Zine Review: The East Village Inky

You’re lucky that you live in the U-C area. The
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center has
one of the Midwest’s largest zine libraries.What exactly
is a zine? According to another one of the IMC’s fabulous
zines, Stolen Sharpie Revolution, “A zine is an
independently created publication containing anything
you want it to… Zines can be put together by
one person or a group of people
and they are usually photocopied
but can also be printed offset, letter
press or mimeographed.”
One of the IMC’s newest zine
acquisitions is called The East
Village Inky (numbers 17-19).
The East Village Inky is the story
of a 38-year-old accordion-owning,
insomniac Hoosier citydude
with a 5-year-old daughter
and a 2-year-old son who live in
a 340 square foot apartment in Brooklyn. Parents, kid
lovers, and zine fanatics will absolutely love reading
the goings-on of Ayun and her kids. Follow the three of
them as they trudge through the February 15th New
York City anti-war march of 100,000 people, and as
they make their own DIY costumes out of the recycled
goods that can’t be recycled (because Mayor
Bloomberg decided to trash the city’s recycling program).
East Village Inky’s are complete with illustrations
and photos of the threesome, Soul Food (reviews of
everything from children’s music to coloring books to
zines), and updates on this not-so-ordinary family.
Each issue is guaranteed to make you laugh at the
sheer insanity of being a radical parent of two adorable
kids. Of course, if you’re a parent, then you know what
it’s like, and it might make you cry!
My favorite issue is number 19. Ayun begins this
issue by relaying her fears of the horrors of a possible
doomsday scenario (Code Red by Bush standards)…
no electricity means no cappuccino machine! So what
is a mother supposed to do? You find out later that
Ayun brings her children out to the February 15, 2003
anti-war demo in New York, only to have cops slam
down a metal barricade in front of them in the middle
of the march. This unfortunate occurrence separates
Inky (Ayun’s daughter) from her best friend. One can
only imagine the waterworks that
came out of such a child! To make
matters worse, Inky begins to
panic because her feet are so cold
that she claims not to be able to
feel her feet. If only the closest
subway station wasn’t surrounded
by riot cops!
On another outing, Ayun and the
kids take a short trip to the Astor
Place K-Mart where mothers and
their children are protesting their
new Easter baskets that are filled with more than just
Easter eggs. Apparently, K-Mart thought it would be
oh-so-patriotic to include “a Military Action Figure
who was blister packed with enough ammo to take on
at least one axis of evil.” Read on to find out what
Ayun’s ideas for alternative boyish Easter basket stuffings
include.
Are you hooked yet? Check out The East Village Inky
(catalogued under “Personal Zines”)and other zines at
the IMC library. The IMC Library is home to a large
collection of zines, books, periodicals, and videos. For
information on how you can check out such materials,
remember to become a member of the IMC and ask a
staff person for assistance.