I S S U E - S E V E N - C O N T E N T S
Negotiating the Straights
Discipline for Fun and Profit
Community Chests
Our Packaging
The Ouchs!, Yeows! and Ughs! of People You May Know.
Health Care Funnies
SALUTON!
So Preparation X is two years old. I am reminded of my second birthday party. It was at my grandparent’s house. My mother had made a birthday cake that looked like a carousel with little horses and a pretty paper canopy. I just barely remember the party, but it was recorded on audio cassette: my family sing “Happy Birthday” and then tell me to blow out the candles. My family squeals with delight as I blow out the candles. But wait, they light up again! I try and blow them out a second time. Once again, the candles flare up. Then the cake catches on fire. Actually the paper canopy starts to burn. My mom starts screaming. Some family members start laughing (especially the ones who put the Magic Trick Candles on the cake). I’m still trying to blow out the flames. The fire is extinguished; the cake is ruined; and I’m out of breath. Maybe down the road, some analyst will figure out how that event shaped my life.
Two years old and I’m still naive enough to keep trying. Thanks for coming to the party though.
Chip Rowe’s Book of Zines is now available at fine bookstores. I mention this because Chip Rowe reprinted excerpts from the infamous “Childhood Sex Stories” issue of Preparation X (which is now out of print). My favorite part of the book can be found in the index–“See See Butt, p.122” which points to the story where kids pull down their pants to the delight of other kids and the horror of the parents who discovered them. Both Book of Zines and Factsheet Five editor Seth Friedman’s Zine Reader are an excellent read and a great way to dabble in zine culture. Buy them or borrow a friend’s copy.
Congrats to our Prep X coloring contest winners, Chris Crites and Dee Dee Davis. The black and white format of PrepX won’t allow us to show you the winning entries, but let me assure you that we were stunned by the creativity of our readers.
Here’s a question: Would any of you plop down money for Preparation X t-shirts or bumper stickers? Email, fax or write me if think this scheme may help pad PrepX’s pockets while enouraging brand name identity.
Skip
Just one of an infinite number of monkeys working on a Cliff’s Notes version of Hamlet
This issue is still available in print. Send $2 to Skip Elsheimer, P.O. Box 33561, Raleigh, NC, USA.