Zine Or Blog: Why The Great Divide?


There was another issue I wanted to discuss in my last post but decided that it warranted its own entry.

My bastard hybrid zine.

I started as a paper zinester and over the years I find myself a blogger first, then a zinester. I think some people are upset that my zine has become a collection of my blog posts.

Why do I think that? Well, when a zinester says that paper should never reproduce photons, that online and offline writing must be separate, I kinda notice.

I also notice when a zinester states that he will never put email and web addresses in his paper publication; he only deals with snail mail.

Each to his own but...

Why does it have to be one or the other? It seems a creator has to declare his allegiance to either the paper brigade or the digital legion, nothing in-between.

In fact, some of the paper types act as if the Web is evil incarnate, destroying their dead tree way of life. Years ago there was one zinester who warned to stay away from the Internet because it was an opportunity for "They" to spy and track you. As if no one ever sneaks a peak at snail mail or taps a phone.

Some zinesters act as if the Web lobby is going to outlaw snail mail and paper. "They'll have to take my rebuilt mimeograph machine from my cold dead hands!" That sort of thing.

I know there must be online counterparts to the paper only crowd, people who think that everything should be digital, proclaiming death to all traditional physical formats. I don't buy that hyper-logic either. I do like books, magazines, newspapers, zines.

I do a fair amount of surfing and so far I haven't encountered any digital elitists. But I have encountered a few meatspace ones in the zines I've read.

This zine-or-blog controversy -- screw it.

When it comes to writing, the medium ain't the message.

And if you're getting bored like I am with this zine talk, don't worry. Because when it comes to zining, I'm through worrying at all.