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RESOURCES
by Jennifer Tabakin
Tabakin was recently an intern at CJR.
Who is Mike Gunderloy? He is the chief cheerleader, archivist, and cross-pollinator in the world of "zines" (as in magazines). What are "zines"? This is Gunderloy's word for very small-audience, often self-published magazines aimed at, well, just about any group in the world. They range from American Cemetery, a trade journal for graveyard management, to Why is the Future Unfolding Shit? a poetry journal published in Helsinki, Finland. Subject matter ranges from handguns to postcard collecting, from Basque politics to "Satanic messages found etched onto the vinyl of heavy metal records" (Die Fat Piggy Die). "There is probably some zine that covers every subculture that conceivably exists," Gunderloy says. Why do people publish zines? Gunderloy asked zine publishers this question and printed some of their answers in a booklet titled Why Publish? Three samples:
"I publish to counter the consensus reality makers." Bob Banner, Critique.
"I wanted to learn more about sex." Sylvia Carlson, Apaeros.
"The zine scene is an important tool for social change, and it seems to be heading in directions I like. I publish to help it along." Mike Gunderloy, Factsheet Five. What is Factsheet Five? This is Gunderloy's zine of all zines. Started as a single photocopied sheet in 1982, it has grown into a 100-plus-page eight-times-a-year publication that employs Gunderloy and co-editor Cari Goldberg Janice more than full time. Most of it is taken up with brief reviews of zines from across the land. Feature writers and reporters may find it useful in pursuing off-the-beaten-track story ideas and sources. (A subscription costs $ 23; write: 6 Arizona Avenue, Rensselaer, N.Y. 12144-4502, or call: 518-479-3707).
A few snippets from reviews in the current issue:
Coalition for Prisoners Rights Newsletter: What's wrong with the prisons, "much of it written by those behind bars."
Girl Jock: "For the athletic lesbian with a political consciousness."
Growing Without Schooling: Teaching children without formal schools.
Interrace: Focus on interracial couples and families.
The Kansas Intelligencer: A monthly conservative polemic "that doesn't pull any punches."
Keltic Fringe: Culture, folklore, history, and poetry from the Celtic lands around Britain.
A Load of Bull: A soccer magazine for fans of the United Kingdom's Wolverhampton Wanderers, including cheering songs. Psychotic Prophets: From the "grass-roots Christian underground."
USSR News Brief: From Germany, updates on political prisoners in the Soviet Union.
White Bread: "Angry dark scrawled drawings and interviews with very disaffected youth, some apparently orbiting the skinhead scene." Comes with a slice of toast glued to the cover.
