Yappy Hour Zine Review: ReSet Magazine, Biker Love, and I Saw The Signs

1/29/2024

Reviews by Parisa Eshrati

Yappy Hour is a volunteer program at Pima Animal Care Center where people can read to dogs by their kennels for quality socialization time. This blog shares reviews of zines read during Yappy Hour, as well as information about the adoptable dogs being read to.

Did you know that in many dog shelters around the country, there are volunteer opportunities to read to dogs? This program, Yappy Hour, is extremely beneficial for shy, scared, or unsocialized dogs to decrease shelter decline and improve their quality of life, in addition to increasing their likelihood of getting adopted.

For the Yappy Hour versions of our zine reviews, we’ll share zines that we read to shelter dogs at Pima Animal Care Center (PACC) and share information on both the literature and the adoptable dogs!

Updates on dogs as of 7/5/24:

Blue Iguana has been adopted!
Brutus is in foster care and still looking for a forever home
Zoey is in foster care and still looking for a forever home

Biker Love & Blue Iguana

I was approached while at work by a customer recently and was asked, “Do you like weird stuff?” Naturally I said yes, and then she handed me three mini-zines called Biker Love. She explained that she makes these cut-and-paste style mini-zines that feature old biker classified ads and just hands them out to people who may be interested. It was a great introduction into what has become one of my new all-time favorite mini-zine series.

Biker Love has done some deep digging to find some of the most crass, nasty, hilarious, and sometimes even endearing classifieds of badass bikers lookin’ for love. I’m assuming these are from the ‘70s or maybe early ‘80s, hard to say for sure but regardless you’ll find yourself wanting to pick up some of the slang in your everyday vernacular - i.e. one ad that reads “I’m 30, good-looking and boss bad. Someone zip me a line.” Some of my other favorites include:

“To my sleazy babe: As I’m writing’ this, you’re on your way to that fuckin’ oil patch, and I’m countin’ dope money and listenin’ to rock archives. Missed ya before ya even left. Happy b’day, 5/29/54. Doesn’t seem like two yeas since that first putt. I’m lovin’ it, and you. Your snivelin’ Haggie.”

“Rick: You put a storm in my heart and thunder between my legs. Keep riding me and I’ll ride with you forever. I love you. Carole.”

“Honest, no-bullshittin’ tramp looking for an honest, no bullshittin’ ol’ lady. Someone who can hold her own in titty contest. James “Eldorado” Fay”

“One-legged ladies? WIsh to correspond with and meet lovely ladies who have lost a leg to the machine. Turn your loss into a plus. Letter/photo to J.W., ℅ Easyriders, Box 52, Malibu, CA 90265.”

I had recently found her on etsy or Instagram, but having some trouble now. The back of the zine says choppershopper…so if anyone is able to do some investigating to find out how to order more, please let me know and I’ll update this page with her info!

Speaking of “losing a leg to the machine”, I read these zines to my current favorite dog at PACC - Blue Iguana, the 8 year old tripod. Blue Iguana (aka Blue aka Iggy) had what was thought to be an inoperable tumor on his leg and needed fospice care. However, he was able to get his leg amputated and is now the happiest, and surprisingly agile, senior boy. He recently spent some time in foster care and came back with the BEST notes - house trained, non-destructive, and does well home alone! He’s a big lap dog, gives the best slobbery kisses, and really really really craves human companionship. He would do best as your one-and-only pet.

More information on Blue Iguana:
https://24petconnect.com/PimaAdoptab.../Details/PIMA/A814873

I Saw the Signs: Musicians, Astrology and Beyond & Zoey

I Saw the Signs is a true labor of love. This zine, which is published in installments of various astrological signs, shares beautiful and color-explosive collages of musicians, their songs, and how their musical traits relate to that sign. In addition to the music aspect, there is a two-page spread interviewing local community members on how their astrological sign fuels their personalities and creativity, a bingo card, as well as an original poem decorating the back cover. I’m generally not someone who reads into astrology, but even so I absolutely love this zine! The artwork is so playful, warm and cheerful, and I also found this to be a great format to share music recommendations.

In this Aquarius installment, you’ll find original artwork of Lucinda Williams, Questlove, Peter Gabriel, Carol King and more. Find the artist Frankie on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/spilt_love

I read this zine to Zoey, a pittiepotomous who I felt could use some of the bright and warm cheer of this zine. Zoey originally landed at PACC a year ago as an owner surrender. She was adopted a few months back after being placed on the Urgent Placement List, but showed up again to the shelter last week as a stray (meaning, she was abandoned). Zoey is a spunky gal who has the most ridiculously large elf ears you ever did see!! It’s truly a sight to behold.

Sweet little pittie gal Zoey is not only as cute as they come, but she’s a certified genius. She knows sit, look, shake, come, touch, down, AND roll over! She is looking for an experienced handler who can work with her on some containment issues, but mostly just wants someone who can love her and be patient as she learns what a true home looks like.

More information on Zoey:
https://24petconnect.com/PimaAdoptablePets/Details/PIMA/A806601?fbclid=IwAR0hJWLX47oC1tzsIEJqpGFPpttgc3j4U4YYyIDGJKkuUsWV04juWMw-oeU

ReSet Magazine & Brutus

I just picked up this brand new Tucson local zine called ReSet Magazine at Wooden Tooth Records. This first issue is chock-full of music recommendations, artist interviews, photography, satirical conspiracy essays, and so much more. On the ethos of the zine, the inside cover states:

“We’re all fucked up off the interent and the way the world is going we are being made more and more reliant on it and our phones every day just to live. We wanna provide a platform for the dissemination of information that is free of the digital space. We want people to have a means to network free of censorship and the chaos of social media. We wanna spotlight DIY movements that happen in the Real world and promote community and conscious thought. We’re doing this by providing informative and entertaining content and offering affordable ad space to any parties interested who wish to share or promote their own physical media. The internet age crept on us entirely too fast. We have not adopted to dealing with it. That is why we need to ReSet. Before it eats us alive.”

Upon reading this zine, you’ll see how interwoven these themes all are - music, DIY, community, and how it all ties back to amplifying internet-free spaces. There’s a lot of great reads in here, in addition to a really sick industrial/cut-and-paste/photocopied design, but my favorite read for sure was an interview with Bill Sassenberger. If you lived in Pomona or Tucson, you would know Bill from running Toxic Ranch Records, but punx from around the globe would know him from running Toxic Shock, a prolific mail order catalog turned record label. Bill shares his experiences running the catalog in the 80s and 90s, and the crazy stories that happened along the way - i.e. Christian Death moving into the back of the record store, having to kick them out when they wouldn’t leave, getting their windows smashed in, to eventually creating the Toxic Shock record label just so they could release a Christian Death diss-track from their fake band Moslem Birth (which eventually turned into a non-gimmick band called Peace Corpse that totally rips).

Contact ReSet Magazine at
[email protected] or on Instagram @Brundogg89k

I read ReSet Magazine to long stay and volunteer favorite, Brutus. This boy is a true beefcake! He’s bounced around and been brought back to PACC a few times at no fault of his own. He’s a connoisseur of Kongs, a gentle giant, loves to cuddle, walks easily on a leash, and has been learning a lot of new tricks at the shelter, i.e. crate training. I think he gets looked over because he doesn’t have a ton of distinguishing physical features (there’s actually a phenomenon called All Black Dog Syndrome, read more about that here) but he is a really easy-going dog that would make a great fit in many types of homes. He doesn’t like to be left alone for long periods of time, but after spending so much time at the shelter, who can blame him?! Brutus is now 8 years old and deserves to spend his golden years with a loving family.

If you'd like your zine to be reviewed for Yappy Hour, please send it to:
Trial and Error Collective
c/o Wooden Tooth Records
426 E. 7th Street
Tucson, AZ 85705

For more Yappy Hour volunteer information, check out @yappyhourstorytime on IG

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