MSRRT Newsletter's alternative news, views, and resource listings were sent via snail mail periodically to members of the Minnesota Library Association Social Responsibilities Round Table (MSRRT). Others subscribed by making a donation ($15 suggested) payable to MLA/MSRRT. Editors: Chris Dodge/Jan DeSirey.
If you blinked last year, you may have missed it: library card ownership correlates directly to income. If this is old news, it's still worth noting as a case study in how polls are differently interpreted and just which statistics publicized, not to mention a troubling confirmation of library classism. A Gallup poll conducted for the American Library Association contained these statistics not reported by ALA's American Libraries magazine: Less than half of those polled with an annual household income of less than $20,000 said they had a library card. Sixty-one percent of those in the $20-40,000 bracket answered this question affirmatively, compared to seventy percent in the $40-60,000 range and seventy-eight percent in over $60,000 category. What are we going to do about it?
Delivered by Sanford Berman, June 27, 1999, New Orleans, Louisiana
In January 1997, I submitted five "professional concerns" when running for ALA council. They remain my primary concerns, and perhaps yours, too:
+ Enlarge "intellectual freedom" efforts to include opposition to economic censorship (like media monopolization and the chain superstore threat to independent booksellers and small presses); frank recognition, at least, of library censorship (e.g. the failure to select visual erotica, zines, labor materials, small press fiction and poetry, and graphic novels); and support for library staff to express their views on professional and policy matters without fear of reprisal.
+ Stop and reverse the increasing commercialization of libraries and of ALA itself, which threatens the very soul of the profession: its commitment to genuine openness, diversity, and neutrality. (Among other things, this means ensuring the libraries are spaces or refuges free from hype and otherwise incessant sales pitches.)
+ Expand and simplify access to library resources for poor, unemployed, and homeless people, in part by energetically implementing ALA's "Poor People's Policy." (Locally, this also involves abolishing fines when their major purpose is to generate revenue, not to get the books back, and avoiding fee-based services--like bestseller rental programs--that are predicated solely on the ability to pay.)
+ Foster greater democracy within both ALA and library workplaces, combating such traditional management and mystery cult practices as hierarchy, paternalism, elitism, and secrecy; encouraging library unionization as a means of real empowerment, a way to create countervailing power; and unmasking the latest versions of Taylorism and TQM as frequently manipulative and wasteful frauds and fads. (In this context, that ubiquitous maxim, "Question Authority," might be modified to: "Question Managerial Prerogatives.")
+ Maintain and dignify such activities as collection development and cataloging as "core functions" best performed in-house rather than outsourced.
I'd like to add another item, related to the shibboleth about libraries being "bulwarks of democracy":
+ Proactively foment and facilitate public policy debates on timely issues through programs, resource lists, and displays. (How many libraries have done this, for instance, regarding classism or poor-bashing, corporate welfare, economic democracy, and corporate power? These are not even LC-sanctioned subject headings!)
So what should libraries be?
+ Equally accessible to everyone
+ Dynamic sources of all kinds of information and ideas, available in a setting free of hucksterism
+ Open places, where rules and policies emerge from unfettered, transparent discussion among users and staff
I honestly don't think that's too much to ask. Do you?
[The following letter and response refer to the clip-art-augmented paper edition of MSRRT Newsletter.]
As always, when the latest issue of MSRRT Newsletter arrived last month (Issue #98) I found it to be full of great information and resources. I do need to comment, however, that the sidebar concerning the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) Board of Directors' action seems a bit unfair in its context. The Board discussed the proposed resolution at length. Within our group there were a number of suggested language changes. With understanding that the same resolution was already proposed to be introduced at the American Library Association's meeting in New Orleans, the group decided it was perhaps best to wait and adopt the similar language as ALA instead of crafting words which could conflict with the national group. The resulting actual motion (made by myself and seconded by Intellectual Committee Chair Kim Edson) reads: "Request the ALA Chapter Councilor to report back at the July MLA Board meeting regarding the ALA resolution introduced by Sanford Berman and that the Board at that time consider adoption of a similar resolution for Minnesota." The motion carried. Unfortunately your reporting of a single action, taken out of context, suggests that the MLA Board wished to support the "muzzling" of library workers in expressing opinions about matters related to their professional responsibilities. In my opinion, that is exactly the opposite of our desire. --Chris D. Olson, Member, MLA Board of Directors
[We plead guilty to not covering the full story of MLA's considerations. Further, the "muzzle" graphic within the sidebar might more aptly have been placed atop the front page article in which Sandy Berman is quoted as refusing to "submit to any more muzzling." That said, we thought then and think now that it was naive of MLA Board members to believe that the American Library Association Council would pass any but the most watered down resolution at its annual conference. While one was introduced there to amend the Library Bill of Rights by adding a clause that "Libraries should permit and encourage a full and free expression of views by staff on professional and policy matters," this was argued against and shunted off to the Committee on Ethics. The MLA Board had the opportunity to take a stand in advance--to make a firm statement in support of library workers' rights to communicate freely without fear of reprimand--and they shied away from it. Perhaps the muzzle image fits after all--indicating self-censorship by those most concerned with political concession, not making waves, and avoiding "conflict." --Editors]
A hundred white daffodils: essays, the Akhmatova translations, newspaper columns, notes, interviews, and one poem. By Jane Kenyon. Graywolf Press, 1999. 226p. Known for her concise poems in which visual descriptions mirror or focus human emotion and thought, Jane Kenyon's prose is similarly succinct yet full of life. This posthumous collection is a gift to readers of English. Beginning with twenty translations of poems by Anna Akhmatova first published separately in 1985, it turns to personal essays on gardening, poetics, and spiritual autobiography. Kenyon's words are grounded in visual and visceral details: weather, neighbors, what she's seen on a walk in the New Hampshire woods, how a thing looks...or smells. Throughout scenes of daily life, though, are dark undertones of yearning, hope, and sensitivity to human frailty. Mixing earth and ether, embracing paradox, seeking redemption, Kenyon's writings, like Akhmatova's, reflect an obvious commitment to expressing the truth of personal vision. Diligence and integrity imbue her words. Kenyon displays a Zen awareness of the moment and a worship of nature, as in her paean to peonies which "loll about in gorgeousness...live for art...believe in excess." She also examines her own Christian faith and the realm of the mystical (and finds it missing in the previously unpublished poem which concludes this book, "Woman, Why Are You Weeping?") Recommended for poets (seeking inspiration or practical tips), readers of poetry, gardeners, thinkers, appreciators of quiet, and those who struggle (as Kenyon did) with depression. (2402 University Ave., Suite 203, St. Paul, MN 55114, 651-641-0077, FAX: 651-641-0036; $23.95, cloth, 1-55597-291-8; http://www.graywolfpress.org).
In the dome of the Saint Laurence Meteor: new poems. By Noel Peattie. Regent Press, 1999. 118p. Joyous No'l! In this collection of playful, experimental, crafty, wise, and fun-loving poems, apologetic doctors shape Van Gogh a new "prophetic ear," catalog girls "won't come out tonight," and synaesthetic musical keys take on new lives akin to Rimbaud's "Voyelles." Here is poetic insurrection: the insertion of punctuation! in the middle of lines, employment of multiple voices, italics, and contractions. Most satisfying to this reader, though, are the apparently simplest descriptions: candle-flames of new tulips, a nut rolling off the roof, a cat cleaning its crotch, the sound of an African elephant stamping, muffled though miles of earth: "a faint warning thump of dread/ to me/in the dark/in bed." (6020-A Adeline, Oakland, CA 94608, 510-547-7602, FAX: 510-547-6357, regent@sirius.com; $12.95, paper, 1-889059-76-5).
Honoring our ancestors: stories and pictures by fourteen artists. Edited by Harriet Rohmer. Children's Book Press, 1999. 32p. A grandmother who made shoes from leftover scraps of brightly colored fabric. A father who inspired his son by drawing pictures of animals (and teaching him color theory). A great grandmother imagined as a healer on horseback, listening to "the voice of the plants." These are some of the ancestors and spiritual kin to whom fourteen artists pay homage here with words and vividly colored portrait paintings. A follow-up to Just like me, a book of artists' self-portraits, Honoring our ancestors represents true diversity instead of tokenism. (The real people it describes have ethnic backgrounds from around the world: Chinese, Mexican, African, Jewish, Lebanese, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Trinidadian, Australian, Filipino, and Native American.) Clearly and personally, the book conveys the importance of recognizing those who came before us. It is likely to engender children's curiosity about their elders and to help them feel more rooted. It also communicates strongly a sense of how art is not simply decoration or a class in school, but alive and created. At its best, some of these pages produce goose bumps and its paintings are fun to examine carefully for detail. Speaking of detail, the Library of Congress subject cataloging for this book is weak. The two headings assigned: MINORITY ARTISTS--UNITED STATES--PSYCHOLOGY--JUVENILE LITERATURE and MINORITIES IN ART--JUVENILE LITERATURE. (246 First St., Suite 101, San Francisco, CA 94105, 415-995-2200, 415-995-2222; $15.95, cloth, 0-89239-158-8).
The zine yearbook volume III: excerpts from zines published in 1998. Edited by Jen Angel. Become the Media, 1999. 126p. Culling the best of a year's worth of self-published magazines is an ambitious project. The results here are mixed: sometimes amazing, other times dubious (e.g., an uncritical piece on pro wrestling). Even the widest-reading zine aficionados, though, will not have seen all the selections. After all, the scope of this anthology is limited to publications with a circulation of less than 5000. We'd read Mimi Nguyen's commentary in Slant on the politics of Asian women's hair, for one, and nominated the Used To interview with Minneapolis-based Joybubbles (a middle-aged man who has disavowed being an adult), but many of the publications excerpted are off our map. The book's lead-off pieces are especially good: two young brothers writing about their near-death experiences with aneurysms, interviews with punk kids' moms, and material on fat liberation by Kate Cooties. The overall emphasis is on political topics such as logging in national forests and criticism of "franchise activism," often from a punk viewpoint. Besides inevitable musician interviews, there are some surprising inclusions, from pieces on bonsai, composting with worms, and cooking with pet food, to humor about ventriloquists' dummies. Complete ordering information is included for each title, plus another fifty or so "honorable mentions" from which material was nominated. (Box 353, Mentor, OH 44061; $7, paper, 0-9664829-1-3).
Print culture in a diverse America. Edited by James P. Danky and Wayne A. Wiegand. University of Illinois Press, 1998. 291p. This collection of papers is drawn from the first conference of the Center for the History of Print Culture in Modern America, held May 1995 in Madison, Wisconsin. Winner of the 1999 Carey McWilliams Award presented by MultiCultural Review, it contains material on African American publishing (and reading), Italian and Chinese immigrant press history, and a look at "contested meanings of the Titanic disaster." Especially interesting, though, are Norma Fay Green's article about Chicago's StreetWise newspaper, Lynne Adrian's article about hobo publications of the early twentieth century, and Christine Pawley's investigation into the reading habits of public library users in a small Iowa town during 1890-95. (1325 S. Oak St., Champaign, IL 61820, 217-244-4689, FAX: 217-244-8082; $27.95, paper, 0-252-06699-5).
Bi lives: bisexual women tell their stories. Edited by Kata Orndorff. See Sharp Press, 1999. 252p. Bi lives consists of interviews with 18 bisexual women, ages 21 to 57. With differing backgrounds and experiences, their romantic relationships also vary: some of the women are monogamous, some polyamorous, and some aren't involved with anyone at all. Among the more thought-provoking discussions are ones with 42-year-old HIV-positive "Mary"; Lani Ka'ahumanu, a bisexual activist who co-edited Bi any other name: bisexual people speak out, often regarded as a precedent-setting book for the bi community; Judy Freespirit, NAAFA activist and former lesbian separatist who claims that bisexuality is "my nature rather than my identity"; and "Michelle" and "Casey", who are in a group marriage with a male. Each respondent answers questions about safer sex practices and describes what contribution they make to the world as a bisexual woman. Appendices include a thorough guide to safer sex written by Rowan Frost and a list of online and print resources for bisexual women compiled by Robyn Ochs. It's about time bisexual women got some sources for their very own. Highly recommended. (Box 1731, Tucson, AZ 85702; $14.95, paper, 1-884365-09-4, 520-628-8720, seesharp@earthlink.net). --Katia Roberto
The age of the bicycle. By Miriam Webster. Zinka Press, 1998. 276p. Miriam Webster is the pseudonym of an Austin, Texas, bicycle activist whose utopian novel takes place in a Texas university town with a river and an "enormous cold spring-fed natural swimming pool," where motor vehicles have miraculously and mysteriously stopped rolling. Soon almost everybody in town (and around the world) is biking. Malls close because they are far from where people live, and tea shops flourish because biking makes people thirsty. (Ambulances, fire engines, buses, and trucks delivering food seem to be exempt and continue to run.) Even in such a lovely world, routines go awry when an essential rain-and-river goddess steals a bicycle or two and pedals in pursuit of her true love. The plot of this book focuses on getting bikes back to their owners and convincing the goddess to return to her job. The story is definitely focused on action rather than character; there are so many people of importance that the reader only learns tidbits about each. A whimsical novel, it turns upside down widely held ideas about transportation, gender, and race. Best of all, the main character is a librarian. A book this fun to read belongs in any library's fiction stacks. (1480 Pulaski Lane, Wayne, PA 19087, 610-688-2113, FAX: 610-688-0753; $12.95, paper, 0-9647171-2-3). --Chantel C. Guidry
The Bull-Jean stories. By Sharon Bridgeforth. RedBone Press, 1998. 111p. In The Bull-Jean stories Sharon Bridgeforth uses poetry to tell of the adventures of Bull-Dog-Jean, an African American woman-loving woman living in the rural South of the 1920s. Bull-Jean, a working-class dyke, meets women, falls for them, and is often left behind by her paramours. In addition to feeling the joy and pleasure of love and intimacy, she experiences plenty of the sorrow and bitterness of loss. She never stops desiring women or climbing into their beds, however. This book includes some of the loveliest words of affection that I have ever encountered. If I had a woman to woo, I'd borrow shamelessly from them: "you my/biscuits and gravy/the amen/at the end of my prayers, you/my perfumed hallelujah/sweet chariot stop and let me ride/you/my southern comfort." Many of these words with the cadence of Southern speech appeared in performance pieces, and at times I was compelled to read them aloud for the sheer pleasure of having the syllables roll off my tongue and reverberate in my ears. This volume is one that any lusty lesbian will want to read, but it will also be appreciated by aficionados of poetry and southern language. (P.O. Box 1805, Austin, TX 78767; $12, paper, 0-9656659-1-7). --Chantel C. Guidry
The ultimate guide to anal sex for women. By Tristan Taormino. Cleis Press, 1998. 153p. Covering topics from penetration to masturbation, analingus to enemas, this book playfully, yet thoroughly, answers every question you may have had about anal sex. Taormino begins by debunking ten myths, then moves on to chapters dealing with anal anatomy and health, as well as fisting and sadomasochism. "Tools of the Trade" gives details about latex, lube, butt plugs, and other toys for butt play. Throughout the book, attention is given to emotions and feelings that often surface during anal exploration. As the title promises, the focus is toward women. While Taormino assumes the reader is female, her facts and techniques would be helpful to a person of any gender. Additionally, the drawings by cartoonist Fish are sensational. While most sex manuals depict hippy-dippy white folks having soft and boring sex, these illustrations are erotic. I savor seeing these lascivious couples of various genders, body types, and ethnicities having anal sex while using condoms, dildos, vibrators, anal beads, and dental dams. This book meets a need previously unmet; now women have accurate anal sex information addressed directly to them. It includes a resource section, shopping guide, detailed index, and footnotes so readers inclined to check sources can do so. (Box 14684, San Francisco, CA 94114, 415-575-4700, FAX: 415-575-4705; $14.95, paper, 1-57344-028-0; http://www.cleispress.com). --Chantel C. Guidry
Anal pleasure and health. By Jack Morin. Down There Press, 1998. 275p. Now in its third edition, Anal pleasure and health has long been the resource for men and women interested in increasing their comfort with anal play and maximizing their anal fitness. In his introduction, Jack Morin promises that in this new edition, "hardly a paragraph has survived unchanged...[and] all of the references have been updated," so information included is not obsolete simply because the book first appeared in the early 1980s. Its chapters guide the reader through step-by-step exploration of the anus and rectum, with the goal of heightened sensitivity and pleasure. If the few illustrations are mostly drab, anatomy diagrams are adequately large and detailed. Lessons begin with the history of anal pleasure, then move to confronting the anal taboo, delve into a not-necessarily-sexual exploration of the anus and rectum, and cover the anus in masturbation, partner sex play, and intercourse. Throughout, Morin stresses that anal exploration is a matter of self-satisfaction, not something done to please another. This book includes physical and mental exercises for the reader to perform, an extensive bibliography, a comprehensive index, and appendices summarizing the research process on which the book is based and covering anal and rectal health concerns. Even if bookstores of the future are stocked with a variety of related titles, this manual will hold a place as the first and always one of the best. (938 Howard St., #101, San Francisco, CA 94103; $18, paper, 0-940208-20-2; http://www.goodvibes.com/dtp/dtp.html). --Chantel C. Guidry
If evolution is outlawed, only outlaws will evolve (3 compact discs). By Jello Biafra. Alternative Tentacles Records/AK Press, 1998. Former San Francisco mayoral candidate (and Dead Kennedys vocalist) Jello Biafra combines a writer's precision with words with an entertainer's delivery in these cogent rants culled from live performances. Sometimes hilarious, other times cautionary, they cover music censorship, the "war on drugs," capital punishment, the Cassini space mission, privatization of prisons, and much more. Jello reports on his visit to the Colorado headquarters of Focus on the Family, describing a cartoon from one of their publications. "ALA believes children should have access to all materials, no matter how violent or obscene," read the caption, with a graphic depicting such laughably bogus book titles as Naked tennis, Is sniffing glue for you?, My pal Manson, Pipe bombs illustrated, and Cannibalism: an alternative lifestyle. This engaging set of recordings is also available as a 3-cassette package for $14.98. (P.O. Box 419092, San Francisco, CA 94141-9092; $19.98; http://www.alternativetentacles.com).
Witness: District 202: When Politics Become More Important Than Liberation (Video). Minnesota Media Project, 1999. 55 minutes. District 202 is a nonprofit Minneapolis-based center intended to provide a safe space for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth. Starting as a small storefront operation in 1992, it subsequently moved to a larger, specially remodeled location after a major fundraising campaign. This video offers evidence that this growth and institutionalization has gone hand-in-hand with paternalistic behavior by at least some of 202's adult staff. At its best it features articulate young people talking about their experiences at 202 and reading things they've written about it. Clearly there is a sense of 202 as a crucial place which has fostered a sense of family for kids on the margins, but here are also explicit complaints about feeling disempowered, used, and mistreated. (One youth was accused of taking money, another--the filmmaker--had a protest poem censored.) Sadly, workers at social service agencies often act less concerned about their constituents than they do about their own jobs and cachZ* (such as it may be) that comes with them. In the case documented here, there's an additional power discrepancy based at least partly--if not chiefly--on age. Three cheers for young people who are not only courageous enough to dissent, but to express themselves by speaking out, writing, and creating videos. While this is not a complete story--and though it might have been more effective minus a few experimental touches (dream sequences, for example), it deserves attention and thought. (262 E. 4th St., #501, St. Paul, MN 55101, 651-290-2653, FAX: 651-225-8826; $25 + $5 shipping).
Annotations: a guide to the independent critical press. Edited by Marie Jones. 2nd ed. Alternative Press Center/Independent Press Association, 1999. 512p. Greatly expanded since the first edition was published by the Alternative Press Center in 1996, this useful reference book contains reviews of over 300 alternative periodicals, along with editorial histories, subscription/ contact data, circulation figures, and indexing info. Thanks to co-publication with the Independent Press Association (IPA) there are nearly fifty percent more entries, representing titles indexed in Alternative Press Index and/or members of the IPA. While impressive, the book is still limited by these editorially-imposed constraints. Potential purchasers and users should know that it thus includes, for example, Auto Free Times, Anarchy, HUES (now ceased publication), Moxie, and EIDOS, but not Car Busters, The Match!, Bust, Fabula, or Anything That Moves. (APC, 1443 Gorsuch Ave., Baltimore, MD 21218; IPA, 2390 Mission St., Ste. 201, San Francisco, CA 94110-1836, 415-643-4401, FAX: 415-643-4402, http://www.indypress.org; $24.95, paper, 0-9653894-2-1)
Alternative publishers of books in North America. Edited by Byron Anderson. 4th ed. CRISES Press, 1999. 150p. This descriptive directory of 148 "non-conglomeratized defenders of independence, diversity and unorthodoxy in book publishing" (Herbert Schiller, from this guide's foreword) is a project of the Alternatives in Print Task Force of the American Library Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table. New to this edition: a shivery call to alarm by Ben Bagdikian regarding media monopolization and a "webography of alternative media and resources." (1716 SW Williston Rd., Gainesville, FL 32608, 352-335-2200; $20, paper, 0-9640119-8-0; http://www.LibLib.com).
The teenage liberation handbook: how to quit school and get a real life and education. By Grace Llewellyn. Revised ed. Lowry House, 1998. 435p. With compulsory education, underpaid teachers, and class sizes out of control, school in the U.S. seems mostly to teach obedience--and resistance. Intended for teenagers constrained by school (and what young person isn't?), home schooling parents (and prospective ones), and even for teachers, this freedom-loving guide contains a wealth of solid advice about everything from books to volunteer opportunities, apprenticeships, and ways to simultaneously have fun, grow, and learn. It emphasizes doing things--learning by activity--and following personal aptitudes and interests as they develop. Including practical material on using libraries, as well as profiles of young autodidacts, this inspirational book is highly recommended for young and old--and for most library collections. It's never too late to drop out! (Box 1014, Eugene, OR 97440-1014, 541-686-2315, FAX: 541-343-3158; $19, paper, 0-9629591-7-0; http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/GraceJanet/index.html).
Queer Japan. Translated and edited by Barbara Summerhawk, Cheiron McMahill, and Darren McDonald. New Victoria Publishers, 1998. 216p. This anthology presents personal essays by--and interviews with--Japanese gay men, lesbians, bisexual women, and a male-to-female transsexual. While the contributors range from young adult to "grandma," come from different regions of Japan, and represent physically disabled as well as able-bodied people, all were raised in Japan. A fine introduction to what it's like to be queer in Japan, as well as to prevailing Japanese culture, it includes a survey of Japanese lesbians and information on the country's first "homosexual discrimination suit." (P.O. Box 27, Norwich, VT 05055; $16.95, paper, 1-892281-00-7). --Chantel C. Guidry
Sunburn is a comic zine edited and published by Karl Thomsen. The 56-page issue #11, Beyond Words: A Wordless Comic Anthology, contains an interesting historical overview covering the history of woodcut novels and other wordless books, as well as a selection of text-free comics by artists from Finland, the Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the U.S. (including Carrie McNinch). These range from silly and spacy, to sly, sad, sick, and sweet. Number eleven also comes with a bonus insert: an 8-page guide to zine review sources and international comic anthologies. Distinctly above average. (P.O. Box 2061, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3C 3R4; $5; http://www.escape.ca/~mosfog).
Passionate and Dangerous ("Conversations with midwestern anti-authoritarians and anarchists") is a nicely produced 68-page zine featuring interviews with street theater puppeteers and activists involved in the Autonomous Zone infoshop in Chicago, people connected with Fifth Estate and alternative space Trumbullplex in Detroit, residents in an urban housing collective and workers at a cooperative (and underground) bakery in St. Louis, and a micropower radio broadcaster in Memphis, as well as members of the Direct Action Media Network, Food Not Bombs co-founder Keith McHenry, artist Freddie Baer, and gay Chicano punk musician Mart'n of Los Crudos. It also contains an article about the first general strike in the U.S. and an excerpt from Ron Sakolsky and Stephen Dunifer's Seizing the airwaves. Inspirational. (Box 63232, St. Louis, MO 63163, mquercus@hotmail.com; $4).
Blu is a publication of the Bruderhof movement "for peace with justice...in the spirit of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount." First published in Fall 1998, four issues have now appeared with a strong emphasis on political prisoners and international solidarity (e.g., the Native struggle in Chiapas, Mexico). Each edition also comes with a full-length CD of music, interviews, and spoken word performance. The 45-page issue #4 includes an interview with AIM leader Chief Billy Tye, an article about South African musician and political prisoner Mzwakhe Mbuli, material about Gandhi and nonviolence, bell hooks on the topic of rage, and a column of "Muslim perspectives," as well as reviews, poetry, artwork, and info about the Jericho Movement supporting U.S. political prisoners. The accompanying disc includes cuts by Mzwakhe Mbuli, Piri Thomas, Welfare Poets, "Afro-Basque" performers Ferm'n Muguruza & DUT, and such hip-hop acts as Detroit's Dope-a-Delic. (Revolution Center, Box 517, New Paltz, NY 12561, 914-658-8351, revcenter@hotmail.com; $27/6 issues; http://www.blumagazine.net).
Badaboom Gramophone seems a necessary publication for anyone interested in experimental, small-distribution, "underground" rock music. The 198-page issue #3 is a veritable book containing a massive annotated discography titled The bands not in the Trouser Press Guide guide (of whom but a couple of names are familiar: Alan Lomax and Popul Vuh), along with an eleven-track CD of industrial-sounding electronic meandering. Also: "The subliminal scares: a short history of an American obsession" (complete with bibliography on subliminal manipulation), an obsessive log of one person's TV viewing from 1978-1989, and an essay on English-language radio in Europe. Seemingly out of place: a five-page article on supposedly recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse and the "simplistic" methods of what the author calls "trauma therapists." (Box 204, Leonia, NJ 07605, BaDaBinh@aol.com; $10).
Street Light ("On poverty & homelessness in San Diego") is an excellent monthly newspaper published by the nonprofit Self-Reliance House. While somewhat local in scope, its reportage should be of interest to anyone concerned about related issues. The 8-page May 1999 edition (v.3 #5) included the second part of an interview with seven young street people living out of a van, a firsthand account by a former medical secretary and waiter titled "How to become homeless without really trying" and Street Spirit editor Terry Messman's article on street newspapers, as well as a short personal piece about seeing a man die. The June issue contains another street interview, articles on police harassment and "San Diego's travesty of housing assistance," coverage of a public discussion on poverty (held at the city's downtown library), and material on legal tactics for people arrested for sleeping outside, along with a critical review of three picture books that feature homelessness as a plot device "in an atmosphere of moral neutrality." (4138 Fairmount St., San Diego, CA 92105, 619-528-0407; $25).
Streetviews is a publication of the nonprofit Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless. The 24-page Summer 1999 edition (v.3 #2) includes useful "tips for squats and encampments for affordable housing" by Tom Boland from Homeless People's Network and several reports from the May 1999 "National Summit on Homelessness" organized by the National Coalition for the Homeless, as well as poetry and resource listings. (P.O. Box 1232, Cheyenne, WY 82003-1232, 307-634-8499, http://www.vcn.com/~wch).
Minnesota Crossroads ("Newspaper of the Streets") is a new tabloid intended to "give a voice to people experiencing homelessness and poverty." The 16-page May 1999 initial issue includes "scene reports" by homeless people, a listing of volunteer needs, event information, and a quiz about homelessness statistics in Minnesota and the Twin Cities, as well as poetry and a calendar of events. (P.O. Box 14324, St. Paul, MN 55114, 651-292-9236, OpenSkyPr@aol.com).
Yes! A Journal of Positive Alternatives is published quarterly by the Positive Futures Network, a nonprofit "fostering the evolution of a just, sustainable, and compassionate future." The 64-page Spring 1999 edition (#9) focuses on sustainable economics, and includes an article on community money, case studies in successful "economies of place" (e.g., community ownership of the Green Bay Packers football team), and reports from indigenous leaders in Colombia, Nigeria, and Thailand, as well as related ideas and resource listings. Also: book reviews, material on MAI, and an article by a pre-med student about his visit with Patch Adams at the Gesundheit Institute. (Box 10818, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110, 206-842-0216, FAX: 206-842-5208; http://www.futures.org; $24).
Connect is a quarterly publication of the International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, a human rights organization with regional offices whose secretariat is based in Japan. Each 16-page issue contains articles, regional reports, and human rights appeals, with recent editions examining events in Chiapas, discrimination against refugees in Hong Kong, and "the global sex industry." The July/September 1999 issue (v.3 #3) includes material on African American reparations, a report on Dalits ("Untouchables") in India, and a review of Silent terror: a journey into contemporary African slavery. (U.S.: 467 Grandview Terrace, Leonia, NJ 07605, 201-592-0350; $20; http://www.imadr.org).
Annals of Earth is a publication of the nonprofit Ocean Arks International and the Lindisfarne Association. The 24-page first issue of 1998 (v.16 #1) includes "Seventy-eight reasonable questions to ask about any technology" (from the ecological to the aesthetic), an essay on "technological wisdom," and articles about "lake restorers" (floating machines which address pond pollution), as well as the text of a talk by Ursula Franklin: "Peace, Technology, and the Role of Ordinary People." (233 Hatchville Rd., East Falmouth, MA 02536, 508-563-2792, FAX: 508-563-2880; $30 membership; $15 students/unemployed; http://www.oceanarks.org).
Lilith ("The independent Jewish women's magazine") is a glossy nonprofit quarterly. The 48-page Spring 1999 edition (v.24 #1) includes excerpts from Israel's feminist magazine Noga, an article about female mohels (ritual circumcisors of male infants), a report on Jewish-American women in the Spanish Civil War, and two "Passover stories of personal Exodus," as well as book and film reviews, a short story about dieting, and resource listings. Indexed in Index to Jewish Periodicals and in Jewish Abstracts. (Editorial: 250 W. 57th St., Suite 2432, New York, NY 10107, 212-757-0818, FAX: 212-757-5705; subscriptions: P.O. Box 3000, Denville, NJ 07834; $18, $24 institutional; http://www.lilithmag.com; ISSN: 0146-2334).
Alternative Family Magazine is a glossy new "parenting magazine for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender parents & their children." The 56-page Summer 1999 edition (v.2 #1) contains an article about homosexuality in custody cases, a profile of a lesbian adoptive couple, and related news briefs, as well as an editorial on "the Teletubbie experience," annotated website listings, a book review and resource directory. (Editorial: P.O. Box 7179, Van Nuys, CA 91409, 818-909-0314, FAX: 818-909-3792; subscriptions: P.O. Box 5650, River Forest, IL 60305-5650, 708-386-4770, FAX: 708-386-5662; $24/6; 1097-6590; http://www.altfammag.com).
Gay Parent is a bimonthly woman-edited publication featuring news, reviews, resource listings and interviews related to lesbian and gay parenting. The 16-page July/August 1999 issue (v.1 #5) includes a conversation with sex advice columnist and adoptive father Dan Savage, commentary on intrusive questions fielded by a pregnant lesbian, and a review of Love makes a family, as well as a directory of regional support organizations. (P.O. Box 750852, Forest Hills, NY 11375-0852, 718-793-6641; $18; http://www.gayparentmag.com).
The ULS Report ("Helping people Use Less Stuff by conserving resources and reducing waste") is a quarterly publication of Partners for Environmental Progress. The 4-page last issue of 1998 featured 42 suggestions for ways to minimize waste during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period, while the first issue of 1999 (v.6 #1) included reading recommendations, a critical examination of typical arguments used to downplay concerns about global warming, comments on "sustainability" as a buzzword, and practical tips for "living lighter." Also available via email. (Box 130116, Ann Arbor, MI, 48113, 734-668-1690, FAX: 734-930-0506; $6; http://www.cygnus-group.com).
Anarchist Age Weekly Review is an Australian publication offering bite-size news and commentary from a libertarian point of view. The 4-page issue from the first week of February (#335) reviews Augustin Bauer's With the peasants of Aragon, answers the question "Can an anarchist society exist in one corner of the globe?," and reports on Australian politics, AIDS research by scientists at the University of Alabama, and low intensity warfare in East Timor. (Box 20, Parkville, Vic 3052, Australia; http://home.vicnet.net.au/~anarchist).
Hard Hat Construction Magazine is a quarterly publication of the nonprofit Center for Practical Education. The 37-page Summer 1998 edition (v.5 #3) includes an article about negotiations between unions and the owners of Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center, news about labor racketeering in New York under the banner of civil rights, and an interview with the top "in-house" lawyer of the Laborers International Union of North America. Also: a veteran woman laborer's advice to women construction workers and seven pages of job listings. (P.O. Box 40668, San Francisco, CA 8468, 415-621-8468, FAX: 415-648-9062, hardhat@infinex.com; $25 institutional; $12 individual).
Loafer's Magazine is an engaging blend of personal writings, interviews, lists, comics, and recipes: nicely uncategorizable. It seems to exist to mull things over, to think, and to laugh with family and friends who contribute to it. The 40-page Autumn 1998 issue (#12) contains an interview with smalltown Wisconsin preacher and nudism advocate John Lund, an account of a two-year-old girl's visit with her grandparents, notes on a year's worth of reading, and an interesting account by an American who spent some time working in Malta. Also: a vegetarian recipe for risotto (by Janice Rideout who also contributes a list of "cuntry/pussific symbols"), a twist on the folktale of the three little pigs, comments on shorebirds of Lake Michigan and the Gulf Coast, and comix throughout by librarian Steve Willis. (Box 3672, Minneapolis, MN 55403, schillout@sprintmail.com).
Bug is a big expatriate zine of interviews with "groovy musicians, filmmakers, artists, cultural figures and other cool, with-it people" in Japan and Korea. Nicely produced and often fascinating, it sometimes comes off as ugly American, exoticizing practices such as the eating of pondaegi (edible silkworm chrysalides). The third issue includes conversations with Korean shaman Yi Sang-Soon, a male "host " at a Tokyo club catering to a female clientele, Amerasian woman pro wrestler Aja Kong, and an octogenarian "gisaeng" (a member of a nearly defunct class of women maintained by the Korean royalty and trained in all the traditional arts and letters), as well as a woman whose pre-recorded voice is used by all of Korea's beeper services and the designer of "paper log cabins" built for refugees in Kobe after the 1995 earthquake. Also: a history of Japanese "noise" ("a tiny little sub-genre of... music") and a review of a self-published collection of essays by Canadian artist Andrew Owen whose motto, we read, might be "think locally, subvert locally." (c/o J. Scott Burgeson, 169-2, 4F, Kwanhoondong, Jongrogu, Seoul, South Korea; http://bug.andyou.com).
PCUN Update is a publication of Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United). The 8-page May 1999 issue (#36) reports on success in the union's boycott of Gardenburger products: the company announced in late April that it would cut financial ties to NORPAC (against which a boycott continues). Also: a summary of Oregon "legislative attacks on farmworkers" (including a bill to lower the minimum wage), news of model labor standards now required of all growers who supply produce to Cascadian Farm, and commentary on the damage done by California's Proposition 187 and other "anti-immigrant political opportunism." (300 Young St., Woodburn, OR 97071, 503-982-0243, FAX: 503-982-1031; http://www.pcun.org).
Breakfast is a nicely produced new zine produced by and for "breakfast connoisseurs." The 48-page Spring 1999 initial issue includes an interview with someone attempting to visit every Denny's restaurant in the world, articles on Canadian bacon (what is it?) and "oft-neglected egg variations," and reviews of breakfast joints in the Twin Cities and Boston, as well as a recipe for puffed oven pancakes, recommendations for making hash-browned potatoes, and an account of trying to score breakfast in Paris. Forthcoming: "Ask Dr. Food," a column of "food science questions answered." (3621 153rd Lane NW, Andover, MN 55304-3020, breakfast@winternet.com; $10/4).
The Pain--When Will It End? is a minicomic of "unpleasant drawings by Tim Kreider." With a cover that warns "Hey, it ain't the fuckin' Muppet Show, pal," issue #4 features a cornucopia of unchecked id, cartoons depicting suicide, "Jesus killing bad people," Hitler in a dozen disguises (and on a podium with Mickey Mouse), "the Pop-Tart Wars," talking toilets, and "some dispiriting last words." Bleak, crude, and sometimes desperately funny, this zine is a high-testosterone cousin of Diane DiMassa's Hothead Paisan. (Box 422, Charlestown, MD 21914; $2; http://users.jaguNET.com/~disrael/pain.htm).
Fuzzy Heads Are Better is a nifty pocket-sized (but many-paged) zine produced by Patti Kim in Toronto. Issue #6 contains interviews with comics artists Claire Schagerl (Spunk) and Archer Frewitt (Sof'boy Comics), as well as Giant Robot co-editors Martin Wong and Eric Nakamura, while #7 includes conversations with recording artists L/A/L, The Secret Stars, and "mixing queen" Pamela Valfer ("sole force behind Kitty Craft"). Also: personal reading and listening lists, lots of ads for other zines (e.g., Paint Me A Revolution, "a compilation zine about gender and feminism"), and a modicum of personal commentary. (Box 68568, 360A Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1X1 Canada; $1.50; http://www.interlog.com/~fhabzine).
Network News (MSRRT Newsletter, Oct 92) was replaced with The East Timor Estafeta beginning with the March 1996 issue. (East Timor Action Network, P.O. Box 1182, White Plains, NY 10602, 914-428-7299, FAX: 914-428-7383; http://www.etan.org).
Library Advocate (MSRRT Newsletter, Feb 95 and Apr 94) and Libraries for the Future have new contact data: 121 W. 27th St., Ste. 1102, New York, NY 10001, 212-352-2330; http://www.lff.org
PBI/USA Report (MSRRT Newsletter, Dec 93) and Peace Brigades International have new contact data: 2642 College Ave., Berkeley, CA 94704, 510-540-0749, http://www.igc.apc.org/pbi
Veterans for Peace Journal (MSRRT Newsletter, Aug 91) has new contact data: 100 Maryland St. NE, Suite 106, Washington, DC 20002, 202-488-7225, FAX: 202-488-7224, http://www.nonviolence.org/vfp
Zine World (MSRRT Newsletter, Jan/Feb 97 and Mar/Apr 98) has been renamed A Reader's Guide to the Underground Press with issue #11 (Summer 1999) and--gasp--launched a website: http://www.undergroundpress.org
Recent titles from Arbeiter Ring Publishing include Ward Churchill's Pacifism as pathology and Gary Genosko's Contest: essays on sports, culture, and politics. (2-91 Albert St., Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3B 1G5, 204-942-7058, arbeiter@tao.ca).
Left Bank Books, distributor specializing in "anti-authoritarian, anarchist, independent left-wing & small press titles," has a new address: 1004 Turner Way East, Seattle, WA 98112, 206-322-2868; http://www.leftbankbooks.com
Copper Canyon Press is a premier publisher of poetry, by such authors as Pablo Neruda, Olga Broumas, and Carolyn Kizer. Recent titles include Hayden Carruth's Beside the shadblow tree: a memoir of James Laughlin. (P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368, 360-385-4925, FAX: 360-385-4985; http://www.ccpress.org).
Chicory Blue Press specializes in chapbooks and anthologies of poetry by older women, such as A wider giving: women writing after a long silence. Other titles include Heart of the flower: poems for the sensuous gardener. (795 East St. N., Goshen, CT 06756, 860-491-2271, FAX: 860-491-8619).
Ten Speed Press new and recent titles include Mollie Katzen's Honest pretzels (a vegetarian cookbook for kids), Paul Aratow's 100 years of erotica: a photographic portfolio of mainstream American culture from 1845 to 1945, Jim Dawson's Who cut the cheese? A cultural history of the fart, and Man eating bugs: the art and science of eating insects. (Box 7123, Berkeley, CA 94707, 1-800-841-BOOK; http://www.tenspeed.com).
New from Hill Street Press: Literary Nashville (the latest anthology in a series which has covered New Orleans, Savannah, and southerners in New York City), Hot wax & dusty tracks (a guide to music landmarks in the South), and Writing home, a collection of writings by southerners about their birthplaces and "spiritual homes." (191 East Broad St., Suite 209, Athens, GA 30601-2848, 706-613-7200, FAX: 706-613-7204, http://www.hillstreetpress.com).
Voices of color. Edited and with an introduction by Yolanda Alaniz & Nellie Wong. Red Letter Press, 1999. 159p. "Articles...originally published between 1982-97 in the...Freedom Socialist newspaper." (409 Maynard Ave., #201, Seattle, WA 98104, 206-682-0990; $12.95, paper, 0-932323-05-7).
Words of the uprooted: Jewish immigrants in early twentieth-century America. By Robert A. Rockaway. Cornell University Press, 1998. 230p. A fascinating collection of source material about the Industrial Removal Office, formed by Jewish-Americans in 1901 to disperse immigrants from New York City. Its focus is letters, both from IRO agents and Jewish-Americans newly settled in such midwestern cities, as Minneapolis, Des Moines, and Dubuque. (Sage House, 512 E. State St., Ithaca, NY 14850; $16.95, paper, 0-8014-8550-9).
It doesn't have to be this way: a barrio story/No tiene que ser as': una historia del barrio. Story by Luis J. Rodriguez. Illustrations by Daniel Galvez. Children's Book Press, 1999. 31p. (246 First St., Suite 101, San Francisco, CA 94105, 415-995-2200, 415-995-2222; $15.95, cloth, 0-89239-161-8).
Radical walking tours of New York City. By Bruce Kayton. Seven Stories Press, 1999. 206p. (140 Watts St., New York, NY 10013, 212-226-8760, FAX: 212-226-1411; $12.95, paper, 1-888363-66-5; http://www.sevenstories.com).
Transforming teacher unions: fighting for better school and social justice. Edited by Bob Peterson and Michael Charney. Rethinking Schools, 1999. 142p. (1001 E. Keefe Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53211, 414-964-9646, FAX: 414-964-7220; $12.95, paper, 0-942961-24-2; http://www.rethinkingschools.org).