Alana Kumbier & David T
An excellent zine written by two people – one (my friend David) who is visually impaired and Alana who has type 1 diabetes. it’s about “…moving through the world with conditions that are often invisible to others, negotiating with our bodies to get through the day…” stories about their disability and illness histories, and being in a relationship. Super good!
Alex Wrekk / Brainscan
Brainscan # 29 / No More Coffee # 4 split zine-
a fiction zine that pretends to be a perzine
Released at the 2012 Chicago Zine Fest
Brainscan #29 – Ben Spies (no more coffee zine) threw out the challenge of fiction to my land of perzines and this is the grim result. These three short stories are my stab at fiction wrapped in the usual high contrast cut and paste layout you would expect in and issue of Brainscan. One story is about leaving a hometown for greener pastures only to make a stop half way there to visit an old friend and includes thoughts and reflections about the past. The second story is about a weird housemate and his strange perception of the world through Woody Allen tinted glasses and odd notions about art. The third story is about weighing the value of our short lives against the rock wall embankment of a cemetery. I admit that the voice is similar to mine and the subject matter doesn’t stray too far from what you would expect to find in an issue of Brainscan, but it was a really fun experiment and I’m glad that Ben talked me into doing this split.
No More Coffee is a zine of fiction for people who stay up too late. Stories like these are how I get the black bile out of my system, so to speak. Alex and I agreed to do a fiction split not knowing how morose it would end up, but we’re on similar wavelengths, I guess. I’m still writing fiction because I love it and because I’m too scared to write about my own life, but even if these stories never happened, the people in them did. “Photographs of the Dead” is about what the residents of a suburban apartment complex doesn’t know about their neighbors. “Exit 121” is about an impetuous woman living at a truck stop. The untitled story is about Sunday breakfast at a diner.
44 pages, half sized, 2 color risograph printed card stock covers
Seph
The start of a new peoject in a new medium, a secret collab with Rebecca Peloquin. Strictly hush hush!
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Fixer Erasor
The follow up to Cheer the Eff Up is going to be Fixer Eraser. This first issue is a split zine with Jolie Ruin!
Eff’d up
The zine that will change yr life. Tears, laughter, action..it’s the feel-bad movie I mean zine of the year! This one has it all!
Dig Deep
dig deep zine #3
Dig Deep 3 is a library-themed split zine with Your Secretary #10.
Zinesters and libraries go together like peanut butter and jelly, which is why this split zine by Heather and Jami is so sublime. Heather is a public librarian, while Jami is an archival librarian, but one thing they have in common is their passion for their work. Their stories about life in the stacks are alternately sad and funny and charming. Heather writes about the sometimes touching, sometimes scary interactions she has with her patrons, and the idea of the library as a safe space. Jami shares her experiences as an archival and special collections librarian in her uniquely hilarious style, and also makes me wonder desperately what her real job title is. Read this zine, and you’ll never think of librarians in quite the same way again. (Thanks to Caitlin of All I Want is Everything zine for the description!)
Quarter sized (4.25″ x 5.5″), 48 pages. Written in June of 2011.
dig deep zine #7
NEW! Dig Deep #7 is a split zine with Tongueswell #3.
Review of Dig Deep #7 by lb of Truckface zine — “Notice: I do not run; I do not exercise. How would I find enjoyment in a zine centered on running? Because Heather is the shit and this zine is about so much more than running. This is about the knowledge of the body in public and contending with physical setbacks. This is about encouragement and a long-lasting friendship during a preparation for a half-marathon. This is about constantly pushing oneself to take up space in the city to boldly declare: “I AM TRYING TO DO THIS AND I AM FUCKING AWESOME.” This is life-affirming and amazing. Seriously, get this now!”
Review of Tongueswell #3 by lb of Truckface zine — “Jen packs a punch of pure emotion in this issue of Tongueswell. Beginning with annoyances of rude customers taking up space at her coffee shop job, she then reminisces on the life and loss of her cat. The stories of work and vet visits are intertwined to illustrate the emotional taxation of everyday life and her ability to move forward through so much pain. While reading this issue, I was in tears reflecting on the loss of loved ones, both human and animal, through her own descriptions of watching a loved one struggle through pain. This was a good read and a good cry.”
Quarter sized (4.25″ x 5.5″), 40 pages. Written in April of 2015.
Erin Fae
No!! I Need My Coffee First! zine
New 24 hour zine by @zoesteers, @sarahmcneils and me. Filled with drawings about how much we like coffee.
* 32 pages
* quarter size
* all drawings
* risograph printed
* brown Riso ink on recycled blue paper
* un-numbered edition of 60 copies
Geoff, Sarah Hoedlmoser and Siva-Jeevini Sivarajah
Knots: An Undergraduate Journal of Disability Studies (LIMITED TO 5 COPIES)
Knots is the University of Toronto’s first issue of an undergraduate student journal in disability studies. The journal was edited and compiled by three University of Toronto undergraduate students: geoff, Sarah Hoedlmoser and Siva-Jeevini Sivarajah. The editors received editorial advisory support from Dr. Anne McGuire and Dr. June Larkin of the Equity Studies department at New College, University of Toronto. As per the journal’s “Letter From the Editors” section, we write “our aim is to highlight original and unpublished high-calibre work by current and former undergraduate students that moves beyond normative biomedical conceptions of disability and contributes to the development and growth of Disability Studies as a field”.
Knots includes the following contributions:
I Narratives of Resistance
A Chronological of My Special Interests, With Explanations by David Preyde
Harold by Anthony Foster
Invisibility with queer and crip communities: subverting the gaze by Amber Reid
Click by Alison Albright
Cripping Narrative by Kim Collins
II Bound Between Borders
Reading Between the Hash Tags by Helena Macro
Human rights violation against people with disabilities by Yoonmee Han
Disability Represented in/as Culturally Disruptive Bodies within the “Quebec Charter of Values” by Jess Goldman
III Unwrapping and Reframing
Retelling Stories of Cutting: Gender, Sexuality and Race by Siva-Jeevini Sivarajah
Destabilizing Disability: Including addiction for cross-movement solidarity by geoff
Shame Within/Without Disabled People: Re-imagining by laura helene
Under Siege In love by Izzy Mackenzie
Flavourless Food and Savory Sounds by Izzy Mackenzie
IV Utopian and Dystopian Futures
The Hand of Gold by Jordan Alderson
“A Dystopic Autistic Future”: Protecting Neoliberalism and the Human Race in “I Am Autism” and Children of Men by Vittoria Lion
The Spectrum of Ideologies by Alexandra Ntoukas
ARTWORK BY GEOFF AND CLEMENTINE
Geoff & Clementine Morrigan
make all good things fall apart #3
this is the third issue of make all good things fall apart, a collaborative zine by geoff and clementine on the themes of addiction, sobriety and intoxication culture. this zines was made in halifax, unceded mi’kmaq territory, as part of the anchor archive zine residency program. topics covered in this zine include: different cultural understanding of sobriety, sobriety as an energy, connecting 12 step principles with anti-oppressive values, sobriety and sex, the mysticism of 12 step fellowships, abstinence and harm reduction are not opposites, experiences of active addiction, addiction as a disability justice issue and 12 step witches. The zine also includes original illustrations by both geoff and clementine.
make all good things fall apart #2
This is the second issue of the collaborative zine created by Clementine Morrigan and geoff. 40 pages in length, it continues to explore the function of intoxication culture in a western context. The zine analyzes intoxication culture in relation to consent, party culture, sober spaces, accessibility, addiction, hierarchies among acceptable substance use, sobriety, normative substance use as privilege and more. The texts are complimented with art pieces and pieces of culture jammed ads. The colour cover depicts the Three of Cups tarot card that symbolizes community, unity, coming together and being together. This second edition of make all good things fall apart continues to act as an invitation for the ongoing conversation around addiction, intoxication culture and accessibility.
make all good things fall apart #1
This half-size, 32 page zine, featuring a colour cover, is a collaborative project between Clementine Morrigan and geoff. It explores addiction, alcoholism, recovery, trauma, madness, radical sobriety, sobriety as resistance, intersectionality and the various ways in which addicts and alcoholics are constructed. A zine which steps out of the medical model, explicitly politicizing addiction, normative intoxication, sobriety and recovery, it is also extremely personal and intimate, daring to speak from the heart. In a world where addicts and alcoholics are frequently talked about, but rarely listened to, this zine is an unusual opportunity to hear two self-identified addicts speaking their own truths. It also functions as an invitation, asking us all to think critically about the role(s) intoxication plays in our lives and inviting us all to share our own stories and come to our own analysis.
Jonas and Carrie Colpitts
A great split zine featuring writing by Carrie Colpitts (My Aim is True, Gender Matters, etc) and Jonas (Cheer the Eff Up, Fixer Eraser, etc). Jonas writes about alcholism and Carrie writes about love, sex, and brokenhearts. It’s a beautiful, devastating, very well-written piece of work. Much recommended.
Maranda Elizabeth
Telegram #38 / Critical Breakfast #1 split zine
Back in October, my twin and I made a split zine together! Telegram #38 by Maranda Elizabeth is about their Return of Saturn and turning thirty, learning how to interpret their birth chart, astrology as a method of self-exploration & healing, reconnecting with their past selves and memories of being a teenage witch, practicing Tarot in daily life, lost time, friendship & jealousy, fragmentation, learning how to love themself, and recovery with trauma and chronic pain. My half, Critical Breakfast #1 is about my Saturn return, synchronicity, a bad landlord, working as a lab rat, sobriety, learning to build self-confidence, and an auspicious Tarot reading.
Nyxia Grey
Everything.is.Fine/PMS Perzine Split Zine: The Journals Issue
Hadass Ben-Ari and I banged out another kickass split zine, this time about diaries and journal entries!
PMS issue 12 and Everything.Is.Fine special issue are jam-packed with words of pride, pain and power from our respective diaries. It’s as intimate, revealing and personal as a perzine gets. With all the pain and heartache these entries reflect, both parts end on a positive note to leave the reader with a warm, fuzzy feeling and a smile on their face. And the best part, it’s a full-pounding, heavy-duty, juicy and yummy 80 pages!
My part includes entries focusing on my relationship with my husband and how it evolved, fell apart, and how we are trying to rebuild it. Hadass writes, “The eloquence and beautiful flow of her entries build a certain parallel between some tragic events in her life and her love life – such as the death of her father, her eating disorder, etc. Her part also ends on a positive note with hope for a better future for her relationship and her life.”
Hadass’s part includes entries organized thematically rather than chronologically – evocative and heartbreating entries about love, depression and seclusion, inspiring and empowering entries about feminism, her love of DIY and more. She also included some of her old drawings and art to visually depict her mindframe of the time, plus a collage of the various covers of her diaries and some quotes from the older ones, in French, Hebrew and English.
You zinesters and zine-lovers really ought to get your hands on this incredible… what should I call it, book?! Hehe! Pack your cart up with some DIY delight!
See Hadass’s zines on her Etsy shop here:
http://pmsmess.etsy.com
Boo’ya Moon/Purple Myrtle Squeegy split zine
This is a special split zine called “Boo’ya Moon” that focuses on Stephen King! I partnered up with my good pal Hadass from “Purple Myrtle Squeegy – A PMS Perzine” because we both love the King of the Horror.
My part includes pieces on how I identify with some of Stephen King’s characters, what Stephen King has taught me, my experiences with religion and how that compares with Carrie’s experiences with her ultra religious mother, many collages and more.
Hadass’s part of the zine includes stories about why she loves Stephen King, the kind of feelings she gets when she reads his books, why she loves having nightmares caused by Stephen King, a poem about horror, collages, tattoo plans based on the Dark Tower series, and more.
Both of us explore Stephen King’s feminist side with stories like Carrie, Rose Madder, Lisey’s Story, etc.
72 pages, 1/2 size zine, all cut and paste, typewritten and handwritten. The cover is in full color, the inside pages are in black and white.
See Hadass’s zines on her Etsy shop here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Hadass420
Activist Journeys 