Issue
#20
/ Play
April
2017
Dear Readers and Moon Luvers, This issue we’re inviting you to play! It might have been the ball pit, the neighbor’s backyard, or your bedroom floor. There was foursquare, baseball, dress up, and grocery store. Playing wasn’t just about having fun, it was also about getting creative and releasing inhibitions. We want you to celebrate this feeling and explore what it means to you. If you haven’t gone out to play in a while, you should do it soon! Skip the homework and chores; your little sibling can come along. For future themes, submission deadlines, and anything else, be sure to check in with us online. (See last page.) Like our previous issues, the numbered pages are original submitted content. Other pages are altered by yours truly and unique to each edition of the issue. Thank you for taking a chance and picking up our zine. Hold on to it, or pass it on to the most fun zinester you know, as The Moon Zine is one of a kind.
Tag! You’re it, The Moon
meet the staff
Julie Davis - Unsurprisingly, I fouled out a lot as a kid. Josh Saboorizadeh - Playing outside with no shoes. Allison Sissom - I once peed in a Hardee’s ball pit. I was 7. Wes Harbison - Climbed trees, played with matches and pocket knives, hopped fences, got an arcade boomerang, whittled for a week once. Lauren Kellett - Pretty good at foosball.
staff picks: bubble gum bubble gum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?
Julie - 17
Wes - 5
Josh - 3
Lauren - 2
Allison - 9
by Jacque Davis ************
Free Bird Man! by Bob Boston ************
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by Jacque Davis ************ by Allison Sissom **************
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D and D with Chocolate Cake by Jacque Davis ************
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by Jacque Davis ************
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Omaha County By Jake Hurst I remember the days, the weeks, the hours. The hot summer rains. And mumbling to yourself that you were nearly ruined as we ran inside. Back in those days we had nothing to talk about, but all the time in the world. And that time we skipped sunday school to put on eachother’s clothes. After the sixth or seventh change in wardrobe we gave up. To watch a cooking show or reruns. I’m not sure, but somehow it all felt familiar and the sky seemed as if it was meant to swallow us.
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County Dad in the City Submitted anonymously ******************
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• Partial List of Toys, in Order of the Severity of My Father’s Swears Upon Stepping on Them * by Bill Fishback (authors note): This is written as a meditation more like, now I understand the words I first learned when I saw my dad step on a Lego — I had a great dad. I just learned a lot of new words sometimes. Full disclosure: I stepped on a Lego for this piece, completely truly, and realized that yep, I am turning into my father. I get it. One definitive characteristic of my childhood was my incomparably brilliant father’s impatience for my toys. He outgrew them, and that was that.
now. I am omitting his gleeful reactions when I learned how to golf, shoot rifles, and throw machetes. This is all (mostly) plastic.
I think back on all of the playthings that made him swear when he stepped on them. This is defined by my childishness of never putting things away. I get it
Beanie Babies: I collected them with allowance I got because I had no budget when I was five. I actually got one, I believe it was the Irish girl bear named
* or, in one case, being drenched by them
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Erin, one that was rare(?) and traded it for a dozen. I had a zoo. Perhaps my dad didn’t understand the economy, although I certainly didn’t either. My mother got into it, which may have been part of it, and she rushed me to get kids meals back in ’96 to see if we would get one that was of value. The nuggets were of the most value since they shut me up. Rating: I don’t care about those stuffed animals. Just wouja leave em in your room? Sega Game Gear: When I turned seven, my family and I made our annual massive trip through the north and Montana and the Dakotas to arrive in Grand Forks. If you’re not bred Norwegian the cold can really get to you. I am Scandanavian through-and-through, so I ignored the cold and ran into my grandparent’s house when we parked. Rating: Why would you forget something so nice? Didn’t I remind you several times not to forget that, or put it into your pocket? Seriously? I bought the shit. Board games (soft) - Monopoly: I must have been nine or ten. Pretty young to understand capitalism and free enterprise. I just said yes!! to everything and I ended up destroying them and refused all trades. Luck of the draw, I guess, though I did put all the hotels away, so no serious
plastic on the court (see below). Rating: Never again! (We really didn’t again). Supersoaker: Summer I was ten I started mowing yards for money. A twenty is a helluva a lot to a ten year old. A ten year old spends money like he or she is ten, and dumb, which I was, so I bought the first ever Supersoaker with a pressurized gallon backpack. My teacher dad was not amused when he returned home to his summer break as I doused him the moment he opened his car and I was hiding. Rating: He went completely blank. Later, he shoved shaving cream up my nose when I napped and we wrestled. Board games (hard) - Connect Four: It wasn’t as much as it was about losing as it was about me forgetting to pick up the board. That was dumb and the first time I learned the word fuck. Enlightening. Rating: Fuck. Legos: Let’s talk Danish toys. No matter how cool my designs were, and my dad encouraged them, and mentioned that I had many relatives that were architects and he wanted to see my development as I kept building, that all faded. Rating: Step on a Lego yourself. Honorable mention: That skateboard.
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I am a very competitive person. by Julie Davis I’ll play you in rock-paper-scissors shoot But what the hell does the winner get? Spider bites and grease burns? Learning to count cards and throw punches from the comfort of your own couch!! You’ve got beginner’s luck, every time but you don’t even want to win Four thousand dollar decks used as kindling They’re all bound to slough, so bet one more than you think you’ll take
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CALENDAR fun thing another fun thing oh here’s one more
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by Brad Burger *********** editor’s note: The pieces herein are conceptual drawings from a Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
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All Items Are in a Pile by Jeff Denight A Play Lights Up. A woman stands in a well-lit alley. The alley is illuminated by a series of fires; this shouldn’t be noticeable at first. There are nineteen fires in total. The woman walks around. She collects trash. She’s building a pile in the center of the alley with the collected trash. She grabs everything: Inserts from discarded newspapers, protest signs of forgotten movements, flags of long lost nations, new textbooks still in the wrapping, a dead thing’s remains, your father’s favorite quilt, your mother’s favorite chair, a portrait of someone famous and well respected, one too-short love letter, wedding cake slice, brown glass green glass red glass, baby teeth, the Tiffany lamp that was so sought in the divorce, foreign coins, Halloween linens, vinyl record, etc. etc. As she collects them, the fires grow. As the fires grow, the woman collects faster. Once all items are in a pile, she speaks. I’ll protect you.
SAVIOR
She unzips her jacket and holds it open. The woman lays atop the pile. Her jacket spills over the sides. Whether by woman or her coat, the pile is entirely covered. As lights go down, the fires grow larger. Blackout. 29
Florals by Diana Branzan ****************
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Hi Print-Your-Own-Zine folks! We want to take a second to say thanks! Thanks for spending your time with The Moon Zine. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, let us know: themoonzine@gmail.com. Some quick instruction: when you’re done reading this, cut the page right down the middle (hamburger style) and toss this half in the recycling. Take the other half and paste it on the very last inside page. Or wherever you want! There are no rules! Have a good day!! -The Moon
SPECIAL MUSIC ISSU E ! CALL FOR SUBMISSIO N S! The theme for our June issue is Music and we’re accepting both the usual stuff (written and visual subs) but also audio! The deadline for the Music issue is April 15th. For more info, stop by themoonzine.tumblr.com.
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Credits & Notes cover image: collage by Allison Sissom Thanks eternally to: Everyone who has submitted content and/or helped us collage The Moon Zine
special thanks to: Maddie, Jacque, and Don for additional printing assistance, The St. Louis Public Library for free printing services, & South City Art Supply for collage space
looking for Back issues? Print your own here: https://goo.gl/jXflxZ
made in saint louis, missouri, usa
“Let me tell you something about full moons: kids don't care about full moons. They'll play in a full moon, no worries at all. They only get scared of magic or werewolves from stupid adults and their stupid adult stories.�
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