Rhode Island College Digital Commons @ RIC AS220 Digital Archive 6-1-2003 Slug and Lettuce: A Zine Supporting the Do-It- Yourself Ethics of the Punk Community Christine Larson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/as220_root Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Larson, Christine, "Slug and Lettuce: A Zine Supporting the Do-It-Yourself Ethics of the Punk Community" (2003). AS220 Digital Archive. 1625. https://digitalcommons.ric.edu/as220_root/1625 This is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ RIC. It has been accepted for inclusion in AS220 Digital Archive by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ RIC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. , ' ' ' . ' SIC , 'ZINE & BOOK REVIEWS • CLASSIFIEDS • COLUMNS • PHOTOCiRAPHY • PUNK ART out ot the crty Being an eco punk and all, tuned into nature and the seasons, and to thinking back on old SOME 'IHOUQITS FROM THE EDITOR them, or intrmidated because we are atraid they won't know who we sens~ive to thrngs around me, I got to talkrng wrth my mom about the kind of people revie ws I did, an d tee ling This all go, no sleep routine rs starting to take rt's toll. You can only push for so long before are, or care, or because we enjoythe~rwriting or music, but face it, the yourse~ we are. She's super into birds and dreams at flying I'm territied ot heights and cringe like they just were not you start to crash But that rsn't stopping me yet This issue has been put together in a frenzy of beauty at punk rock is that we are all supposed to be standing on the at the thought at being oul in the open high spaces. Trees on the other hand speak to enough. As I get to lis­ faster and stricter deadlines that usual. The goal behi nd that being to get this issue done, and back same ground. We're all equal and have the ability to talk to each other, me in a deep way While she starts talking about flyrng, I talk about keeping my teet ten to a tavoriJe band from pnnt, bel ore heading to the west coast for a 2 week jaunt between Portland and San Francisco share ideas and dreams and we shouldn't be put off bY these invisible firmly planted on the earth, digging my roots lirmly into the ground. I kinda take rt tor more, see them, know Pulling together an iss ue, is always a grueling task. Dragging col umns, reviews , and ads out at boundaries. Not that I don't do the same thing sometimes. But I try granted Ihat she !eels the same kind of ecstasy I do about trees, but I realize d that she them, weave them in lo · people. Being a thorn in the procrastinators side. But when you set yourse~ up against a deadline to break those boundaries down because I know I should fight them doesn't Sure she likes trees in the same way that I like birds. But when I come upon my !He, I realize that wrth no flexibilrty, rt can make tor qurte a stressful state . My thanks to all those who got their stuff and not let them gain any power over any of us. I'll admrt that eartier a rad old tree- I have Ia touch rt and hug tt and worshrp rt; where as she loses it when I hi n g s in earty and on time in order to make this all possrble. Yikes. As the 5 am late night layo uts come this spring, when I was in the midst of some toreign panic attack ot she sees a hawk or eagle soanng high al the tree tops. I was so amazed by this h a v e together, the last lines oftext get adjusted, an d the type gets shrunk yet one more time , and everything social disorder,! convinced myselt that I wouldn 't be able to go to th is discovery, to realize how much this has to do with the kind at person that I am-rt was changed frts in just so, I can breathe a sigh of almost reliet. Soon enough I'll be on a plane to the punk mecca, zine fest because it would break me in two to see all these people who quite an epiphany And what I'm thinking on now is that while I'm very much a tree and the rmpor­ getting ready for the zine symposium . I'm supposed to help out wrth a workshop on offset printing had their whole lives ahead at them, who were doing amazing things, person th at st ands finn and puts down roots, gorng at things tor the long hall wrth little lance and rel­ zines , and I'm aM nervous. Qurte honestly, I'm also a brt nervous about meeting all these otherzine who had so much energy and creativrty and passion, who were in the wavering, except tor a dance in the wind or storm ... I'm craving the wings at the bird evance has tumed folks- people who's words, handwnting, addresses and art I know- but who's laces I've never seen. throws ot the moment. And now I ask myselt, what was I thinking? nght now and I think that is why I keep seeing bird images everywhere . Alter all, these around and be­ One guy wrote to me and said that rt would probably be awkward and rt make me realize how true Don 't I have my whole lne still ahead at me? Don 't I embrace all that come so much more that is, cause we're all loads of confidence behind our typewriters; camera and same energy, passion, creativrty and dedication to my zine and to punk ·,Qs tend to always been there, rt's just when you stop, look around you. and observe th an it was on a tew lis­ computers. but face to zine nerds are shy and awkward. So by chance, nyou're rock? Of course. And pemaps I even have something to offer others, • for what they are that you start to take not1ce at what was right under you all reading this at the zine shy, say HI, to me and to everyone else. We're all in the just in the same way I hope that other people will continue to inspire tens when the reviews were same boat. And this specific event. I think we all too often build things me and challenge me to do new things. Everything is a circle. It's I've had plenty of tire in my litel ately with loads at punk rock !lowing and plenty written. Sometimes I tee! bad, '' • '''A'"'• lr.-'..,1!\ \ and or we1rd about that, as 11 up and make peoole rather, get intimidated because we know something ot interconnected and we ultimately have to work together, push each ot show going. Just around the time the last issue was completed this amazing frenzy other and hold one another up occasionally cl shows happened- every day, every week , punk rock crty Richmond r~ of a the se reviews end up less that It's tunny sometimes how th1ngs can be so interwoven, eSpt,;Cially sudden was rad aga1n (for me) and l felt hke I was red1scovenng what ongtnally whatthey should be. It's in our punk scene. You meet some people and they instantly play an chacmed me Gettrng out of my house, tin ding it in myselt to talk to people agarn, and the bands that important part in your !He You meet others and they are lleeting I JUSt berng on the go with the spnng energy tell so good Hell alive after being I'm stilllisten­ moments, sometimes intense and then gone, sometimes not that so long As I said betore, I feel like I found myselt and I teellike me again. rng to every impactrng. What is interesting is how those relationships can change be rather obsessive. When I get into somelhing, I gel tanatically into rt . day long after the over time Someone you met but don't even remember later on down bands and mus1c. When something strikes a chord, I get hooked and reviews are done that hold the road becomes very signHicant. Someone who once was very relentless I want to play my tavorite song, tavorite band, or every little part I like, over the !lame for the long haul close and important to you drills away and you don't even know what and over tor mysell and anyone who will listen. Lately I've had a lot ot great stuff to So a lew last mrnute happened Of course that aspect at rt allrs sometimes hard and sad obsess over At the toretront of that would be Aphasia, from Pittsburgh. 1fell in love things !hat I want to mentron But I like the way sometimes people come to play important roles later wrth that band lirst time I sawolleard them , and wrth each trme it's grown. I've been thai drdn 't make the revrews section on that you mrght not have anticipated. Some people have amazing up to Pittsburgh several limes now tor amazing shows that they've played and it got - There is a new AmebiX CD out (Arson Records)- it's a live record1ng from 1986 and memories tor these things-some people remember everythrng.