The Orlando Zine Fest

I went to the Orlando Zine Fest last weekend. It was a very educational trip. My experience with zines has been fan zines, which are not really the same thing as zine zines. Fan zines are punk, yes, but non-fan zines (insofar as the venn diagram is not a circle, which it can be) are very outwardly punk and addressing that in the context of the real world. I saw some excellent educational and social-support material.

I don't get out enough, and I know that. To get to see the things people create, that people do, that's an important part of knowing what society can be like. It's scary to see the things that people, and societies, are willing to do to themselves and to those they consider outsiders, so to see people creating and sharing is always a heartening thing.

I came away with a SPAM zine from @saturniids_art, material for the CFLMA (a mutual aid group! Very much about taking action yourself), a call for submissions to SCENES OF A BETTER WORLD, and a really adorable orange sticker from Sticker Print Go. I also got to see some delightful bookbinding on-the-spot by Chill Artistry.