image borrowed from http://agoodideaonpaper.blogspot.com
"A zine—an abbreviation of the word fanzine, and originating from the word magazine[1][2]—is most commonly a small circulation, non-commercial publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest.
A popular definition includes that circulation must be 5,000 or less and the intention of the publication is not primarily to raise a profit."
Whenever I try to talk about zines to people, they either have no idea what I'm talking about or they're all about them. I was living in Boston when I found my first one by accident one fateful valentines day. I was looking through the magazine shelf when I came across a tiny handmade booklet with long typed out pages. Typed like typewriter not computer. The cover had been watercolored and the drawings were so simple..it was love at first sight. I wrote to that girl, the author of that first zine and she sent me back a letter. We talked about our travels and other simple things. A couple days later I found another zine by Cindy Crabb, it was called Doris:
For years I moved across the country, and everywhere I ended up I would find another little Doris zine, always by accident. I was living in a house in Anaheim with a bunch of activist kids and one of them brought home a bunch of photocopied booklets to staple and distribute. One of them was the Doris anti-depression guide..I read that zine so many times that it was wrinkled and food splattered and falling apart.
I guess I like the idea of zines in general. A small way to be opininated, a way to be an activist and a way to get the word out about anything and have people respond in other small ways. Word of mouth, or a response zine or letters or meetings - so many ways! I like that they are so small because i like to carry them around in my back pocket or have them with me anytime i'm on a bus or have time to spare in general. I like that I learn something from every single one I read and I like that the community is small enough that when someone inspires me, I can tell them so and actually form a relationship with that person.
5 years after I read that first Doris zine, I was walking down the street in my new town when I came across a Good Vibrations the women focused worker owned activist sex shop. I had read about the store in the Doris anti-depression guide years before and now here was the shop right in front of me! A year and a half later I started working at Good Vibrations and I've contacted Cindy who is now writing a zine my store! It's so exciting, the way things and people can come together through this tiny little medium. I've met so many amazing women through zines and felt a feeling of community which is amazing to me.
