How (not) to make a Zine Chapter One

Jonnie and I started putting out TalkHard a little over a year ago and have learned a lot since then. Now that I have started blogging, I thought it would be interesting to start a column (an e-column?) about how we do what we do and why. This column will include the story of how some articles are created, why some make print and why some must be canceled.

Issue 5 is hot on the way, but which Issue 5 will it be? We have two separate issues nearly ready to go. One issue will be an brutally honest investigation of the psyche of our co-founder Jonnie. The other issue is our usual hotchpotch of things that we find interesting, useful information, and dick and fart jokes.

We did just have a set back on an article that I am working on. I'll share. I stopped by a local bicycle shop to take pictures of some graffiti that I thought was cool enough to put in the zine, (I am fascinated by the tags around Austin), but found that it was being painted over. I talked to the guy painting and he told me that the wall of this shop is a popular spot for taggers, but that he wished somebody might put a decent bike related piece of art on the store that they wouldn't paint over, but they are getting tired of the frequent tags that they are getting.

So I got the idea of doing an article that was a call for artists (like a mural artist) to come and give this store the beautiful work of art for which they've be waiting. The manager thought it was a good idea, but he wanted me to meet and ask the owner first. So, tomorrow, hopefully, I will. I'm drafting the article tonight. Isn't it strange how one article can become another so quickly.

Oh, and I have some good leads on a Yellow Bike Project story that I want to run. We shall see what becomes of it...