Episode 409: Zines

Welcome back to the show. We are so glad you are here, joining us for the book group discussion!

Each week we talk  about books and about different genres, and provide useful information for library people doing Reader’s Advisory work. There are so many books out there that it’s tough to be an expert on all of them. So we pick a new genre each week to chat about and hopefully provide you with some insight into what may be an unfamiliar genre!

This week we look at not only a genre, but a whole aspect of the publishing industry.

Who is joining us this week?  Our returning Guest Host is Violet Fox, who works with OCLC on their Dewey Team, helping to improve cataloging standards for libraries. Listen to episode 501 of our sister podcast, Linking Our Libraries, to hear Violet talk about Cataloging: Basics and Ethics !

We usually stop there with information about our Guest Host, but Violet has a lot of interesting qualifications to chat with us about zines. She has been a part of a group of librarians from across the U.S. and Canada to organize the Zine Pavilion. It’s on the exhibit hall floor during the ALA Annual conference. She has helped to organize the 2018 Zine Librarians unConference, a gathering for library workers and zinesters to explore the intersection of zines and libraries/archives. And she helped organize the Chicago Zine Fest from 2014-2017, and is a co-organizer of the Twin Cities Zine Fest.

She also helps to maintain ZineLibraries.info, a clearinghouse of information about how zines can be used within libraries and archives.

Beverages:

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages, and we each came prepared with our own drink to enjoy while we talk about our books. You are an important part of this book group, so if you don’t have a beverage go ahead and get one now. Each of our beverages will have a recipe or a link on our episode page, so you can try them yourself!

This week we are enjoying colorful beverages, to honor the drawings common in zines. While zines are not always colorful, and not always cheerful, this week’s beverages provide both color and fun as they all change colors to show new aspects of themselves – in the spirit of a zine.  These beverages are all found on the Flavorbender website, along with a lot of information about the science of how these beverages work, and to get the information on how to create your color-changing alcohol. Virgin recipes are also given.

Kiwi Lime and Mint Magic Julep  

I mixed kiwifruit and lime juice to create the base of this amazing drink. Then it’s muddled with some mint (and a dash of mint liqueur). Next, fill the glasses with crushed ice (or half-filled with crushed magic ice if you’re not using color changing alcohol). Add extra lime juice, followed by color changing vodka (or regular vodka) and club soda to make this Magic Julep.

Top with more crushed magic ice. The drink transitions from green at the bottom to pink, purple and blue at the top! 

Ingredients
  • ¾ oz kiwifruit juice not pulp
  • 1 slice of kiwifruit
  • ¼ of lime
  • 10 mint leaves
  • ¼ oz lime juice
  • ½ oz agave or simple syrup
  • ½ oz creme de menthe
  • 1 ½ oz butterfly pea infused vodka
  • Crushed ice and crushed magic ice
  1. Add the kiwifruit juice, mint leaves, kiwi fruit, lime quarter, and sugar syrup in a julep cup. Muddle until the mint leaves are crushed.
  2. Add creme de menthe and crushed ice to fill the glass. Pour the lime juice over the ice, followed by the butterfly pea infused vodka.
  3. Top with crushed color changing magic ice and serve. Let your guests stir the drink to see the color change.

Glow in the dark Galaxy Magic Mule  

I made one big change to the classic Moscow mule here. Instead of regular crushed ice, I use crushed tonic water ice. Frozen tonic water glows strongly under black light, giving you this amazing glow in the dark galaxy magic mule.

Fill the serving glass (glass Moscow mule mug or a highball glass) with crushed tonic water ice (half fill with color changing magic ice if you’re not using color changing vodka). Pour freshly squeezed lime juice and ginger syrup. Pour the color changing vodka on top, followed by tonic water.

I love this drink! It looks like an ethereal color changing mood ring! And under black light, it’ll glow brightly as you can see in the video!

Tonic water ice
  • 1 cup of tonic water
Ginger Syrup
  • 4 inch x 2 inch at least large piece of ginger (skin already peeled)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup agave
  • 3 oz lime juice
  • 1.5 oz ginger syrup
  • Crushed tonic water ice
  • Extra tonic water or club soda
  • 3 oz butterfly pea infused vodka
Instructions
  1. Fill a Moscow mule glass tumbler or highball glass with the crushed tonic water.
  2. Pour the ginger syrup and lime juice over the ice.
  3. Next, pour the butterfly pea infused vodka, And top with tonic water or club soda.
  4. This drink will glow under black light – the effect is more impressive when there are pieces of tonic ice in the drink.
Lemon-Lime Magic Margarita
(which looks like a Sunset Magic Margarita)

Of course I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a gorgeous margarita. I LOVE margaritas!

While you can add kiwifruit juice, orange juice or regular lemon/lime juice to make a wonderful margarita, I went with the simple combo of lemon and lime instead.

A gorgeous sunset in a glass awaits you after adding the color changing tequila and stirring the drink! 🙂

Ingredients 
  • ½ cup lemon juice
  • ½ cup water
  • Wedge of lime and salt for the rim
  • 3 oz of lemon and lime juice
  • 1 oz sugar syrup
  • 1.5 oz triple sec
  • 1.5 oz butterfly pea infused tequila
  • Crushed lemon ice and magic ice
Instructions 
  1. Mix the lemon juice and water together. Pour into an ice tray and freeze overnight. Crush the ice in a blender and store in the freezer until needed.
  1. Rub the lime around the edge of the glass and salt the rim.
  2. Half fill the glass with crushed lemon ice.
  3. Pour the lemon lime juice, simple syrup and triple sec. Stir to mix.
  4. Using the back of a spoon, layer the butterfly pea infused tequila. Top with color changing magic ice. Serve with a slice of lemon and lime.

Genre Discussion:

We have our beverages, we have our Guest Host, and all of us are ready to chat. So, what’s a zine? You may have heard this term, but may not be entirely sure what it means. A zine “… is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via photocopier. Zines are the product of either a single person or of a very small group, and are popularly photocopied into physical prints for circulation.” “zines cover broad topics including fanfiction, politics, poetry, art & design, ephemera, personal journals, social theory, intersectional feminism, single-topic obsession, or sexual content far outside the mainstream enough to be prohibitive of inclusion in more traditional media.”

Wikipedia talks about zines in libraries: “A number of major public and academic libraries carry zines and other small press publications, often with a specific focus (e.g. women’s studies) or those that are relevant to a local region.

“Libraries with notable zine collections include Barnard College Library, the University of Iowa Special Collections and the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University, which has one of the largest collections of zines on the east coast and is housed in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library.[46][47][48] 

“The Indie Photobook Library, an independent archive in the Washington, DC area, is a large collection of photobooks and photo zines dating from 2008 to 2016 which the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University acquired in 2016.[49][50] 

“In California, the Long Beach Public Library began to be the first public library in the state to start circulating zines for three weeks at a time in 2015.

“In 2017 the Los Angeles Public Library started to circulate zines publicly to its patrons as well. Both projects have been credited to librarian Ziba Zehdar who has been an advocate in promoting circulating zines publicly at libraries in California.[51][52][53]”

Suggested Reading Resources:

Books and Zines We Admired

Stolen Sharpie Revolution: a DIY Resource For Zines and Zine Culture, by Alex Wrekk

Girls Guide to Taking Over the World: Writings From The Girl Zine Revolution, by Karen Green, Tristan Taormin, Ann Magnuson

Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture, by Stephen Duncombe

Burn Collector: Collected Stories from One Through Nine, by Al Burian

The Riot Grrrl Collection, by Lisa Darms, Johanna Fateman, Kathleen Hanna

Off the Map, by Hib Chickena,  Kika Kat

Conclusion

Thanks so much for joining us this week for the book group! It’s always better when you are here with us.

Be sure you are subscribed to this podcast to get every episode, genre, and book suggestion dropped right into your favorite app. And you can check out our shownotes for each episode to get all the info we discussed, along with the links to more resources. Every episode we have created is on our website: cmle.org.

Join us next week for more genre discussions!