From 2-5 tomorrow (Tuesday), the zine mobile will be parked on Oak Street behind the downtown Oakland library with open library/reading room hours — AND!! Inside in the Kids’ Section a station will bet up for zine-making. Supplies (paper, pens, typewriters, etc.) will be provided but feel free to bring your own as well!
Though this activity is especially for the wee(er) ones, ALL are invited and welcome : )
Yesterday’s event at Issues Magazine Shop (the cutest magazine shop in the world!) was amazing!!! Thanks so much to Kiyomi, Noella, and Joe at Issues for hosting it; to DJ Irwin for great music; to Ashley and Carolynn at Fat Bottom Bakery for the incredible cupcakes and cookies; and to everyone for coming out to celebrate zines and print culture!! Zines were donated to the collection (thank you, everyone!!), zines were checked out, and new zines were made at the mini zine making station : ) Midway thru the day, a rainbow appeared across the sky behind Issues. Aw.
And… if you missed it, it’s not too late to make a mini zine — they’re gonna leave up the zine-making station with typewriter, supplies, and instructions… so get thee to ISSUES and make a zine in time for the East Bay Zine Fest next Sunday!!
felt good to see these
and!! a dear pal of the zine mobile donated the just-published Land for the People Radical Coloring Book, a beautiful collaboration between the youth at Youth in POWER and the Bay Area Childcare Collective…
Nearly 40 pages of hummingbirds fighting against bulldozers, kids climbing fences, clowns educating about environmental racism, animals running community farms–it’s inspiring and incredible! Check it out the next time the zine mobile passes thru your town, or click here to order your own copy ; )
i suppose this is what we get for attempting to flee the harsh midwestern winters for california : )
a little bit later, everything was backed up for an hour…
meanwhile, hanging out in the backseat was the zine mobile’s second non-human animal passenger, zeus, en route from madison to oakland…
who will be the third animal traveler? bonus points if your name starts with a Z…
lake ogallala, nebraska : )
we’d heard of snow and icestorms in cheyenne… after an hour on the road, we had to stop at a rest stop to clear the ice from the windshield wiper blades… the view from the front of the zine mobile : )
thru nebraska….
the zine mobile’s next stop was omaha — new home to post punk kitchen and vegan cookbook extraordinaire isa chandra moskowitz; her special peer john, creator of the laziest vegans in the world blog; a hilarious trio of cats (more on them in a minute); and the headquarters for isa’s latest endeavor, the teal cat project — which upcycles donated ceramic kitties into stylish teal kitties and gives the proceeds to kitty rescue organizations. like this…
not only did isa make us grilled pizzas for dinner and orange pecan waffles for breakfast (thank you isa and i swear to everyone it’s not usually so decadent, this life on the road…), she also donated some awesome vegan cookzines — Gas Tank: A collection of vegan recipes; The (Incompleat) Cheap Vegan; Cookin’ with My Crawdaddy (a Cajun vegan cookzine); Barefoot and in the Kitchen; The Art of Making Vegan Love; Vegan de Guadalupe (Mexican food authentically vegan); Soy Fucker; and Zen and the Art of Brownie Baking.
as much as i’d wanted to set up and do some spontaneous open library hours in omaha, we were already behind schedule so needed to get on the road. we talked of a future visit, as well as a cook/zine/tour, and i bid farewell to these fuzzies…
… then back to the road!
madison zinefest was awesome and a lot of work!! i feel shy and awkward on either side of a table, but there would’ve been too much distance between the van and zinefest space to set up outside. i brought the healing/wellness, do-it-yourself/how to, comics/comix, political, librarian-made, and bike sections inside, and set up next to rainbow bookstore cooperative : ) everyone was supportive and excited and doing all kinds of amazing work — lots of zine-makers donated copies of their zines to the library, 14 people checked out zines to be mailed back to the zine mobile in a couple weeks in California, and people chipped in for gas money to help the zine mobile actually get to the west coast — coooool!!!
later that night it was post-zinefest karaoke at mother fool’s coffeehouse — despite some technical difficulties it was super fun — lotsa people sang and we feasted on vegan pumpkin cupcakes, blueberry kombucha, teas, and coffee. outside the fly away zine mobile was open for library hours and lounging — and as a special last-minute surprise, the junk drawer (zine) mobile, curated by eric who does Junk Drawer Zine out of chicago, was also parked and open for visitors!
so much thanks to: j (unich) horn for co-organizing the karaoke festivities; allie for the purrrfect emceeing; john and stephanie of mother fools for giving karaoke night a try; claire (snaggle tooth arts, madison) for the beautiful poster; josh(uA) and brian for last minute help; eric for creative joining; kevin for help schlepping the fly away library into/out of the zinefest space; ani, lily, andrew, monica, sarah, nina, ian, and all former and current mother fools staff for being the best; celia for the special halloween delivery; jenna for the zine and ongoing enthusiasm and support; madison zinefest organizers jessica, matt, and jennifer; megan/Wisconsin Book Festival; Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative for hosting an open mic zine reading; Project Lodge for hosting a zines/music night; Paradise Lounge for hosting post-zinefest boozing; and to the amazing Madison InfoShop for hosting an open house in celebration of their awesome zine collection ; )
apologies for neglecting (once again) to take photos of the festivities. here are some chicken friends i said farewell to before getting on the road —
and a tiny manx kitty i had the pleasure of spending time with in madison : )
meow!
♥ Fly Away Zine Mobile 
