Aya puts it best in her own introduction: Urchin is “a compilation of thoughts and ideas and life stories for anyone to read and hopefully identify with.” Her vegan, punk-inspired zine is straight up, honest and painfully (at times) self-revelatory. For example, one page is a text collage with no title, it just launches into “Non-smoking side seems to overflow with pretentious yuppies who are trying to live out the Adam cartoon. The art is much better on the smoking side anyways.” Is she talking about the art on the walls or the art produced by the smokers? I love the ambiguity. I love the quirkiness. With pieces called “The Horrors of Horse-Racing”, “My School’s a Prison”, and “Sexist Punks Galore”, Urchin boasts a little bit of everything. There’s poetry, text art, personal letters, reviews and cartoons. (EPW)
zine, #6, 36 pages, Aya Diehl, postage/trades/$1, 8706 98 Street, Grande Prairie, AB, T8V 2C8,