Ain’t nothin’ like a good, hard-working intern. For this episode of Meet Microcosm we introduce you to the super awesome Robin Yourgrave, who interns down at the ‘Cosm store in SE Portland.

Q: Hey Robin! Tell us how you got the intern position…

A: I got the intern “volunteering” position at Microcosm pretty much by making cold calls to businesses around Portland. I just moved here about a month and a half ago and the job search was getting quite frustrating. The initial intention of my phone call was to get a paid position, however I have been aware of Microcosm for a while and really support what they do so I was more than willing to take up a volunteer position there. A few days after I called, Joe and I met to discuss the position and I started that very day.

Q: What kinds of zines are you into?

A: As far as zines go, I’m a huge proponent of personal zines (e.g. Cometbus). I like the personal stories that I can draw from and relate to my own life and maybe get a different input of how to handle certain situations or, if the situations are not to be handled, make the best of them. I make a zine entitled Bird Shit which is pretty much a Cometbus approach to zine writing. I self-published my first issue back in April and a re-print is coming along with self-publication of my second issue. I am also working on a zine with my boyfriend entitled Coffeedrunk which is essentially about our traveling endeavors pursued together.

Q: What do you do outside of your interning position?

A: Until recently, I didn’t really do much outside of my intern position other than writing and reading on my own time. Until last week, I was still unemployed. Now, though, I struggle for free time. I work at Whole Foods Market and continue to strenuously work on the assembly of my upcoming zines.

Q: Give us your five favorite and five least favorite things about Portland…
As I am new to the area, it’s difficult to define what my favorite things about Portland are and what my um… un-favorite things entail. But, I will construct the best list that I’m able.

Favorites
1) MICROBREWS!!!–I live right down the street from John’s Marketplace and, needless to say, they consistently have my business.
2) Public transportation–I have had quite the string of bad luck when it comes to vehicles because I had to rely on one in my hometown (Fort Wayne, IN) and, of course, I was always broke and could never REALLY afford upkeep. Here, it is not necessary to own a vehicle at all. I really appreciate that about this city.
3) The Cheerful Tortoise–Thursday nights… dollar beers and thirty cent wings. Enough said.
4) Ground Kontrol–Classic videogames and cheap beer.
5) Untouched nature–I love that this city is a perfectly blended landscape of concrete jungle and naturally wooded areas.

Least Favorite
1) ALLERGIES–Apparently the Willamette Valley has the highest allergen count of anywhere on the planet. Didn’t receive a warning on THAT one.
2) Hippies. I work at Whole Foods. Need I say more?
3) Road Construction.
4) Bad drivers.
5) Raised bridges.

Q: Finally, what do you do at the Microcosm store?

A: While at the store, it’s a variety of things that I do that range anywhere from making buttons, cutting patches, straightening up shelves, or painting things. It really just depends on what needs to be done for that particular day.

Hi, this is Steven from Microcosm. 

Also from Boxcar Books- volunteer powered, collectively run bookstore and community space in Bloomington IN.

For those that may want to know, I’m leaving Microcosm and Boxcar and moving away from Bloomington.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone I’ve worked with over the years and all the friends I’ve made along the way.  On tour, tabling, at conferences, and via the internerd.  Everyone doing anything to support independent and radical projects deserves a big old pat on the back. 

But a nod and a wink sometimes aren’t enough in these fucked up and troubled times.  It’s like how frustrated I get when the punk kid won’t pay the $5 for the show but have cash for beers all night long.  Fuck that kid.

I was talking about this with Bill Daniel, author of Microcosm’s title Mostly True, on his recent film tour stop in Bloomington.  Things are so fucked and getting way worse.  I’m talking about collapse.  I’m talking about the Gulf Oil Disaster as a clear wake up call and chance to embrace a completely different paradigm.  But we don’t grasp it, signs and warnings will continue to fall through our fingers.

Are we going to dig our feet in and fight it out?  Or are we going to pull up shop and relocate to New Zealand or someplace, any place that doesn’t seem as fucked?

In a way, that’s one of the reasons why I’m moving to Knoxville TN to get a masters in social work. C’mon….there could be way more radical and anarchist professionals, right?  Lawyers, doctors, social workers, psychologists, instructors, scientists, maybe even anti-capitalist dentists?  Ha!  Whatever we can do to support our local communities and enrich our lives with good, local, meaningful work.  I’m trying to use my privilege and my roots in punk and DIY to try and dig deep and create better organization, adequate funding, and sustainability for radical projects.  Or just attempt to do more.  As my co-worker Chris says..”Something, anything.” 

I don’t want to lose touch with people doing good work, contacts and friends I’ve made along the way.

So please stay in touch, let me know what you think, and keep on keepin’ on.

steven@boxcarbooks.org

I’m now on facebook, no matter how long I tried to avoid it: http://www.facebook.com/stevenstothard

Please support Boxcar Books and other radical bookstores and spaces like it — they are too few and far between.   http://www.boxcarbooks.org/

Love always and every time, Steven

Hi ! I’m Giz, the new intern here at Microcosm Publishing in Bloomington, IN.
I came all the way from france to stuff packages and stick pages but Bloomington is a really nice place for this kind of work. I find out about Microcosm about two years ago when I read Alex Wrekk’s Stolen Sharpie Revolution and I kept ordering things from them since they were the distro with the cheapest international postage out there. Besides that economic interest, my relationship to the zine medium itself is mostly based on trades and I’m even planning to do a research about it as a master degree thesis at the University of Nice.

As the subject exist mostly within postals system, I’m looking to connect with some zinesters who trade zines, some who don’t, non-zinesters with interest on zine making and trades (like if they trade zines for something else), and any people with an interest in collecting zines. here’s a few questions for which you can send me back the responses :

1- do you trade zines ? for how long ?

2- did you ever get non-fair trades ? did you sent yours anyway ?

3- did you ever refuse a trade ?

4- do you keep your zines as a collection ?

5- is trading a good way to expand your collection, compared to donations (for the zine libraries) or sales ?

6- except money and another zine, did you ever get something else for a zine ?

7- then some presentation : name, age, gender and the city/country you’re coming from.

contact : xtramedium@laposte.net