Parcell Press

I know that guy.

Our apologies to Stone for not having his writing credit up for about 20 hours.

Parcell Press and Taylor are awesome.
Is Stone friends with him or something though?
Cause this article seems to be promoting Parcell Press, above and beyond anything else that happened at the zine fest.
That's at best.
At worst, I would think there is definitely some sexism going on, Let me explain; this years Zine Fest was organized by 5 amazing women. There were no dudes involved, Liz Canfield, Nicole Introvert (Click Clack Distro), Sarah Maitland, Celina Williams , and myself were the organizers.
There is absolutely no hint in this article that women have anything to do with zines. Even when two local zine distros are mentioned, the fact that women run them is overlooked and they are lumped in with the "guys' that run Parcell Press.
I think Stone did all other distributors at the zine fest a disservice by making it sound like Parcell Press was somehow superior. And I think having an article with lots of mention about the zine fest, but without quoting the organizers whom he interviewed, or using the definition of zine they gave him, or mentioning anything about any woman there (except maybe one quote from an attendee) is pretty fucked up.
I am not happy with this article. I think this is an example of the work of women in radical/alternative/punk communities being overlooked while the spotlight is still given to a man.

Mo, after reading your comment, it's plain to see that you're upset, and I can understand why. Please, allow me to clarify a few points, and hopefully we can better understand where the other is coming from. First, in the interest of total disclosure, I must admit that I do in fact know Taylor. That said, neither mine nor RVA's relationship with him were the driving force in the writing of this article; instead, it was my aim to promote a (formerly) local business, founded by a native Richmonder, in the hopes of sharing the story of a young person making good through his own creativity and ingenuity, which we here at RVA and the folks behind the Zine Fest and the various local distros can always appreciate. So with that story--a local kid making good through his art and his ambition--the focus of the article, I had wanted to do a feature on Parcell Press for some time, and with the Zine Fest coming up, I thought the timing was perfect. You're correct in noting that the focus is mostly on Taylor and Parcell Press, and please understand that was always the intention of the article, long before this year's Zine Fest opened its doors. It was never my intention to slight the organizers, other distributors, or attendees with this article, and I apologize if that is the way you feel. I can lay the blame for having left out a wider overview of the Fest itself and of the people behind the scenes at the feet of a required word count, and admittedly, a necessarily narrow story scope. I'd also like to thank all of this year's Fest organizers for their help with this article, and the helpful info and quote they provided me (which I cited not to an individual organizer, but to "Zine Fest organizers," as I was advised to do, if that helps to dispel any confusion regarding that issue) . I must confess that I am surprised to hear that folks there were unsatisfied with the article. After I completed it, I made sure to send a draft to the Fest's organizers to clear it by them before sending in a final draft to my editors here, and the article received the thumbs up and it was my impression that you and rest of the organizers were happy with it. If there was some miscommunication somewhere down the line, then that is regrettable. Lastly, I will have to disagree with your charge that the article is sexist. While I agree with your statement that too often women are overlooked in these sorts of settings, and are not appreciated enough for their roles and for their work, I do not believe that this is the case here. Please understand that the focus of the article was always meant to be Parcell Press, and my intention was always to simultaneously promote a small, independent business, as well as the Zine Fest, the zine community-at-large, and last but not least, next year's Zine Fest--a 4 birds with 1 stone kind of thing. This was a tricky thing to do, and unfortunately I had to budget my information some. If the fact that this year's Zine Fest was organized entirely by women was left out, that was because I was never made aware of that fact. I did my best to include as much as I could about the Fest, its organizers, and its participants based on the information I had, while keeping the focus on the original, intended subject of Parcell Press. I would totally agree that what you describe--a successful, large-scale regional event organized entirely by women--is a very interesting story. It could easily merit its own article. Unfortunately, there just wasn't room in this article. Please understand that no slight was intended, and that the Fest's organizers--yourself included--have nothing but my respect and my thanks for their help with this article, and for an awesome Zine Fest this year. I hope this helped clear things up, Mo, and thanks for commenting.

There's a fine line between dismantling the gender binary and reinforcing it.

This seems to me to be a fine article highlighting a local operator of a small press. As a vocal feminist, I saw no malicious content in the article, and I certainly don't think it merited such a malicious comment. What's "fucked up" might be attacking someone who's just trying to spread the word about the fest and give it a personal touch. I think that having a connection to taylor was a asset to the article. It certainly made it more interesting.