The Chronicles of M–.

The space where I intersect with zines.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] The Reverse Cougar Years #4

Title: The Reverse Cougar Years #4 Author: Maxx Date read: November 30th, 2013 I think I got this zine at ExpoZine, but I can't be sure. The cover's image of foot bones attracted me; no reputation preceded it (though that says more about how little I know the zine world, and less about the zine itself).

There's also marginal note here whining that I couldn't find numbers 1, 2, or 3 before I couldn't resist reading it any longer. Luckily, this is a great perzine you can jump right into. TRCY #4 is a zine written on "punk time," with a 24-hour turnaround for a zine jam. It wasn't planned, but was penned into existence for the Ottawa zine-off despite depression and a foot fracture.

We follow the author, who has transitioned from academia to hauling heavy audio equipment in the snow. With this shift comes the new reality of being a feminist at a work crew site, and everything that entails, from a dearth of steel-toed options for ladies (why pink only?!) to the constant sound of men using female adjectives to insult one another.

The author provides a lesson in coping. While anger is a justifiable response to misogyny, I've found it's not healthy or sustainable in a workplace situation. Maxx reminds us that we're all products of our own background--these blue-collar workers aren't "out to get" anyone. But is keeping your mouth shut just permissiveness?

The author sums it up nicely: "I don't want to compromise my morals, but I also don't want to consistently write other people off because I see them as being different than me."

There's no tidy solution, but there's a lot of insight along the way. I really liked this zine, both in substance and style.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] Deafula #1

Title: Deafula #1 Author: Kerri R. Date read: November 30th, 2013 I'd been on the trail of this zine for a while before I found it. (Like a fool, or an oppressively analog-bound collector, I had no idea Deafula had a website until just now.) I'd heard of it from someone, and sniffed it out at Montreal's ExpoZine. I scored the last copy!

I wanted to read this zine to better understand deaf experiences and perspectives. It is certainly excellent for that. Kerri explains the spectrum of potential communication between the hearing and the deaf, and where background training, age of hearing loss, etc. all come in.

More importantly, she talks about Deaf culture ("NOT a disability support group"), and how she is suspended between Deaf culture and hearing culture because of her own experiences. The zine wraps up with some useful tips for "what to do if you encounter a deafie in the wild." Important knowledge for anyone interested in not making a heel of themselves.

This review doesn't capture the enjoyment I found in Deafula. The author's writing is a big part of that, so don't just seek out this zine for 'tips on deaf people'--it's an enriching perzine that holds its own.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

(Dis)organization.

Dear followers,

Over the next few days, I'm hoping to dust off this blog and share some of the zines I've read. Despite my optimistic idea that I could adhere to my own anal retentive organization scheme, I've already become lost in a sea of zines. There are zines I read months ago which I haven't reviewed here yet, and a considerable backlog of zines sitting on my bedside table that I haven't yet read. (Ordering more, compulsively, certainly doesn't help matters.)

I experimented with place reviews, but I found that they're less suited to inclusion here than I initially thought. (There may not be many more of those.)

In any case, this is to say I am still alive, and the blog should be a bit livelier.

M--.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] Broken Hipster: The Epilogue

Title: Broken Hipster: The Epilogue Author: Emiko Badillo Date read: June 06, 2014

Starting out with a perzine series' epilogue is probably a stupid move. But, in the case of BH, this is like a tantalizing flash-forward; a snippit of the episode's end before we go back and see the threads that all wove together to this place.

This zine was slipped into an order from Pioneers Press, and I'm super glad it was. (Thanks, Jessie!)

BH: The Epilogue describes Emiko's kidney transplant with a brevity and lightness that puts me in awe of the author. In the beginning, she says, "I'm a dweller. Always dwelling." (Me too!) The fact that she describes this moment of her life, so recently passed, with grace, is indicative of the healing she herself sees at the closing pages of this little zine.

I recommend it for anyone who may be facing a kidney transplant, or for those who, like me, are a bit medical-phobic and gain courage by more exposure to the experiences of people who have undergone medical procedures. Emiko's authorial voice is amiable, easy as a breeze to read. I'll be looking for the back issues of Broken Hipster for sure.

[avocadobabydoll-deactivated2013]

[crimethanks]

avocadobabydoll:

Radical Mycology

“This zine by the Spore Liberation Front explores the numerous uses for mushrooms and their implications for eco-activists and other Earth friendly folk. From food to medicine to paper and dyes to the study of mycorememdiation (the use of mushrooms to clean up oil spills and restore damaged habitats), this zine gives an overview of the greater fungi with a novel, radical perspective.”

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] Echo! Echo! #10

Title: Echo! Echo! #10 by Keet G. Author: Keet G. Date read: November 30, 2013 I got this zine from either Montreal's Queer Boofair, or Depanneur Le Pick-Up.

It describes the precocious beginnings of a zinester spending her youth in Manila. I found many of Keet's experiences making me smile as I read, because they are so relatable: designing and producing a newsletter that ends up being a single issue release; abandoning hopes of an anime fanzine after a classmate gets caught drawing Gundam Wing yaoi fanart; spamming Livejournal friends with existential poetry in the throes of teenhood.

A scene in White Oleander and a move to Toronto serve as the catalyst for productive zine-producing, a thread which, no doubt, led eventually to the very zine in my hands.

There are some funny four-panel comics, art pieces of a more detailed style, and some poems, all of which I enjoyed. The author has an eye for the little things, a trait which really makes a perzine more enjoyable, and there are several bits of language that will stick with me, including a description of the attempt to capture these little moments: "...like trying to take pictures of rain."

This zine series is going on my list; I have 9 back-issues to find, since I've started with #10, which was produced in spring 2013.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

I just discovered zinewiki.com, while searching the Internet for the name of a zine's author. (Either I overlooked it in the zine itself, or it wasn't explicitly included, as is sometimes the case).

Although a catalogue of this kind, one might argue, removes the mystique or "underground-ness" of zines, it's certainly a useful resource and I'm certain I'll use it often; not only to confirm zine details, but to seek out new and interesting zines.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

Beauty's Luncheonette

You can live in this city for years and still have blind spots, there's so much history here. A chance alignment of hunger and just the right Google Maps search ("luncheonette") led my roommate and I to a nearby spot that's been going strong since 1942, unbeknownst to us.

Beauty's Luncheonette started out as a snack bar in the Jewish garment district of Montreal. Despite the classy pin-up girl on its logo, the name Beauty's actually comes from the husband of the husband-wife duo who bought the place about 70 years ago. He's Hymie Sckolnick, but his bowling friends called him Beauty. (That's a story I want to hear.)

Hymie himself was at the lunch counter when my roommate and I visited today, and he showed us warmly to our seats. The man's well over 90 now, but is still making sure things go the way they ought to at the luncheonette. That's admirable commitment, a work ethic that fits the nostalgia of the 40s.

It's not an overdone theme restaurant. It sticks to the basics, and attracts a mixed crowd for brunch and lunch. The blintzes were sold out when I ordered them, but the apple cinnamon pancakes were just as satisfying, and so was the signature coffee. There are some vegetarian and veganizable choices, too. You can take some homemade Beauty's away with you, maybe as a rice pudding to go, a smoothie, cake, or some bagel croutons. The prices haven't survived the inflation since the 1940s, mind; it's not cheap, but it remains reasonable for home-cooked, in-house fare.

It's simple, enduring, and charming without being kitschy. We'll be going back.

Address: 93 Mont-Royal West

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] "Big Hands #7"

Title: Big Hands #7 Author: Aaron L. Smith Date read: August 11, 2013

I bought this zine for $0.50 at Depanneur Le Pick-Up, knowing nothing about it save for that it had an eyecatching timepiece in black and white on the cover, and that it was inexpensive, especially given its size and the proportion of pure prose to images. Now that I've read it, I can say that $0.50 feels grossly underpriced, and that if I ever come across other zines by its author, I'd be ready to lay down a fistful of change in a heartbeat. This zine has some of the most enjoyable writing I've encountered in a zine to date.

The tone is thoughtful, serious in a natural way, and melancholy without being too hopelessly depressing. (Except for the passages on the manufacture of musical taste, the fall of truly indie music, the ubiquity of college radio schmoozing, and other signs of the commodification of the 'independent' consumer and generational identity loss.)

There are moments of quiet humor, like a reflection on what it's like seeing a childhood picture: "It's like someone showing you a picture of yourself blacked-out drunk--It looks like you, but it's hard to believe the photographic evidence because you just don't remember it." I've been there.

This zine takes us to the author's hometown, among other places, and his thoughts on belonging, and what it means to wander. As someone who has idolized the itinerant life, I found something to mull over in the author's thoughts on the matter. I was (maybe stupidly) surprised to hear that the wandering life can be an alienating one despite its veneer of freedom, since I personally grew so much when I moved away from home. But there is a difference, I realized, between getting away once and constantly moving about. I suppose that in order to grow, you do need to have some roots.

There are also reflections on death that seem to be a mirror of my own thoughts lately. How important are our aspirations? And how petty they seem, when a death happens nearby. "Everything but love and authentic effort seems so petty next to [death's] high-contrast image. ... There's got to be another way to live, and live fiercely."

Oh, I hope so. Sharing writing like this---and reading it---seem like good places to start.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

Zlinks Booster Pack

At the cashier counter of Drawn & Quarterly, I saw a small, flat packet of paper, with a 'cover' hand-lettered in blue felt, obviously done by the hand of a youngster. On impulse, I bought it ($1), and was told by the person working that it's the creative project of a few Mile End kids.

I didn't know what "it" was until I got the packet home and opened it. Four tiny cards, à la Magic: The Gathering. Each little cardstock card has an image, stats, and some mechanic or flavour text. 

It's charming, really. I love that these kids are engaged in game-making and using their creative powers from the start, and I love that Drawn & Quarterly is fostering that.

(If you want to battle me, be warned: I have the 4-Armed Knight, the Jell Chest Plate, Lud the Hero of the Castle, and the Staff of Darkness.)

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] "Pinch Kid #1"

Title: Pinch Kid #1 Author: Kit Pinchdog Date read: May 12, 2013 I think have two copies of Pinch Kid #1. One from the Fight Boredom Zine Distro haul, and one from...somewhere else? Already my catalogue is getting away from me.

This zine is worth having two of; I'm sure my second copy will find a happy home in someone else's hands at just the right moment. I certainly found myself smiling and nodding, and I had that feeling of being accompanied, encouraged, and welcomed by the author as I read. And it made me happy to see someone else thinking and working so hard at self-awareness, as well as inviting dialogue.

Unexpectedly, I was able to gain some insight into Christian deconversion; it's a difficult psychological and emotional process, and firsthand accounts are rare but needed in my life. Many of the deconversion stories I've read are scornful, still writ-over by more negative emotions than contemplation, reflection, advice. I found Kit's sharing to be refreshing, and I recommend it to the spiritual and atheist alike.

Another reflection I enjoyed was the issue of intergenerational communication gaps, especially when our vocabulary of anti-oppression fails us and drives a wedge between two mutually alienated members of very different lived experiences.

On top of these things, there were lovely art clips and original art; the layout was very easy on the eyes. It's nice to read something by a fellow Montreal-dweller, as well.

Pinch Kid #2, I'll be looking for you. 

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

Depanneur Le Pick-Up

Before I went, I'd been asked about Depanneur Le Pick-Up as if I'd been there, as a matter of course; it's in a neighborhood I'm in every weekday, and it's precisely the kind of place I'm known to enjoy as a pick-me-up (ha) in the midst of the mundane.

As soon as I left, I was looking forward to my next visit.

The table I sat at was tucked cozily between a row of depanneur goods and a wall, right in the thick of the late lunch activity. There's a soda shoppe-style bartop with bolted stools for additional seating, and a seasonal patio, too. 

The place is friendly and laid-back, just as a spot with a history as a working-class lunch counter should be. Aside from that juicy tidbit of the past provided by my lunching companion, I know too little about Depanneur Le Pick-Up's history, and want to know more.

They offer gluten-free beer and Victorian-recipe botannical sodas, serve as a drop-off point for local farmshare baskets, host radio events, and more. A well-stocked zine rack caught my eye, as did the candies in big jars behind the counter.

I've been fantasizing about that pulled mock-pork sandwich since I had it. Heaped with barbecue sauce, chewy tender mock pork strips, and a generous dollop of coleslaw, it was a perfect fulfillment of my curiosity about a place that had been on my mind since I heard its name a year ago.

Grilled sandwiches in a range of price points and fanciness populate their menu, from le vendantanator with spicy eggplant and peppers to a simple affair with Kraft singles and bread, and much in-between.

That's what intrigues me about Depanneur Le Pick-Up. Youth culture and arts culture are often presented in the media as antithetical to blue-collar culture and values, but in Montreal at least, there are many overlapping points, and the roots and daily lives of the meat-packer and the artist may not be so far apart as in other cities. Depanneur Le Pick-Up seems like a natural estuary in the Parc Extension for these groups to lunch together.

Address: 7032 Waverly Website

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

Branching Out.

Dear followers,

There's a small handful of you now, surprising me with <3s and reblogs of my zine notes. Thank you for coming. I have still more unread zines to share in due course, and several new haunts from which I can procure more when those eventually run out.

This is a little note to tell you that in the upcoming months, I will be sharing morsels of content unrelated to zines. At the moment, brief posts on new dining experiences, new shops and streets explored, and concert moments come to mind. I feel it's the right season to introduce the "chronicle of my own" element that I alluded to in my first post.

Just as I don't want to forget my reflections on particular zines, I don't want the slippery ephemera of simple, pleasant experiences in this city to vanish entirely.

I hope you'll like the addition.

M—.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] "Real Life: A Magical Guide to Getting off the Internet"

Title: "Real Life: A Magical Guide to Getting off the Internet" Author(s): Dave Cave & Maranda Elizabeth Date read: May 12, 2013

Another of the zines from the Fight Boredom Distro mini-haul (I think).

"So you're in a pit of mind-numbing, unstoppable internet use."

I've certainly been there. Maybe you have, too--or maybe you're there right now. 

Dave Cave brings his advice in the same frank and funny way he did for "A Diary of a Gay Porn Addiction."

It was wonderful to be introduced to Maranda, whose prose reads like an honest, caring, and amusingly sarcastic friend's. I'm eager to find more of Maranda's zines ("Little Acorns," "Telegram Ma'am," and "Edith" are the ones they named).

Dave and Maranda question the root of internet 'addiction,' and come up with sensible propositions, including the idea that our behaviors on the internet signal a need. Constantly updating Facebook or Twitter, to the point of compulsion and zero reward, signals a need for validation, and a sense of connectedness with friends. Why not get out there and make those connections?

I appreciated their realistic approach to overcoming internet addiction. Quitting 'cold turkey' and completely isn't necessary, and may be counterproductive to a modern life. Some 'intentional mindlessness' (a term I like, and a philosophy I've applied), on the other hand, is restorative.

As I read this zine, I realized that I'm no longer addicted to the internet in the way I used to be, largely because I started thinking about the internet and questioning my use of it, and doing things very similar to what Dave and Maranda suggest. So if you're actively looking to spend less time on the internet in general, or use your internet time more healthily, this zine is a good place to start.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] "Radio Antarctica" #1

Title: "Radio Antarctica" #1 Author(s): Clara Bee Lavery Date read: Mar.23, 2013

Another item in the Fight Boredom Zine Distro packet, which, as you can see, I am still reading with all the urgency of a sunbather.

"This is a zine about learning how to be happy."

An important lesson I'm working very hard (perhaps too hard) to learn inside out. If you're in the same boat, I warmly recommend this zine. Its cover, featuring botanical designs, made me smile even before I opened it. After reading it, I must confess I'm eagerly awaiting the next issue.

These kinds of zines are best read without too much preamble, or too many "spoilers." I can tell you to expect a description of "the best Jewish Caribbean Hindu Italian Irish queer mixer of the year" that tickled me, and a great mini-guide to teas.

In that vein, was pleased to be reminded of a bit of advice I always struggle to take for myself: have a cup of tea before bed.

If it becomes a ritual, as it should, it helps you to relax physically and mentally, even above and beyond what qualities the tea itself possesses. It's a gentle signal to your brain, urging it to settle down. And a final hydrating health tonic full of catechins and antioxidants never did anyone harm. I learned that 'melissa' is lemon in Latin, and many a thing besides.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

[Zine Note] "Root"

Title: “Root" Author(s): Sarah Evans Date read: Feb.17, 2013

Another zine I picked up in my first big order from the Fight Boredom Zine Distro.

The subject of ruralization after urban life, as a means of personal or politically-motivated escape, is dear to my heart. I think about it a lot, and read a lot about it. I had a suitcase full of expectations when I sat down to read this zine, so my slight disappointment with it is more a reflection of that than any shortcoming on the author's part.

I wished that there had been more about what it's like to collect and eat chicken eggs as a vegan. (Or, I suppose, to apply the strictness some members of the community would expect, an ex-vegan with compassionate eating principles now in a unique position.)

I also had to pause when it's claimed that it's "impossible to live sustainably in a city." I think many urban sustainability developers at all ends of the spectrum (from highly-funded civil engineers to grassroots organizers) would disagree. I've read many insightful articles about the potential green power of urban living, and certainly the issue of measuring sustainability is a complex one. Does the urban commuter ultimately use less fuel than the rural person who must drive their Ford everywhere? If consciously buying local and in season, is there much difference in the carbon price of the urban versus the rural consumer? I don't know, and maybe I took the statement too literally. It's not possible to live sustainably right now in many cities, I'll grant, but in a state of deep questioning about how useful the individual retreat from urbanity can be for a broader green movement, I felt myself wishing the author were next to me so I could coax out her meaning and more thoughts on the matter.

This zine got me to thinking, and kept me good company in a coffee shop one afternoon. It was a mental retreat from the bustle of the city that was very welcome, and its content and presentation are charming.

[thechroniclesofm-blog]

Stolen Sharpie Revolution: A DIY Zine Resource

I happened to see Stolen Sharpie Revolution on the shelf of a used bookstore just a week ago. (Specifically, Westcott Books on St. Laurent here in Montreal, home to the charmingly rubenesque and friendly cat named Elliot.)

It answered many questions I had about answering zines, and then some. Binding, papermaking, photocopying (and costs involved), plus distribution and content considerations. I'm very glad those in the know compiled such information for people like me, who are curious about the maker's end of things and how to be involved in the zine community.

If you haven't been making zines for a while (or any at all), it's an excellent resource.

More information can be found on the Stolen Sharpie Revolution website, including a links page with several more resources.