Strangely enough this is a punk zine about religion. More surprising it’s not a religion bashing zine, on the contrary actually. Don’t worry, no one will try to proselytize you to follow religion in this zine. It is only the personal accounts of the author, Dave Fried (also known as Dave Taco and Dave Pulps), a Jew for life as he is says, in a big auto-biographical story.
He writes about growing up in a Jewish family. He shares how as a teen punk he stopped practicing religion and how he started again years later. How he’s trying to balance between tradition and his personal believes. He goes shortly into politics (Israel, Palestine, Gaza strip etc) and more into the oppression of women and LGBT people in traditional Judaism (and Christianity and Islam). However as he explains, things have started to change. He writes about Jewish feminists and LGBT activists who are trying to make a difference and how more Jews see their point and support with simple acts such as adding an orange on the Seder Plates.
Although I’m not keen on religion, I thought this was a good read and I got to know a lot about Judaism. Don’t get put off by me saying that this is a religious issue. This is personal writing about religion. It is old fashioned cut and paste and if you want to download a copy and print it or read it on the screen, the Queer Zine Archive Project has it online: download Black Carrot #12.
You can listen to an interview that Dave did with FeastofFun.com and check his band Bromance.
To contact the author and/or order a hard copy:
Dave Fried’s profile in We Make Zinesblack carrot
box 830
chicago il 60690 / usa
disdoom@gmail.com
