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Mother,
Son and Holy 'Zine: Ariel Gore's (above) hipMama
expanded and thrived.The event will feature a book signing
for The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order.
Reading
Frenzy, Calyx and K Records will share their wares.
Live
music, a no-host bar, a raffle drawing and kiddie activities
will ensue.
Proceeds
from the event will benefit the Independent Publishing Resource
Center, a Portland-based nonprofit that provides equipment
and education for aspiring self-publishers.
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Hot
House 1999
Melody
Ballroom, 615 SE Alder St., 493-1400.
6-10 pm Wednesday, Sept. 22.
$3-$10 donation.
hipMama, P.O. Box 9097, Oakland, CA 94613 hipmama@sirius.com,
www.hipmama.com
(510) 658-4508.
Ten years ago, Ariel Gore was a teen mom boiling diapers on
a stovetop in Italy, facing challenges most of us can only
imagine. There weren't many resources available to her, and
worst of all, she couldn't even find a supportive magazine
to read. "All I could find were those cheesy, baby-boomer
parenting magazines that were full of ads for minivans," she
says.
Gore decided to take matters into her own hands and masterminded
a parenting magazine for non-Stepford moms. Soon her 'zine,
hipMama, an informative and irreverent guide to parenting
with panache, was born. And the little 'zine that could
has become a glowing example of how self-publishing is changing
the way the media world goes round. Gore, and other 'zine
deans, will be key players at this week's Hot House 1999--a
gathering of indie-publishing pushers.
Gore cranked out the first issue of hipMama as her
senior project at Mills College. "I wasn't a teen mom anymore
when I started the 'zine," she says, "but that's where I
was coming from: a welfare mom, a college mom. The idea
was to make something that my friends and I would like."
She had submitted some pieces about her motherhood experiences
to Parenting and Ms. magazines, but they were
rejected. "I don't know if it's because the articles sucked
or because they were too far out--probably a little of both."
It's the classic lament of aspiring writers: Wah, I can't
get published! But Gore proves that whining is no longer
an acceptable response to yet another rejection letter.
In the past 10 years, the self-published 'zine movement
has exploded. Anyone with a bright idea and access to a
photocopier can publish a 'zine--and many do. The best 'zines
are those that go beyond mainstream magazines to discuss
issues that readers actually care about. Bust, for
example, left the prissy girls' magazine Sassy in
its inky dust by printing stories about masturbation, tits
and twat, Keanu Reeves fantasies and other playful sex stuff
that mainstream mags wouldn't touch with a 10-foot penis.
Bust began in 1993 with its two creators, Marcelle
Karp and Debbie Stoller, hand-stapling 1,000 copies; now
it boasts a circulation of 32,000. hipMama examines
parenting issues in the same post-Sassy way, with
articles on breast feeding with pierced nipples, mothers
without custody, and gender identity in PBS children's show
characters ("Mommy, is Elmo a boy or what?").
This formula of crossing the line works. After six years,
nearly 20 issues and a circulation topping 5,000 copies,
29-year-old Gore has found her creative voice through her
homemade 'zine--and the public has responded. "hipMama
was the way I developed myself as a writer and made a name
for myself," she explains. "Parenting and Ms.
call me now."
Last year, Hyperion published Gore's book, hipMama's
Survival Guide, and Seal Press will publish her collection
of personal essays next spring.
It's a 'zine dream come true. Stick to your principles,
be true to your school, and the rest will follow. The Utne
Reader awarded hipMama an Alternative Press Award
for Best Lifestyle Coverage in 1997. Fat-cat magazines and
newspapers such as The New Yorker, Glamour,
Harper's, The New York Times and Los Angeles
Times have sung hipMama's praises. The 'zine
may have hit the big time, but Gore doesn't think it's in
danger of plunging into the mainstream. "Every time the
audience expands," she explains, "the experience that hipMama
covers expands. In some ways, the attitudes expressed in
it have become more mainstream because when you go to the
PTA now, there are all these pierced people there."
Gore's Gen X audience may be the emerging mainstream, but
she knows her 'zine will never become as watered-down as
the current print-media giants. "No matter what generation
you're dealing with," she says, "in order to be mass market,
you have to appeal to advertisers and can't say as much.
You have to make a choice about whether you want to stay
smaller or get stupid." Even though media giants have offered
to buy hipMama, Gore says it's not for sale. "At
some point, I'm probably going to pass it on to some other
mom, but it's not like I'm going to sell it to Disney."
Not that it isn't the least bit tempting--Gore isn't getting
rich off hipMama. "I mostly make a living off my
books and doing free-lance stuff. The print 'zine pretty
much breaks even and doesn't pay me. But I wouldn't have
the other work if I didn't have the print 'zine. It depends
on how broadly you define the empire."
As the empire expands, Gore will join in Hot House 1999's
panel discussion with other women in independent publishing.
Other participants include Carla DeSantis of Rockrgrl;
Teresa Dulce of Danzine, a locally made publication
focused on sex-industry culture and support; Bee Lavender
of girl-mom; and Bust editors Stoller and
Karp. To add to the discussion, enter the Net-world denizens
who offer a nearly endless world of electronic 'zines. Heather
Irwin, editorial director for Chickclick.com, will be on
hand to pump up her network of online women's publications
("Girl sites that don't fake it!"), such as hipMama and
Bust's Web sites, as well as several 'zines that
live solely in cyberspace instead of on paper. From Chickclick,
people can access such sites as Hissyfit, Greasergrrls,
Disgruntled Housewife and Cherry Sucker through the site's
main portal. "We're reaching millions of women," says Irwin.
"We can see that we're actually changing the face of what's
happening in mainstream women's magazines." Irwin believes
Chickclick's Web sites influence the mainstream press by
revealing the issues that young women are really interested
in, "not just '10 tips for thinner thighs' and 'how to please
your man,'" she says, "but real issues of rape and incest
as well as fun things like makeup, but in a smarter way."
Gore is happy to evangelize the power of the little press
at Hot House 1999. "I want to hook up with the other publishers
and encourage people to find a place for their voice," she
explains. "Don't feel like you have to write all this cheesy
stuff just because that's the only way you can get published.
You can go directly to the readers. Readers actually aren't
dumb. They're not interested in fluff, that's just what
they have to tolerate."
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Willamette Week | originally
published September 22,
1999
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