people like us

people like us
carda burke
photocopy on paper, unpaginated (5.5 x 8.5 in.)
queens, new york: self-published, 2008
http://cardaburke.com/

‘people like us’ — this title can, of course, be read at least two ways: ‘people who are like us’ and ‘people who admire us.’ this zine, as probably most zines, has decidedly more to do with the former. here, ‘people who are like us’ are vague, young figures somewhere (always somewhere, never anywhere) in suburbia whose initial attraction (or at least some formative part of their relationship) to each other might be a shared feeling of ennui. such is the case with the narrator and her best friend, cynthia, when they take on jobs at an uncool, mall record store. predictably, they lift records together; but more importantly, the contraband becomes an object through which their allegiance to each other is performed. choice line: ‘only by forgetting can i see the place as it really is.’

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