Ideas for Static Zine from Jessica’s cousin

carrie and allie

Cari with her daughter who is taller than her by a mile, Allie

Sometimes you discuss your zine with your family. And sometimes you start emailing about it with your hilarious cousin in NY. And then sometimes you get the most amazing responses.

Here are Cari Pokrassa’s ideas for Static Zine:

1. I just read your zine from cover-to-cover. I love it!!

Tom Lowery mentioned a bucket list in his article. Maybe that could be another zine topic. Or zopic?:)
Embarrassing moments also makes an interesting zopic. (I can’t help myself.)
Mine: In college, I “accidentally” wore a toga to a party that wasn’t a toga party. My friends played a mean trick. Turned out, I was the best dressed person at the party. Had a leaf reef adorning my head. And my toga was a tapestry wall hanging. Gotta love it. Thirty years later; I remember the moment like it was yesterday. I just don’t remember where I put my glasses from two hours ago. Yes … my self-amusement knows no bounds, as I’m sure you can tell after our girl’s night out.

2. I finally got a chance to check out your new web site.  So cool.

And you know what I was thinking re: the bucket list topic … You’ve had an issue of “firsts.” Well, this would be an issue of “lasts.” Get it? Cute, right?

How’s about crazy haircut stories? I’ve got a bunch … like the time I got my hair cut (or rather butchered) when the stylist was breaking up with her boyfriend over the phone as she was cutting my hair. Worst haircut ever. Or the time I wound up in the hospital emergency room from cutting my own bangs. One 1/4″ strand of hair got stuck in my tear duct. It was pulled out by a crotchety old doctor with a pair of forceps. “Don’t blink, or you’ll go blind, ” he said. (Scariest haircut ever!)

3. I love your ideas, too. [re: the story of our lives]

So, it got me thinking …  in 1976 there was this made-for-TV movie starring Sally Field entitled “Sybil” about a woman with multiple personality disorder (mpd). In keeping with your zine theme, the story of my life would be a take-off on this movie. Not that I suffer from mpd, which evidently no longer exists, but I do have this chameleon-type personality that can conform to whomever I’m with at any given moment. A psychic once compared me to a lava lamp. Anyway, one time while working at Newsweek Intl., a colleague noticed that I was speaking in a British accent to someone in our UK office. Woops, I wasn’t even aware that my voice had changed. Getting back to my movie, the cast of characters would include Marlo Thomas, star of TV’s 1960s comedy “That Girl,” Talia Shire, Rocky’s wife Adrian in Rocky 2 specifically; in Rocky 1, she was way too nerdy!!!, Tina Fey, (yes, she looks younger than me–thank you Allie for pointing that out–and she IS younger than me; I googled it) and Zoe Deschenel (a girl can dream, right). All these woman, much like in “Sybil” would play me and my many personas. I’ve chosen these woman because at one time or another someone has said I look like them. Yes, I realize there are some “stretches” in this list. For example, when I was 10-years-old, I used to beg my mother to tell me what TV or movie star I resembled. She, of course, said that I didn’t look like anyone famous. But I nudged her to the point of complete and utter annoyance; she reluctantly said, Marlo Thomas. Done. I got my answer, was happy about it, and never asked again.