Originally Posted in October, 2006
Our return to Madison ‘Zine Fest was a very successful trip. Scott Schumacher and Autumnbridge Media had plenty to offer with our four titles (including my two) and other ‘zines published by the Minnesota AIDS Project’s Pride Alive program. We received a lot of great feedback on everything we brought to Madison, including the Pride Alive ‘zines. I’m certain that Michael Lee at Pride Alive would be happy to read that every copy of Outsight and Shameless was gone that day and he has requests for more to be sent to two organizations back in Madison.
Christopher Wilde of the Queer Zine Archives Project led a roundtable on the history and purpose of Queer ‘Zines. Scott and I contributed along with a good cross-section of the community. It was great to see Chris, Milo from QZAP, Mara Williams from KDVS in Davis, Calif., Billy from Loop Distro in Chicago, Joe from Microcosm Publishing in Portland, Ore. and the other zinesters from last year.
The selection of ‘zines were absolutely incredible and range from various content and quality levels. One particular ‘zine that I was blown away by was a gothic-style comic zine from Brian Defferding of Appleton, Wis. called School: A Ghost Story. This ‘zine is perhaps one of the highest quality publications I've seen at the Fest. Check out the link for more!
As for our scheduled reading during the Reading Marathon, Scott was going to read, but it seemed pretty disorganized and no one showed for his slot. When it came to my time, Mara and I conspired to get others to join us. Billy grabbed a bullhorn and we got a crowd going. After Mara’s ‘zine, I went into "Culpepper, Virginia" and "Gay.com." Billy said the latter was his favorite since he’s from Chicago and knows the whole things about people in the Burbs stating they’re from Chicago. It's good to know that my work is still loved by others and it’s still fresh today.
It was great to see familiar and new faces back in Madison. My friend Jason Palmer was kind enough to host during my weekend back in town. Scott and I ran into some other folks at the Fest as well. If we missed you while we were in town, maybe next time?
A huge “thank you” goes out to the organizers of this year’s ‘Zine Fest for putting on a great event for all of us. My thanks to everyone I saw at the Fest and wish everyone well until we meet somewhere down the line.
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