Cambodian Grrrl by Anne Elizabeth Moore

Cambodian Grrrl: Self-Publishing in Phnom Penh
Anne Elizabeth Moore

When Punk Planet, the zine that longtime zinester and activist Anne Elizabeth Moore had co-edited and published for three years, closed its doors in 2007, one could be forgiven for thinking that maybe she entered into at least a short period of mourning or depression. Not so. Moore decamped to Cambodia, starting a program where she mentored young women students in areas of creative expression and self-publishing. In a country like Cambodia, where the media is an arm of the government, this work is potentially revolutionary. In this dispatch from Cambodia, Moore delivers six brief vignettes of her experiences instructing these women. You get the sense that Moore feels slightly in awe of these women, most taking classes seven days a week (sometimes multiple degrees from multiple universities), and living in the first all-girls dorm in the country, and yet still they have seemingly boundless reserves of energy in learning about self-publishing and making zines. Zines! For tangible evidence of the work Moore is doing in Cambodia, check out the website Camb(l)o(g)dia or the book New Girl Law, overseen by her, written by her students.

As a final, perfect valediction, Moore includes an excerpt of the original, incendiary Riot Grrrl manifesto, as if to show that, yeah, what can be used to destroy can be used to create as well. 1000000000000000% punk rock.

Assassin and the Whiner Vol. 15 by Carrie McNinch

Carrie McNinch is a zine and mini-comic veteran of the first order.  As the editor of Food Geek and an early innovator of diary mini-comics, she has gained a following by allowing readers into her personal life, sharing her experiences as a lesbian cartoonist whose anxiety and disconnectedness have led her into depression and alcohol abuse.  Assassin and the Whiner Vol. 15 is one of the most compelling mini-comics I’ve read to date.  For a diary comic, McNinch has taken great care in drafting daily entries, something that sometimes gets brushed over in other daily comics.  You get the sense that McNinch is deadly serious when she discusses her comics as type of therapy.  By reflecting on the serious and mundane together, you begin to see that McNinch’s hang ups aren’t at all strange or alien but intensely personal; you probably know someone who suffers from similar issues, if you yourself don’t.  Assassin and the Whiner is a great human story reflecting on personal struggle, loneliness and the little victories that keep us all sane.

Keep an eye out for other mini-comics by McNinch in the Zine Collection or check out Food Geek.