It’s been a dream of mine to table at a zine fest, and yesterday I did it!! It was amazing and even better than I hoped it would be, which a surreal and rare feeling.
I’ve been making zines for the last ten years. I started in college (that’s when I sold my first one for a pound), and then would create one for a birthday party as a wee piece of ephemeral. I’d copy them at work, number them one out of 20 and give them as a party gift.
Most of my writing experience has been sharing digitally, but after talking to a few people – it became clear that I needed to go print.
I’ve always admired the zine community. So inclusive, so honest, so raw. Beautiful! And all about accessibility. It’s about sharing and connecting. I’ve popped up every once and a while to attend a zine fest or a workshop, but I’ve been trying to take my dreams seriously.
When I saw the LA Zine Fest was taking applications, a quick Google form, I thought – why not! Let’s see what happened.
A few weeks later, I was accepted! A rush of joy, and a “Well, we’re doing it.”
I’m the kind of person whose usually doing too much, and this was one of those times. I procrastinated in printing them, until the last day I could copy them. I rushed them, not perfect, but they’ll do!
I brought 25 of four zines and some broadsides by a poet friend. Well, let’s see what happens. I’m here to connect! Just showing up is enough, as I thought about canceling multiple times because I didn’t do all the things I had hoped, because it wasn’t perfect.
I showed up at 10:30am when doors opened at 11am, sprinting to Walgreens to print my sign and borrowing tape from my lovely tablemate Blue Hare Comix.
Simon and I spend the next six hours side by side sharing our zines! It was incredible, the support, the deep chats, the meaningful gifting of our zines. These zines that are filled with our intimate thoughts and feels and loves. How many hours I spent writing those words, and rewriting, writing them for me, writing them because something larger than myself compelled me to stream out into the tips of my fingers, and now they were on papers, walking away, to live their own life, to see what happens.
These ideas, these most human of times. I had my vision manifesto, the feminist toilet, happy birthday bitch, and burnt out bitch. The small $1 and free ones left quickly, but then all I had were my two larger pieces to receive attention, to highlight.
They were conversation starters- and I made sure that they knew my email was in there, and that my hopes were to engage in conversation because I didn’t know all things- I just knew my perspective but I knew it wasn’t the truth, and I wanted to discuss. I wanted to talk about these things. I am excited to see if I get some emails.
Oh after the first hour, I was like “This is amazing and I could go home now and feel proud and satisfied,” and then five more hours passed and I was on a high. Dreams! The power of words, of books, from one hand to another.
I was so grateful as well to have some of my friends visit me and help at the booth! And running into some people as well! Community. Even one of my students – a 9th grader who is currently reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas because their Dad gave it to them. Told them this is my secret name for my art persona because the classroom is about them.
Oh- so appreciative and grateful and so much love and excitement.
My next dream within the zine press is to publish a series of my friends who are writers, as well as to mail my leftover zines to the libraries and one in a story, and see what happens next! As well as to start going to more events and supporting more zinesters. Zine workshops in the classrooms! Oh, dreams, dazzling, realistic, dreams!
Leave a Reply