Specialty Zines

Before blogs, there were zines. There were tons of zines.
There is something about feeling the paper and seeing the ink smear on your fingers.

One of the greatest things about zines is the low-cost nature.
It opened the flood gates to experimentation and new ideas.

Here are some note-worthy ones:

via Feed your head

Applicant
Jesse Reklaw
$5
“One night while rooting through the recycling bin for magazines, I found all the confidential Ph.D. applicant files for the biology department at an Ivy League university from the years 1965-1975. Stapled to many of the yellowed documents were photographs of the prospective students. They were treasures! I tore through the folders and rescued every portrait I could find. I had to have them. Only later did I realize I had to publish them”. So begins the preface to Jesse Reklaw’s Applicant. A priceless time-bomb of pop culture, Reklaw serves a compelling and secret look into an impossibly lost era. Applicant collects photos from the 1970s paired with accompanying comments from employers and professors. The results are absurdist, confusing, often hilarious and disturbing. Applicant provides unique insight into outdated 1970s social attitudes and ephemera (under one girl's photo: "Weakness: she is a female, and an attractive, modest one, so is bound to marry"). Much of its appeal however is found in what itfails to say: the blank and despondent stares of its subjects, the outdated fashions and hairstyles and its understated text. Equal parts Ann Taintor and Found magazine, Applicant is one of those books you read and then want to show

Go Fuck yourself: A Mini Zine Devoted to DIY Sex Toys and Gender Bending Devices $3
Go Fuck Yourself is a pro sex, trans friendly, DIY sex toy making guide. It contains info. on reusing scraps like inner tubes and creating everything from restraints to strap-ons to whips, dildos, tit clamps, and even detailed instructions on how to make a tit/clit pump from an auto brake bleed kit! Lots of instructions and info on safety, too. Excellent resource.

Beginners Guide to Responsible Sexuality (for Men)
$1.50

A brief look at a number of important questions facing heterosexual men who don't want to go along with sexist ideas about how to have sexual relationships. Why should women be the only ones thinking about this?

A Gentrification Reader

This zine is a compilation of articles from other publications on gentrification that has occurred and is occurring in various cities, including New York, New Orleans, Portland, Chicago, and London.

Zine Librarian Zine by Greig Means

A review from Library Juice
"Contents include reports from seven zine librarians in different parts of
the country, telling interesting stories and explaining what their
particular collections and organizations are about. The formatting of the
original submissions, whether word processed, typed with a typewriter,
written with a pen, or drawn, are retained in the zine, which helps
communicate the variety among these folks.
Within many of these reports are
a number of brief zine reviews or lists of favorites (complete with contact
information). At the end of the zine there is a directory of zine
libraries, which includes 53 entries in the U.S. and internationally;
impressive and useful."