The End of an Era

Dear wonderful friends and supporters of Durable Goods....

It is with a bit of a heavy heart that I am announcing the end of the zine Durable Goods after the 2013 season.  It has been an amazing few years and the support I have received from the public about this zine and its work has been outstanding....so much more than a girl could ask for.  Durable Goods has been a huge ambition for me since 2009 when my friend Michael J. Solender egged me to push the project forward.  Since that time I have folded well over 12,000 pieces of paper and written more envelopes and quote cards than my fingers could manage.  

I feel at this juncture it is time to get while the getting is good.  I like to go out on top, so to speak.  The 2013 season is packed with some wonderful writers and artists who have taken over the covers for the year.  It has been my pleasure to serve the community with writer's works from all over the world.  Durable Goods has been distributed internationally in all parts of the world.  I could not have done this without the hard work of these folks:

Leah Angstman of Alternating Current

Andrew Taylor of erbacce

Lynn Alexander of Full of Crow

Jason Neese of Killpoet

Subhankar Das of Graffiti Kolkata

Amanda Oaks of Verve Bath Press/Kind Over Matter

Corey Mesler of Burkes Book Store

and a big ups to Brian Fugett at Zygote in my Coffee who has always been my number one fan and biggest cheerleader.

I have to also thank the wonderful folks on the ground level who place Durable Goods around their cities and towns.  Over the years Kristin Fouquet has been dedicate and faithful as well as Seth Elkins and Christopher Luna.  Piotr in Poland has been representing my homeland too :)

In 2013, you can expect things to be pared down quite a bit in the quantity of copies going out, but the work is above board for sure.  The art will be amazing with works from Kristin Fouquet, David Tomaloff, Joshua Cicci, Isabelle Pruneau, Mark Hartenbach, and Andrew Post.

Thank you to the subscribers who have come back year after year and supported the small press and have taken this zine willingly into your homes.  I appreciate you all so much.  I will be honoring your subscriptions through issue 101 and those of you who have stamps beyond that will get them back in the mail.  I will not be renewing any subscriptions at this time or taking on any new subscribers.

Bless you all for your support.  I think now it is time for me to get back to my own writing and artwork.  Thank you for your understanding and kindness.

Sincerely,

Aleathia Drehmer

Editor, Durable Goods