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Some of the zines shown above were made by working artists and illustrators, others by students. The classic zine is a platform for activism, a Xeroxed and staple-bound way of spreading the word.  ABC No Rio in downtown New York City is a “collectively-run center for art and activism” that closely embodies this spirit of the zine. Their library of almost twelve thousand zines focuses on political and social issues.
The zine fad faded in the 1990s, but we who DIY-til-we-die declare them back. Though many are still Xeroxed, finely designed and printed zines feel more like little books or functional works of art (Sidenote: I actually prefer the term “artist’s book”, as “zine” feels trite and lacks description). The common thread is in the creator’s intention: to share what is important to them with their community. Zine swaps are organized for this purpose, with artists and zine-makers getting together to trade their creations. Homework in San Diego convenes periodically to display, sell, swap, and barter for zines. A quick Google search may yield similar events in your area. There are also tons of retail stores that stock zines. I love Family and Oooga Booga in Los Angeles, and think Printed Matter in New York City is the best. Wikipedia actually has a list of stores around the world that sell zines.
Some of my own little books. See more details here and here.
As we live our lives online more and more, many anticipate the death of print media. Images and texts are readily available, giving less of a reason to pick up a newspaper, magazine, or book. However, a relationship between the internet and print has emerged, altering the nature of both media. _Quarterly, a publication of visual and literary art, presents their content “in a form available to as many willing minds as can be.” This means it’s available online and in print at little or no cost. Diwa Tamrong’s Somebody Else’s Problem prompts readers to interact with the pages of the zine itself and document their experience on the SEP Blog. Alana Celii‘s Pattern Maker presents laser-printed versions of her 11 favorite tumbled images. Zine Swap in London asks you to mail in your zines along with a form downloaded from their website and they’ll mail you some right back. Participants’ work is cataloged online and exhibited in their annual exhibition.
I can’t think of a better interaction between the internet and real life than this. And so, after reading this off your computer screen, I challenge you to go make something and then we’ll have our own zine swap. Try looking at Fecal Face’s DIY on how to made a fold-up zine from a single sheet of paper (it says 8.5 by 11″ but could be any size, 11 by 17″ works better).  It’s super easy to reproduce and is totally legitimate — Chelsey Petteyjohn and Ted McGrath’s pieces shown above were made this way. Give it to all your friends, and mail one to me with a return address and I’ll mail you one of mine! Send mail to Leah Goren, 638 E. 14th St. #15. New York, NY 10009.
The collapse of the auto industry has caused people to re-design life in Detroit. Mark Dowie‘s immodest proposal:
Detroit, the country’s most depressed metropolis, has zero produce-carrying grocery chains. It also has open land, fertile soil, ample water, and the ingredients to reinvent itself from Motor City to urban farm.
One of our favorite blogs, I ♥ Kale, just featured a great story and recipe for ‘Nettle Frittata.’
… not to be confused with Nelly Furtado, this Nettle Frittata recipe calls for “a big bunch of nettles,” and since they grow through-out most of the United States they can mostlikely be harvested from your own nearby wilderness, yes, even in the city. However, a little research before hunting for your own nettles wouldn’t hurt.
“Why nettles? They’re full of iron, calcium and antioxidants. They taste like sort of like spinach, but with more integrity and less sliminess. You can substitute spinach if nettles are inaccessible in your area. If you do get your hands on some nettles, make sure those hands are gloved–nettles, when raw, are covered in stinging hairs.”
Though I did grow up with Barbies, a Barbie limo, and a Barbie mansion, one of the most notable dolls in my life I made myself at age four. Her name was Zucchini Baby and she was just that: an infant-sized zucchini in a handmade paper dress. Humans have been fascinated with dolls since prehistoric times. There’s something provoking about our physical bodies and faces forged in miniature (We all know the Venus of Willendorf by now, right?). In fact, most early dolls were of adults; the “baby” doll didn’t emerge until the 19th century.
For hundreds of years, mothers made their kids rag dolls, a name for any doll made out of fabric. The first mass-produced rag dolls were introduced in 1860s America, and the rest is post-industrial history.
Today DIY-til-ya-die is back, and though it’s been commodified like any other trend (see Urban Outfitters’ DIY section), you still actually can do it yourself. I sat down for a few hours a couple weeks ago and came up with Puss, who thrives in my no-pets-8-by-10-foot Manhattan apartment.
It doesn’t take too much sewing know-how to make your own doll, and crude can be good. Improvising and doing weird stuff is what makes the end result really feel like your friend, and then become friends with your friends. On a recent trip to California, Puss was having entire conversations with Dylan by the end of the week.
While playing with Barbies may not determine a little girl’s success in life, it probably wouldn’t hurt to make a Zucchini Baby with her either.
Because really, who would you rather be friends with?
Me too.
Sources here and here
P.S. My friend and fellow Parsons Illustration classmate, Chelsey Pettyjohn, makes the most amazing dolls. See them here.
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.
… It will be Chatrouletted. If you haven’t played with Chatroulette.com yet… prepare to be freaked out as you are randomly connected with chatters across the world – boys, girls, perverts and all. Forget the days of A/S/L. Could this be the dead end of the human interaction? Or perhaps, in the future, a tool for anonymous communication… a sort of underground word of mouth? Anyway, imagination aside, Casey Neistat recently published an entertaining, crafty explanation to this new cyber-trend. Oh and one more thing, if you are planning on checking out Chat Roulette just make sure to try and avoid ‘Peak Masterbater Hour’ which, from my experience seems to be… all the time…
On Tuesday I was pretty devastated when I heard that Gang Starr’s front man, Guru suffered a massive heart attack and went into a coma, but today reports say he is likely to make a full recovery. You can read the whole article here. Basically, his health issue provides a great excuse for me to post one of my favorite tracks of all time. I’m just glad we didn’t lose another rapper who preaches the Positive Mental Attitude
The Western lifestyle is characterized by aggressive and expanding rates of consumption. We already knew that. What many don’t know is that much of what we consume comes from places far away. In these places, people and their environments have been, and continue to be, destroyed so that items like Bananas (Ecuador), Coffee (Peru), Sugar (Brazil), Cotton (India), and Cocoa (Ghana) can be shipped to “wealthy” countries for consumption year-round.
The Fairtrade Foundation, a London based non-profit that licenses FAIRTRADE products in the UK, has designed a clever campaign to challenge people’s consumption habits. Buying FAIRTRADE products for two weeks sounds like a step in the right direction. Now if only we could design a way to float the containers here using only the ocean currents. I’ve never heard of FAIRTRADE oil, have you? Better reason yet to support local commerce.
