Zine Review: The Radical Uprise 6: Summer Kicker!
The Radical Uprise 6: Summer Kicker!
TheRadicalUprise
I know the timing of this might not be the best, what with the northern hemisphere heading into autumn, but here in the southern hemisphere, we’re pretty excited about spring. And, well, what follows spring…
The Radical Uprise 6: Summer Kicker! is an excellent example of a zine that is unabashedly and wholeheartedly what it is. What does that mean? In this case, it means this zine is a list zine with an abundance of ideas for what to do about your summer boredom – or the fact you should, you know, see the sun and the outside world.
With suggestions like ‘Learn Calligraphy’, ‘Flea Market’, and ‘Go Raw for a Week’, there’s a great combination of active and quiet activities to suit various personalities.
The real beauty of something like this is that, though it’s a summer boredom breaker, it’s good all year ’round – regardless of boredom levels. You could grab this zine out for finding out something new to do for the day or for winter activities, too. Okay, so walking around barefoot might not be the best idea in winter, but there are plenty of ideas that are definitely year-round or could be with just a little tweaking.
The extra touch I really loved in this mini-zine is the extra space at the end to put in your own ideas for kicking the boredom (and the computer addiction). Either that, or listing out your answers to the prompt that comes before it: Create a summer soundtrack. I’m not sure what the original intention for these lines are, but either way, I love it.
Zine Review: Falling Apart: A Zine on Death, Grief, Mourning & Loss
Falling Apart: A Zine on Death, Grief, Mourning & Loss
Zippity Zinedra Press
https://www.facebook.com/ZippityZinedra/
Sometimes there are zines that I know are likely to confront me in one way or another – and this zine is one. I struggle with the entire subject of death, so the thought of reading people’s stories of grief and mourning was a bit daunting.
Falling Apart is a collection of stories, photos, quotes, artwork, letters and more from people dealing with death. I didn’t expect there to be such a variety not only in the content itself but in how people expressed their grief. It didn’t occur to me before this that grief and mourning happens in more ways than I’m acquainted with. One of those things taken for granted…
There is the cut and paste element that makes zines so awesome and has a combination of text, pictures, and even (readable!) handwritten pieces. I mention this because I appreciated that Zippity Zendra did it very well, keeping things in zine style while still letting the stories and photos remain the focus. Given the subject, I think this is the best way to go.
While I did have to hunt down the link to the Facebook page because I couldn’t find a URL or an email address in the zine, that is negated a little bit by the cover collage artist not only being given a special spotlight in the front but his details are listed as well.
This is another zine that I think you will know fairly easily if it’s something you’d like to have in your collection. Or you could be like me and take the chance with a zine you really aren’t sure how you’ll handle but read anyway because you might learn something…
The Day That Got Away… Sort Of
Sometimes you make plans for the day.
And the world laughs.
Wanderer and I seem to be passing back and forth health issues, and it’s his turn. Today’s errand day and Wanderer wasn’t able to get out and about, so I grabbed Kickass for a day out and about. She indeed kicked ass and saved my ass because I really don’t like driving in the CBD…
I did have some lovely and amazing happy mail come in, but I’ll leave it at this sneak peek of sorts…
<3 Zines <3
Back with a review tomorrow!
Zine Cover Photo Session
Today – well, this morning, at least – we had some absolutely gorgeous sunshine. It was so nice to see the sun again after days of rain and flooding. I did everything I could outside so I could enjoy it until it disappeared. Today, that consisted of taking a lot of photos.
A lot of photos.
Thanks to LogPoes and QueerContent, I have had a stack of zines ready and waiting for me to take photos of them. Admittedly, some of those are doubles (triples, quads…) in an effort to find the best shot. I have quite a bit of review material to choose from, however, and I am feeling very spoiled.
Of course, about halfway through, my usually camera shy dog, Zenna, decided it was time that I give her some attention.
She even put her head down where I’d been putting the zines without any prompting. She’s stubborn and spoiled as, but she’s a smart one.
Now it’s time to do the less pleasurable (but not bad) side of things, consisting of picking out the best one of any multiples, adjusting exposure and brightness, cropping, and all the other fun Photoshop stuff there is to do.
Done, Doing, Dreaming – The Viral Edition
If I weren’t living it, I simply would not believe that one person could get sick so often. I mean, really. This is ridiculous. This could also just be karma for strutting around like hot stuff when everyone around me got the flu.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Done
*There were a heap of Calls for Submissions category over the weekend, so definitely check it out and see if there is something you’d like to submit to.
*I’m done with sewing! For now, anyway. I’ve been wanting to have a good stock of all my zines on hand for ages. Now that it’s done, I’m a bit stunned.
Doing
A lot of the ‘doing’ stuff is a repeat from last week because of the huge gobs of time I’ve spent sleeping. Le sigh.
*Dear Anonymous 5, DCMC 5, and DAFUQ aren’t listed on Etsy yet, but they will be soon.
*I’m still working on a post series all about the basics of making zines. If you have any questions, let me know!
*If you hadn’t already heard, We Make Zines – the place for all things zine – is closing down at the end of this month due to a dramatic rise in cost. I’m not able to do much, but if you know about coding and site migration, be sure to stop by this thread and let Quasifesto know that you’re willing to help out.
Dreaming
*I’m dreaming about where to take things from here. I’m dreaming of how I can make this the best resource it can be for zine things. Any thoughts on what you would like to see here are most welcome.
Call for Submissions: Waste Management
Hi, my name is Fee, I’m 20, white, ablebodied, working class, bisexual, queer, mentally ill, fat and I dropped out of high school in feburary of 2015.
I know a lot of people but I know exactly one who shares this experience. And I have the suspicion that I know why… I’m part of this beautiful social justice community that’s also incredibly centered on university level education. And I don’t even have a levels. (Or the German equivalent.) The people that mean the most to me can’t sympathise with the very real existential fear that comes from not having a high school diploma.
A lot of people drop out of uni. That’s bad. I feel for you guys, I do, but you have so many more options in how to continue. It might not feel like that but it’s true… but being a high school dropout? in this economy? It scares the shit out of you – especially because there is a reason you didn’t stay in school and that reasons stays with you. Bullying (because you are trans or queer or fat or disabled or a person of colour or poor or any other thing people can use to wear you down with every day microagressions), mental illness (like depression, an eating disorder, bpd, etc), money (because you and your family literally can’t afford for you to not work), teachers or social workers not caring about you and not giving you the support, equipment, form of schooling, medication or love you needed because of all the things the other students used to destroy you. Or any other number of other reasons.
And now you are a fucking high school drop out. (Or the pre-university level education equivalent where you are from. This is not supposed to be us centric.)
And I want to hear about it so badly! Whether you dropped out yesterday or 20 years ago, whether you regret it or not, wether you’re back in school or never looked back, whether you want to draw about it or write or make a collage or just paint an entire page black because that’s how it feels, I want to hear from you. And by you I mean literally everyone. (If you want to for example write in a language other than english we can also totally do that.) AND I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF OPPRESSION AND DROPPING OUT! Because I’m 97% sure I would still be in school if I wasn’t, you know, me.
I’m not sure how this is going to work. I’ve never made a zine before but I need to fucking heal from this trauma that was school, so… hit me up, you beautiful failures and disappointments.
Who Can Submit?
Anyone who has ever dropped out of high school. It doesn’t matter if you went back and are now working on your doctorate or if you never looked back. You can submit regardless of your academic status now as long as you left schooling before reaching university level education at some point.
If you have questions wether you are enough of an academic failure to be able to submit, you can talk to me on tumblr, twitter or via email.
Note: Dropping out of university does not count.
What Can You Submit?
Short answer: everything.
Long answer: poetry, diary entries, comics, song lyrics, collages, paintings, drawings, doodles, in-depth analysis of things, top ten lists, hate mail to your teachers, manifestos and because there will be a digital version you can also submit songs, videos and any other digital art.
Go all out. Or go deep inside yourself.
It is really important to me that you get support and love throughout this process. If you need help working on your submission or just want to vent about the emotional build up that creating things can cause, don’t be shy to reach out to me on tumblr, twitter or via mail.
Call for Submissions: Concerning Masculinity
Call for Submissions: felan
Call for Submissions: Living Southerners
Living Southerners, a zine about the American South, is seeking written submissions for its October 2016 issue.
Please email the editor at dozentinroses@gmail.com by September 30th. Taking both Southern and non-Southern writers.
Read past issues at livingsoutherners.tumblr.com/tagged/readit