Alex: the lived experience of gender

Hello!

www.sleepingcreatures.com/alex.html

I started making zines when I was in high school and living outside Wilkes-Barre, PA.  The first zine I created was called Soul Fish; I made my own t-shirts with the words inside the image of a fish, not even realizing the pretty famous band Phish had done the same thing.  Whoops! My zine had a corny title, but I loved working on it.  It was a 100% positive experience for me to discover this "alternative" culture whose attitudes encouraged creativity, self-expression, love of music, being clean (my particular group of friends were straight-edged), telling stories, questioning societal stigmas, and thoughtfulness.  High school can be a rough time, but zine culture provided a boon of positivity.  What a find!

Later, my zines included: Symmetrical Birthmark, La La Love You, Squeaky Clean, and another one whose title eludes me.  I took some time off, but I'm once again making zines.  To make a zine now, in consideration of the wide variety of publishing options: blogs, lit journals, chapbooks, Blurb and Lulu books, and etc, is, I think, to make an intentional choice about mode of expression, and what format best suits one's needs.  I'm not suggesting zine making was a last ditch option in the 90's, but I'm curious about the lo-fi decision to publish on paper, and I'm especially curious about how electronic networking interacts with paper zine-making.  Case in point: HU Queer Press!

Anyhoo, back to Alex.  I created Alex as a way to explore gender ID, and what it's like to walk around in a gendered body.  That zines are unprofessional seems integral to their ability to transmit a message--it's a place for exploration, a place to be daring, a place to work things out.  I chose a zine over a blog because I prefer the codex format, and because I can utilize the margins.  I also appreciate the ability to slow things down.  You want a copy?  I have to MAIL it to you. Let's not be hasty.

Here is where it lives online: www.sleepingcreatures.com/alex.html