zine!
Butch nor Femme/Currioddity is a Chicago zine made by two people; I got issue four/two, which reviewed every animated Disney movie (all 51) in a couple sentences--twice! Both authors, Dalice and Lynne watched every Disney cartoon that ever came out, then elaborated their reactions. The zine's design feels naturally subversive, since the authors used cutouts of Disney backgrounds, Disney princess stickers, and other things the Disney Corporation would get mad about. My two favorite parts are the zine's price (like, $2? How'd they print it so cheap!) and the great fun facts about Disney movies....Like: Upon release in Russia, John Travolta's Bolt had to be retitled as Volt, because Bolt is Russian slang for penis; David Bowie was considered for the voice of Hades in Hercules; there's six million black spots in 101 Dalmatians! More in zine! I <3 this zine!
I bought this zine because of it's title. The author makes really slick looking zines with black and white art. Seems like it was made through cut-up, stencil, collage, and marker. Also lots of neat photo copier effects. I love the repurposing of the 1950s sign looking people. The really clean cut, white bread, ideal of what people should be. No text or articles though, so very quick read. Check out some art here!
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