how did you get involved in zines/d.i.y. publishing?
I actually started in high school making little photocopied books of poetry. I wanted to be taken seriously, of course. Then I moved to Boston and my roommate showed me his zine. We started staying up late, working on our own zines, working together and generally not sleeping.

why do you continue making paper zines in the age of the internet? how do you think the internet has affected the world of paper zines?
I love paper. I love having something tangible to hold and look at and reread. I appreciate the internet for its acessability to information, for its ease. But that is its shortcoming too. I love well-crafted, well-loved publications. I read my copies of "dream whip" over and over. I tend to skim emails and anything on the computer. I need to have it in my hand.

what is your writing/editing/layout process like?
Over the past few years, I have started writng everything on a computer, printing it out to edit, rewriting it, etc until I like it. Then printing it out, cutting, pasting...For the colaboration zine (#7) John and I actually sat at the kitchen table with two copies of our text, one taped together in order and one to cut and paste into a master copy. We were so tired from other things, I am surprised it came out mostly in order.

how do you think the zine community or the process of making zines has changed since you've been involved?
I feel like there was a while when i got a lot of trades, a lot of passsionate but sloppy photocopied zines, a lot of sticker covered letters. I still have some of those zines and now we are more penpals than zine traders and sometimes we even meet. I feel like the zines I read now are a lot more deliberate, have a lot more care and editing. More screenprinted covers and longer stories, like zinesters are upping the bar.

are you "out" to people in your life as a zinester? how do you explain it to people who don't understand?
I give away a lot of zines still, referring to them as "a book of little stories". Once in awhile, someone says "oh, you mean a zine". I forget that people still know what that is. Maybe I hang out with too many squares.

what do you like best about the zine world? what do you like least?
Best? definitely the friends I've made through the mail. I still love letters. The worst thing? The belief from some people that their experience is the only one. I still like personal zines but my favorites dig a little deeper.

do zines play a political role in your life? are you involved in other d.i.y. projects? do they play a political role?
Hmmm...lately I've been writing a lot about what it is like for me in New Orleans since the hurricane. John ("I Hate This Part of Texas") and I both try to bring other resources to our zines. It was important for us when we worked together to have a reading list, as a way to connect with other stories about this city. That probably had been the most important way for me because i want people who are not here to know more about what is happening but I am not always able or willing to answer every question posed. Sometimes I am just tired of tired of telling the same story. Printing the last two issues of my zine has been a good starting place for conversation for me with outside folks.

what advice might you have for someone who is new to the zine community?
Read everything you can. There are so many different zines and forms and styles. Check out zine libraries. Lots of dedicated folks are archiving this. (Like the Aboveground zine library in New Orleans). Don't feel limited by what is usually done or what has been done.

what role do you think distros can/should play in the zine community?
For me, distros make it a million times easier for me to send zines outside my circle of friends. I don't advertise anywhere, travel enough to sell zines in different cities...Really, Microcosm is amazing for its scope and reach. I am glad to distribute through the few places I do.

are there changes you'd like to see in the zine community or your own zine creation?
I'm getting more and more into crafting books which is making it harder to print 500 copies... I'd like to do a few small beautiful and maybe less heavy zines, personally. But I like zines that attack what is comfortable and easy, like the "Mine" anthologies.

All right. That's what I got. You can write to me if you like. I'll write back. The photo here is not as good as the portrait drawn by 9 year old alli but my friend alec took this picture after i spent all day building a chicken coop. Thank you Ciara.

p.o. box 791639
new orleans, la
70179

(hope's zine, "keep loving keep fighting," is available through the distro.)