Junk Drawer

Three “Junk Drawer” zines have been selected to be part of an exhibition of artist made books at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. It takes place at Dittmar Gallery in the Norris Center, through February 8th. There’s an opening reception on Thursday, January 7th, from 6 to 8 p.m.
Check here for further info. http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2009/12/dittmar.htm

By the end of November, most of the carved pumpkins, or jack-o-lanterns, have disappeared from windows and porches. Aside from a few lingering white strands of fake cobwebs caught up in branches and covered in dry leaves, almost all traces of Halloween are gone. These pumpkins on top of a garbage can seemed to be enjoying one last moment, with their slowing shriveling grins. No longer the focus of a seasonal display and greeting trick-or-treaters, their faces nonetheless caught my attention. And, since I was strolling down a dark alley, I can say they even looked a bit spooky. That’s the best a carved pumpkin can hope for. That, and having someone roast pumpkin seeds. I was possibly the last to see these pumpkins before they were picked up the next morning.

It was a great time at the Milwaukee Zine Fest.

Participating were a great variety of zinesters, writers, and artists from Wisconsin, Chicago, and beyond.

The Junk Drawer table featured drawers of zines, and one drawer of junk that was featured in a zine. There was also the name the odds and ends game. It got people involved in guessing and figuring out what the items were. It was fun to watch.
People were really nice, and I enjoyed hearing about other people’s junk drawers. One man told me how he’d inherited his father’s house, and it came complete with all kinds of tools and mechanical items he had saved. It was kind of like a junk drawer being passed along in the family.
A woman told me about a found object game, where you go through the alphabet. You start by looking for something that begins with a letter “A,” just lying around on the street, or wherever. The game is completed when you’ve collected found objects from A to Z.

Thanks to everyone who came out in support of independent creativeness. Thanks especially to the great folks who organized the zine fest. Milwaukee is super cool, and I hope be back soon.

This isn’t exactly a junk drawer item, but it does have a lot of potential junk drawers. I found this dresser down the alley a couple blocks from where I live. I put it on craigslist, describing it as “shabby chic.” I wasn’t able to get it sold before the zine fest I was about to leave for. Then I realized this dresser had the perfect drawers to use as part of the junk drawer display at the fest. So, I took some of the drawers with me and filled them with zines. They looked good, and one person there even commented that they were nice drawers.

Now I’m back to selling the dresser, so the drawers have to go with it.
If I do another zine fest, I’ll need to find some other drawers. Maybe some junked drawers.
This is a nice, well-made old dresser, and whoever left it in the alley I’m sure expected someone to pick it up. But they probably didn’t expect that part of it would be part of a zine fest. It’s interesting the way things can get found and passed along.

Of course, America should recycle everyday. But this is a good promotion to get people thinking about recycling, and doing some as well.
There’s a website for it: here.
It’s also a good day to be on the other side of recycling–that is, going out and finding some stuff that people are getting rid of. Whether you’re looking on craigslist, in thrift stores, or in alleys, it’s all recycled stuff!

Junk Drawer will have a table at the Milwaukee Zine Fest this Saturday, today! www.milwaukeezinefest.com

The boulevard sales in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago started up around the Sunday farmers market. They’ve since grown to include a small variety of yard salers, antique dealers, flea market sellers, and artists selling their wares.


I set up a few folding tables and brought stuff to the last few sales of the season. It was a good time, and people were nice.
I heard that the local chamber isn’t pleased that the sales are going on. They may say it’s a traffic issue, or something, but the traffic is mostly already there for the farmers market. If anything, the sales might lead to more business for the produce vendors. Plus people just enjoy going to the sales. It’s like going to garage sales, but a bunch all in one place, which saves you from having to run all around. And in this economy, sales like this really help people out. I sold house wares, vintage odds and ends, and toys. People were glad to buy things there.

I hope the sales are allowed to keep going. The whole thing creates a vibrant and worthwhile part of the community. This is the way cities originally developed—a central market area where various vendors brought their goods to sell. It’s free and open, and based on being good neighbors, rather than adhering to regulations. To some people, it’s the best way to buy and sell and recycle.

I spotted this mythical beast just over a week ago, actually, right before Halloween, sitting on top of a garbage bin. It’s a unicorn costume, in a very small size, complete with iridescent wings, soft horn, and rainbow colored mane. I imagine some family was sorting through their Halloween costumes and decided to part with this one.
When you’re a kid, you don’t want to be the same thing you were before for Halloween. And chances are, your younger siblings don’t want hand-me-down costumes, because they want to be original, and find their own things to be. Therefore, the Halloween costume has a limited lifespan. But one like this is simply too nice to throw away. I tried to sell it on craigslist, and then just give it away. But it was probably too late, and everybody already had their costumes.
So I suppose I’ll donate it.

When I was younger, I remember kids assembling costumes from various things, rather than buying them entirely. It was more creative, and you could personalize it. Even so, the unicorn could be pretty original, with a good amount of imagination.
This magical creature costume will probably end up in a thrift store junk drawer, waiting until next Halloween.

On a recent trip down to Bloomington, Indiana, I went
to a sale called “Junk in the Trunk.”
The event consisted of a group of cars and trucks together
in a parking lot selling junk right out of their trunks.
It was something like a rummage sale or flea market.
A sale like this is not uncommon, but it was neat to see, and to think about selling out of the back of your vehicle. These people had certainly arranged to set up shop in the lot, which was across the street from a recreation center.

But what if you just pulled into some random parking lot and started selling stuff? If you didn’t have a yard, but you had a car with a trunk, it would be good way to have a sale. You could avoid the fees of a typical flea market. Then again, someone always owns the parking lot, or wherever you happen to be, so it could be subject to restrictions. I see fruit and vegetable sellers in Chicago selling out of the back of their pick-up trucks, and I don’t know if they have permits or not.
Perhaps one day, a renegade band of sellers will hit the roads and parking lots with spontaneous Junk in the Trunk sales.