There's a trends piece in the Post today on zines making a comeback. (I never thought that they went away, but, you know, with stupid blogs and stuff....)
Anyway! To the story!
Jenna Freedman, the zine librarian at Barnard, thinks that part of the allure is a reaction to our digital age. "People are overwhelmed by the online world, and retreating to something more manageable and tangible like print feels soothing."
Ayun Halliday started her zine, "The East Village Inky," in 1998 and resisted the pressure to switch to a blog. "I'm a paper fetishist," says the 44-year-old mom of two who lives in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. "I like to think of someone discovering an issue in an attic or a dusty bookstore 20, 50 or 100 years from now." Her latest project is a Zinester’s Guide to NYC.
New York's zine scene is a mix of Gen X veterans, like Halliday, who never stopped publishing, and younger enthusiasts. Freedman has had prospective students who have no memory of life before blogs request tours of the zine library during campus visits.
First, I was always a Generation X fan.
(Try embedding a video in a zine, suckers!)
But seriously, I love zines. And I've kicked around the idea of creating a zine. Jeremiah has had similar thoughts. In fact, I may have stolen the idea from him!
For further reading:
Zine fest (Jeremiah's Vanishing NY)
My first zine 'Times Queer' a novella of about 50 pages, was sold at St Marks Bookshop years ago. Don't know what happened to it, if it actually sold or not. Though it did come out in book form some time later I like the original chapbook zine better. Still feels more friendlier.
ReplyDeletei loathe that inky woman. hoos yorker my ass. types like her killed the city dead.
ReplyDeleteMom, is that you?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Ayun.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks for killing the city dead!
Heh...
Halliday: WIN
ReplyDelete- Merrill Green