Last night I attended an informal meeting-cum-caucus of independent publishers and other media-makers from the local Champaign-Urbana area. Organized by Micro-Film’s Jason Pankoke, the participants included A.J. Michel of the self-described “popular culture per-zine” Low Hug, Bryan and Dan Tincher of the art zine The Ides of March, Ted Young who publishes the literary zine twenty-two and Brad Bugos who is responsible for Silly Little Trouser Monkeys. I was both as a rep of this here mediageek site and, with Ellen Knuston, as a rep from the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center where we are going to sell local zines and have a zine library.
At the meeting these indy-publishers talked about their ‘zines, and why and how they do it, with an eye towards joining forces to share tips and war stories. For me it’s exiciting to see the energy and synergy bubbling up around independent media in Champaign-Urbana, which I hope is just the beginning.
For a little more on the topic, check out a short article Jason wrote for the C-U Octopus.
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