| THE ZINE SCENE |
Despite easier and more cost-effective ways to self-publish via the Internet, a handful of ‘zinesters’ carry on printing zines. |
by Susan Lee and Rebecca Castillo In the early 1990s, then-teenager Jen Angel began creating a zine, a self-published booklet as an outlet for her thoughts, rants and raves. It took hours to handwrite her copy, make photocopies at a local printing shop, collate and staple them together. Rumors surfaced amongst an underground network of zinemakers that you could rig box counters on copy machines. Friends took up jobs at printing shops solely to get access to free copies. Angel eventually invested in a MacPlus, complete with a hard drive and a few megabytes of memory, which made the zine assembling process slightly easier. These were the days of an underground zine network that Angel, now editor-in-chief at a magazine, recalls. As many veteran zine makers have abandoned their impassioned ventures and as more would-be “zinesters” create live journals, blogs and personal Web sites, the number of zines has diminished. But a handful of zine traditionalists, driven partly by nostalgia and aesthetic sensibilities, remain devoted to the practice, defying the more obvious, easier and cost-effective choices for self-publishing. Among them is Jessica Haidon, 24, who publishes a zine called Broken Records, a personal memoir about her experiences working in a record store and quotidian encounters with customers and coworkers. “I like the tangible aspect of being able to hold it, read it, and carry it around with you,” said Haidon. On a rack at St. Mark’s Bookshop in the East Village, it is evident that Haidon is not alone. An array of zines -- big and small, packaged with felt covering, bound together with string, stapled together or folded accordion-style and stuffed inside a box -- shows the range of creative license afforded to zine creators. It’s just one reason why the zine is distinct from its online counterparts and why people continue to print zines, according to Stephen Duncombe, author of the 1997 book Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture. Additionally, zines in print somehow retain the tenets of subterranean culture, namely non-commercial exclusivity, that the web cannot fulfill, says Duncombe. “Zines still have a sub-cultural cache, whereas everyone and their mother blogs nowadays, and in schools, both the unpopular and popular kids have blogs,” he said. “Fanzines [in print] still signify that you are in rebellion against the mainstream, even if it is now in a reactionary nostalgic way.” Zines were born in the 1930s, when fans of science fiction sought to share stories and critical commentary. Fans of punk rock music carried on zine-making during the 1970s and 1980s, and throughout the decades, various other specialty zines emerged, falling into several categories — political, science fiction, visual arts, poetry, music, entertainment, personal diaries, travel, sex, comics and literary. Others who continue to print zines have more logistic concerns. Vikki Law, a 29-year-old native of Queens, N.Y., who has been producing zines off and on since high school, publishes Tenacious, a collection of writings from female prison inmates. Her reason for publishing on paper is simple: women inmates don’t have access to the Internet. Costs are not much of a concern for Law, who says she shells out no more than $50 each time for about 100 issues. Then, there are those like Rebecca Shiffman, who puts out UES Journal, a zine about life on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, who straddle both mediums. Propelled by printing costs, she’s made her journal available online, though she produces a limited number of printed issues. The reason: “I do like the idea of something you can hold and read on the subway,” she said. Sharon Furgason, 29, of Astoria, who creates a comix zine called Archipelaego agrees: “I'm a tactile person. I like the feel of the page, the smell of it.” Because blogs and live journals are largely ubiquitous nowadays, it's hard to say what the future holds for zines, says Duncombe. "Even in the 80s they weren't that popular," he said. |