Fun fact! I’ve made five zines, none of which I have yet sent out to any distros, mainly because I’m fairly embarrassed by various aspects of each. (This is probably a sign of growth, though, right? To look back on my zines and feel a little stifled by “did I really just say that?” or “is that seriously all the analysis that I can offer?” while reading them.) However, they are available through, well, me, so feel free to e-mail me at skinheadsgobowling (at) gmail (dot) com if you’re interested in having a copy. I’ll usually charge about $2 or be down for trades of any kind (zines, art, seeds, mixtapes, pretty knick-knacks, et cetera)… try me!
Western North Carolina is Anti-Vegetarian – December 2008
A slapdashed zine that I threw together during my finals week at a shitty college. Mostly about a tough relationship that had just ended, but also includes a ridiculously basic and uninformed essay on white privilege, some thoughts on chivalry, a list of my favorite Jawbreaker lyrics, some convoluted stream-of-consciousness wherein I tried to handle the fact that I identified with animal liberation philosophy but also liked having pets in my house, and other sorta whiny malarkey. I’m not distroing this anymore.
Graybird Flies North – June 2009
Finished this on my birthday last year! Thoughts on emotional abuse, sexual abuse by a parent, an open letter to my friends about depression and PTSD, an essay on freedom of speech masking oppressive behavior, an interlude on why I love bees, and a list of things that I hope to accomplish. Kinda cute. I still think that there is some important shit covered in this zine about support and emotional abuse; however, I am vaguely concerned that I was very single-minded about “I’m a woman, I’m oppressed” without exploring other facets of my identity. Trigger warning.
A Hundred Thousand Mason Jars – December 2009
This was supposed to be a “fun” zine, as inspired by my arty roommate’s beautiful, awesome perzines that contained a lot of interesting thoughts and ideas and not a whole lot of (depressing) political analysis. I tried, I really did. Result: a primer on Chernobyl, a bit on Schnauzers, thoughts about moving out of Boston, a list of things that helped me get out of a suicidal depression, a piece on police animals (definitely not fun), and a desperate sob-fest about how triggered I feel by the amount of violence in our world. Goes without saying: trigger warning here, too.
Toothpowder NaHCO3 – March 2010
Another zine encompassing a shit-ton of feelings about police violence, mass mobilizations, and anarchism in action. I attempted to add some “this is what I’m gonna do” as possible thoughts on how to combat the depressive, triggered emotions that were swirling in my head. There was also quite a bit in this zine about former relationships, the totality of my life (I just used the word ‘totality,’ I know), participatory accountability in our home environment, Venus Flytraps and other endangered ecology, and there was also a Scrubs reference thrown in there, too. I’ve been sorta reluctant to give this out because of how petulant it is, but I’ll consider it. Gonna say now, though: trigger warning for discussion of natural disasters, police violence, and sexual abuse.
Tiny White Flowers – January 2011
I wrote and finished this zine in August of 2010, and I was on my way to compiling all of it (being jobless and all) when I sorta whimsically decided to get the fuck out of North Carolina and move to somewhere with way more jobs and fewer shitty people (well, sort of). Subsequently worked 55-hour weeks and didn’t get around to finishing it until I was jobless again. This is a zine about the Umbelliferae (alternately, Apiaceae) family of plants, most notably wild carrot, water hemlock, and poison hemlock. It includes identifying information about these plants, as well as their particular qualities that make them so awesome and fun. Also a bit about other members of that fam, because it’s the best. This is kind of a silly, unserious zine, and since I’m freakishly knowledgeable about these plants, I can’t even objectively say if there’s much of any meaningful information in it, but maybe. It’s pretty U.S.-centric, though, which I belatedly (like, after finishing the zine) feel pretty bad about.
Western North Carolina is Anti-Vegetarian – December 2008
A slapdashed zine that I threw together during my finals week at a shitty college. Mostly about a tough relationship that had just ended, but also includes a ridiculously basic and uninformed essay on white privilege, some thoughts on chivalry, a list of my favorite Jawbreaker lyrics, some convoluted stream-of-consciousness wherein I tried to handle the fact that I identified with animal liberation philosophy but also liked having pets in my house, and other sorta whiny malarkey. I’m not distroing this anymore.
Graybird Flies North – June 2009
Finished this on my birthday last year! Thoughts on emotional abuse, sexual abuse by a parent, an open letter to my friends about depression and PTSD, an essay on freedom of speech masking oppressive behavior, an interlude on why I love bees, and a list of things that I hope to accomplish. Kinda cute. I still think that there is some important shit covered in this zine about support and emotional abuse; however, I am vaguely concerned that I was very single-minded about “I’m a woman, I’m oppressed” without exploring other facets of my identity. Trigger warning.
A Hundred Thousand Mason Jars – December 2009
This was supposed to be a “fun” zine, as inspired by my arty roommate’s beautiful, awesome perzines that contained a lot of interesting thoughts and ideas and not a whole lot of (depressing) political analysis. I tried, I really did. Result: a primer on Chernobyl, a bit on Schnauzers, thoughts about moving out of Boston, a list of things that helped me get out of a suicidal depression, a piece on police animals (definitely not fun), and a desperate sob-fest about how triggered I feel by the amount of violence in our world. Goes without saying: trigger warning here, too.
Toothpowder NaHCO3 – March 2010Another zine encompassing a shit-ton of feelings about police violence, mass mobilizations, and anarchism in action. I attempted to add some “this is what I’m gonna do” as possible thoughts on how to combat the depressive, triggered emotions that were swirling in my head. There was also quite a bit in this zine about former relationships, the totality of my life (I just used the word ‘totality,’ I know), participatory accountability in our home environment, Venus Flytraps and other endangered ecology, and there was also a Scrubs reference thrown in there, too. I’ve been sorta reluctant to give this out because of how petulant it is, but I’ll consider it. Gonna say now, though: trigger warning for discussion of natural disasters, police violence, and sexual abuse.
Tiny White Flowers – January 2011I wrote and finished this zine in August of 2010, and I was on my way to compiling all of it (being jobless and all) when I sorta whimsically decided to get the fuck out of North Carolina and move to somewhere with way more jobs and fewer shitty people (well, sort of). Subsequently worked 55-hour weeks and didn’t get around to finishing it until I was jobless again. This is a zine about the Umbelliferae (alternately, Apiaceae) family of plants, most notably wild carrot, water hemlock, and poison hemlock. It includes identifying information about these plants, as well as their particular qualities that make them so awesome and fun. Also a bit about other members of that fam, because it’s the best. This is kind of a silly, unserious zine, and since I’m freakishly knowledgeable about these plants, I can’t even objectively say if there’s much of any meaningful information in it, but maybe. It’s pretty U.S.-centric, though, which I belatedly (like, after finishing the zine) feel pretty bad about.
