Holy Xeroxed pamphlet Batman! It’s Paul’s favorite people-watching moment…the dude from the Denver Zine Library in a homemade Robin suit.

We just got back from a whole day at the PDX Zine Symposium. Let me tell ya, some of the best people watching in the country is right there my friends. I saw some of the best tattoo work I’ve ever seen, which is saying something considering I come from Seattle, which this very weekend is hosting this. One young woman had a intricate and well-executed arm tatt of a giant squid sucking down a pirate ship. Another had a delicate, picturesque scene of a tree with a single swing hung in its branches. There were any number of pierced punks, dreadlocked girls and boys, a whole contingent of vintage-gone-camp babes who quite frankly, could knock your socks off with their yowza factor. But I think my favorite eye-candy was one particularly hilarious dude in an orange plaid jacket, pink crocodile clogs, and a – wait for it – tight red polyester short-shorts. He was wearing a huge button that said “my hipster button is bigger than your hipster button.” He made me laugh everytime he bustled by.

When I walked into the room I said to Paul, “I don’t think I should be here. None of my kids are named ‘Loki’ and I’m not even vegan!” Thankfully the person sharing my table was Kate, a lovely 40 something mom who’s been publishing Miranda for nearly a decade. We chatted the day away while I knit this sweater and she worked on her son’s abandoned scarf project. Most of the zines were of the “comics-of-severed heads-that-I-copied-after-hours-on-the-Xerox-at-my-temp-job” variety, but there were a few well written and/or well designed marvels that caught my eye. I picked up several Rad Dad editions for my punk-rock new-dad bro, and collection of Isabelle Eberhardt’s writings from Eberhardt Press. (Both of these zine makers either letterpress or screen print their covers – very nice.) There’s a very big DIY vibe in the zine making world, which I can totally appreciate, but I still I thought this zine’s suggestions took the DIY ethic a bit too far. Yikes!

I was able to steal a little time with Artnoose to hear about her upcoming move to Pennsylvania. (I wonder if it’s in the town this young blood of a hipster mayor is trying to turn into an artists’ haven? I’ll have to do a follow-up to ask her….) She also gave me the low down on letterpress, keeping a zine going for a decade, and mixing up the writing/artist life. Watch for an interview here in the upcoming weeks.

After selling a few zines, a bracelet or two, and my entire collection of shrinky dink robins, I was ready to leave the shower-free patcholi-rich air of Portland State student union. On our way out Paul took one last look at the workshop offerings for the weekend and said, “You’ve got to love a community who knows they need to hold work shops on how to handle people with undiagnosed mental illness…”

Ah the many wondered world of zines!

This is where I’ll be this weekend, playing in the field of zines. I stumbled upon this collection of misfit self-publishers while surfing just days ago, and my loyal hubby immediately agreed to stop for two days on our way to the Oregon coast. I’ll be shilling my ode-to-summer zine, Tweet, and Jen’s get-inspiried Beginnings, along with a handful of other handmades. I’m also excited to to be interviewing zine mama Artnoose of KerBloom. (”Ain’t no press like letterpress!”) Anyone else in town who wants to have lunch at the symposium?