An Extra-Special

The Beat is old. I’m not even going to preface that or soften it with some compliment– this zine may only be 10 in human years, but that’s at least 75 in zine years. With that backhanded compliment, you might anticipate that I’m going to have a recipe for prune juice or cream of wheat, but YOU’D BE WRONG, YOU WHIPPERSNAPPER. This zine is too gosh darn good to insult, so sit down in your La-Z-Boy, get out your bowl of hard candies, put on your reading glasses, turn the heat up to 95, pull your blanket over you, and get ready for my recipe on how to make a nice, hot-off-the-presses edition of The Beat.

YOU’LL NEED:

- 1 very stressed zine editor-in-chief

- 3-8 contributors (look for a variety of interest levels)

- 1 talented artist

- 1-2 talented artists, but like, in a very specific way

- 500 pieces of colored paper

- A Zoom call or reserved room for mixing

DIRECTIONS:

1. Allow the editor-in-chief to ruminate at room temperature for approximately 5 days. During this time, it will develop slightly darker bags under its eyes as it struggles to come up with a theme– don’t worry, this is normal. If, however, it does not become gleeful with an idea after a week, you may need a new editor-in-chief.

2. Put the editor-in-chief and contributors into your Zoom call or reserved room and let them get to know each other. While you only need three contributors, note that the final product will be much richer and more fulfilling the more contributors you add, and it will also be more complex if you pick contributors with varying levels of interest and procrastination.