Shoe string budget July 5, 1985
Dear Mr. Irsay:
Thank you for the attention you’ve paid to our strange
little zine. It brought notable response from people throughout the
metropolitan area we would not have garnered otherwise, beyond the hub of artists,
writers, poets and crazy people we have attracted previously.
We are always seeking to spread our message (even though we
might not always know what that message is).
Since you gave us air time on your show, I suppose it would
be fitting to explain just what we are and what we do.
We are a free newspaper, simply because we don’t have the
heart to charge anyone for our unprofessional and very ragged form in which we
present out material.
It is an outgrowth of frustration with main stream media and
typical literal journals. Not only is
mainstream untrustworthy, but it also tends to disparage and often destroy
those outlets that struggle to tell the truth.
Distribution is a problem since these are controlled by the
mafia. You can’t just go into a book or magazine store and get them to put your
zine out on their counter as we did in the old days of the underground press in
the late 1960s. Mobsters control the trucks and other delivery vehicles, and
what magazines get placed. They’ll let you see naked people screwing, but not
an alternative view of politics.
I am also a high school dropout, mostly self-taught, who
learned enough to get my GED and good scores on college entrance exams but have
huge gaps in my education – much of which I’m still scrambling to fix. I have
to learn the conventions other people my age learned early on through the
traditional educational system. The
advantage is that I missed all of the social propaganda schools teach; the bad
part is that I missed the stuff I need to further my goals as a writer.
Michael, my co-editor, on the other hand, is much better
schooled in such things. Between us, we attempt to provide a conduit for the
local arts community, maintaining communication between people who have not
seen each other since college and who might not have access to the arts if not
for us. Many of these people we have met through local arts events, poetry
readings and such, about two to three hundred people Michael and I have met
over the years.
The zine has grown in unexpected ways from when we first
started, delving a bit into unpopular politics – making enemies no doubt among liberals
as well as conservatives. Michael and I often disagree, Michael being much more
sensitive to some issues than I am. I’m more of a bulldog, determined to get
the magazine out.
We exist on a shoestring budget. While we could likely get
sponsors to make the magazine slicker, it would also mean our having to curtail
content. We have faced censorship a
number of times, on and off campus – and we’ve seen other publications on
campus shut down because they were too closely tied to the college, while we
managed to continue because we are not.
Our last issue on religion offended as many people as it pleased,
losing some of my closest friends who professed to be Christians. Unfortunately,
we sometimes stomp on people’s sensitivities in our pursuit of art. Sometimes,
I can be as ruthless as Michael sometimes is.
For the most part, I pay most of the costs, working two
sometimes three jobs.
Sometimes we struggle with content as we use it as a vehicle
to improve our craft. Someday, we hope to be more consistent.
Our next major event comes next week when Michael and I plan
to invade a Ginsburg event scheduled to be held on campus, partly to get back
in touch with the radical professor who is hosting the event, partly to promote
our zine.
Again, thanks for the mention on your program
Sincerely yours,
Al Sullivan.
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