“I believe in God the Father. I believe in the Holy Trinity, including Jesus the Son of Man and the Holy Spirit. I believe Mohammed was right, and I believe Buddha and Confucious were right too. I believe in reincarnation and that when all is said and done and we’ve reached a higher state of consciousness, I believe we all go to heaven, hell, and purgatory. I believe there is no end, and I believe that Armageddon is right around the corner. I believe in infinity, and proximity, and destiny. I believe in free will and the fact that we’re all bound by fate anyway, so there’s no use in practicing it. I believe in the Bible, and the Koran, and quartz crystals. I believe in the Pope, the Shah, and the Dalai Lama. I believe in miracles, and magic, and the scientific method. I believe in outer space and heavenly bodies and Mount Olympus. I believe in Zeus and Jupiter. I believe the Nordic were right, as were the Greeks and the Egyptians. I believe in atheism, but I’m not sure I believe I’m an agnostic.”

“I believe ten years is a decade. I believe that a day can last forever. I believe in sunsets, and sunrises, and the ocean, and the horizon, and the fact that the horizon doesn’t actually exist, that the earth and the sea and the sky are simply different manifestations of the same thing. I believe in focal points, concave and convex lenses, real and false reflections. I believe that real life is simply an image of a hologram. I believe that socialism is bad, as is capitalism, and that two hundred years from now it really won’t matter one way or the other. I believe that the man in the moon is made out of blue cheese, that the earth is flat, that the sun orbits around the flat earth, and that sea monsters live in the Hudson Bay. I believe in the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, monster truck rallies, demolition derbies, the Daytona 500, and the Triple Crown. I believe in monarchy, oligarchy, anarchy, matriarchy, patriarchy, dictatorships, theocracy, and democracy. I believe in separation of church and state. I believe in prayer in public schools. I believe in the religious right, the arch-conservatives, the moral majority, and Jerry Falwell. I believe in liberalism, Ralph Nader, and the Green Party. I believe that the Rev. Jesse Jackson should be president and state minister. I believe OJ Simpson is innocent of murder, and that he brutally slaughtered his wife.”

“I believe in love at first sight. I believe in finding someone to spend the rest of your life with. I believe in commitment. I believe in being single as long as you possibly can. I believe ‘free’ is a four-letter word. I believe in always keeping your options open, and never settling for Mr. Right. I believe in swingers, and orgies, and pornography. I believe in polygamy between two people. I believe in monogamy among multiple partners. I believe in sodomy, purity, and the intersection of the two.”

This whole piece, plus many more, available only in livingproof #1. Order now.

Issues:
#1: Crisis. [samples]
#2: Rebound. [samples]
#3: Genesis. [samples]
#4: Rehearsal. [samples]
#5: Rapprochement. [samples]
Available for $3 each. Ordering info.
Sanitary and Ship is free.

Reader, I think I might owe you an apology. You probably picked up this zine thinking it was going to be another installment of the Livingproof perzine, a series engages in the dissecting of failures in romance and the place of underground music in such a narrative. This zine doesn’t exactly follow that format. Indeed, upon first read, you may feel like I hoodwinked you into reading a paean to my favorite band, whom you likely don’t care about and may be disinclined entirely to check out after finishing the last page and closing this zine (or throwing it down in disgust partway through).... Read more.

It wasn’t hard to find a place to stay when I first moved to Chicago: my freshman year roommate Brad had an extra bedroom in his Lincoln Park apartment because his roommate had abandoned him for the summer. I could only afford to pay half of my share, but that was better than Brad paying for the whole thing himself. We shook hands and I moved in two days later. I spent that first Chicago summer exploring the city, both formally—I had a job canvassing pedestrians around the city for Greenpeace—and informally, as I learned my way around the CTA, started meeting people, and hung out at bars and rock clubs... Read more.

Semi-Related Links:
Fall of Autumn
Punk Planet
Sanitary and Ship
Splendid
WLUW
Zine World

Sometimes, when the end comes, it’s right on time. But very rarely do things end when it feels right. Too often the end is a surprise, it catches you off guard, and you’re left in the dust struggling to make sense in your grief. Not as often, but just as difficult, is the end that drags on, milking your patience and sympathy until you’re actually happy the end has come when it finally does arrive. It’s a relief, in those cases... Read more.