Lower East Side Librarian

An aspiring journalist ca. 1990 attending a high school journalism camp queried the keynote on what to do to become a foreign correspondent. He (I think it was a he) responded, "Learn Russian." So that is what the Tex-Mex teen set out to do, and that's how she ended up in Moscow for about a year. Hers is a coming-of-age political memoir of a lefty journalist trying to sort out Revolution and her own identity. Well, the identity part sort of came last. She had to visit lots of foreign countries before she realized there were some important things she needed to learn about her own culture.

Another zine by Celia that makes you adore zines despite that fact that you are reading and cataloging 50 of them per weekend! Well, maybe that's just me, but I would think that anyone would appreciate la C-Dog's birthday creation regardless of how immersed to the scalp they may or may not be in zines.

I've long wondered what zines' fanzine predecessors looked like. Finally, through the son of a friend of my father, I've managed to see one--or a modern incarnation of one at least. APA-50 was born in 1974 and its membership was originally limited to those born after 1974 and was meant for science fiction fans as a venue for their own contributions to the genre. Per the introduction, each member's contribution is called a zine (or an ish), and all of the contributions compiled is a mailing. The most viable link I found for the APA is appropriately an Angelfire site. I'm not sure how private the contents are since membership is small, and my copy was sent on spec that I might consider joining, so I'll keep my contents somewhat general.

It's totally weird that I would even read this book having been through neither fertility treatments or postpartum depression, but my sister the hospital social worker mentioned it, and I figured what the hell. A few pages I was afraid that the whole thing would be kind of shallow and self-involved, but I persevered because it was a compelling read even if it was a little celebrityish. Once Shields gets into the meat of her difficulty getting pregnant and then the devastating depression that set in almost immediately after the birth of her daughter, you really feel for her. Honestly I can't criticize this book because even with all her privilege, Shields comes off like a zine writer, bravely examining and sharing her most personal and painful secrets. She really did a good thing writing this book, and I'm sure it's helped a lot of people.

The second in librarian Barbara Fister's Anni Kosinken mystery series, Through the Cracks makes me sad. Sad because it's so good, that I think Barbara could ditch librarianship and be a full-time writer. She's a really good librarian, so it would be a serious loss to the profession.