Sunday, March 11, 2012

Zine Review: Cheer The Eff Up #2

Cheer The Eff Up #2
lots of pages / half legal / around $3
by Jonas
PO Box 633
Chicago IL 60690

This is a follow-up to Cheer The Eff Up and it appears to be authored by Nikki Turtle who is one of the friends Jonas wrote about in the first issue. I'm a little confused by this zine (but at my age, confusion sometimes comes easily) because in the introduction Jonas writes "what you're about to read is part fiction and part true but all the important parts are true." That throws me a curveball, it's like watching a movie with the disclaimer "based upon true events" which then takes more poetic license than a college full of English majors. How are we supposed to know which are the important parts? In Cheer The Eff Up #2 it all seems important, from every minor detail to the heartwrenching truths that one ponders in dark moments. There is a lot of personal history here & an abundance of honesty. For example "when you hate yourself numb. when you want to curl up & disappear." Who can't relate to this feeling? And who is willing to admit it? 

Through exceptional wordsmithing Cheer the Eff Up says: Let's all find our fourth way to live, and carry our copies of War & Peace. What are you waiting for?

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