Twenty Two Zines Studio Blog

Free Zine Friday #9

2026-02-13T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

Turn Up The Radio
by Ronan a.k.a batlike

I found this zine through the Zine Crisis Mutual Assistance Group's print-at-home zine library, but it turns out it was done by fellow Neocities webmaster batlike! I'd call this zine a brief homage to independent radio as an alternative form of media consumption. A quick and fun read. I love the striking black and white and kinda crunchy photocopy textures used here too.

12 pages, B&W

Pretty Girl Look So Tough
by Olivia Pepper

A really cool make-you-cry gender zine from 2003 on what it really means to identify as femme from a gender/queer and body-positive perspective. It's such an interesting look at the tangles between femme identity, appearance, and societal expectations both within queer spaces and societal norms. It's done through brief article-style reflections on topics the author finds related to her femme identity (many of which are kind of intense so CW, especially for SA and ED). There are so many good quotes I feel like I could just quote the whole thing, but I really like "Sometimes people inaccurately attribute certain behaviors of mine to my identity".

What is honestly uncomfortable for me but especially powerful is the way in which the sections don't have much "conclusion" to them. Olivia reflects on complex issues and feelings she has around shaving, EDs, but doesn't end with a "solution" or "answer". It's a good lesson for me personally that not everything has to or even can end with an answer.

The format is really cool in this zine too--it seems to be a half-page zine but folded along the short edge instead of the long edge, so it's a tall zine.

28 pages, B&W

Monkey's Paw: My second missed zine fest

2026-02-08T00:00:00Z

▶ today's drink: Pepsi from my travel coffee mug
▶ listening to: The Wolf by The Brat

I swear, did I like neglect to do a zine trade with a mischievous spirit who has now cursed me with a monkey's paw for zine fests? It must be, because what other possible reason could there be for a sudden snowstorm closing roads in my county only on the single day I was to drive two hours for the first zine fest I'd have done in over a year and a half? I'm a little miffed with the weather departments too for claiming it would be max 1-2" snow literally while we'd already had 4" and no sign of slowing. Anyway, all this was yesterday, and when I got up this morning it was snowy but clear and bright, perfectly fine to drive. Ugh.

Anyway, as soon as I saw I would not be able to leave the house, I of course emailed the organizers. I didn't want to miss out on meeting other zinesters and sharing zines and all the fun, so I made a flyer I asked the organizers (who were librarians with easy access to color printing btw) to print out and have at my table/area, put up on maybe a book stand or something else upright for people to see, so I could still connect with people. They were super nice and said of course, so as far as I know this flyer did indeed represent me. I'm actually pretty proud of the flyer because I think it's cute so I want to show it off somewhere for, I dunno, posterity or whatever.

The text said:

Hi everyone, my name is Wesley! I run Twenty Two Zines, a zine distro and resource hub focused on radical creativity and a philosophy of sharing over selling. I live in Salem, and unfortunately I don't trust the roads to be able to make it today.

I'm really bummed so please say hello to me online! I have lots of resources on my website and I would love to trade zines or send you a free/pay-what-you-want bundle through the mail.

Check my site or email me at twentytwozines@posteo.net! please drop by Twenty Two Zines dot com!

Unfortunately, at least so far, I haven't had any communications from visitors or tablers at the zine fest, so looks like the flyer was a bust. Neocities has like a view counter thing and it looks like there were a few more views on my site, which is great and all and I hope people found some free zines or encouragement out of it, but damn it, I wanted to talk to people! I wanted the tactile experience of shoving a zine into someone's hand and watching them flip through it and reading theirs and making a friend!

And it's never About the Money or anything (I always offer everything for free/donation at zine fests), but to be honest I was also looking forward to getting a little bit of cash for the distro, I was hoping for ~$40, so I could take and pay for a few submissions people have sent me. It's one of those things where I could probably make it happen anyway, but since I'm still unemployed (that's a long story but you can see the first parts on these YouTube videos o' mine), and so I'm very hesitant about spending money on non-essentials, and unfortunately zines are essential to my heart but don't put food on my table. And I already spent $125 I'd slowly gathered over the last year to print more copies of zines for the zine fest that I just missed, UGH!

Anyway, the reason I wanted to make this blog wasn't just to complain about the weather and money, it was also to complain about the fact that this is actually the second time I've had to miss a zine fest, made a flyer begging people to connect anyway, and had absolutely zero personal interactions come as a result. I suppose it's only been a day, so I could give it a bit longer, but given the last time this happened I don't have super high hopes. That time was in I wanna say 2022, and while lots of people were thinking of COVID as over there were still new variants abound and the zine fest was trying to be very health-conscious, masks and vaxxes were required for tablers (except in extenuating medical circumstances), etc. Well of course the day before I started getting a few minor flu-like symptoms, and although I felt fine it could have been COVID and the drugstore tests weren't reading new variants, so I'd have to go into a doctor's office to get tested properly but they were closed because it was a long weekend and I didn't want to go to the hospital and possibly spread it. So I did the same thing, emailed the organizers and said I need to stay home out of an abundance of caution and asked if they could put up a flyer, etc. Honestly I remember their response being a little rude but I'm 100% sure I just felt it that way because I was already grumpy and disappointed and feeling sensitive and I didn't want them to think I hadn't been being cautious in my life so far or have them be angry I'd ended up taking a table from someone else who could have been there.

That flyer did not net me any interactions either. And of course when I got tested it turned out I didn't have COVID and also probably didn't even have the flu, but of course there's no way I could have known that. Doing the right thing is so frustrating sometimes.

I'm realizing all this sounds like some sort of pity-based engagement bait, but I promise it's not about that. I just wanted to meet some local zinesters and have some in-person interaction and I'm just annoyed that mother nature sent me to my room. I'll be honest that I still have some difficulty with online engagement--I have a hard time really feeling like myself or feeling motivated to keep up with conversations through text, email, any messengers or socials. It's not just you guys, I've just always been a talk-on-the-phone person over a text person, despite how it may seem from this long blog, haha! If you're the same way, I'll say right now that it sucks trying to find and talk to other zinesters sometimes, doesn't it?!

I spent the whole rest of the day installing a new blog engine and moving all my old pages over to it so I could feel like I was doing something to further the distro that didn't cost money and I did have fun. Maybe today I'll try to install a comment box for the blog so I can continue to be cagey about responding over text. If I have indeed done so you'll see it below ;)

The Little Treat: Exploring justifications for consumption under capitalism

2025-12-31T00:00:00Z

An essay from my latest zine, Unfair Maiden #7: The Material Grrrl Issue. The rest of the zine is currently in-progress, but it will ultimately be up on the distro and on itch.io as well.

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Many people in anticapitalist spaces struggle to understand, rationalize, or justify their personal consumption and consumptive desires. Few if any anticapitalists are committed to the lifestyle of Diogenes in a pithos, myself included. The struggle is that if we are to live with any consumer goods beyond the barest minimum, how can we do so in a way that is also consistent with anticapitalism? Is it even possible?

This question is often asked in bad faith by anti-anticapitalists in an attempt to claim anticapitalists are inherently hypocritical, which frankly I find too ridiculous to rebut seriously. In short, advocating for change does not, can not, and will never require individual moral "perfection". Especially not when measured by those specifically working to halt that change.

That said, I do think most anticapitalists--heck, most people--would like to be living in line with their values to some extent. So I think it's a worthy endeavor for anticapitalists to examine their relationships to consumption and see if something can or should change.

The first knot to untangle is what is meant by "consumerism" and just how it is linked to capitalism. Interestingly, the term "consumerism" was deliberately coined by Ford VP John Bugas in 1955 as a counter to critiques of capitalism--an attempt to shift responsibility away from business owners and government towards individual citizens by claiming the individuals, as consumers, were the only ones with true power. The capitalists were simply bowing to the whims of the public, and they became wealthy simply as a natural result. "How could the pursuit of wealth on the backs of the working class be exploitative? You're the ones buying all this stuff we make!" Similar perspectives had been argued for before then--always by the wealthy, by the way--using terms like "consumer sovereignty" (Carl Menger, 1871) and even "waste creatively" (Christine Frederick, 1929). These statements were very intentional counters to Marxism and anticapitalism which rooted themselves well in the image most Americans had/have of personal liberties. The message is that our economy works the way it does, for better or for worse, because "the people want it that way". If you argue with it, you're arguing with freedom.

This was actually a huge realization for me, because when understood in this context, it's easy to see the flaws in this claim. Claiming that consumerism is the fault of the consumer is itself a consumerist perspective, and specifically one that does not recognize or respect the situation consumers have been born into.

To go through just a few of these situations, there's first the central issue of worker exploitation. Workers are not receiving anywhere near value they are producing, and this has never been the fault of consumers. Companies like to pretend an increase in wages will lead to riots in the streets from consumers angry over price increases in products. This is to draw attention away from the fact that there would hardly need to be price increases at all if their CEOs and stock brokers weren't hoarding billions of dollars.

There's also the fact that there is very little transparency provided by or even required of companies, and there was even less back then (ever read The Jungle?). Even the government agencies that are meant to protect the interests of consumers are often incredibly lax. For instance, America doesn't ban the sale of products created using forced or child labor, despite that it would be within our power to do so. I don't think your average consumer believes child labor is a good thing, but it's not their fault when they unknowingly buy products that used it. Or when the responsibility is put on individual consumers to find out themselves, if that information is even accessible to them.

And finally, there's the fact by being born into a capitalist society, we are essentially brainwashed from every angle at birth to behave as consumers in a way that benefits capitalists. Those at the top continue to have the most resources at their disposal to influence thought and behavior. There are many examples of this playing out, but one I always love is the "cerulean monologue" from The Devil Wears Prada:

"That blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs, and it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room… from a pile of 'stuff'."

I guarantee many people, if given ample opportunity, encouragement, and education to truly question and understand their personal values and how they relate to society, would find they are more anticapitalist than they currently think. (Why do you think capitalists are so afraid of college philosophy classes?) Can we really blame the consumers for capitalism when they are merely following the path they've been trained for?

I think it is from understanding the roots of the term "consumerism" that the relationship between consumerism and capitalism becomes clear--the concept of consumerism was specifically created as a way of benefiting/perpetuating capitalism by shifting the focus away from those in power and placing the blame for capitalism's exploitation on the powerless for somehow "wanting" it. In this context, it's actually a little gross that the term started being used to critique wastefulness, because it once again focuses its criticisms on the victims of capitalism and not its perpetrators.

Given all this, I think to be anticapitalist is also to be anticonsumerist in an economic sense--recognizing the falsehood in the assertion that consumers are the true controllers of the economy. This also means rejecting the idea that consumers, either on a societal or an individual level, are responsible for the atrocities of capitalism.

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So where does that leave us? Even if no one is responsible, surely someone is still obliged to change things, or else we'd stay stuck in capitalism blaming consumers for their own exploitation forever. How do we know who is obliged to do what? And what does this have to do with personal consumption?

On the idea of obligation, it's tricky to require change while respecting the situation of capitalism's victims. I think it's not unfair to state that if one has the capacity to work for change in some way, then they are obligated to. In a sense, this means everyone is obligated because we all, as humans, have that capacity. But I do also think that those who have greater capacity also have greater obligation. It feels wrong to say someone is obligated to do something if they are genuinely unable, and if working for change is easier for one person than another, surely the burden of responsibility should be split in a way that accounts for that.

Multiple factors may contribute to one's capacity, and therefore obligation, to work for change. Some include:

Basic needs. Food, housing, health, safety, etc. being sufficiently covered increases ones capacity. This includes mental health.
Education. Not only skills that one has, but their knowledge on anticapitalism itself. I don't mean that everyone must have a college degree in theory, but if someone genuinely doesn't know what capitalism is or why it's bad, how can we require them to be anticapitalist?
Support systems. People who are sufficiently supported by family, friends, community, etc. have greater capacity.
Environment. Someone in a better political and environmental climate (one that is more supportive of them) has increased capacity. Additionally, someone with greater social/societal power and influence also has increased capacity.
Wealth. People with greater wealth have increased access to all of the above. Therefore it's not necessarily the wealth itself that increases capacity, but what it has the power to do for the wealthy person.

Race, sex, gender, caste, and many other factors all intersect and impact the above as well. It's also important to note that the above factors are not "excuses", simply things that need to be acknowledged as having real impact on ones capacity. Finally, it is of course possible to work beyond one's capacity, but I question the sustainability of such efforts.

I think this approach works well because it is a privilege-centered approach. The focus turns from a sort of moral absolutism into an exploration of privilege, both one's own and others'. From this perspective, it supports efforts to make those with greater privilege more accountable without dismissing the potential impact those without privilege could have on pushing for change. It doesn't blame the victims of capitalism, but neither is it defeatist. I think it also provides some ideas for methods of working for anticapitalist change--one could work for change both by demanding accountability from those with great privilege and/or by increasing one's own or others' capacity to enact change through promoting education, political action, providing support systems, or contributing towards basic needs.

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Now, finally, we can move to individual consumption, and the whole inspiration for this essay to begin with: "The Little Treat".

You may have heard the phrase "little treat" in a few other contexts, especially in advertising; here I am specifically focusing on it as an argument used used in anticapitalist spaces. The Little Treat argument is essentially defending small-scale individual consumption as being 1. consistent with anticapitalism and 2. at least a moral neutral. It basically goes like this:

Given that we live in an oppressive capitalist world, it's acceptable for the oppressed proletariats to buy themselves "a little treat" to (essentially) keep their spirits up, regardless of any ethical conundrums that may exist over the nature of the production, distribution, or consumption of that treat. The "little treat" is usually referring to a non-essential consumer good, typically something relatively inexpensive, and often mass-produced--think a figurine, an accessory, a fancy coffee, a video game, etc.

Those using this argument may have different beliefs regarding related implications. For example, many critics will say "if everyone thought that way, nothing would change". The person using the "little treat" argument may believe 1. even if every consumer forwent all little treats, the impact on [negative thing] would be so minimal it's not worth the loss of joy one could get from little treats; 2. that whether the critic is right or not, there aren't enough people willing to forgo little treats, making it impractical to morally require commitment to; 3. that it is possible to have ethical consumption under a different social structure, so changing the social structure is the imperative; or any number of other beliefs.

The Little Treat comes up both as a response to bad faith attacks of hypocrisy as well as a way of trying to offer support to others. It's also a means of recognizing feelings of guilt an anticapitalist may have over what privileges they do have and trying to alleviate them. It says that yes, resistance is important, valuable, and necessary, but it's also draining, difficult, and expensive--and consumption can be a way to fill one's proverbial well. It's almost like a shorthand for acknowledging the relative lack of power most have to create structural change, rejecting the idea of excessive personal responsibility, and recognizing that piling guilt on oneself or others for consumption is unhelpful and is likely to lead to burnout. The Little Treat argument is, at its core, a message of support.

To be honest, I've had mixed feelings about this argument. I've tended to agree with it overall, especially now after clarifying for myself the capacity/privilege-centered approach to obligation. The part I worry about is whether The Little Treat is used too frivolously as an excuse to avoid critically thinking about one's own relationship with consumption. Critics of The Little Treat argument certainly see it as a justification for needless consumption that goes against principles of anticapitalism. So let's take a closer look.

The key to the critics' response I think lies in the idea of "needless" consumption. It's safe to say all anticapitalists recognize it's impossible to abstain entirely from consumption; as a human with basic needs, you will always be consuming at least enough for those basic needs. The criticism is not on the consumption itself, but on needless or "non-essential" consumption. So what consumption counts as needless?

This is actually a tougher question than one might think, because one could argue that almost everything we consume is actually "needless". No one needs more than two shirts. No one needs furniture beyond a bed. No one needs food beyond like, rice, beans, and a vitamin supplement. (I realize the examples are a bit reductive, but you get the idea). Of course, when compared to food, something like a gold Rolex is very clearly needless, and I'm not arguing with that! But where is the line drawn? Is a third shirt needless consumption? Is a toy for a child needless consumption? What constitutes "need", and who gets to decide that? Does it vary based on environment? How?

These questions are valid, but I don't think there are any clear answers. Therefore, I don't think need/needlessness is an appropriate basis for determining the morality of individual consumption.

Some may say the morality of needless consumption depends on the means of acquisition--buying secondhand is moral, buying new is immoral, etc. I won't get too far into it, but the basic trouble is that thrifting, while it has many benefits, still doesn't solve many (if any) of the problems that buying new has. (For a tiny peek into this, check out this article: https://www.earthday.org/unraveling-the-impact-of-thrifting/). Given that, it feels strange to draw the line of morality there as well.

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This talk of morality of consumption actually reminds me of an ethical philosophy called "effective altruism". It's based on/highly influenced by the essay "Famine, Affluence, and Morality" by philosopher Peter Singer in 1971. The essence is that we have a moral obligation to provide charity to others in greater need as long as our sacrifice wouldn't be as bad as what others are experiencing. Think of it this way--there are starving people, it is worse to starve than to live without a new car, so people are morally obligated to give their new car money to starving people instead. That's the gist of it, anyway--a rather utilitarian view of morality.

There are many interesting responses to this article, some I agree with more than others. One response is from John Arthur in 1984, and while I don't necessarily agree with every argument, I think it does well pointing out that there are other things that need to be accounted for in questions of moral obligation, such as fairness, justice, and respect for certain rights. He concludes by saying that in order for a moral code to be rational, it needs to also be practical. The line that stands out the most is "Rules that would work only for angels are not the ones it is rational to support for humans."

To me, this feels very similar to what "The Little Treat" is getting at--we're not morally perfect, if there even is such a thing as moral perfectionism. We are ourselves human beings who have our own human desires. We cannot be obligated, by ourselves or others, to behave in a supremely self-sacrificing way. That's just not how humans work, and for morality to require that would be impossible and pointless.

(If you're interested in reading more, both Singer's article and Arthur's response can be read for free here: https://food.unt.edu/arguments/singer_arthur.pdf )

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It is because of all the complexities in Singer and Arthur alone, to say nothing of so many other discussions on morality in philosophy and political-economic theory, that I wonder if we're asking ourselves the wrong questions about individual consumption. I don't think it's very effective, much less provable, to ask whether individual consumption is morally "right" or "wrong". It's a question that lacks nuance and perpetuates the idea that individual consumers are the ones responsible for capitalism.

Instead, when exploring individual consumption, I think it's more valuable to ask ourselves things in a way that honors our privileges or lack thereof, that allows for flexibility as well as agency. We can do this by asking questions in a capacity-centered way. Some questions we can ask ourselves:

In what ways does my individual consumption affect my or others' capacity to enact change?
In what ways can I increase my capacity for change, or use my current capacity more effectively? How does consumption relate to this?
Would I (could I?) feel more supported by using my wealth in different ways?
Am I more or less dependent on consumption than I would wish to be? Can I work towards getting joy/support in other ways?

This approach allows us to get a clearer picture of multiple factors that may be at play, allowing us to reflect thoroughly and honestly on our relationship with consumption. It doesn't require or presume any particular outcome--one could find that less, greater, or simply different consumption would increase their capacity for change. Plus, I don't think approaching questions of individual consumption in this way excuses people at the top--we can demand that as people with greater capacities they fulfill their obligations for change.

Finally, I think there's one more thing that needs to be acknowledged: exploring these questions is labor. It is absolutely difficult work, most especially because it is resistance. Capitalism does not want you to question things at all, especially capitalism itself and the tools and narratives it uses to perpetuate itself. Oppressive systems are not oppressive by accident--they are designed that way as a way of perpetuating themselves for the benefit of the few that hold power in that system.

Finding the "best" ways to dismantle these systems is difficult. Every question begets more questions--how effective is "dollar voting" or other efforts of anti-consumerism in bringing about positive change? Does that positive change include societal shifts towards anticapitalism, or just towards a possibly-fictional ideal of "ethical consumerism"? It is absolutely critical to allow yourself moments of rest between this labor. And you do not need to feel guilty for being a morally-imperfect human born and living under an oppressive system.

When it comes to The Little Treat, I guess I fall on the side of "yes, as long as". I ultimately agree that I don't consider individual consumption to be a moral issue, but I do think one can utilize their individual consumption habits thoughtfully in a way that supports their true goals, both for themselves and others. I think the approach of The Little Treat argument is more useful because it's coming from a place of kindness and recognizing power dynamics at play, but I don't think using it in a defeatist or nihilist way is effective on either an individual or a societal level.

I suppose one could classify my view as "mindful consumption", but done in a way that specifically encompasses an anticapitalist end goal (rather than some idea of "proper" but still capitalist use of individual wealth) and a disbelief in the claimed existence/impact of consumer sovereignty. But ultimately, I suppose it is still a view that accepts Little Treats.

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Free Zine Friday #8: Cute Hobby Collabs

2025-11-28T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

Milk and Honey
collab (ed. by AllyRat)

So this is actually a SERIES of (currently) four collab zines, celebrating, highlighting, and created by members of the Lolita fashion community in Aotearoa (New Zealand)! The zines are stunningly colorful and fun, it feels like flipping through an old Japanese fashion magazine, which is of course perfect for what they're doing. I love reading the interviews, but I also go back just to look at all the pretty outfits. It's also got recipes, advice, fashion brand highlights, diaries from group outings, and more! My favorite is the section with photos of contributors' bedrooms in issue one. And the best part--the zines are totally size, race, and gender inclusive!

36-48 pages, color

Nekozine Issue 1
collab

A super cute collab zine about the love of indie web development made by our neighbors on nekoweb! My website (the one you're on now) was hand-coded on the indie web, so naturally I love how this zine does an amazing job expressing the joy, creative freedom, and empowerment that can come from making your own sites for fun and the love of the web's possibilities. Full of art, web&tech history, and fun web tutorials, all with a cute anime catgirl theme.

54 pages, color

Staying "organized" for Unfair Maiden #7

2025-11-22T00:00:00Z

Update 2/7/2026: Moved to a new blog platform! Original text preserved below.

▶ today's drink: tea, earl gray, hot

Pardon the CSS dust; I'm reusing the divs/template I made for my Free Zine Friday blog (which will also be getting a bit of a reno). But I just spent a bunch of time on an in-progress zine and I'm dying to talk about it!

The main zine I'm working on right now is the next issue of my perzine series Unfair Maiden. This one is #7, what I've finally titled the "Material Grrrl" issue. I've had the idea for this subject for a long time--I want to explore my relationship to my enjoyment of material goods as an anticapitalist. It's something I feel I haven't examined thoroughly enough, so this zine is an attempt to do so.

I actually have quite a few bits and pieces that are done (in fact, one part has been done for about a year before I took a break). But the part I just finished was definitely the most involved, writing-wise. The section is titled "The Little Treat: Exploring justifications for consumption under capitalism". I even spent a hilariously long time (probably an hour) making a Seinfeld-inspired logo for the header, since all the titles of Seinfeld episodes are formatted "The [blank]". Anything to lighten up the subject, right? (Plus the Season 8 pattern totally matches my aesthetic).

The idea of this part was to explore the argument of "the little treat" in anticapitalist spaces and how it relates to morality. Like, what makes choices about consumption moral or immoral, and are there things we're (I'm) obligated to do, relative to my consumption, to behave "morally"? It was originally just going to be about how I felt about that argument (which I explain in the zine too of course), but to sort that out required so much more work than I thought! It ended up feeling like reading and writing philosophy essays from when I was in undergrad! (I mean, not just feeling like it, that's basically what it turned into!)

I ended up writing at least 5000 words (probably far more given the amount of stuff I cut/moved around), and the "final" essay at the moment is 2988 words, at least 8 zine pages but it'll probably jump to 10 once I format it. It might change a little. This is WAY more than I've ever written for a single section of a zine, and frankly I feel like it'll probably scare people off (it's scaring me off right now), but it's important to me so it's going in. I have no idea how I'll remotely be able to make it flow with the rest of the parts.

Anyway, since I was typing all this, I'm not sure if I can adequately express the amount that I "spread out" on my laptop, but I tried to capture the feeling in this screenshot:

Allow me to point out:

my incredibly helpful file titles, "ZINE IN PROGRESS", "zineinprogress_222", and "Untitled" (which was also unsaved until this moment). All saved on my desktop instead of a folder, naturally.
the text in a different font on the left, which is part of my first draft, approaching it from a slightly different point which I found to be too boring after spending hours writing it
you can't tell, but I don't even mention the concept of "the little treat" until 1587 words in, when that is ostensibly the theme of the essay
so many tabs across multiple windows, all vaguely related resources and Wikipedia articles I thought might be useful. I finally tried to close some and then realized hours later that I wanted to reference them later in the essay, so I had to go through my history and pull them up again
my text notes that go anywhere from full drafts of paragraphs to lines like "that economics game!", which is a reminder for something unrelated I might want to make an entirely separate section about. Unlabeled, of course.
2050 extra words I like but now don't know what to do with. They will probably stay in these poorly titled files until years after publication of the zine itself.

Next on my to-do list: selecting font, images, and anything to make the portion more interesting than a wall of text without making it 10+ pages long. Then onto deciding what I'll do for my next sections!

Free Zine Friday #7

2025-06-13T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

Whisper
ed. by Little NEO

I'm really fascinated by the sorts of things you can do with zines in the digital space. This is one example--Nicole gathered submissions, "whispers", for this zine via a form embedded on their website, and added them as pages to the digital zine as they came in. My favorite part is the formatting, where the submissions were edited to look like they had been printed on the pages of an old, thin-page book by warping them slightly to follow the lines of the page. It looks incredible and lends such beauty and interest to these snippet submissions. The content itself is raw and simple as well in a beautiful way. Nicole is such a generous artist as well who shares zines for free both digitally and physically. You can tell how hard Nicole works to contribute to the artistic community.

19 pages, color

You Know You're a Rural Queen When
by Olivia M

This zine hits hard--every experience really paints a picture of the overall loneliness one experiences when they don't have a local community. What really gets me about it is the author is in Connecticut (according to the map in the zine). It's so easy to classify queer-friendly areas by "red state, blue state", but this goes to show that rural America is everywhere and every queer space is essential!

16 pages, B&W

Free Zine Friday #6

2025-01-03T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

Polemical Zine Issue #2: Different
collaborative, curated by Rebecca McLaren

Polemical Zine is a series of collborative zines with "no selection process". That is, they accept any and everything from all people. That philosophy twists my heart in a particular way, as I feel like that is the true spirit of zinemaking, and it hurts me when I see zines turned into "products" with a focus on "quality" (it does happen, terribly so). Each Polemical issue has a loose theme for inspiration, this one titled "different", an exploration of differene and normalcy. I love a good variety zine, and it's so beautiful to see what people choose to contribute with no limits. (Also, can we appreciate the glitter star stickers breaking up the white space?)

54 pages, color

it's easier than you think
by sophie mautner

This is an inspiring and layered collage zine that is basically a multimedia diary. Hand-done drawings, text, polaroids and even fiber (needlepoint? I'm not sure) are collaged in with stickers, magazine pages, interesting garbage and the like. I feel like it totally captures existence in a world around you, yourSelf and Outside things. It's super inspiring and dreamy. My favorite page is the one with the red converse skater kit, sinking house, and chemistry homework, it's like the inner child I actually wanted to be.

24 pages, color

Free Zine Friday #5: Audio Zine edition

2023-05-12T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

Bound
by Bethany Fortner

This is such a special zine. It’s a beautiful fairytale about a unicorn, a late bloomer named Philomena who desperately wishes for her horn to grow in, and seeks help from a wizard in the woods. It’s about shame and feeling vulnerable and the status quo and loneliness. You can hear in the author’s voice just how deep and personal the story is–like the best fairytales, it is so intensely familiar and relatable that it gives you lessons you didn’t know you needed.

17 minutes. Physical copies available

The F Word
by Nyx

A big fun zine all about “fuck”, our favorite swear word! Nyx analyzes what it is about the word “fuck” that makes it so satisfying and versatile. Learn about the history, grammatical flexibility, and capacity for emphasizing, and more that makes fuck such a great fucking swear. Warning: swearing. (Duh).

12 minutes.

The Sisterhood of the Living Dead
by Maggie Grimason

CW for grief, descriptions of sex, & animal and human death. “The desert is dust, and so am I.” This zine is intense but really moving. It’s like a collage of memories linked together by the central theme of life and death. Maggie shares deep dark stories of seeing ghosts, fascination with bones, grieving her dad, empty relationships, and finding herself in the deserts of the southwest. Poetic and beautiful, a winding trail of thoughts and lives past.

29 minutes. More of Maggie’s writing here.

Free Zine Friday #4

2023-04-28T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

Wait, What Happened? #1
by Cat/Kowski

I want to give this zine to anyone who is progressive at heart but perhaps under-informed about why it’s important to be antifa and kkkop. It’s a friendly perzine with all the perzine goodies–favorite movies, chit-chat in handwriting, & wild west women. And then sandwiched in between is an awesome piece called “How I went from ‘Police Deserve Respect’ to an ACAB Tattoo” that touches on a whole bunch of different facets of US law/lessness, and how the police are designed in a way that makes “good cops” impossible. And it’s a lot easier to approach and understand than some of the denser antifacist zines out there.

24 pages, color, website here

Youth Culture 2000
by Mia Lin + Melissa Niles

I was double-checking their About page to see who to credit this zine to, and the first line is “It all started when Girl Tony Hawk met Goth Britney Spears.” Yeah, nothing I write could do a better job of capturing this zine than that line! It’s a fucking experience, dredging up memories I didn’t even know I had (girl tech password diary, anyone?).

18 pages, color

What Do You Think You're Doing?
by Kaiser Caimo

I think every artist today needs to read and honestly ask themselves every single question in the zine. It will completely reframe how you approach your art, how you interact with it, how you want to present it. For anyone who is overwhelmed by the prospect of sharing art, wondering where or how or when to get your work into the world, this will help you build direction. I reread this regularly to remind me why I make art, to help realign and reaffirm my values around art.

40 pages, color, website here

Free Zine Friday #3: Earth Day edition

2023-04-21T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

Knowing the Land is Resistance
by the KLR Collective

The zine is really a picture of building strong relationships with forests and natural spaces, in this case the Carolinan forest, getting to know it, and what that really means. It’s beautiful and no matter where you are, it shows you how you can get to know nature, and love it, in every expression. It’s summed up pretty well by this quote from the zine: “To know, to truly know the forest is to love it, and whoever loves it will fight for its welfare.”

44 pages, color

new hearts new bones #2
by cheering and waving press

There are like 21 issues of new hearts new bones (all available to read for free!), but I’ve picked this one in particular because I think it’s most appropriate for Earth Day--it's about liberation and an underlying connection with yourself as a being on Earth. nhnb is a collage of drawings, magazine clippings, ads and junk printed out, literal garbage, handwritten text, copies books and mags... & what’s really awesome about it is how it’s all integrated together, everything put together entirely based on what it communicates and not the type of medium.

24 pages, color, website here

Destroy Your Lawn!
by anonymous

Okay, so hopefully by now we all know that lawns are very environmentally-unfriendly (if you don’t, you definitely need to read this zine!). I’ve been anti-lawn for years, but I still got a lot out of this super short but thoroughly informative zine! There’s a brief history of lawns and suggestions for what to do with your (and others’) lawns. I also appreciate how it acknowledges that lawns are so deeply ingrained in American culture that just letting it grow is sometimes not a possibility because you could face fines from the city, and it still gives you other options that could work for you. (I totally appreciate this because growing up our neighbors were constantly complaining to the city about our lawn, so “just leave it alone” is definitely not always viable).

8 page minizine, b&w

Free Zine Friday #2

2023-04-14T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

BOYGIRL BABBLES: Issue #01: Homecoming
by Jenna (boygirlbabbles)

The coolest, punkest, zine-est poetry zine I’ve ever seen. And if the term “poetry zine” made you think about passing on this zine, turn your ass right around and click. It's like reading a punk scrapbook, with photos and stickers and markers and buttons and printouts and Alison Bechdel panels, all traditionally collaged in and around the super deep, super raw, fuck-your-bullshit everyday poetry. “scratchy guitars and tattered jeans / his raspy voice and handmade zines”

16 pages, color, carrd here

Bittersweet
by Bitter Pill Press

27 queer poets, writers, potters, photographers, digital and traditional visual artists contributed to this zine about queer love-–love for yourself, love for others, love for queerness in general. The layout of each page is just so beautiful and visually interesting; the fonts and arrangements here really bring every piece to life. It feels like a truly collaborative work, with different artists sharing page space to create something even better than they’d be on their own, you know?

36 pages, color

The Four Colour Theorem
by Jorge Luján Mora

There’s this thing called the four color theorem, which is basically a theorem that states you will never need more than four colors to fill in a map such that no adjacent regions are the same color. This zine shares the theorem visually and simplifies it using these cool looking node graphs. If you’re intrigued by this theorem, there’s a game you can play to see it in action!

8 page minizine, b&w, zinesters' Twitter here

Free Zine Friday #1

2023-04-07T00:00:00Z

Sometimes on Friday I highlight a few zines I love that are free to read! For more free zines, check out my big free zines page.

TigerxTiger
by edward (catboyriot zines)

An absolute riot! An explosion of color and love and energy about edward’s favorite animal, the Tiger! A super bright digital collage of everything from drawings to clipart to photos to anime screencaps to Animorphs covers and everything in-between. I am perpetually inspired by this zine. It is the best eyeburn I’ve ever seen.

16 pages, color

The Selkie and the Lighthouse Keeper
by sewagebaby2

An absolutely beautiful aro/ace fairytale about the beauty and value of a queerplatonic relationship. It’s a story in these stunning digital illustrations with poetic text overtop, plus linocuts for the cover and back. One of the characters is a Selkie, and I always love when concepts of queerness are explored and represented through mythical creatures and magical bodies.

10 pages, color

A Self-Defense Study Guide for Trans Women and Gender Non-Conforming AMAB Folks
by TransFighters, Oakland

Real, actionable advice for deescalation, ways to fend off or respond to harassment, and physical escape techniques that won’t get you in for assault. And it recognizes that you can’t assume others will come to your aid in the way you might be able to if you were cis. It also covers safety around intimate partners. This is absolutely must-have information for all trans women and allies, period.

40 pages, color