10 Reasons I Love Zines

Yes, of course this was really posted on July 1st Australia time. I don’t backpost because it irritates me when something doesn’t go up on time…

Enough about that. Happy zine time!

It’s not about the money. No one (well, no one I’ve ever heard of) make zines to make money, so there is love, passion and desire there that you don’t find in a lot of other areas.
It’s a means to connect. Most of the time, I am a happy little hermit living most of my life in the place I call home. But that doesn’t mean I don’t crave connection, and zines are a beautiful way to do that. Whatever your ‘thing’, you’ll find a zine for it.
Zine people are awesome. They get it. Whatever ‘it’ is, they understand. From dramas with your long-armed stapler to offerings at the shrine of the COPY MACHINE, they’re with you.
If variety is the spice of live, then the land of zines has the best curry in town. (Not sure if that really works, but go with me.) This is kind of like #2 from a different angle. I’ve found zines about natural ways to keep your lady parts healthy, graphs on day-to-day life, thoughts on the sex industry, wordless art, nutella recipes and so much more!
People want to share. This is another angle for #2. I’m a voyeur at heart (head out of the gutter, thanks), and zines let me get into other people’s heads without being weird or stalkerish. It’s in the natures of a good chunk of the population to tell their stories, and that’s like an Easter chocolate sale, birthday, long-awaited holiday, birthday, fireworks Christmas to someone like me. No, I don’t like all the stories I read, but I do like filling a ball pit with zines and – …I mean, there are always stories out there waiting to be read.
No pressure. In another life path, I write books. There is always pressure there. Some of it’s good/fun – “When is the next book coming out?” – and some of it is completely ridiculous self-abuse – “How did someone like me manage to even finish a book?! My writing is awful!” – but it’s always there. People sometimes do ask about the next Dear Anonymous, but the conversation is something more like: “When is the next Dear Anonymous coming out?” “No idea.” “Cool. Looking forward to it.” No pressure, loves.
Affordable. Because most zine makers are not in it to make money, zines are affordable! I can feel like an absolute zine hoarder with no guilt at all because it cost me what one or two books (f*cking GST) would cost me in a shop. That’s Australian-ish in that books are f*cking expensive here, but that’s another rant for another day. I will have ALL THE ZINES. <3
Free to be me. I have Bipolar Disorder amongst a few other alphabet soup labels that I don’t pay much attention to. That sometimes mean I run around the house laughing while trying to tickle Wanderer. (Wanderer is not and has never been ticklish.) Other times, I go on lockdown, set my phasers to stun, and use my super doona for protection from the world. The zine world is probably the only world I inhabit where I feel totally comfortable not only admitting that but being that. I’ve never received judgment from a fellow zine maker. Never.
Arts and crafts for the win. One of the reasons zines have so much variety is because you can do anything with them. Draw, colour, cut, paste, write, type, spray paint… Zines that aren’t specifically art zines are still art
Voice of the people. Now, I don’t want to get political because that is not my area. But I do recognise that things are pretty shitty in many ways (and beautiful in others), and there isn’t a lot of trust in government or media. People need zines and other forms of underground/alternative expression to share ideas and feel like they are being heard. I hate to think about what the world would be like today without it.

Woooooo. There’s my list. If you’ve shared yours, let me know. Let the zine love flow!