Show & Tell #10
by Rachel Lee Carmen
half sized / 32 pages
available from ms valerie park distro
If one could judge a zine by its cover, this zine has charm
written all over it, a drawing of Rachel and two friends sitting on an outdoor
bathtub reading, childcaring, and playing guitar. Then you flip to the opening
page and this is where it all gets confusing to me. “You may never have heard
of the people in this zine,” Rachel explains, “It doesn’t matter much, I made
them up. Or maybe you could say they exist because I willed them.” Huh? Later
she says “They are very real & I hope I told their stories … or the bits of
their stories where they will me into existence with the honesty they deserve.”
Graphically, Show & Tell is visual perfection, with
photography, hand drawn art & lettering. The central piece in this zine, a
meditation on nude photography, rapture, being and nothingness is luminous with
questioning the nature of one’s “self”. There is also a contemplation on
changing the tapes we run through our thoughts. I really enjoyed reading issues
6, 7, 8, & 9 of Show & Tell, yet something has shifted in my perception
and most of the rest of this issue is lost on me. There is a list of films
Rachel has seen at TinPantheater. Notes on throwing yourself a pity party. Most
of the rest of the content is too obscure or too personal to connect with. Can
a perzine become too personal? Sometimes zines are best shared with a
few chosen friends or neighbors who may or may not exist.
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