for about a month i’ve been working on illustrating the back piece that i’m planning to get when spring comes and my money tree begins to bloom. i wanted to create an image that illustrates my dedication to compassion. being a vegan, of course the image also had some animals in it. well all my hard work is being thrown out the door because the NRA has successfully encapsulated the roots of veganism with the following image. so this will be my new back piece. thanks, NRA! you’ve always been there for me.
Continue reading ‘the NRA enters the tattoo design business’
Archive for January 16th, 2007
16
Jan
i heart (queer) zines
for months now, i’ve been toying with the idea of creating an online zine archive that would allow anyone to upload their zine and anyone to download the zines all for free. the idea was sparked by a friend who has what he describes as “every zine printed since the 1980s”. i’ve never seen his complete zine collection, but i’ve seen a portion of it and it is impressive. when he said he was thinking of getting rid of all but the best ones, but that he didn’t want to get rid of such an archive, my first thought was to digitalize the collection and make it accessible to everyone.
really, its an idea i had a few years ago, but it really didn’t solidify until more recently. i have about 4 -5 dozen zines myself. they’ve followed me from house to house over the years and i’m now looking to downgrade the amount of stuff in my closets. but the zines i have are all good zines and i hate to just trash them. so having just completed the bulk of digitalizing my photo collection, i decided i would start the process of digitalizing my zines. before starting a new project, however, i like to make sure someone else isn’t already doing it. i didn’t find exactly what i had in mind, but i was VERY excited to find the Queer equivalent. they have a very impressive collection of queer zines for download, including several that i’ve never heard of.
i like zines for several reasons. the most of which is the idea that anyone can write/illustrate/compile a publication, publish it, and distribute it all with a very small budget and little-to-no knowledge of the publishing industry. zines are, in my opinion, the predecessor of blogs. my two favorite types of zines have always been Queer zines and DIY zines. i like the DIY zines because i like to learn practical skills without having to pay for it:) i like Queer zines because they have been a fuck you to the silencing of and co-optation of Queer voices. a large part of my introduction to trans identity (and how i learned to make my own gender toys) came from reading people’s experiences in zines. some were funny, some sad, some infuriating, most a combination of emotions, and all of them persynal and wonderful.
don’t get me wrong. i like blogs, but i hope zine culture never dies.
