Distro Top Ten — February 2010
Hello AK Bloggers! How you livin’ out there? Hope everyone is doing well. Below are some books to help you make it through this month without going mad, killing your neighbor, giving away your cat, or smashing into a cop car. To all my fellow Aquariuses out there, Happy Birthdays!
1. The Screwball Asses — It took me about two hours to receive this into our AK stock just because I couldn’t stop reading it. Alongside Violence of Financial Capitalism and The German Issue Semiotext(e) has re-upped AK with some juicy goodies.
2. Original Pluming: Trans Male Quarterly ! — This deserves an exclamation point and all you need to do is order it to find out why. From the transformative and trailblazing minds of Amos Mac and Hip Hop artist Katastrophe’s comes the first trans male magazine. Inside are helpful tips, supportive narratives, sexy photos ops, and great resources. The first issue is sold out so you better get your hands on the second very quickly.
3. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia — This book redefines our views on Asian politics, history, demographics, and even our fundamental ideas about what constitutes civilization, and challenges us with a radically different approach to history that presents events from the perspective of stateless peoples and redefines state-making as a form of “internal colonialism.” Check it out!
4. Macho Sluts — You could buy this book just for the cover and you would get your money’s worth. Fortunately, the collection of stories centered around San Francisco’s dyke bathhouses, sex parties, and S/M gay bars will assure you a good night’s rest as well. Best bedtime stories ever! The 1st edition survived a brutal bashing on behalf of the mainstream lesbian press in 1988. You better get the 2nd edition before Pat Robertson hears of this!
5. Please Feed Me: A Punk Vegan Cookbook — I’m not vegan but exotic spiced fruit salad + violent phobia pizza + photos of early, late, and middle-aged punk bands = very full and satisfied macio. Wait, how the hell do you make shepherds pie vegan…
6. Heather Has Two Mommies — Check it, I’m not looking to have any kids in the near future. My collective budget couldn’t sustain a child. However, I am in support of peddling some literature that will help counter all the heteronormative ideas of family. This beautifully illustrated children’s book will aid a liberated education of a child whose mind is bombarded with homophobic trash on a daily basis…and the moms are hot.
7. To Die For The People — This new release of a classic collection of Huey P. Newton’s writings and speeches traces the development of Newton’s personal and political thinking, as well as the radical changes that took place in the formative years of the Black Panther Party. Includes a new forward by Elaine Brown and edited by Toni Morrison!
8. How To Make Soap: Without Burning Your Face Off — This is a new pamphlet from Raleigh Briggs the author of Make Your Place. Here, she teaches us how to create silky handmade soaps at home with basic directions, recipes, a list of resources, and assorted tips.
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My last two top ten are not technically “new” but we just received some fresh stock from Kersplebedeb and the information is as relevant and useful as their debuts:
9. Jailbreak Our of History: The Re-Biography of Harriet Tubman — Ninety pages of crucial revisionist history, firmly re-rooting Harriet Tubman in the context of patriarchy, race, class, and armed struggle.
10. Take Back Your Life: A Wimmin’s Guide To Alternative Health Care — Originally published by the Profane Existence anarcho-punk collective, this is an excellent practical DIY Guide—from healing common infections of the vagina and bladder to menstruation, birth control, and an understanding of AIDS.