“A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”
~ Roald Dahl
Over the last week I’ve been repairing the feng shui in the house; a long overdue task. In my reorganizing I came across five issues of Michelle Shute’s Trailer Trash. Back in 1990, Michelle was spinning discs at her local radio station in Pensacola, Florida (which she still does) and hanging out with touring bands (like Stealin Horses) at the local watering hole, Sluggo’s, and publishing zines. Fast forward twenty-five years and we find her zine pioneering ways have helped academics the world over understand that zines are both works of historical significance and art. Zines often include personal commentary – many times just as informed as newspaper editorials – fiction, poetry, and visual arts. Trailer Trash is just such a zine. Michelle is an incredibly smart woman with equally intense opinions and a right-brain creative to boot. When she’s not publishing Trailer Trash, she’s creating beautiful collages and three-dimensional shadow-boxes, one of which lives with me. Finding Trailer Trash transported me to a time I loved, made me laugh, made me think, and most of all, made me remember how much I love and admire my friend Michelle Shute. Fixing the feng shui in my nest was long overdue. Here’s to 2015!
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