just for the record

I'm kind of in the thick on trying to get my unit plan up and running before next week, but I just wanted to say for the record, that I have found yet another reason to love the North Portland Branch Library (as if I needed another reason).

The reason for yet another shameless plug for the tiny building next to Jefferson High School and across the street from PCC, is that they have zines you can check out.

I've been a bit of a zine nerd since I was in high school, but I'm rediscovering the joy now because zines are the PERFECT bus reading material, (even better than novels in some ways). These days, short and sweet is about all I can handle. I'm too tired at 6:30 AM to read serious books, and too braindead after school to read novels and follow a plot line. Zines, on the other hand, tend to have lots of pictures, SHORT articles (for short attention spans), are lightweight (unlike textbooks), extremely portable (some will fit in your pocket), don't take up a lot of space (unlike newspapers which can easily sprawl out into your seat mate's lap uninvited and invade limited personal spaces) and best of all, I can easily finish one every day or so. Right now this is my "getting away from the academics" reading, and along with checking out a stack of random assorted cd's to listen to in the computer lab while spending hours typing papers, is helping me get through this term with some shred of sanity and a sense of humor.

So I'm renewing my love affair with zines and am finding myself looking forward to bus time instead of dreading those 2 hours a day.