In Support of Creativity

Saturday, 21 July 2012

So, if you’d asked me five years ago what a zine was, I’m not sure how I would have answered. I might have guessed that it was a new brand of alcoholic beverage. Or I might have thought it was a new way kids were shortening the word “magazine” in the same way they were calling pizza “‘za.”

But, according to Wikipedia, it’s “a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images.”

In the past half-decade, I’ve been to a few bookfairs, and I’ve perused some of the zines for sale. They’re usually small – think of a magazine, and then imagine something just one-half or one-quarter that size – and they’re usually pretty short. Too short, in my opinion, though whenever I begin to bemoan that something is too short, I immediately remember that being too short just means that I want more – which is great.

Last week, we finally acquired zines of our own. Specifically, we purchased a pair of zines available from our friend AT THIS SITE. They were great. I suggest you buy “Will There Be Smoking?” which explores some of those questions parents-to-be and new parents aren’t prepared for.

Did I mention they’re locally grown, so you’d be supporting a local business instead of some big corporate publishing agency? The zine creators have their own fest annually, too. CLICK HERE for info on that.

Sunday, 22 July 2012

My wife found out about a Family Fun Night, sponsored by Creative Kidstuff. She signed up our kids and, tonight, after the store closed to the general public, we showed up for a Fun Night.

Our kids loved it. And it was free, so I loved it, too. There was ice cream, rock painting, a butterfly garden, temporary tattoos, real live reptiles, a scavenger hunt, other random games, and even fish painting.

Here’s how fish painting works: the kids painted a fish carcass. I’m not very good at identifying fish species. In fact, I’m really bad at it. This was some sort of freshwater fish, about a foot long. It was silver color. That’s all I know. Anyway, the employee wiped it off (to remove the paint from the last kid), and then gave Owen the paint brush. Our daughter stood next to him and did the deed at an adjacent station.

Once the fish were painted, the employees pressed a canvas bag against the fish, leaving a print on the bag for the kids to take home. Isla’s is pink and red; kind of all mixed together. Owen’s is a third green, a third pink, and a third blue. One employee explained that this is how fishermen used to document their catches in the days before photography was affordable – they lathered up their catch with paint, then smacked it on the side of a board or canvas or whatever, then they had proof of what they’d fetched from the sea.