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December Interview: Taryn of My My Distro
who are you again?
i'm taryn. i write zines & make buttons.
what do you write about in your zines?
myself, mostly. my zine is a timeline of sorts, i suppose. i've written about the places i've lived, the people i've known & a lot about my "love life" good & bad. it's a perzine, obviously.
is there anything too personal to write about in your zines?
yeah, but i still write about them. maybe vaguely but i still write about them. i have trouble with keeping things to myself & i like getting letters from people saying "i can relate" it makes it worth it.
I've often heard that being very open about one's personal affairs is a way of shielding oneself from intimacy...
that makes sense. plus, i get to share what i want & people can think it's the whole truth when really, it can't be. not that i lie, because i rarely make things up. i might change a name or a place. but it's always the truth, if that makes sense.
I understand that everything is true and confessional, but I imagine there are ways of presenting things that can create a persona. How tempting is it to make yourself over as more of a 'character?'
it's always tempting to leave out the bad & only include the good, maybe even spicing it up a bit but i always forget to do that. i mean, a few issues back i wrote about how i met someone on the computer & flew to california to meet him after breaking up with my boyfriend. i painted a picture of myself as a total asshole, which at the time, i was. i could have & probably should have, left that out.
I met a woman at a party once who said "i've read all your zines & i just want you to know i cried when i read you were getting married. it made me so happy because i remember when you guys broke up, i was so upset"
oh, that's awesome and amazing! but, I imagine, a little awkward
the only thing i don't like about writing zines & making them available so widely is i don't have control over who is reading it. my dad has bought my zine at the local record store because i wouldn't give him a copy. he wasn't trying to "find things out," he just wanted to read my writing. it's stuff like that that makes me think "hmm, i should start watching what i say."
how do you choose zines for your distro?
when i started my my it was just for my zines & the buttons i make but i wanted to carry some of my friends' zines because i felt they were too amazing for people not to read. from there i started getting people sending in their zines & a lot of them were just as amazing. my favorite kind of zine is a personal zine for all the reasons i write one. if i read a zine in one sitting because i can't put it down it's usually a good sign i need to carry it at my my.
so.. you can personally vouch for the quality of every zine you carry!
yeah, or i wouldn't carry them.
do you have any tips for people wanting to start out a zine?
i think the best way to start is to just ask yourself "why do i want to do this" & then just do it! not to sound totally cheesy but zines are really important to me & have been for close to ten years. i've met some of my best friends through zines & the relationships i have with them wouldn't exist if i didn't pour my life out onto paper & share it with the world. & i think it's improtant to be true to yourself, don't make your zine for those other people, make it for you & they will appreciate it. that sounded totally cheesy. damn.
