For this installment of Meet Microcosm we talk to E. Chris Lynch about his animal sanctuary, turds covered in veganaise, and the nightmare of tabling zines on the Warped Tour.

Q: Alright dude, let’s talk Deep Roots. For the unknowing reader, what’s the sanctuary all about? Tell us! Tell us!

A: The short answer: We are a sanctuary that focuses on animal and earth liberation. We also like to point out that humans are animals, too. We don’t care to fight for welfare (exploitation and killing are still exploitation and killing, even if the aesthetic and language are more appealing). And while we will work on animal rights issues in the form of legislation, ultimately we believe that rights dictated from an authoritarian body are not the equivalent of freedom. We need total liberation. A lofty goal, but we’re in it in the long run. In the meantime, we provide housing for survivors of animal exploitation (farm, lab, and domestic animals). These animals work at the sanctuary by serving as ambassadors of their species. We’ve found that once you meet animals like Mabel the chicken and you’ve seen what great personalities they have, it is a lot harder to justify killing them for our own selfish purposes.

Q: You do a lot of really cool events and feeds to support Deep Roots. Tell us!

A: The small group of us that run Deep Roots are all really dedicated to grassroots activism and that means staying close to our community. For that reason, we like to host lots of small fundraisers and community events. We have fairly regular vegan diners, where you can get diner food for $1 an item. We sometimes do themed diners. One that we’ve been trying to find a location for the past couple of months is a Twin Peaks themed diner. It will be a late night diner that only serves food found on Twin Peaks (mostly coffee and stacked donuts). Matt Gauck donated some awesome Laura Palmer patches that he made. We are really looking forward to that one.

We’ve had a couple of punk olympics–these are different each year, but events have included a soapbox derby, four-square tournament, downhill sack races, kickball tournament, 20-person tug-of-war, and other fun stuff. We always give out handmade trophies at the olympics. I think that’s my favorite part (the trophies have things like lions giving piggyback rides to bears or skulls with glowing eyes. Jerico is a trophy making champion.) We try to keep it fun. Activism should be fun and community building.

Q: Tell us, tell us… how would someone go about getting an animal to you guys? Also, tell us a little about the animals you’ve got right now. Bonus points for cute Osil stories. For that matter, tell us about Osil…

A: Ah, yes. Osil is very cute. But let me get to your first question.

We don’t take drop offs. Although we have been around for a couple of years, we have a limited budget (and a very large mortgage), so our building process is slow and we have limited space. For that reason, we ask that people email info@deeprootssanctuary.org or call 812-NOW-2-ACT and let us know the details of the animal(s) that you want to drop off. We want to know what type of animal, how many, and what situation they are coming from (factory farm, small farm, lab, puppy mill, hoarder, etc). We need to make sure that we have the space and the funds to properly care the animals. If we aren’t able to take them, we can help find someone who can.

As for stories, I’ve got lots. Everyone loves Mabel, so I’ll share a funny story about her and a bunch of pit bull puppies that were rescued from a dog fighting ring. The five puppies were a couple of months old and full of piss and vinegar. They were chasing each other around the yard while Tidbit (the oldest dog at the sanctuary) was walking around making sure they didn’t hurt each other. Mabel’s friend Harold had recently died so she was spending a lot more time around the dogs (who are terrified of her, by the way). So Mabel was walking around with Tidbit when all the puppies decided it would be fun to tackle her. Mabel didn’t like this idea so she decided to go somewhere that they puppies couldn’t reach. So she jumped on Tidbit’s back. I wish I had a picture of Tidbit’s face. She looked so worried. It was hilarious. The puppies got distracted and Mabel jumped back down, but I was in stitches.

Osil is extra special to me because she was my inspiration for starting the sanctuary. I found her while spending a couple of months down in Chiapas. It was sunrise on my birthday and I was up early. I heard a yipping sound sound in the distance. I assumed one of the puppies that had been brought to us a few days before had wondered off and was lost. Being one who always responds to a distress call, I followed the yipping. I found a four-week-old Osil sitting in a ditch, covered in mud, and yipping at two turkeys. The Chiapanecos in the small village told us that they could not care for the puppies (who were strays from the woods… their mother is a sad story that I won’t share). So my friend and I decided that we would care for them for the remaining month that we were there and then take them back to the states. On our trip in to San Cristobal to get them some dewormer and formula, Osil peed in my lap. She was so embarrassed that she hid in my armpit for the rest of the trip. It was at that moment that I fell in love. There are lots of other fun stories about getting Osil back to the states, but I’ll save those. Damnit. Now I’m just thinking of lots of cute animal stories.

As for other animals at the sanctuary, we have several cats (about half of which came from a shelter that was shut down for hoarding), Mabel the chicken, Baron the bunny, Tom the (blind) turtle, Osil, and Tidbit (the dogs). We are finishing up a waterfowl rehab center in the next month and we are starting construction on a small barn this Spring/Summer. So we will hopefully be taking on a lot more animals this year, including our introduction into the world of wild animal rehab and release. This will be a big year for us. It is like we are growing up into our big boy pants.

Tell us, tell us–Fill in the blank!
1. I’d rather eat (blank) than a big, pink, fat-drippin’ Easter ham.

A: Well, I’ve been quoted before as saying I would eat a turd if you covered it in veganaise. So I’ll go with that. A turd covered in veganaise.

2. If a wise, kindly, snowy-bearded wizard with crystal eyes showed up right now and was like, “Bro, you got your wish. I’m totally turning you into (blank, animal) right now” which animal would you choose to be?

A: First off, I would probably piss myself if I saw someone dropping such mad wizbombs. But I might go with vulture. I had the privilege of rehabbing a couple of vultures and they are fucking cool. Huge, badass birds that look a lot like skeksies. They can fly really high. They eat things that were already dead. And they are so ugly that nobody fucks with them or thinks, “awww, that’d make a good pet.” Oh, and their defense mechanism is to puke on you. Trust me, it is the foulest smelling vomit that you have ever smelled. And they warn you that they are going to puke on you by making a hissing noise that seriously sounds like they are sucking out your soul. They are the most metal animal ever.

3. My favorite vegan food is (blank). My favorite vegan food to cook is (blank).

A: I hate this question. It is so hard for me to choose. But I’ll go with a good vegan yellow thai curry with tofu and veggies. My favorite vegan food to cook is either donuts or chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. I make both of those quite a bit.

4. (blank) is a total animal rights superstar.

Peter Young. I still love his “apology” that he delivered to the court at his sentencing

5. You really need to read this (blank, book).

A: The Lifelong Activist by Hillary Rettig. I don’t agree with everything in the book, but I do think it made me a better organizer. And it helped me in a time when I was starting to feel powerless and burnt out. I’ve been reading All The Power by Mark Anderson. That one is really good, too, if you are feeling frustrated as an organizer. I also highly recommend Cavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon. That one doesn’t really have a lot of social import, but it is so good. Especially if you are a comics nerd. And if you haven’t read Watership Down, stop reading this stupid interview and go read that instead. Then come back and finish. If you aren’t already vegan, my partner says that Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer is a good one. I’ve been vegan for 13 years now, so I don’t really read many animal rights or animal lib books any more. Maybe I should.

Q: You went on Warped Tour for Microcosm. We hear it went really badly. Tell us about it…

A: I wrote a 3,000 word “summary” of all the things that went wrong at Warped Tour. I was asked by Staples (former Microcosm intern and Australian zinester rockstar) to write a shorter summary. I’m working on it. Look for his new zine, it will be in there. Right now, I like to focus on the things that went well and the things that could have gone well. If it weren’t for a vehicle that broke down every day, that trip would have been a lot of fun. Just Adam, me, and Osil. My favorite time on the trip were those few days that the tour went into Canada and we couldn’t. So we set up camp at a rest stop in the Poconos and wrote for two days straight. That was nice.

But have no illusion. There is nothing punk about Warped Tour. I think three examples can sum up the crowd:
1) a dude wearing a shirt that said “capitalist anarchist,”
2) two military dudes coming up to the table, seeing the sticker that reads “the greatest threat to freedom is following those in authority” (or something like that) and then flipping off the stickers and backing away,
3) a young woman flipping through all the buttons and then saying, “but these are all liberal.” She turned away and had some patch that was either pro-Republican or pro-Military. I don’t remember which.

Q: Tell us a little about what you do for Microcosm day in day out…

A: I don’t really have a set schedule or set tasks. I kind of do whatever other people don’t have time to do. The two things that I do every day are pack orders (all of us in Bloomington do this) and list the Zine of the Day. I’ll also read submissions, edit a book, write descriptions for new titles, design book covers, ship orders, organize BFF subscriptions, shelve books and zines, make buttons, staple zines, do stock inventory, communicate with authors, write collective policy, whatever I can do to help out. I like having a different schedule every day. It fits my ADHD behavior.

Q: Finally, what’s the “E” stand for? The panel here is guessing “Electronic,” “Elf,” “E.L.F.,” “Emo,” or “Evil.” Tell us the truth.

A: I say electronic, but whatever works for you. I’m a roller derby ref and coach and my name is Lord Seitan (Lord Chris P. Seitan, if you want the full name). So “Evil” is very fitting. It is actually my first initial, but I only share my given name with good friends. I prefer the gender neutrality of Chris. And everyone I’ve known with the same first name as me has proven to be an asshole. I try not to associate with the assholes.

Welcome to Meet Microcosm, a new series where we interview members of our Portland, Bloomington, and Kansas staff and let you know who we are and what we’re all about. First up, Portland store employee and all-around awesome zinester and drawer Matt Gauck!

Q: If my mom–who you’ve never met, as far I know–asked you the vague, mom-ish question, “So Matt what sort of stuff do you draw and who do you draw it for?” what would be your answer?

A: To tailor my answer for the “parent crowd,” I’d say I draw and paint a lot of CD covers, t-shirts for bands and various other businesses, and design logos sometimes. The subject matter depends on the organization or band; sometimes it’s very realistic, sometimes it’s simplistic and cute. Very much one or the other. I also tell parents that I
screenprint frequently, which is true, but I feel like it makes me seem more well-rounded, which is the best way to guarantee that parents will like me and offer to pay for my dinner.

Q: You draw a lot of brutal vegan and animal rights stuff, which I really love. If a five-year-old Canadian kid asked you, “Mr. Gauck, why shouldn’t daddy grill steaks for me and mommy and my sister Leigh?” what would you say?

A: Man, a five-year-old? I suppose the easy answer would be to loan this kid a couple Cattle Decapitation CDs, maybe an Abnegation record… but, failing having these things on my person while meeting this kid, I’d go the “simple explanation” route. “Have you ever seen a cow before? Well, they’re very nice animals, and I think being nice to them in return is only fair, right? So, do you think it’s okay to hit them on the head to kill them and then cut them apart? And then EAT them?” Then we’d go visit a slaughterhouse and I think the transformation would be complete. Second stop would be a chicken facility.

Q: One thing I really like about your art is you have a lot of range. The stuff you do for your zine, Next Stop Adventure, varies widely from the stuff you do for bands (e.g. Mesrine) and book covers (e.g. Make a Zine) which varies widely from the paintings, etc. If my bearded 9th grade art teacher Mr. Long (who SUCKED) asked you, “What’s the hardest thing to draw and why?” what would you say?

A: Oh man, great question, especially for a sucky teacher. Well, honestly, the hardest thing for me to draw is any animal that’s mostly fur–like bears, wolves, raccoons, and anything in the dog/cat family. It’s because you can’t just draw the outline and have it look good; you have to draw all the fur which is so difficult to get the texture right. About six years ago I would’ve answered dead trees are hardest to draw, but that’s not true anymore, since I’ve drawn them for the last six years. The easiest thing to draw is old people’s faces, since they have so many wrinkles, it’s simple to “measure” the drawing correctly.

Q: So if an activist kid came into the Microcosm store in Portland where you work and was like, “Dude, I heard you turned down the illo job for those sneaky fucks at the Center for Consumer Freedom, good work. Are there any other kind of jobs, maybe industry-specific jobs, you’d turn down from an ethical standpoint?” what would you say?

A: That’s such a tough situation sometimes, since the sketchiest, most crappy places seem to have the most money, and could pay me enough that I could visit New Zealand or somewhere fun. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing anything for any fast food company or any food-industry that sold meat. If I think that my art would help
sell meat or a lifestyle I’m against (alcohol, cigarettes, oil companies) then I wouldn’t do it. However, if some giant band asked me for artwork, and could pay me stupid amounts of money, even if the band sucked, I would do it. Not because I love money or something, but more because it would rule to travel around, buy food instead of
finding most of it, and finally fix my bike, all on some mainstream band’s dime. I guess this is all a theoretical question, though, since I have no idea how McDonald’s or Enron would get my contact info and think “we should hire that guy!”

Q: So if you were doing a panel at the Allied Media Conference this summer and the mediator asked you, “Please tell us a little about your zine… ” what would you say?

A: It’s a super positive bike/travel zine, which I know is well-worn territory, but I still think there’s a couple stories too funny not to tell. I aim for two things–to inspire readers to go on more trips to more places with less planning, and also to make people laugh, since being upbeat and capable of laughing things off is the only way you’ll get through having your bike break down, having a leaky tent, having to drink your pee (issue number 4! not out yet!)…

Word Association! Answer fast!
1. Hot dog – dachshunds!
2. Elephant – stampede!
3. Lazy – the couch
4. Walnut – slingshot! (like, slingshot them at something)
5. Straight-edge – GO!

Q: Finally, if you were doing career day at a high school and one of the kids raised their hand and asked, “So, what do you do for Microcosm?” what would you say?

A: Official title: Box mover. That’s what I do best. Bike delivery guy, box picker-upper, mural painter, invoice emailer, in-store friend maker, and book shelf builder.

Check out more of Matt Gauck’s work at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nextstopadventure or stop by the Portland store and give him a high five.

Deadline: May 31st, 2010

Today is the 99th annual International Women’s Day.  I figured what better way than to make a list of 99 of my favorite zines written or edited by women (that are still in print).  When I started, I thought it would be hard to come up with 99 of them.  I quickly had a list well over 100 and it was hard to edit it down.  This is far from an exhaustive list of great zines by women, but I hope you find it’s a good place to start.  These zines are in no order other than in the order they came to mind.  What are some of your favorite zines by women?

1. Doris
2. Ker-Bloom
3. Counterbalance
4. So What
5. Krazy Kat Lady
6. Spread
7. Just So You Know
8. New Orleans… My Love
9. List
10. On Being Hard Femme
11. The F-Word
12. Beyond Gallery Walls and Dead White Men
13. Dames on Frames
14. Reclaiming Our Ancient Wisdom
15. Moments of Struggle
16. Hot Pantz
17. HPV
18. Guerilla Greywater Girls
19. Take Back Your Life
20. What The Ladies Have To Say
21. Radical Pet
22. Frugal Vegan
23. We Need To Eat!
24. Barefoot and In The Kitchen
25. Nine Gallons
26. You Don’t Get There From Here
27. Galatea’s Pants
28. Support
29. Crescent City Stories
30. Adventures in Menstruating
31. Invincible Summer
32. Greenblooded
33. Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf
34. Work Funnies
35. Booty
36. Shithole
37. Girls Are Not Chicks
38. My Every Single Thought
39. Hey, Four-Eyes
40. Jumbly Junkery
41. Estrus Comics
42. The Womanifesto for the Categorical New Freedom Lady
43. Milkyboots
44. Easy Village Inky
45. My Brain Hurts
46. I Hate My Mom’s Cat
47. Sourpuss
48. Slave to the Needles
49. Here It Is
50. The Color of Dissent
51. Matching Jackets
52. Ring of Fire
53. Beer, Bikes, and Bridges: Notes on Portland, Oregon
54. Tenacious
55. Punx Is Ladies
56. The Adventures of Loneberry
57. Cuntastic
58. New To Everything
59. Angry Violist
60. The Rag
61. Refuge Zine
62. The Rainbow Connection
63. When Language Runs Dry
64. Greenwoman
65. DIY or Don’t We?: A Zine About Community
66. Learning Good Consent
67. Rigor Mortis
68. Fireweed: A Zine of Grassroots Radical Herbalism and Wild Foods Connecting With Kids and Family Life
69. Harlot, RN
70. Etiquette
71. Morgenmuffel
72. She Must Be Having A Bad Day: The Cult of the Female Food Service Worker
73. Broken Hipster
74. Figure 8
75. Really Gay!
76. Re:productive
77. 7 Minutes in Heaven
78. Caboose
79. Scrabble Freaks
80. Mamaphiles
81. Shotgun Seamstress
82. Rocket Queen
83. Identity Crisis
84. I Was A Teenage Mormon
85. La-La Theory
86. Keep Loving, Keep Fighting
87. Nuns I’ve Known
88. Jane Zine
89. Long Walk Back To Myself
90. It’s Not Just Boys Fun
91. Free To Choose
92. Mark of Cain
93. Xtra Tuff
94. Citizeen
95. Emergency
96. Let It Be Known
97. Ask First
98. Chainbreaker
99. Anti-Immigrant Hypocrisy 

We had a chance to catch up with the very busy people organizing this year’s Chicago Zine Fest, which will be held March 12th-13th at some great places all over Chicago.  Check out chicagozinefest.org for all the information.  They were nice enough to answer some questions for our Blogifesto!  Take it away folks….

So, what’s the Chicago Zine Fest all about? How did you get involved in organizing the fest? When was the last Chicago Zine Fest?

 Leslie: The Chicago Zine Fest is an opportunity for self-publishers to gather together and showcase their work.  Our goal is to make zine-making accessible, highlight the talents of self-published artists, and give independent artists a chance to interact, and swap skills through tabling, lectures, and workshops.  We tried to create a more interactive fest; including a reading, an art show, a film fest and the exhibiting. We are hoping people will talk and invest time in getting to know one another and what their zines are all about.

I got involved with organizing the Chicago Zine Fest the same way all four of us did–we just decided to make it happen!  Ramsey, Matt, Neil and I all traveled up to and tabled together at the Milwaukee Zine Fest.  On the drive back to Chicago we all collectively decided it was our calling to make this happen in Chicago.

 A fellow Chicago zinester Michelle Aiello organized a smaller DIY centered event called the Ephemera Festival, which took place from 2005-2009.  Overall though, for the huge city we live in and the amount of people making zines here, there hasn’t been a festival of this design in a very long time or possibly ever.

What’s the first zine you ever read, where did you get it?

Ramsey: The first zine I ever read was a photo zine called Worthless. I got it at a Catch 22 show, haha, in 1999 or 2000 probably. The guy who was selling merch for them was also selling his zine. I specifically remember asking him what it was and he said ‘oh, it’s just a collection of my photos put together, like a little magazine.’ I was 14, from a small town, just getting into punk and had never heard of zines at that time so I didn’t know what he was talking about, but he said it would help him buy a Pepsi. Inside was a compelling photo essay about a mom who lived in a van with her daughter in New Jersey. It wasn’t until a few years later, when I had learned about zines and started reading them, that I realized that guy, had sold me a zine a few years prior. That zine stayed with me for a long time, even though I didn’t really know what it was or why that guy put it together.

What’s so great about zines, why have a fest celebrating them, and what does the future of zines look like?

Neil: The micro-budgets most zines exist in give authors the freedom to say whatever is on their mind. If I want to say something, there’s no reason not to. For the consumer of a zine, beyond the ability to stock up on some heavy reading for cheap, the appeal is the direct connection between you and author.  You get to read their inner thoughts, having never met them, and you can write directly back to them.

Celebrations like the Chicago Zine Fest are important because it allows zinesters to increase that connection between the reader and the author.  There are very few forms of art in which the audience can interact so directly with a creator as with zines, and a major vehicle for that is sticking the author behind a table for six hours. A complete novice can walk into a fest, and not only be exposed to hundreds of different zines that range in subject matter and form, but they can put a human face to a somewhat quirky medium.

The future of zines and other DIY media looks great!  We’re currently facing two quite different trends in media, the first is the consolidation of major media among just a few companies, the second is the increased popularity of “user generated content.”   Zines have always been about publishing the ideas deemed unmarketable by those who control the reigns of publishing. With fewer companies controlling major media, the output has become more uniform, which is only going to cause more people to turn to their own form of media making. Blogs, podcasts, twitter and youtube are making the idea of self-publishing far less fringe. Locally, we’re seeing institutions such as Chicago Public Radio devoting major resources to user generated content. They’ve created Vocalo, a station broadcasting from Chesterton, Indiana that allows anyone to contribute content.  A lot of people are worried that new media is going to hurt print, but it seems like if anything, the new media is going to be supportive of the ideas behind zines, breed more zinesters, and allow folks to connect with them with greater ease.

What has the response been so far about the Chicago Zine Fest?

Leslie: The response has been overwhelming and amazing!  We never dreamed when we were sitting around saying there should be a zine fest in Chicago that just months later we would have people from all across the country and Canada coming. It has been awesome to have our dream list of sponsors all agree to support us as well as our dream list of readers and participants.  We are really thankful and humbled by the response we have gotten from everyone wanting to participate in all aspects of the fest.

What are the resources in Chicago for zinesters?

You can buy or read zines at all of these places, be sure to check out some of them if you come to town! Ask any of us with a “staff” button. We’ll be very glad to give you directions:

Quimby’s Bookstore

No Coast

Spudnik Press

Lichen Lending Library and Spiritual Archives

Chicago Comics

Third Coast Comics

Women and Children First

Comix Revolution

Chicago Underground Library

Brainstorm

Comix Revolution

Depaul University Library Zine Collection

Golden Age

Renegade Handmade

If you were stranded on an island and could only take one zine, one book, one album, and one food– what would they be?

Matt: some Anthony Marvullo joint, Robinson Crusoe, The Band by The Band, and Pizza.

Leslie: Every Single Word by Corrine Mucha would seem fitting, Nine Stories by Salinger, 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton to get me up and going every morning, and probably vegan pizza as well.

Ramsey: an Invincible Summer/Clutch split, 100 Years of Solitude, it’s a toss up between the Red Walls and Fall Out Boy (actually,that’s a silly joke. my real answer is Luiz Bonfa), and quinoa! The only way I can get a complete protein in one food, as a vegan.

Neil: Paper Cutter #5, A Child’s Christmas in Whales by Dylan Thomas, Miscellaneous T by They Might Be Giants, and grapes.

If Chicago (as a city) were stranded on an island and could only take one zine, one book, one album, and one food–what would they be?

Anything by Al Burian, DIY Boatbuilding, something by Alkaline Trio, and Chicago Pizza or Chicago style hot dogs (celery salt, peppers, tomatoes and pickles!).

Kate Lopresti is the editor and author of the Constant Rider book and zine series, a collection of stories from the world of public transportation. We caught up with Kate to see what she’s been up to lately…

Q: There hasn’t been a new issue of Constant Rider in a while. Do you have any new projects coming up?

A: Well, the good news is that three years ago I found a job that reduced my commute considerably from the days I had to get from southeast Portland to a northwest suburb to get to work. An unintended consequence, though, was that spending less time on the bus gave me less to write about. I just don’t see as much rider-interaction in a 20-minute bus ride. I have been biking more, so there may still be a Constant Rider bike issue. I’ve also taken up gardening, which has been great, but certainly cuts into writing time.

Q: How have your feelings changed about public transportation since the book came out?

A: I was really encouraged in the summer of 2008, when gas prices hit $4 a gallon. People I knew who were adamant single car drivers began to see the value in taking the bus and biking. It was a real sea change. I’m only sad the price hike didn’t last longer. Still, it was a good experience to see there are a number of drivers out there who can be recruited to ride public transportation under certain circumstances.

Q: If you had to stick with one mode of transportation for the rest of your life what would it be?

A: I’d have to choose my bike. (Sorry, bus!) Between the self-sufficiency and the exercise, a bike makes the most sense.

Q: What’s your opinion on bike culture as a means to beat the gas crisis blues?

A: Bikes are excellent, and not just in terms of reducing our fuel costs. They help us reduce carbon emissions and get us exercising. But spelling out the benefits of biking isn’t enough to get people to ride. The problem we’re seeing in Portland is that there are many people willing to bike, but not confident that they can do it safely in their neighborhoods to get to work or school. They have no trouble taking their bikes to dedicated bike paths or recreational areas, but getting into traffic is another story. Despite Portland’s strong bike culture, its infrastructure—bike paths, signals, parking—could be improved.

Q: If you could tell the world to read one book or zine what would it be?

A: Lately I’ve really been enjoying the columns of Thomas L. Friedman in the New York Times. He continually makes the case for green technologies and reducing American dependence on foreign oil. His book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded is on my To Read list.

“Are you serious?!”  That’s what I said when I first learned what happened to Don.  The deep sense of bewilderment and disbelief I felt seemed to be shared by many.  It was a tragedy in the true sense of the word.

Don was an openly gay, African-American professor at Indiana University in Bloomington.  On December 28th he was found brutally stabbed to death in his home.  Police later arrested 25-year-old ex-marine Michael James Griffin for the crime.

The story of Don’s life and death has reverberated throughout our community and the nation, reaching much national news attention.

He will be remembered as a loved friend, respected community member, and adored teacher.  It seems like everyone knew Don. When there’s a sudden loss of someone, we cope by speaking about them, in whatever capacity we can.  We tell stories and accounts of meeting them for the first time, about chatting with them in the produce section of the co-op, about listening to them speak at author readings, about learning from them.  We tell stories of this man that was warm and compassionate who will be deeply and truly missed.

Don was also a very gifted writer, often speaking of race, sexuality, and the intersection of these identities.

As grotesque as it may sound, many homophobic and racist things were written on message boards and blogs after Don’s death. There are wider concerns over how the mainstream media has covered the facts and portrayed this story.  Mis-information often fuels the fire of hatred.  Between the lines of reporting exist missed opportunities to discuss overt and subtle heterosexism prevalent in our society, and how to work against that hatred.  Homophobic and racist prejudice runs deep in corporate media, and Don’s story shows no exception.

Don Belton (top) & candlelight vigil downtown Bloomington January 1st, 2010 (above)

In another terrifying development, Don’s identity will reportedly be at the forefront of the murderer’s defense strategy.  Though Griffin has confessed to the murder, he will reportedly be using the “gay panic defense” to plead not guilty.

Griffin alleged that Don sexually assaulted him on Christmas day.  Two days later, Griffin took his knife to Don’s house to demand an apology. Bloomington’s Herald Times reported that when Don would not accept Griffin’s accusations, Griffin stabbed him several times, “until he quit moving.”

“In the ‘gay panic’ defense, the defendant claims that he or she has been the object of romantic or sexual advances by the victim. The defendant finds the advances so offensive and frightening that it brings on a psychotic state characterized by unusual violence.” (definition from Wikipedia)

Translation:  the “gay panic” defense blames the victim, something that’s totally fucked up and an unfortunately typical theme within our society and justice system.  You’d think the “gay panic” defense should reveal to any rational individual and group as unjust victim blaming, harkening to archaic values.  Of course, our current justice system sees it otherwise.

As recent as 2009, a Chicago man Joseph Biedermann successfully used the “gay panic” defense and was acquitted for the brutal murder of his neighbor Terrance Hauser.  Biedermann stabbed Hauser 61 times after he allegedly made a sexual advance.

Rather than being exposed for the victim-blaming it is, the “gay panic defense” has become an eerily standard explanation for hate crime.  Acquittals like that of Joseph Biedermann are all too common and I cannot believe that in 2010 we not only still face such inexcusable crimes, but also terrible administering of justice for those crimes.  Let’s hope this serves as a disturbing reminder of how flawed and homophobic our justice system can be, a wake up call that structural prejudices are not just a problem of yesteryear, or perhaps a fire beneath individuals looking to fight for justice.

Throughout Bloomington and the extended community that heard of Don’s tragic death, we are reminded of the preciousness of life, of friendship, and of community.  It all just seems crazy and unimaginable.  Like this could never happen – not in this town.  But maybe, in our own humble ways, perhaps we can seek opportunity from this tragedy—a discussion among friends about homophobia, a quiet time in a classroom to reflect on our own lives, a kindled feeling of duty to speak up and take action against these injustices and never let them happen again.

Along with candlelight vigils and other activities honoring Don, many groups are keeping a critical eye on how the case is taking shape.  Please visit these sites to get more information and to do something about it.

Justice for Don Belton: http://justicefordonbelton.com/

Racialicious Article about Don Belton:

http://www.racialicious.com/2010/01/05/don-belton-and-the-gay-panic-defense/

Further reading about “Gay Panic”

http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/why_hasnt_the_gay_panic_defense_died_a_miserable_death

National Coalition on Anti-Violence Programs

http://www.ncavp.org/

Xerography Debt, now in its 26th issue, is an in-depth, passion-first, all-inclusive review zine for zinesters, about zinesters, by zinesters. We recently got in touch with Xerox Debt editor Davida Gypsy Breier and asked her to talk zines, journalism, and zombies.

Q: As someone currently putting out one of the only zine reviewing publications that hasn’t fled for the blogs/’net, I think you’re a pretty good person to ask this: Is print dead or dying? If so, what can we do to shock it back to life?

A: Personally, I am less concerned with print “dying” and more concerned with independent voices and how those voices are discovered and connect. Waves of technology have affected independent publishers from the very beginning. In many respects modern paper zines exist because of inexpensive photocopy technologies. The proliferation of zines in the ’90s also coincided with PCs gaining popularity and desktop publishing becoming available to the masses. In the pre-‘net era we relied on postal mail and reading about zines in other zines. It kept people and ideas rather underground, for better or worse. Now a three-second search could turn up hundreds of zines and I can get immediate recommendations from contacts online. Blogs and the internet could actually help zines, but zine publishers need to stop seeing it as an either or proposition. I have two active paper zines, two blogs, and a website. Each has its own purpose and the online components support the paper.

I think that paper zines are something tangible and there is no way a digital replica can replace all the chaos contained in the average zine.

Q: What was the first zine you read? What kind of impression did it make on you? What about the last zine?

A friend gave me a copy of Reptiles of the Mind (and also Factsheet 5). RotM was a perzine written by a young woman in Tennessee. It gave me the idea that I could create a zine. She included reviews in the back of her zine and I sent away for copies. Within a few months I was doing a zine and one of those people I first wrote to is still among my closest friends. That was in 1994.

I think the last one I read was The Ken Chronicles #13, by a retired auto industry worker.

Q: How do you feel about the future of zines?

I fear that zines may become a lost art among the younger generations. They have never known anything other than the internet and often that is the go-to source for knowledge instead of considering a book or zine. If that is the case, I think that zines will need to be more than just paper and ink to survive long-term. I am all too familiar with similar issues facing mainstream publishing, but in many cases zines are more apt to survive because they can adapt. I think that a lot of the piss and vinegar of self-publishing has migrated to the ‘net and that zines really need an infusion of that. I see very few outraged or political zines these days.

Q: As someone who reviews zines, do you consider yourself a journalist? Do you think journalism gives much thought to zines as a modern, relevant, culture?

I think I am more an accidental historian than journalist. I don’t think journalism thinks zines are any more relevant than zines think journalism is relevant.

Q: What kind of projects do you have coming up?

I am currently working on Rigor Mortis #3, a horror zine I started in 2008. Zombies are usually the main focus, but we are branching out into other genres. Xerography Debt #27 should be out in the summer and we are working on that now. I also contributed to a book, Ninety-Five: Meeting America’s Farmed Animals in Stories and Photographs, that will be out in June. I was able to visit animal sanctuaries in three states and take portraits of the animals there. All three projects are keeping me very busy at the moment.

(Davida Gypsy Beier photo by Uli Loskot)

Bill Brown is the man behind the wonderful Dreamwhip zine, a tender, funny, truth-telling look at American living. His adventures show an America snow-capped and heat-exhausted, half-asleep on highways and dreaming out diner windows. We caught up with him and this is what he had to say.

Q: If the President of the United States asked to you describe “the soul of Dreamwhip” in under 100 words, what would you say?

 
[Recording made by secret tape recorder in the Oval Office]. Nice place, Mr. President! And look at all these couches! Would you mind if I crashed on one tonight? [Inaudible]. Hah. I’m just kidding. Anyway, I know you’re busy, but I wonder if you’d like to check out my zine? [Inaudible]. Well, it’s sort of a book. [Inaudible]. Yes, I wrote it myself. [Inaudible]. Thanks, I try to write neatly. [Inaudible]. It’s mostly about wandering around and getting lost and feeling all the stuff you feel when you’re on the road. [Inaudible]. No, those aren’t kindergarten drawings. [Inaudible]. I drew them. [Inaudible]. Yes, I’m serious. [Tape ends].

Q: When’s the next Dreamwhip coming out?

[Inaudible].

Back in July 2008, Microcosm did a bike move from the house where two operatives lived to our new store in inner industrial southeast. Here’s the field report:

Anavlog: Hunter-Gatherers Never Looked This Good from Joe Biel on Vimeo.