Interview with Raleigh Briggs, author of Make It Last: Prolonging + Preserving What We Love

October 01, 2012 — by Tim

What was the inspiration to write about fixing things? Raleigh briggs

We were throwing around the idea of having a book about canning, I think. But there are a million books out there about canning. I started wondering why some preservation skills were so glamorous all of a sudden, while others went under the radar. So I decided to take that same great energy around canning, pickling and whatnot and expand it to include things like mending and home repair.

DIY always seems to be about creating and making, do you think the subject of maintaining has been overlooked?

Definitely. People see maintaining as more of a chore than anything else, which, to be fair, it often is. And it can be hard to create community around fixing things up. But humble as they are, those skills make you a great asset to the people in your life (and to yourself). They’re especially crucial when folks you know are struggling. Homemade food and clothes can be a huge comfort, but helping out with a broken window or a leaky toilet is an absolute godsend.

How did you learn all your tips, tricks, and methods?

I’d be lost without my lovely local library. My friends and family were a great resource, too–people have all sorts of secrets they use around their own homes. It’s really awesome to see all the McGyvers and repair whizzes come out of the woodwork.

What have you always wanted to learn how to do, but haven’t yet?

Play the cello. Edit video. Also, electrical stuff still confuses the crap out of me.

Do you think of your work as being feminist in nature, empowering women to fix faucets and doors?

I’m a big flaming feminist, but I don’t think of Make It Last as speaking exclusively to women. Women have always done the lion’s share of domestic work, including household repairs. But more and more, men and women alike are encouraged to buy more stuff instead of making simple and cheap repairs to the things they already own. That’s great for the companies that make those things, but not so great for the rest of us. I want to empower everyone to fix everything, or at least, to think about what they can fix and what they have to buy, and making an empowered decision that’s in line with their values.

Make It Last: Prolonging + Preserving What We Love

Cambodian Grrrl Takes Bronze at SATW Awards

September 14, 2012 — by Tim

While we spend most of our energy focusing on smaller worlds, sometimes the broader world will give us a nod as well. In this case, we are proud to announce that Anne Elizabeth Moore is a winner in the 2012 Society of American Travel Writers’ Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition, taking the bronze award in the Travel Book category for Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh.

Winners of the award, the most prestigious in the field of travel journalism, included National Geographic Traveler, Outside Magazine, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Portland Oregonian and Afar Magazine.

In the words of the judges, “What a deceptively small, apparently simple book! Anne Elizabeth Moore packs a great deal of information and inspiration into Cambodian Grrrl, her improbable account of several months at an all-women’s university in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, teaching young women the liberating power of writing and self-publishing their stories. Moore depicts the essence of a country that has suffered so much repression, war, violence and injustice. She shows us the hope and spirit of the girls and the larger society. As a travel adviser, she’s the best: She relates what the guidebooks say, and then gives us the real scoop, in unsparing detail, laced with humor.”

Moore’s follow up (Oct 1st), New Girl Law: Drafting a Future for Cambodia tells the story of Moore’s time working with a group of young female students re-writing the Chbap Srei, a 17th-century book that intended to establish a code of conduct for young women, which culminates in a grand discussion of human rights and gender equity, and a hand-bound book for all participants. Tragically, the completed book was banned and censored in both Cambodia and the U.S., but through Moore’s intimate style, the story of these brave writers and their chilling struggle reaches the world.

“Action!” is Awesome!

September 08, 2012 — by Jeff Hayes

–Action! by Bill Brown–

I wish every book was like this. I opened this book when it first came in, here at Microcosm, and started skimming through the first page to check it out. Before I knew it I had read the whole thing! The delightful fluency of the text and the cute illustrations just kept me enthralled.

Now I know things about making movies that I never thought I would. I always thought it would take some sort of classes and textbooks to learn about the different kinds of “old-school” film, all the types of lenses and what they’re used for, the different ways of lighting a scene, or ways of exposing video.

film

Though I still have much more to learn, I now have a general understanding of these things. Learning about “film grains” and “depth of field” got me thinking about things I enjoy in movies that I’d never really thought about before.

depth-of-field

I’ve recently been given the opportunity to score a documentary and it has started opening my eyes to the movie making world, but I never considered making my own movies. I’m a musician that enjoys all things audio, but this book forces me to consider taking up this art-form as well. After all, anyone can make movies with this book.

easy

I especially enjoyed the audio section. Despite knowing most of the stuff in that particular section, It was a really great refresher. Even movie making professionals should read this to get their feet back on the ground and get them in touch with why they might have wanted to make movies in the first place.

audio

Bill Brown certainly has a way of making even the most complicated matters seam feasible. There’s something about this book that tugs at me to try new things. You can feel his enthusiasm jump out of the pages. This book is great for anyone of almost any age.

fun

It will be on my bookshelf for the foreseeable future, awaiting any day I might need a refresher on the numerous subjects this book covers. Thanks Bill!

—get it here!—

Big Changes in our Little World…

September 03, 2012 — by Tim

There’s been some changes around Microcosm HQ lately, both in the physical sense (our little Jeff is growing up so fast!) and within the organization. After a couple weeks, a thousand screws, gallons of iced tea, and (quite literally) tons of books, the store has gone through a bit of a remodel. It’s still the Microcosm you remember, but we are now stocked with so much good stuff that we had to lift our desks off the ground to make room for it all. Come check it out and browse around! And don’t worry, that’s not the voice of God when you walk in, it’s just us from our new lofts.

Our Big News is that as of August 1, Microcosm split into two distinct operations in two different states. Microcosm Publishing still maintains the store you know (and hopefully love) at 636 SE 11th Ave in Portland and will continue to publish books and bookettes for years to come, but our distribution brethren are now their own separate organization, distributing the same thousands of zines, books, stickers, patches, and more that you know (and hopefully also love). We’ve changed our management structure to the same traditional model we used from 1996-2005 that allows staff to focus on their individual job duties rather than everyone having to learn to manage an organization and needing decisions to be processed through eleven co-workers.

We think this new transition will help each group to work closer on what we’re each good at (publishing or distributing) without having to constantly focus on the big picture and organize hours long meetings with each other inter-state (Have you ever had a seven person, four hour meeting on Skype? We don’t recommend it.). After seventeen years, we still do this because we love it, so look for dozens of new titles coming out in the coming months and years—including the long awaited Make It Last! Check out the photos of our recently re-engineered store/office/warehouse.

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Out Now! Raleigh Briggs’ (Make Your Place) New Zine!

July 19, 2012

Raleigh Briggs (Make Your Place) takes us on a mending journey through stocking your supplies, quick fixes, types of knots and stitches (like the classic punk whipstitch!), buttons, mending seams, patching holes, darning holes, hemming, fixing zippers, waterproofing canvas, leather, and nylon, resources, and so much more! As always Raleigh’s style is simple, playful, friendly, fun, and builds your confidence. You can do it! Order here.

Now’s a ripe time to become our BFF!

June 27, 2012 — by joe biel

BFFin'! Hello Microcosm Friends!

We just wanted to let you know that now is a really good time to sign up as a Microcosm BFF and get all of our fall releases!

Too awesome for your mind? Imagine a package each month with titles like Bill Brown’s Action, Raleigh Briggs’ Make It Last and Fix Your Clothes, Dan Moore’s Mark Twain Was Right, Xerography Debt, Robnoxious’ Unsinkable, and so many more!

As an added bonus, if you sign up by the end of July we’ll throw in all of the upcoming Cantankerous Titles releases as a free bonus. That’s a total of twenty one titles in the next six months!

Already a BFF? Don’t worry, we love you too so if you renew your subscription before the end of June we’ll throw in the Cantankerous Titles releases as a free gift for you too and you’ll add six more months onto your existing subscription!

Microcosm Contest! Create Our Next $20 Superpack and Win Big!

June 26, 2012

UPDATE: We’ve extended the deadline of this until July 7th, mainly because we’re super busy and haven’t had time to check out all the entries (and also because Jessie is set to have a baby on THURSDAY.)

Hey folks! We are holding a contest to decide what our next $20 Superpack will be! For those who don’t know, the Superpacks are themed packs of zines, books, pins, stickers, patches, and/or posters valued at $25 and marked down to $20. Past Superpacks have included the Anytime Gardening Superpack, the Feminist Power Superpack, and the ever-popular Bicycle! Bicycle! Superpack.

What you need to do to enter this contest is root around on our site and come up with $25 worth of whatever (zines, books, etc, any combination of), figure out an awesome theme for it, email Jessie (jessie@microcosmpublishing.com) with your list of stuff and the name of the Superpack, and the winner will get that very pack!

Contest ends July 7th and Jessie will announce the winner shortly thereafter! Ready, set, go!

Three New Published Titles! Out Today!

June 22, 2012

CAT’S CLAW HERBAL

In this zine, Heron the herbalist’s the love of plants is shared through personal stories, drawings, and introductions to some favorites. Cat’s Claw Herbal also includes easy to understand DIY instructions on how to make your own herbal salves. This zine is great for people who are already into plants or those who are newly interested in making their own salves and natural medicine. Order here.

SIMPLE HISTORY ZINE SERIES: THE COLD WAR

In the latest installment of the Simple History zine series, author J. Gerlach takes a look at the Cold War. An era of nukes and paranoia, witch-hunting and gun-running, the Cold War was a complicated and oft-times terrifying time in our world’s history. Says Gerlach in the introduction, “The Cold War is a popular topic of debate for historians because of the large number of ‘what-ifs’ and the immensity of the consequences should a bluff be called, or an itchy trigger finger released. There seems to have been opportunities, both for an honorable end to the conflict, and for complete world destruction.” From the post-war “reconstruction” of Asia and Europe to the Bay of Pigs and Perestroika, Gerlach’s book comprises a wide cross-section of the important events of the last 70 years and gives its objective facts in a clear-minded, engaging, accessible fashion. Order here.

XEROGRAPHY DEBT #31

Davida Gypsy Breier’s review zine, Xerography Debt might be best summarized as an obsession for all involved. Now on its 31st issue, Xerography Debt is “the review zine with personal tendencies,” allowing its hand-picked cast of contributors to essay both the zines they love and where those zines find them in their lives. Al Burian gets a job in a vegan cafe to stay connected to his punk cultural roots, Joe Biel reports on the “pre-natal death of the e-book,” and Jeff Somers ruminates on the idea of a zine community and his ever-changing reasons for continuing to publish zines. And let us not forget the large volume of zine reviews in here. Rather than spending time and ink bashing things or being forced to write about something they don’t care about, the reviewers hand-select what they want to write about the result is much more interesting. In an age of blogs and tweets, Xerography Debt is a beautiful, earnest anachronism, a publication that seems to come from a different era, but is firmly entrenched in the now. And they want to review your zines in future issues: Davida Gypsy Breier / PO Box 11064 / Baltimore, MD 21212 Order here.

We just did a mega Pin (aka button aka badge) restock!

June 16, 2012

We just did a mega restocking of our pins (aka buttons, badges). After many, many hours of sitting up late at night hand-cranking these puppies out, we have a mountain of ’em to show for our efforts. See what’s back in stock here. And here are some glamor shots of a few select pins…

Announcing the “Name the Microcosm Kitten” Contest Winners!

June 16, 2012 — by Jessie Duke

Our sincere thanks to Denise from Argentina for her awesome name suggestion! Henceforth our little kitty friend will be “Salvadora” after Salvadora Onrubia, who was an Argentinian anarcho-feminist and poet. (Her nickname will be “Salvie” since it’ll be easier for the little munchkins on the farm to say!)

We’ve also decided to award Britty from Michigan with a “People’s Choice Award” for “Inky” since it got so many “likes” on Facebook. The runner-ups were “Assata,” “Nixon” (which we’re going to save for the next rescue goat we take in!) “Sharpie,” “Lunchbox,” and “Pixel.” Other notable mentions: “Katniss” (of “Hunger Games” fame) and “Kimberly” (after the pink Power Ranger!).

Salvadora is doing well and seems to be adjusting to her new home. For some reason sheep are totally fascinated by cats – kittens especially – so she is getting lots of love from us and her new adoptive sheep dads. She’s also mega into climbing hay bales! Thanks to everyone who participated in the contest. This was really fun for us so we’ll probably hit you guys up for names again next time we take in another critter! <3 Jessie, Salvadora, and the Microcosm Gang!

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