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Gloria Galva at IE Zine Fest 2013

REDLANDS IE ZINE FEST WAS IN FULL EFFECT

Describing the energy of the IE Zine Fest (lovingly referred to as the IE Zine Quest) crammed between the alley of Redlands coffee shop, Augie’s, is no simple task, mind you. How do you express the emotional waves felt when previewing bold poetic prose from the minds of admittedly conflicted men and women? How can you explain to a passerby why the seemingly nonsensical doodles of some guy or girl are the most truthful images to escape from pen to paper since the last local genius did something worth a mention? How do you understand a team of rowdy youth who spend days collecting images of constantly complicated age associated experiences in turn, offering them to the community as a testament to the fact that they have taken life’s mocking challenge to LIVE? The short answer is you can’t.

You can’t explain or express or hope to understand the madness. You can try, but there is such little impact in comparison to experiencing being involved. Keep the scene alive by supporting the creative endeavors and one-up monetary contributions by offering yourself as an ally to the community. We will need events like the IE Zine Quest every year as a staple in our community, because frankly, the communal advantages are just immeasurable.

I walked away from the second annual IE Zine Fest with so much more than I’d arrived with—except for when it came to my bank account balance—that did take a marginal drop during the course of the day. However, leaving with an even greater appreciation for my local zine community plus an IE Zine Quest bag filled to the brim with merchandise did ease the pain of the fiscal hurt I’d submitted my wallet to.

Five straight hours of making my rounds and two trips to the ATM later, I’d finally reached the last few participants showcasing their work at the day’s festivities. A comic artist and Redlands native by the moniker Dr. Filth, set up shop directly across from Oakland resident by way of Rialto, High & Outside zineist, Adam Hartnett.

There was no shortage of talented community contributors and coordinators in attendance, however; Cal State San Bernardino adjunct professor and Zineworks rep, Angela Asbell, was on the scene managing live readings while event coordinator Ray Duran of Redlands comic book store, A Shop Called Quest, acted as a brilliant host—snapping polaroids, making handfuls of on the spot pins, and spreading all around good vibrations.

In a day and age of constant documentation, Instagram and Twitter find themselves as useful tools in rekindling those good vibrations, a substitute to our inability to truly relive nights that have passed. A simple search on either outlet referencing “IEzinefest” or IEzinequest” will show you a bit of what you were missing from a welcomingly intimate point of view— a behind the scenes look at the men and women behind the zines.

Dig a little into the culture; see what gems are hidden between the pages and pages of printed chaos. Start small and buy a zine or two; from there, you’ll be able to familiarize yourself for next year which we are sure will be an even greater display of the liveliness of the D.I.Y culture that lives and breathes among us.

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