Squirrel Bait's endeavor is to bolster my spirit and yours alike by taking up a fraction of the slack ( just what my oft-addled brain needs) left in the margins of the free press. I do this because I must do something, for my own sanity, as I bear witness in the wake of the "Zine Revolution".

So many times have I just had my life made worthwhile by the sweat & blood I found within the pages of some delightful zine. Publishing is a truly awesome thing which must persist in itís free-est forms in order to maintain diversity in the media. Alternative, dare I say subversive,to the pablum dished cold daily in the mainstream chronicles.

I'm reminded of Johann Gutenberg*, the creator of the first movable-type printing press, who is reputed to have said to  paraphrase...

"Whomever Controls the Press Owns History".

We who have access to the media should make use of that liberty while we still can. While we can still make history. My own nutty momma used to tell me, "Karrin,where thereís a will thereís a way; persist & prevail." Right on, mom!

Sanity, or lack thereof, was easily the most accessible topic I could tackle, owing in part to the ease with which I could enthuse people into talking about their own lives. Then there's the fact that some of the craziest motherfuckers I have ever met are writers ( just try to edit 'em!). Every MeatBot on the planet has some crazy story to vent, from tales of road trips gone awry to bona fide mental health issues, with family, friends, themselves,

OR
YOU!

Props must be given at this point to the many fine folks who've inspired me to this point. Since I've relocated to SF, I've been encouraged to Troy onward in the fulfillment of this most Nobelest of causes.
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Closer to home & to my roots are those publisher's who've seen fit to print me at some point or another. Al fLIPSIDE, Angry Thoreauean's Rev. Randall Tinear, Raphael F(ucken) J(erk) Alvarado & S.A. Griffin of Sic: Vice Verse, all them sprung artists & poets east of La Brea (-esp.the boys), Coagula's Mat *God* Gleason and both Darby Romeo & (formerly) co-editor Kerin Morataya of (soon to be defunct) Ben Is Dead who, sometimes in spite of themselves, provided me with some unforgettable lessons in scrupulous zine operation. Thank you for publishing.  Thanks to Jim Evans @ TAZ for giving me my first freelance writing gig that actually *PAID* - the "Crashsite" project, & also to Greg Shaw @ BOMP!

To AL, because he has truly been a role model. I give him the ultimate props, especially for his perseverance despite the fact that I know not a year passes that he doesn't want to call it quits. And he might've, were it not for the fact that his columnists, who's very lives are validated by each consecutive issue - if by nothing else, will not let him off the hook without a lot of crying & moaning he doesn't want to deal with. But I also credit Al for never involving his personal politics into the zine. ;~) How many publishers, esp. indie publishers, can you say that about ?

To Kerin, because she always, always, encouraged me to keep writing, & she was such a good friend when she had it together. (You still owe me twenty bucks, girlfriend !)

And, of course, to Darby, because if it werenít for her suggesting that Ben Is Dead would do a "Crazy" theme issue (she said to me, "We're going to do a "crazy" issue & I immediately thought of you!") & getting my juices flowing I wouldn't have some of the pieces you are gonna read here (hopefully!). (You still owe me sixty bucks, lady !)

For reasons I do not know, probably wouldn't understand, & ultimately don't care about, she changed her mind & decided to make "Celebrity" the theme of her final issue. To that I have one thing to say;

"YAAWNNNN!!!!"

We don't have enough publications regarding celebrity? Seems like 98% of all periodicals at the local Border's are about "celebrity". . .

I can only hope she does something interesting with it. Otherwise: Good Riddance. Please, get on with your life. Oh, and thanks for Killzinester's. Anybody remotely interested in doing a zine owes it to themselves to checkout this valuable resource (if it's still up) at  www.killzinesters.com - it's killer. Everyone else it has truly been my pleasure to know &, from time to time, work with.

Whatever.
_

@

_*It is sad to note that Gutenberg himself lost his precious invention to his financier who eagerly foreclosed on the inventor's debt by repossessing the machine. It is said that all Gutenberg wanted to do was print the Bible for mass consumption (not ignoble a motivation for a time like the 1400's, when such information was the exclusive dominion of the self-same Church which was taking nascient "heretics" to task all over Europe).
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Though not in his lifetime, JG's "Good Book" did eventually see the light of day. And, ultimately, it became the instrument by which many a Renaissance (wo-)man learned to READ. But, it was his investor who realized the potential mass-produced printing had as a powerful tool for manipulating the masses, and Print Advertising was born.
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On the cusp of the Reformation, the politics of public opinion was not to be lost on power-hungry Protestant leaders who capitalized on the press not only to document their religious doctrines, but also todeseminate their political agenda to the people.  I read somewhere that much of what's been accepted as fact about the atrocities of the Spanish Inquisition comes from  Protestant propaganda of the era. Of course, if we are to believe what was written, few would have lived to tell about it. . .