{"id":29,"date":"2010-05-10T16:31:49","date_gmt":"2010-05-10T16:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microcosmpublishing.dev\/blog\/2010\/05\/meet-microcosm-episode-four-talkin-with-mr-steven-stothard\/"},"modified":"2010-05-10T16:31:49","modified_gmt":"2010-05-10T16:31:49","slug":"meet-microcosm-episode-four-talkin-with-mr-steven-stothard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/meet-microcosm-episode-four-talkin-with-mr-steven-stothard\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Microcosm, Episode Four, Talkin&#8217; with Mr. Steven Stothard!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><font face=\"Courier New\">For this episode of Meet Microcosm we meet Bloomington   collective member Steven Stothard and hear about his super busy life.   So, without further adieus, meet Steven&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><b>Q: So, the main   reason we&#8217;re doing this Meet Microcosm series is to see what Microcosm   folks do outside Microcosm. And you do a lot. First off as a Bloomington   resident, Boxcar Books is a big part of your life. Tell us about what   you do for them&#8230; <\/b><\/p>\n<p>A: First of all, thanks for doing these   Meet Microcosm interviews. It&#8217;s important to me that folks understand   that Microcosm is actually a group of people working together to keep   indie and radical publishing alive and well in these dismal times.   Boxcar Books has been a huge part of my life. For those of you that   don&#8217;t know, Boxcar Books is Bloomington, Indiana&#8217;s   all-volunteer-powered, non-profit, and collectively-run bookstore and   community space. We&#8217;ve been around since 2002 and our goals are to keep   indie publishing and radical ideas alive, to provide a free community   meeting and events space in Bloomington, and to directly support the   rehabilitation of prisoners through the Midwest Pages to Prisoners   program&#8211;our sister organization. I started volunteering at Boxcar in   2004, after moving to Bloomington from Columbus, Ohio. Whenever I had   visited Bloomington, I came to Boxcar as a space to get information, to   see what events were going on, and to connect with local folks. It just   felt right that after moving to Bloomington I would get involved. I   started by making flyers, working a shift, and taking on the never   ending task of shelf-reading. From there I took on more and more   responsibility and became really invested in the collective, mission,   and other workers. For the last few years I&#8217;ve been the events   coordinator and more recently the general coordinator, which means I   pretty much try to make sure shit gets done. People will tell you, I   have a tendency to micro-manage and it&#8217;s true that secretly I have lists   upon lists of tasks to do, I even have a list of my to-do lists. It&#8217;s   kinda crazy, but it takes a lot of time and energy and patience to help   run a bookstore. As you probably know, it&#8217;s a really tough time for   independent booksellers and radical businesses in general, so really   it&#8217;s the Bloomington community who chooses to support the bookstore and   the collective of volunteers at Boxcar that are the backbone of our   success. Boxcar is really too big for me to fit into one interview, so   if you want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out the website   and our facebook: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boxcarbooks.org\/\">http:\/\/www.Boxcarbooks.org<\/a>   and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boxcarbooks.org\/\">\/<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boxcarbooks\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Boxcarbooks<\/a>   be our friend and we&#8217;ll let you know rad stuff that&#8217;s happening in   Bloomington. And please come visit! <br \/><\/font><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/stevenpug.jpg\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b>Q: Tell us a little about   Pages to Prisoners&#8230; <\/b><\/p>\n<p>A: The Midwest Pages to Prisoners   Project is one of the most successful and well-established books to   prisoners programs in the country, and it&#8217;s right here in Bloomington   and has been for over 13 years. Termed &#8220;Pages&#8221; for short, Pages and   Boxcar are the same non-profit with pretty much the same mission, but   exist in different spaces. I always describe pages as the direct   activism hand of Boxcar. Boxcar as a bookstore acts as a constant   fundraiser so pages can focus on sending free books to prisoners upon   request. It&#8217;s really an inspiring program. As my role at Boxcar Books   expands, I unfortunately don&#8217;t work directly with Pages as much as I   should. But there&#8217;s a core of committed collective members who are   really dedicated and hard working folks. If you&#8217;re reading this, you   should really donate to Pages, tell them I sent you. Even a buck or two   would really help. Check out their website for how: <a href=\"http:\/\/pagestoprisoners.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/pagestoprisoners.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Q:   You also worked as a recreational therapist for adults with mental   illness at the Center for Behavioral Health. What was the deal with   that? <\/b><\/p>\n<p>A: It&#8217;s true. Before microcosm, I worked for a   behavioral health center in Bloomington as a recreational therapist.   Basically, I taught life, social, communication, and community   integration skills to adults with various mental illness. In the form of   group sessions, classes, outings, and one-on-one intervention, we   attempted to help folks with long histories of mental illness become   more independent and to empower them to access community resources to   help themselves. Oh damn, on the one hand that job was amazing on so   many levels, but it was also very crushing to the soul. First of all, I   worked with a team of other health and social work professionals for the   same goals, but we worked at it in our own ways. As therapists, we had   tons of support from our supervisors to do really whatever we wanted to   support our clients. For instance, I saw a real need to address all   these young dudes and ladies with schizophrenia because nothing existed   for them specifically, no program was focused on being young with mental   illness. We started a young adult group that focused on community   integration, access to community resources, and how to navigate the   terrifying times of being young compounded with having a mental illness.   To be honest, we talked a lot about sex&#8211;they were all interested in   getting laid, but that was good because we talked about safety, consent,   and how not to get pregnant. And sure, there were pretty boring and   structured activities like accessing community kitchen, the free clinic,   getting library cards, using the library system, and plugging in to   other places to address some real needs&#8230; but I also had the go-ahead   to go plan fun trips like laser tag, fishing, and even a couple shows at   the all ages youth center in town&#8230; just to be kids. That was great.   But like I said, on the other hand it was really hard to not be affected   by the bureaucratic bullshit within the mental health industry and to   leave my job at the office, you know what I mean. Although the work was   inspiring, there was also a lot of painful and heartbreaking stuff to   say the least. <\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/stevensanta.jpg\" \/><br \/><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b>The Book Game <\/b><br \/><b>1. Favorite book, and   why&#8230; <\/b><br \/>A: Are you kidding, I don&#8217;t have time to read. But   really, you must read <i>The Road<\/i> by Cormac McCarthy. It&#8217;s one of my   recent favorites. Absolutely dismal and beautiful&#8230; a good look at   what&#8217;s to come. <\/p>\n<p><b>2. If an 80 year old grandmother asked you to   recommend something &#8220;useful&#8221; what book would you recommend? <\/b><i><br \/><\/i>A:   <i>The Guide to Getting it On<\/i>. Old people are all about getting   laid, you just don&#8217;t know it. <\/p>\n<p><b>3. What would your   autobiography be called? <\/b><br \/>A: Wow, I don&#8217;t know about that. But I   have two friends in New York, Edan&#8217;s kind of a big hairy guy and Dave&#8217;s   tall and skinny and I forget who said it, but if they made a porn   together, it would have to be called An Otter Day in Bear-adice. I think   that&#8217;s perfect. <br \/><b><br \/>4. What are you reading right now? <\/b><br \/>A:   I&#8217;m towards the end of <i>the Autobiography of Malcom X<\/i>. He&#8217;s   fucked up and &#8220;spiritual&#8221; or whatever, but what an interesting time, you   know. <br \/><b><br \/>Q: Finally, what do you do for Microcosm, day in day   out? <\/b><\/p>\n<p>A: Well, first off I work at Microcosm Bloomington   obviously. We run the Midwest Microcosm out of a house, nothing fancy.   We have an office, a packing room, and storage in the basement. All of   us at Microcosm end up doing a little of each and every task, from   publishing to editing, from tabling to promotions and we stay   well-connected through phone conference meetings, email, and our recent   all-staff meeting. But, I&#8217;d say my main duties at Microcosm are   shipping, customer service, and event coordinating. When you order   something from Microcosm, whether you&#8217;re a store, a distro, another   online distro or an individual customer&#8211;we pack up the orders and I   ship them out. Basically, I&#8217;ve gotten really good at using a tape gun   and determining weights of things just by holding them. I&#8217;ll help you   get the things you ordered and take care of any problems you have. Event   coordinating is just a fancy word for figuring out what events and   tours we&#8217;re going to table and how to organize it. We table pretty   extensively for the size of our publishing company, and it&#8217;s a nice   opportunity for Microcosm staffers to get out of the office or store and   actually interact with people, authors, and other publishers face to   face, not just via email. Recently we tabled the Left Forum Conference   in New York City, Stumptown in Portland, Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair,   and the New York Anarchist Bookfair. We&#8217;ll be tabling the Montreal   Anarchist Bookfair this month and Expozine in Montreal later this year   with the help of our good Canadian buddy Jonathan Culp. Personally, one   of my favorite events to table is the New Orleans bookfair, typically in   November. I used to table a lot more on tour with bands like Against   Me!, Defiance, Ohio, the F-Yeah Tour, Strike Anywhere, and other folks   nice enough to let us come along and hock zines and books at the shows. I   feel tabling is a pretty important part to staying connected with folks   and keeping books and zines hip and visible. That&#8217;s one of the main   reasons why I initially got into politics, picking up zines and AK Press   books at punk shows in Dayton, Ohio. Never underestimate the power of   tiny, little life-changing experiences&#8211;it may change the path for the   rest of your life. Kevey Evilsizor&#8211;if you&#8217;re out there&#8211;I salute you   and the Know Nothings!<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For this episode of Meet Microcosm we meet Bloomington collective member Steven Stothard and hear about his super busy life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogifesto"],"my_excerpt":"<p><font face=\"Courier New\">For this episode of Meet Microcosm we meet Bloomington   collective member Steven Stothard and hear about his super busy life.   So, without further adieus, meet Steven... <br \/><br \/><b>Q: So, the main   reason we're doing this Meet Microcosm series is to see what Microcosm   folks do outside Microcosm. And you do a lot. First off as a Bloomington   resident, Boxcar Books is a big part of your life. Tell us about what   you do for them... <\/b><br \/><br \/>A: First of all, thanks for doing these   Meet Microcosm interviews. It's important to me that folks understand   that Microcosm is actually a group of people working together to keep   indie and radical publishing alive and well in these dismal times.   Boxcar Books has been a huge part of my life. For those of you that   don't know, Boxcar Books is Bloomington, Indiana's   all-volunteer-powered, non-profit, and collectively-run bookstore and   community space. We've been around since 2002 and our goals are to keep   indie publishing and radical ideas alive, to provide a free community   meeting and events space in Bloomington, and to directly support the   rehabilitation of prisoners through the Midwest Pages to Prisoners   program--our sister organization. I started volunteering at Boxcar in   2004, after moving to Bloomington from Columbus, Ohio. Whenever I had   visited Bloomington, I came to Boxcar as a space to get information, to   see what events were going on, and to connect with local folks. It just   felt right that after moving to Bloomington I would get involved. I   started by making flyers, working a shift, and taking on the never   ending task of shelf-reading. From there I took on more and more   responsibility and became really invested in the collective, mission,   and other workers. For the last few years I've been the events   coordinator and more recently the general coordinator, which means I   pretty much try to make sure shit gets done. People will tell you, I   have a tendency to micro-manage and it's true that secretly I have lists   upon lists of tasks to do, I even have a list of my to-do lists. It's   kinda crazy, but it takes a lot of time and energy and patience to help   run a bookstore. As you probably know, it's a really tough time for   independent booksellers and radical businesses in general, so really   it's the Bloomington community who chooses to support the bookstore and   the collective of volunteers at Boxcar that are the backbone of our   success. Boxcar is really too big for me to fit into one interview, so   if you want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out the website   and our facebook: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boxcarbooks.org\/\">http:\/\/www.Boxcarbooks.org<\/a>   and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boxcarbooks.org\/\">\/<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boxcarbooks\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Boxcarbooks<\/a>   be our friend and we'll let you know rad stuff that's happening in   Bloomington. And please come visit! <br \/><\/font><\/p><p><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p><p><strong><img alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/stevenpug.jpg\" \/><\/strong><\/p><p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b>Q: Tell us a little about   Pages to Prisoners... <\/b><br \/><br \/>A: The Midwest Pages to Prisoners   Project is one of the most successful and well-established books to   prisoners programs in the country, and it's right here in Bloomington   and has been for over 13 years. Termed \"Pages\" for short, Pages and   Boxcar are the same non-profit with pretty much the same mission, but   exist in different spaces. I always describe pages as the direct   activism hand of Boxcar. Boxcar as a bookstore acts as a constant   fundraiser so pages can focus on sending free books to prisoners upon   request. It's really an inspiring program. As my role at Boxcar Books   expands, I unfortunately don't work directly with Pages as much as I   should. But there's a core of committed collective members who are   really dedicated and hard working folks. If you're reading this, you   should really donate to Pages, tell them I sent you. Even a buck or two   would really help. Check out their website for how: <a href=\"http:\/\/pagestoprisoners.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/pagestoprisoners.org\/<\/a><br \/><br \/><b>Q:   You also worked as a recreational therapist for adults with mental   illness at the Center for Behavioral Health. What was the deal with   that? <\/b><br \/><br \/>A: It's true. Before microcosm, I worked for a   behavioral health center in Bloomington as a recreational therapist.   Basically, I taught life, social, communication, and community   integration skills to adults with various mental illness. In the form of   group sessions, classes, outings, and one-on-one intervention, we   attempted to help folks with long histories of mental illness become   more independent and to empower them to access community resources to   help themselves. Oh damn, on the one hand that job was amazing on so   many levels, but it was also very crushing to the soul. First of all, I   worked with a team of other health and social work professionals for the   same goals, but we worked at it in our own ways. As therapists, we had   tons of support from our supervisors to do really whatever we wanted to   support our clients. For instance, I saw a real need to address all   these young dudes and ladies with schizophrenia because nothing existed   for them specifically, no program was focused on being young with mental   illness. We started a young adult group that focused on community   integration, access to community resources, and how to navigate the   terrifying times of being young compounded with having a mental illness.   To be honest, we talked a lot about sex--they were all interested in   getting laid, but that was good because we talked about safety, consent,   and how not to get pregnant. And sure, there were pretty boring and   structured activities like accessing community kitchen, the free clinic,   getting library cards, using the library system, and plugging in to   other places to address some real needs... but I also had the go-ahead   to go plan fun trips like laser tag, fishing, and even a couple shows at   the all ages youth center in town... just to be kids. That was great.   But like I said, on the other hand it was really hard to not be affected   by the bureaucratic bullshit within the mental health industry and to   leave my job at the office, you know what I mean. Although the work was   inspiring, there was also a lot of painful and heartbreaking stuff to   say the least. <\/font><\/p><p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b><img alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/stevensanta.jpg\" \/><br \/><\/b><\/font><\/p><p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b>The Book Game <\/b><br \/><b>1. Favorite book, and   why... <\/b><br \/>A: Are you kidding, I don't have time to read. But   really, you must read <i>The Road<\/i> by Cormac McCarthy. It's one of my   recent favorites. Absolutely dismal and beautiful... a good look at   what's to come. <br \/><br \/><b>2. If an 80 year old grandmother asked you to   recommend something \"useful\" what book would you recommend? <\/b><i><br \/><\/i>A:   <i>The Guide to Getting it On<\/i>. Old people are all about getting   laid, you just don't know it. <br \/><br \/><b>3. What would your   autobiography be called? <\/b><br \/>A: Wow, I don't know about that. But I   have two friends in New York, Edan's kind of a big hairy guy and Dave's   tall and skinny and I forget who said it, but if they made a porn   together, it would have to be called An Otter Day in Bear-adice. I think   that's perfect. <br \/><b><br \/>4. What are you reading right now? <\/b><br \/>A:   I'm towards the end of <i>the Autobiography of Malcom X<\/i>. He's   fucked up and \"spiritual\" or whatever, but what an interesting time, you   know. <br \/><b><br \/>Q: Finally, what do you do for Microcosm, day in day   out? <\/b><br \/><br \/>A: Well, first off I work at Microcosm Bloomington   obviously. We run the Midwest Microcosm out of a house, nothing fancy.   We have an office, a packing room, and storage in the basement. All of   us at Microcosm end up doing a little of each and every task, from   publishing to editing, from tabling to promotions and we stay   well-connected through phone conference meetings, email, and our recent   all-staff meeting. But, I'd say my main duties at Microcosm are   shipping, customer service, and event coordinating. When you order   something from Microcosm, whether you're a store, a distro, another   online distro or an individual customer--we pack up the orders and I   ship them out. Basically, I've gotten really good at using a tape gun   and determining weights of things just by holding them. I'll help you   get the things you ordered and take care of any problems you have. Event   coordinating is just a fancy word for figuring out what events and   tours we're going to table and how to organize it. We table pretty   extensively for the size of our publishing company, and it's a nice   opportunity for Microcosm staffers to get out of the office or store and   actually interact with people, authors, and other publishers face to   face, not just via email. Recently we tabled the Left Forum Conference   in New York City, Stumptown in Portland, Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair,   and the New York Anarchist Bookfair. We'll be tabling the Montreal   Anarchist Bookfair this month and Expozine in Montreal later this year   with the help of our good Canadian buddy Jonathan Culp. Personally, one   of my favorite events to table is the New Orleans bookfair, typically in   November. I used to table a lot more on tour with bands like Against   Me!, Defiance, Ohio, the F-Yeah Tour, Strike Anywhere, and other folks   nice enough to let us come along and hock zines and books at the shows. I   feel tabling is a pretty important part to staying connected with folks   and keeping books and zines hip and visible. That's one of the main   reasons why I initially got into politics, picking up zines and AK Press   books at punk shows in Dayton, Ohio. Never underestimate the power of   tiny, little life-changing experiences--it may change the path for the   rest of your life. Kevey Evilsizor--if you're out there--I salute you   and the Know Nothings!<\/font><\/p>","my_excerpt_rendered":"<p><font face=\"Courier New\">For this episode of Meet Microcosm we meet Bloomington   collective member Steven Stothard and hear about his super busy life.   So, without further adieus, meet Steven&#8230; <\/p>\n<p><b>Q: So, the main   reason we&#8217;re doing this Meet Microcosm series is to see what Microcosm   folks do outside Microcosm. And you do a lot. First off as a Bloomington   resident, Boxcar Books is a big part of your life. Tell us about what   you do for them&#8230; <\/b><\/p>\n<p>A: First of all, thanks for doing these   Meet Microcosm interviews. It&#8217;s important to me that folks understand   that Microcosm is actually a group of people working together to keep   indie and radical publishing alive and well in these dismal times.   Boxcar Books has been a huge part of my life. For those of you that   don&#8217;t know, Boxcar Books is Bloomington, Indiana&#8217;s   all-volunteer-powered, non-profit, and collectively-run bookstore and   community space. We&#8217;ve been around since 2002 and our goals are to keep   indie publishing and radical ideas alive, to provide a free community   meeting and events space in Bloomington, and to directly support the   rehabilitation of prisoners through the Midwest Pages to Prisoners   program&#8211;our sister organization. I started volunteering at Boxcar in   2004, after moving to Bloomington from Columbus, Ohio. Whenever I had   visited Bloomington, I came to Boxcar as a space to get information, to   see what events were going on, and to connect with local folks. It just   felt right that after moving to Bloomington I would get involved. I   started by making flyers, working a shift, and taking on the never   ending task of shelf-reading. From there I took on more and more   responsibility and became really invested in the collective, mission,   and other workers. For the last few years I&#8217;ve been the events   coordinator and more recently the general coordinator, which means I   pretty much try to make sure shit gets done. People will tell you, I   have a tendency to micro-manage and it&#8217;s true that secretly I have lists   upon lists of tasks to do, I even have a list of my to-do lists. It&#8217;s   kinda crazy, but it takes a lot of time and energy and patience to help   run a bookstore. As you probably know, it&#8217;s a really tough time for   independent booksellers and radical businesses in general, so really   it&#8217;s the Bloomington community who chooses to support the bookstore and   the collective of volunteers at Boxcar that are the backbone of our   success. Boxcar is really too big for me to fit into one interview, so   if you want to learn more, I highly recommend checking out the website   and our facebook: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boxcarbooks.org\/\">http:\/\/www.Boxcarbooks.org<\/a>   and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boxcarbooks.org\/\">\/<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/boxcarbooks\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Boxcarbooks<\/a>   be our friend and we&#8217;ll let you know rad stuff that&#8217;s happening in   Bloomington. And please come visit! <br \/><\/font><\/p>\n<p><strong><br \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/stevenpug.jpg\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b>Q: Tell us a little about   Pages to Prisoners&#8230; <\/b><\/p>\n<p>A: The Midwest Pages to Prisoners   Project is one of the most successful and well-established books to   prisoners programs in the country, and it&#8217;s right here in Bloomington   and has been for over 13 years. Termed &#8220;Pages&#8221; for short, Pages and   Boxcar are the same non-profit with pretty much the same mission, but   exist in different spaces. I always describe pages as the direct   activism hand of Boxcar. Boxcar as a bookstore acts as a constant   fundraiser so pages can focus on sending free books to prisoners upon   request. It&#8217;s really an inspiring program. As my role at Boxcar Books   expands, I unfortunately don&#8217;t work directly with Pages as much as I   should. But there&#8217;s a core of committed collective members who are   really dedicated and hard working folks. If you&#8217;re reading this, you   should really donate to Pages, tell them I sent you. Even a buck or two   would really help. Check out their website for how: <a href=\"http:\/\/pagestoprisoners.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/pagestoprisoners.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Q:   You also worked as a recreational therapist for adults with mental   illness at the Center for Behavioral Health. What was the deal with   that? <\/b><\/p>\n<p>A: It&#8217;s true. Before microcosm, I worked for a   behavioral health center in Bloomington as a recreational therapist.   Basically, I taught life, social, communication, and community   integration skills to adults with various mental illness. In the form of   group sessions, classes, outings, and one-on-one intervention, we   attempted to help folks with long histories of mental illness become   more independent and to empower them to access community resources to   help themselves. Oh damn, on the one hand that job was amazing on so   many levels, but it was also very crushing to the soul. First of all, I   worked with a team of other health and social work professionals for the   same goals, but we worked at it in our own ways. As therapists, we had   tons of support from our supervisors to do really whatever we wanted to   support our clients. For instance, I saw a real need to address all   these young dudes and ladies with schizophrenia because nothing existed   for them specifically, no program was focused on being young with mental   illness. We started a young adult group that focused on community   integration, access to community resources, and how to navigate the   terrifying times of being young compounded with having a mental illness.   To be honest, we talked a lot about sex&#8211;they were all interested in   getting laid, but that was good because we talked about safety, consent,   and how not to get pregnant. And sure, there were pretty boring and   structured activities like accessing community kitchen, the free clinic,   getting library cards, using the library system, and plugging in to   other places to address some real needs&#8230; but I also had the go-ahead   to go plan fun trips like laser tag, fishing, and even a couple shows at   the all ages youth center in town&#8230; just to be kids. That was great.   But like I said, on the other hand it was really hard to not be affected   by the bureaucratic bullshit within the mental health industry and to   leave my job at the office, you know what I mean. Although the work was   inspiring, there was also a lot of painful and heartbreaking stuff to   say the least. <\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Alt text\" src=\"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/images\/stevensanta.jpg\" \/><br \/><\/b><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font face=\"Courier New\"><b>The Book Game <\/b><br \/><b>1. Favorite book, and   why&#8230; <\/b><br \/>A: Are you kidding, I don&#8217;t have time to read. But   really, you must read <i>The Road<\/i> by Cormac McCarthy. It&#8217;s one of my   recent favorites. Absolutely dismal and beautiful&#8230; a good look at   what&#8217;s to come. <\/p>\n<p><b>2. If an 80 year old grandmother asked you to   recommend something &#8220;useful&#8221; what book would you recommend? <\/b><i><br \/><\/i>A:   <i>The Guide to Getting it On<\/i>. Old people are all about getting   laid, you just don&#8217;t know it. <\/p>\n<p><b>3. What would your   autobiography be called? <\/b><br \/>A: Wow, I don&#8217;t know about that. But I   have two friends in New York, Edan&#8217;s kind of a big hairy guy and Dave&#8217;s   tall and skinny and I forget who said it, but if they made a porn   together, it would have to be called An Otter Day in Bear-adice. I think   that&#8217;s perfect. <br \/><b><br \/>4. What are you reading right now? <\/b><br \/>A:   I&#8217;m towards the end of <i>the Autobiography of Malcom X<\/i>. He&#8217;s   fucked up and &#8220;spiritual&#8221; or whatever, but what an interesting time, you   know. <br \/><b><br \/>Q: Finally, what do you do for Microcosm, day in day   out? <\/b><\/p>\n<p>A: Well, first off I work at Microcosm Bloomington   obviously. We run the Midwest Microcosm out of a house, nothing fancy.   We have an office, a packing room, and storage in the basement. All of   us at Microcosm end up doing a little of each and every task, from   publishing to editing, from tabling to promotions and we stay   well-connected through phone conference meetings, email, and our recent   all-staff meeting. But, I&#8217;d say my main duties at Microcosm are   shipping, customer service, and event coordinating. When you order   something from Microcosm, whether you&#8217;re a store, a distro, another   online distro or an individual customer&#8211;we pack up the orders and I   ship them out. Basically, I&#8217;ve gotten really good at using a tape gun   and determining weights of things just by holding them. I&#8217;ll help you   get the things you ordered and take care of any problems you have. Event   coordinating is just a fancy word for figuring out what events and   tours we&#8217;re going to table and how to organize it. We table pretty   extensively for the size of our publishing company, and it&#8217;s a nice   opportunity for Microcosm staffers to get out of the office or store and   actually interact with people, authors, and other publishers face to   face, not just via email. Recently we tabled the Left Forum Conference   in New York City, Stumptown in Portland, Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair,   and the New York Anarchist Bookfair. We&#8217;ll be tabling the Montreal   Anarchist Bookfair this month and Expozine in Montreal later this year   with the help of our good Canadian buddy Jonathan Culp. Personally, one   of my favorite events to table is the New Orleans bookfair, typically in   November. I used to table a lot more on tour with bands like Against   Me!, Defiance, Ohio, the F-Yeah Tour, Strike Anywhere, and other folks   nice enough to let us come along and hock zines and books at the shows. I   feel tabling is a pretty important part to staying connected with folks   and keeping books and zines hip and visible. That&#8217;s one of the main   reasons why I initially got into politics, picking up zines and AK Press   books at punk shows in Dayton, Ohio. Never underestimate the power of   tiny, little life-changing experiences&#8211;it may change the path for the   rest of your life. Kevey Evilsizor&#8211;if you&#8217;re out there&#8211;I salute you   and the Know Nothings!<\/font><\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microcosmpublishing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}