Dear Fly Away Zine Mobile community and friends,
Half a year ago, as a step towards honoring a call to seek more stillness in my life (for my health and spirit), I sent an email soliciting ideas for the next phase of the zine mobile. The email sparked supportive and inspiring conversations, and I intended to follow up with more focus and specificity, but the overwhelm I’ve felt in some aspects of my life has left me moving slowly. Please accept my humble apology for this delay, which has left the zine mobile out of circulation for so long. And most of all, please accept the gratitude I have for all of you who have been a part (and might be a part going forward) of the zine mobile’s story.
Please share the call below if/as you are moved (friends, organizations, lists, etc.), but please do not email ideas or suggestions that require me to follow up, as I don’t have the energy to do that. (In other words, I ask that only those interested in taking on the zine mobile and/or collection themselves respond, rather than those with ideas for places to which I might want to reach out.)
While this is a call for new curator(s)/caretaker(s) to take on the next life of a project that I started, I am open to the zine mobile coming to an end if that is the future that awaits it; I just want to give folks the chance to breathe their own vision into it and be at its helm if they so desire.
Love,
debbie (zine mobile caretaker)
CALL FOR NEW ZINE MOBILE CARETAKER(S)/CURATOR(S)
(Free to a good home! The zine mobile and its library – together or separate!)
After two years and 30,000 miles driving (in spurts) across North America, I’m looking to donate the Fly Away Zine Mobile to a new caretaking/curating individual or team. Read here to find out more about the zine mobile if you aren’t familiar with it and read below for more details on the possibility of handing off the zine mobile torch.
The priority is to pass the zine mobile along (whether it continues to go by that name or a name chosen by its new caretaker/s) to a person or people who will maintain its focus as a project somehow related to reading and writing (though ideas for a non-literary project will be considered as well, so if you have such a vision, please feel encouraged to respond).
There is flexibility around the zine mobile and zines staying together or separating. If you are envisioning a project involving the zine mobile that doesn’t focus on zines or the zine library, the zines can be donated elsewhere. Likewise, if you are envisioning a project that involves the zine library, the zine mobile can be donated elsewhere. There is also flexibility about utilizing the van as a mobile space or as a parked/unmoving space (reading room, museum, etc.)—particularly since it’s getting older and requires a lot of gas to keep running.
Up until this point, my priorities as a caretaker/curator have been to feature zines about healing/wellness, do-it-yourself/resource zines, and zines about prisons and/or by prisoners. You don’t need to feel beholden to curating and caretaking the zine mobile in the same manner and style that I did. I am receptive to (and excited about) other visions and ideas. I encourage you to use your imaginations in terms of moving forward – the shape of this moving forward is open and fluid.
My one request if the zine mobile does continue is that the future person or team maintains the commitment of keeping access to it free of charge — in the interest of getting information and materials into the hands of those that need it. (For example, allowing an opportunity for participants accessing the zine mobile to donate to the project is along the lines of the “keep it free” vision, while requiring money from people to participate is not.)
VEHICLE DETAILS (a quick internet search of ‘Fly Away Zine Mobile’ will yield many photos)
1997 automatic chevy astro conversion midsize van (the size is midway between a mini van and a full-size van)
Please realize, since the vehicle is 16 years old, it has some quirks and weirdness one would expect for an aging vehicle; the bottom has rust from spending its first 13 years in Minnesota. It’s also not great on gas (16-17 miles to the gallon). That said, it’s received regular upkeep/maintenance and up until this point has been incredibly reliable, not presenting any major problems. Relatively speaking, it’s also low mileage (130,000). The inside is extremely cozy with lots of small wooden cabinets, track and overhead lighting, and a back couch that folds down for sleeping. When the zine mobile was circulating, the two middle seats were removed to make space for a small reading room. Those seats have been put back, so you can keep them in or remove them. With all chairs in place, it seats seven people with seatbelts.
COSTS INVOLVED:
I’m passing the zine mobile along for free, not selling it, though there will be a minimal cost for transferring the title/registration (I believe this will be about $150)
Main cost: insurance = about $400/year, depending on your driving record
Registration renewal/license tabs is about $50 a year
(Insurance and vehicle registration won’t apply if the zine mobile will be used in a parked/stationary way).
The zine mobile is currently located in Madison, Wisconsin. Arrangements could possibly made to get the vehicle somewhere else.
THE ZINE LIBRARY:
Is comprised of approximately 1,800 zines, broken down into these categories.
Please note the use of unconventional categorizing; most are categorized by topic, but some are categorized by size or format (e.g., little zines and newsprint). The zines have not been cataloged, and there is currently a backlog of uncategorized zines.
If you are interested, please email zinemobile@gmail.com by February 1, 2014, with answers to the following questions:
1. Are you interested in the van and zines together or separate?
2. What is your vision for how you’d like to caretake/utilize/curate or otherwise use the zine mobile and/or the zine library? Please include whether you see the zine mobile circulating locally/nationally or parked/retired as a reading room/museum, etc., and whether you envision using the zine mobile in a shared manner (among several projects/curators) or if you anticipate using it for a singular project.
* You don’t need to spell out every detail or make it lengthy; in fact, as a general guideline, aim for somewhere around 350 words or less).
After receiving replies, I’ll form a small committee with some folks who’ve been involved with the zine mobile who will discuss and decide its fate. I aim for the committee to reach this decision by mid-February.
I look forward to hearing from you!
In collaboration,
debbie (zine mobile caretaker)
If you’d like to send zines, supplies or letters, address them to:
♥ Fly Away Zine Mobile 