Tagged with non-fiction

Disclosure: I'm friends or friendly with about half of the contributors to this book, for which I also wrote a chapter. I think I'd have loved it even if that weren't the case, but then again it couldn't have not been the case because the world of feminist archivists isn't as big as you might imagine--or hope!

The first time I read an issue of Low Hug, I was relatively new to zines and didn't fully appreciate it. Now that I am old to zines, I have gained the proper appreciation for A.j. Michel and friends' well-written essays on popular culture, alternative music and as A.j. puts it in #9, castoff items or "cultural detritus." These folks are deeply nerdy, in the best possible way, as demonstrated by this statement about moving, also in #9, "This is one of the ultimate signs I'm a lifer when it comes to zines: I'm not worried about employment or having a regular place to stay, but how to get mail."

A Thousand Lives came highly recommended by someone whose taste I trust, so I'm sorry to report I felt "meh" about it. Jonestown is a fascinating (if horrifying) topic, and I learned some things I didn't know about the ministry (that it was 70% Black and that it was friends with San Francisco politicians Harvey Milk and George Moscone).

One always has to get out of the way that most collections of essays, poems, stories etc. by different authors are uneven in quality and style. I think in this case, more than some others, one's preferences will vary widely. The chapters range from personal diaries to conference presentations, so readers will love some pieces and dislike others, depending on their literary tastes. As a perzine and fiction girl I expected the confessional stories to grab me the most, and some of them did, but I found that the most appealing pieces to me were those that rode the line between scholarly and personal.