Unemployment
by Aaron Smith
Unemployment is the newest zine by Aaron Lake Smith of Big Hands fame. "There's nothing quite like the nagging doubt that accompanies a period of unemployment," begins the zine and for the next 44 pages Aaron brings us along on his dark journey into the heart of the failing American empire. Whether touching on the allegorical implications of the Spider-Man/Peter Parker character symbiosis, dreaming about a shameful meeting with a Christ-like Crimethinc author, or just roaming the recession-era streets, Aaron applies everything to the current economic slump and does so in prose that is tight, engaging, and downright hilarious. This little primer/per-zine is some timely stuff.
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"You know what sucks? Not having a job. Now I could wax poetic for, like, 30 minutes tops about why unemployment sucks (before the inevitable weeping begins), but I think you should just check out this new ‘zine, Unemployment, by writer/journalist Aaron Smith. Now, being a ‘zine writer seems like a futile undertaking in an age when everyone’s endlessly droning on about the death of print, but it seems like it’s up to the indie guys to keep the literary torch burning. And burn Unemployment does, hitting naggingly close to home as Smith describes the struggle between being a true, D.I.Y. artist and sacrificing your ideals for the comforting glow of a computer screen and a steady income. Makes for perfect train reading when you’re riding endlessly around the city, pretending that you have somewhere to be."
"Punk Rock pessimism best describes Arthur contributor Aaron Lake’s Smith narrative of the anguish of being an aging, unemployed, punk. After receiving a zine written by German squatters titled “Happy Unemployed” Smith is forced to realize that the punk rock fantasy of outsmarting the work-world and eradicating deadtime do not so easily go hand in hand. Unlike the happy squatters, Smith is too old to be a crusty, too ambitious for some sort of career success, and too not-German to suckle off a welfare state.
Published by the zine world’s HarperCollins, Microcosm, Unemployment is formatted in the style of a Jack Chick tract. The story reads nothing like a classic Evangelically-polemic Jack Chick storyline until Smith turns to Crimethinc’s Days of War Nights of Love like the Good Book, and is climactically visited by its messianic author in a dream. The religious turn cements Smith’s pessimism, both for integration into capitalism and the faith that his ideals will deliver anything better.
Perhaps Unemployment’s thematically closed approach lead Smith to release it as a single issue instead of as a regular issue of Big Hands. The punk zine form reminds us of a collective project underway, while Unemployment is the isolated story of an isolated person that is lacking something far more significant than a paying job. It’s the perfect read for urbanites like myself who appreciate allusions to Black Flag and Nietzsche within pages of each other, drinking black coffee, and waxing endlessly about the ugly confines of civilization."