Papernet: Brooklyn!


If newspapers and Web sites can go hyperlocal, why not a zine?

Fred Argroff's zine sums up the geographic area it covers with its name: Brooklyn! Nothing fancy about its format: 8 1/2" by 11" sheets folded lengthwise and stapled together into a digest-size edition. It's the content, not the format, that counts.



Brooklyn! #66 features a photo-essay of the annual Mermaid Parade in Coney Island. No actual mermaids showed up -- even though one costumed participant went all out and had her legs fused into a tail. She must have wiggled, not marched, down the appropriately named Surf Avenue.

The latest issue has photographic evidence that you can find Heaven and God in Brooklyn, at least when it comes to delis and restaurants. Besides providing short articles about local history, Brooklyn! also features a lexicon and pronunciation guide so that you, too, can speak Brooklynese.

If you wanna know wat Fred Argroff thinks, three bucks well-concealed inna envelope will get you a copy. Snail mail to Penthouse L, 1170 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11230-4060.

[ Note: Usually I don't review hardcopy zines. But while the Internet has ended up being the primary medium for many zinesters and other non-mainstream writers, there is still a thriving zine culture out there. On occasion I will review examples of the "papernet." ]