"let it go...the damage in your heart"

I was going to blog about something, but then I forgot.

I was also going to blog about this:
I was on vacation visiting my family. I read a zine that I really liked. It's called Hip Hop Don't Stop. If you have never read an issue of said zine, you are missing out. Tyler's zine is awesome, and it just keeps getting better with each issue (he's up to issue #7). Tyler has graduated college and is adjusting to "the real world." His thoughts and observations about and inspired by such things are intriguing. Tyler is a guy I can relate to, and when I read his words I feel like I'm having a conversation with my brother or a good friend. Oh...but don't steal Tyler's yooper scooper, or else he'll be PISSED.

If I ever remember what I was going to blog about, I'll let you know.

"one more loss in a losing life
doesn't hurt so bad, anymore"
-weezer

"american flags are haunting the fortunate sons"

Spring is in full swing. New zines are in the works. The garden is nearly planted. The farm is sure to be a success. No one is twitterpated...because love is a myth.

Two new zines have been added to the Carrot Row Mail Order catalog:
Dimanche #5 - Sabrina offers a plethora of recipes and food tips, recommends restaurants, survives a tooth extraction, sings praises to cookies and cupcakes, and gives updates about her young son. $2.
Dumpsterland #11 - Not a new zine, but a definite classic. Dave writes about dumpster diving, the evils of the trash compactor, composting both your crap and your food and yard waste, a DIY pressure cooker, and more. All from a hobo-punk perspective. $1.

dan murphy
po box 3154
moscow id 83843
usa

Have you seen the movie, Rocket Science? It's incredible. Hal Hefner is one of my new heroes. We are all so messed up. Hallelujah.

"to find someone you love, you've gotta be someone you love"

Another semester down! Only two more to go, and I am out of this Idaho-hole.
Do you know what this means? It means that summer is here...prematurely. I get to start working 40 hours a week, but more importantly I get to start gardening/farming and I don't have to worry about classes and schoolwork for three plus months. I can read whatever I want, which means that I hope to get caught up on my zine reading and zine writing. I will keep you posted on such things. It shouldn't take me too long to finish the tenth issue of The Juniper, and then after that, the twentieth issue of Elephant Mess. Just in time for me to turn thirty. 10. 20. 30. The planets must be aligned. Get in touch soon. I miss you. This warm weather has me feeling less empty. More hopeful, in other words. More posts are fast approaching. Stay tuned.

"i spend all my energy staying upright."
-nada surf

"i heard from someone you're still pretty"

Hello earthlings: Happy Earth Day!
Did you save the planet, yet? Or is it too late? Calamity is sure to ensue, but hopefully we can soften the blow somehow.

Here is something for you to check out. If I had the National Geographic Channel, I would watch this. Instead, I am going to have to watch it on DVD. I hope that you will watch it, too.

Also, I have finally added some links. Check those out, too. I will add more later when I'm a little less busy.

"Where in hell can you go?
Far from the things that you know,
Far from the sprawl of concrete that keeps crawling its way
About a thousand miles a day."
-Natalie Merchant

Human Footprint.

"my heart's an autoclave"

Remember a while back when I was posting here every time I read a zine? That was weird.

Over a year ago, I received a zine in the mail called Phases of the Moon #2: I'm ready to grow young again. It's written by Ms. Skeleton Key. It has sat around in my apartment all this time, and now I finally got around to reading it. It was about time.

Ms. Skeleton Key's zine is awesome. Even though her story is much different from mine, I found so many things in her words that I could relate to. Much of what she wrote was just what I needed to hear right now. How serendipitous. Here is a random quote:

"This is a year of yesses (sic), and I speak in absolutes."

Is winter over, yet?

"I am this great, unstable mass of blood and foam
and no one in her right mind would make my home her home."
-The Mountain Goats

"i know it's hard when we sell plasma to pay for dinner"

Some things:

-Baseball is back.
-Winter is still here.
-My hands are chronically dry.
-I am not the enabler, but I am the procrastinator.
-I am subscribed to the votenader.org emails. Look at the one I got today; It's right on.

"You have to wonder about self-proclaimed 'progressives.'

Take Matthew Rothschild, for example.

He's a self-proclaimed progressive.

He's the editor of the so-called Progressive Magazine.

He has written an editorial in the current issue (April 2008) of the magazine titled 'Don't Worry About Ralph.'

In it, Rothschild claims that 'to the extent that there is anything like a progressive movement going on right now, it is foursquare behind Obama.'

Rothschild must be plugged in.

The question is - to what?

Nader/Gonzalez have put together a campaign to push for public health insurance (single-payer), to cut the bloated, wasteful military budget, to reverse U.S. policy in the Middle East, to take nuclear power off the table and to put solar energy on the table, to repeal the anti-union Taft-Hartley law, and to impeach Bush/Cheney.

Obama stands with Clinton and McCain against Nader/Gonzalez on all of these.

Rothschild says he barely knows 'anyone who has voted for Nader in the past who will vote for him this time.'

That's because Rothschild is living in his little viral liberal bubble - where the anti-Nader virus has taken hold and won't let go.

Visit our website and you will meet voters from all across America - from outside the little viral liberal bubble in which Rothschild is ensconced - who stand foursquare behind Nader/Gonzalez.

They are voting with their donations of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Nader/Gonazlez democracy agenda.

They are voting with their feet - collecting signatures all across the country to get Nader/Gonzalez on the ballot.

And they are voting with their writing to respond to viral liberals like Rothschild.

It doesn't matter that you call yourself a progressive, Matt, or that you call your magazine The Progressive.

You are not progressive.

And your magazine is not progressive.

You are supporting the corporate Democrats.

Therefore, you are a corporate Democrat.

Stop deceiving the public.

Onward

The Nader Team"

Ralph Nader tells it like it is even if it means that some people (and potentially lots of people) aren't going to like him for it. Even if you don't agree with him, you have to admit that he's got balls. Politicians that are running for office typically just tell people what they want to hear. Ralph Nader goes against the grain, and he doesn't back down. I admire him for that.

That's it for now...
More later.

"i wonder if i could tie the ocean to your knees"

Last week was my spring break. Yeah, I know, what kind of sense does that make? It's not even officially spring, yet. Plus, it mostly just rained, snowed and hailed the whole time. Oh well, who cares? All I really did was work. But I did manage to read a few zines:

-Will You Marry Me...!? vol. 2, issue 1
-Blah Blah Blah vol. 3, issue 4
-Cuddle Puddles & Hot Pants #1
-Encycro-pedia 2006
-Sassyfrass Circus #1/Hobo's Lullaby Radio Opry!
-Blah Blah Blah vol. 3, issue 5
-Paste-eater #2
-Echo Echo! #5

Here is a quote from Echo Echo! #5: "I wish I could still smile without caring what it cost. I wish I could peel myself visible again."

Some other things:
-If you haven't watched The Story of Stuff yet, you really should. It's only 20 minutes long.
-I made quinoa sprouts.
-I planted some seeds indoors.
-I dug up the rest of the carrots in my garden.
-I watched a three hour long documentary about Noam Chomsky. He's the man. (I also watched a movie about The Queers. Up the punx.)
-I'm going to be an uncle for the 12th time.
-I sliced my thumb wide open in plant propagation lab, so I couldn't play my guitar at all during spring break. Lame.
-I wish I had the dreamy voice of Rocky Votolato and the mad chops of Thurston Moore.
-Apparently, I'm an introvert. But was that ever really a mystery?

"I'm living in lack of the blood sent from your heartbeat that arrived in your neck every time I salivated over you." -Alkaline Trio

"note to self: no one cares"

Greetings Earthlings.

If you have 20 spare minutes, you should spend it watching The Story of Stuff. If you don't have 20 spare minutes, you should still watch The Story of Stuff.

I've been thinking a lot about waste lately. Garbage waste, wasted money, wasted resources, wasted time, wasted lives. Even though I have long considered myself fairly eco-friendly and eco-conscious, I still recognize that I waste much more than my fair share and I am still part of an ugly consumerism machine that keeps barreling forward at breakneck speed, intent on bringing civilization to an early grave. Yet, we are all manning this machine. We all play a small part in it. So, by default we are all committing cultural suicide. The process is just slow. But now that so many of our natural resources have either reached or passed the peak of their availability, a mass collapse is practically inevitable.

I am a doomsayer, I know. Let's hope that I'm wrong. Let's hope that the scientists and all of their models are wrong. But mostly, let's pledge to make a dramatic shift in our lifestyles. Let's be done with waste. And let's live. Authentically, naturally and sustainably.


Please watch The Story of Stuff.

"Are the punks still singing the same songs?"

You may already know this, but I run a little zine distro called Carrot Row. It's been a while since I last posted a complete list of the zines that I carry. I made a little catalog last summer, but even that is outdated by now. I have several new zines - the very latest of which are Resist #46, Greasespot #3.5 & #4, The Art and Science of Billboard Improvement, and Seattle DIY. Also, I have lowered the price on the CROQ zines. There are (hopefully) more additions on the way. If you have a zine that you'd like me to carry, send it my way. I'm mostly looking for zines that deal with topics such as gardening, bike riding, homesteading, DIY living, crafting, cooking, camping, dumpster diving, foraging, food issues, and living the slow life.

Carrot Row Mail Order

The Art & Science of Billboard Improvement – “A guide to the alteration of outdoor advertising.” Selecting, planning and carrying out billboard alterations without getting caught. $1.

Agriculture Biotechnology zine – “Greens, genes, and in betweens.” Lara’s zine about biotechnology/genetic engineering. Everything you ever wanted to know about GMO’s, and why you should be concerned about them. Essential reading for anyone who eats food. Free, but maybe send a stamp or two.

Axis of Evil Banquet – “An intersection of recipes and politics.” Write-ups and recipes aiming to humanize the countries that the Bush Administration considers “The Axis of Evil.” Venezuela is also included. Worth $2.

CROQ #4 – Zine for the craft revolution. This issue: camp cooking, zine making, dandelion eating, parenting, unschooling, dyeing, Victorian era crafting, intellectual property protecting, etc, etc. For the reduced price of $3.

CROQ #5 – Bulb forcing, compost tea brewing, convenience food vegan-izing, DIY moving, zine library creating, craft burnout avoiding, homeschooling, exercising, time capsule-ing, 70’s crafting, self-publishing, retail shop opening, etc, etc. Also for the reduced price of $3.

EnvironMENTAL Imp Pack! #1 – Maaike’s zine about the why’s and how’s of reducing, re-using and recycling. Ten ways to go green, plus lots of other tips and resources offered. Includes a sticker and pin for a mere $2.

EnvironMENTAL Imp Pack! #2 – Maaike’s zine about food politics. Buying local and/or organic food. Buying fair trade products. Tips for shopping at farmer’s markets. Plus info on “unshopping” and sustainability. Lots of facts and resources. Educate yourself for $1.

Farmer’s Daughter #2 – A farm zine written by a farm girl. This issue focuses mainly on cows: facts, breeds (including color illustrations), milking, milk products, manure. There is also an article on urban sprawl, plus some recipes and book and zine reviews. All for just $1.

Greasespot #3.5 – Stream of consciousness mini-zine. Writing about zine making, tabling at events, and playing punk rock hangman. Also, some artwork with explanations. On green paper for 50 cents or a stamp.

Greasespot #4 – Punk rock stories from Texan punk rockers. Stories about being a pizza delivery punk, a trip to California, lost glasses, and a bomb threat at a high school. Lots more stories, too. Plus how to play a game called Botch and an awesome comic featuring the lyrics to an MTX song. $3.

Resist #46 – One of my favorite zines is back! Matte writes about riding his bike, working in his garden, seed saving, parenting, coffee, building a bike trailer, and much more. Fat zine for $3.

Seattle DIY – Your complete guide to all things punk rock in Seattle. Cheap living, transportation, local laws, book and record stores, restaurants, venues, parks, thrift stores and more. Listings are conveniently divided by neighborhood. It doesn’t matter if you don’t live in Seattle or whether or not you’ll ever visit Seattle, reading this will inspire you to create something similar in your area. $2.

Spat Back #3 - Emma’s little DIY punk zine. Make a bag out of old pants. Make your own stencils. Plus some personal writings about being a female in punk, rediscovering punk, and self-education. Only 50 cents.

Take it – It’s My Body (A Final Compilation) – “A zine about fighting fat hatred in life, in the world.” Chelsea’s zine about fat acceptance, fatphobia, size-ism, and body image. A compilation of new and old writing. It’s a fat revolution for $3.

Juniperbug Productions

(These are the zines that I make.)

Brown Rot – Political zine for armchair activists. Back after a long hiatus. New issue in the works (maybe). $1 for latest issue.

Elephant Mess – Perzine for family geeks. The cryptic words of a self-saboteur. Ten plus years running. $1 for latest issue (back issues available).

The Juniper – Biannual zine about living the slow life. Farming/gardening, bike riding, food politics, sustainable living. Stamp for latest issue (back issues available).

I also have a few patches and other things that I make. I will post pictures and a listing later. When ordering multiple items, please add a couple stamps or a dollar or two to help with shipping. Go DIY!

Dan Murphy
PO Box 3154
Moscow ID 83843
messyelephant@hotmail.com

"Are you restless like me?" - against me!

"the winter is taking my life"

Datsun in the Snow
Originally uploaded by juniperbug

We had a big snowstorm last week. The snow almost buried my little truck (as you can see). The storm was so bad that the University was even canceled for two days.
Plus, I am sick with a cold now, and that is also winter's fault.

"I played a song so sweet/it brought winter to its knees/and froze us over." -- bloom igby bloom

"you won't catch me behind the wheel of a chrysler ever again"

Today was the first day of spring semester. So, that means that winter break is over. That's too bad because I was really enjoying the break from school, and I didn't really get as much done as I had hoped. I did get a lot of zines read though. Here is a list for you:

-Keep Loving, Keep Fighting #7 / I Hate This Part of Texas #7 (split zine)
-Trabant #3
-Kissoff #12
-[list] #11
-A Million Birthdays #7
-Take It - It's My Body! (A Final Compilation)
-Seattly DIY
-EnvironMENTAL Imp Pack #2
-Blah Blah Blah vol. 2 #21 & #22
-Blah Blah Blah vol. 3 #1
-Infecticitis #6
-Marked for Life #4
-Even Artichokes Have Hearts #1
-Peas and Carrots 01

All of these zines were good and come highly recommended.
And that's all I have to say about that.

"la la la la love is dead"

Love is dead, but life is good because lately I've been eating carrots that I harvested from my garden this month. That's pretty awesome if you ask me. And there are still more carrots to harvest, so chances are, I will be eating fresh carrots in February, too. We've been getting massive amounts of snow around here, but the ground isn't totally frozen, yet. Garden hoe!

"oh, i live this life...and i love it"
-the queers

"so this is the new year, and i don't feel any different"

Hey all you punks and skins: Carrot Row Mail Order has new additions.

First, Take It - It's My Body (A Final Compilation). This zine is by Chelsea in PDX, OR and is all about fat acceptance, size-ism, and body image. $3 ppd.
Second, EnvironMENTAL Imp Pack #2. This is Maaike's zine (Moscow, ID) about organics, local food, and other food issues. $1 ppd.

There are more additions on the way, so be in touch. If you don't have a catalog, send a stamp.

Dan Murphy
PO Box 3153
Moscow ID 83843
USA
messyelephant@hotmail.com or juniperjournal@hotmail.com

May 2008 be the year of the punk rocker. Rock on.

"so this is the new year
and i have no resolutions"
-dcfc

"now my heart is as cold as ice"

A few days ago, I finished reading another zine. It's called Ghost Pine #9 (subtitled, Bees), and it was writtten by Jeff from Canada.
Here is a quote: "After all these years of listening to the rhetoric claiming some subversive nature of zines; North American samizdat and the rebellion of it all, I felt completely denuded. Here were the zines folding and there were the guns walking. Something had changed."

"strange how the arms sting when you're left holding nothing"

It took me a whole year, but I finally finished reading a book. I know, it's pretty pathetic that it takes me that long to read a book. And it was only 341 pages. Anyway, the book I read was The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America's Underground Food Movements by Sandor Ellix Katz. I highly recommend reading this book if you care at all about food politics and food issues. Even if you don't care about those things, it's a very interesting and entertaining read. You will learn all sorts of new things about food and food systems, and there are several recipes worth trying. These are the last words of the book (I think they sum things up pretty well):

"I'm afraid that in the end I have no easy-to-follow recipe to offer my readers for how we can go about taking back community control of our food and water and, more broadly, our power and dignity. There are no easy formulaic answers. But as we search for answers, and allies, we can get our hands dirty working the soil and growing some of our own food. We can get to know farmers and support local markets. We can get to know plants, learn to save seeds, and learn how to heal our bodies and our souls. These activities ground us in the earth, and out of them grow health, abundance, community, and dreams of a better future."


This book was published by Chelsea Green Publishing and can be purchased directly from them. Or maybe find it at the library or borrow it from a friend or something.

"if my body goes then to hell with my soul"

another juniper
Originally uploaded by juniperbug

Another issue of The Juniper hot off the presses. This time I have filled the pages with plenty of ranting and raving. You will be sick of it after a few paragraphs or less, but that's okay. I go on and on about living an authentic life and not being a ponce and a pandering aristocrat. I also push my politics on you and postulate a better a world. (I don't have all or any of the answers but I like to pretend that I do.) Then I tell you about my 2007 garden plot and offer some lists of seeds for seed exchange. It's short, and it won't hurt too badly.

send a stamp or trade to:
Dan Murphy
PO Box 3154
Moscow ID 83843
USA
juniperjournal@hotmail.com

ask for a carrot row mail order catalog, too.

"passed out in a datsun that's parked out in the hot sun"

maaike's zine
Originally uploaded by juniperbug

My friend, Maaike, has a new zine out, and it's pretty sweet. It's called The Sixth Minky; it's a personal zine with a mix of humor and seriousness. Plus it has an awesome color layout. You can get a copy of it for yourself by sending a dollar or trade to:
Maaike Davidson
PO Box 8891
Moscow ID 83843
USA

oh yeah, the quote: "The back of your seat can be used as a flotation device...that's nice. But what they don't tell you is that you'll be dead by the time you hit the water."

I have been reading other zines too, but I have not been updating my blog. I am somewhat tired of the computer. It sucks away far too much of my time. So does the TV. Winter is here, and I am stuck inside much more than usual. I'm hoping that I can be productive this winter rather than sitting in front of a TV or computer screen in a coma the whole time. I have lots of stuff that I could be doing. I'll keep you posted. Or not.

"things i have loved i'm allowed to keep"

School and other things had me swamped for a couple weeks. It was hard to get much extra reading in. Never fear though, between last night and today I was able to get a couple of small zines read:

Little Lady 02 by nichole anne
I don't have any quotes for you, but I would like to mention that there are two recipes found in this zine that I plan on trying out: vegan banana bread and pancake blueberry sauce.

Underwater Cigarettes #3 by elizabeth
"I don't think she loved me but she wanted to, and you can't help but love an overlap of madness to some extent..."
and
"Eating meat just seems like an invasion of my natural allotment of flesh."

By the way, I recently discovered that there is a blog that posts reviews of zines and some of the "reviews" that I have been writing lately here can be found there. (I say "reviews" because I don't really consider these things reviews, because mostly I am just posting about the zines I have read, but whatever.) I don't mind that my posts are being borrowed; actually I think it's pretty cool. I just figured that I would point out to whomever it is that is reposting my posts on their blog that you have been discovered and you're welcome.

"you have broken me all the way down...you will be the last, you'll see"

In issue #15 of Elephant Mess, I introduced to my unsuspecting readers my "Elephant Mess World Tour & World Takeover" plan. If you are not familiar with it, I guess you will have to read it for yourself sometime because I don't feel like going into too much detail about it right now (contact me, if necessary). At that time (more than 2 years ago), I had only 10 states left in my quest to send an issue of Elephant Mess to all 50 states in the union. Now, I am down to only 5 states. I would like to use this space to list the 5 states that have not yet had the pleasure of receiving an issue of the disappointment of a zine and waste of precious paper, Elephant Mess, so that if anyone out there knows someone in one of these 5 states that would be willing to receive a copy of my boring read, I could then send a copy to them, thus fulfulling the first part of my mission to take over the world (with my zine). The five states are:

-Wyoming
-North Dakota
-Oklahoma
-Mississippi
-South Dakota

If you have friends, family or (preferably) know zinesters that live in any of these five states, please let me know what their address(es) is (are) so that I can get a copy of Elephant Mess off to them pronto. You are all stars in my book for helping me out with this. Now, stop reading this tripe and go do something useful with your life (that does not have anything to do with my zine).

okay.

"awful people, they surround you"

I should be doing schoolwork, but instead I read another zine: Entropic Tendencies #3 (So Many Beautiful Parts) by Laura J.

"Because even the largest untruths are believable when you're 17 and dancing in Dallas rain."

Now, I better get my stuff done...maybe.