{"id":186,"date":"2026-08-07T20:14:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/?p=186"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:28:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:28:58","slug":"edict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/07\/edict\/","title":{"rendered":"Edict"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"788\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/080726-edict-788x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-187\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.7695366685349808;width:517px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/080726-edict-788x1024.jpg 788w, https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/080726-edict-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/080726-edict-768x997.jpg 768w, https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/080726-edict.jpg 924w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 788px) 100vw, 788px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Frame source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metmuseum.org\/art\/collection\/search\/460358\">The Metropolitan Museum of Art <\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among my cohort &#8212; RGV art scenesters &#8212; I am generally associated with zines.  That is an understandable thing, because it&#8217;s what I publicly spent <a href=\"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/080726-sazf-2019.jpg\">my 20&#8217;s<\/a> doing, and Ante Books did me a real favor distributing these works when the place was still around (RIP).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2026, the word &#8220;zine&#8221; has many contradictory meanings.  Traditionalist that I am, the process entails this (stuff I have formally studied in bold):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Transcribing information, thoughts, and essays (<strong>writing<\/strong>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Making drawings and relevant photos (<strong>visual arts<\/strong>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Putting all the elements together (<strong>graphic design<\/strong>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Creating the print layout (<strong>graphic design<\/strong>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Printing the masters (is that the correct word?) as cheap as possible<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Xeroxing as many copies as I need<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cutting the pages<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stapling it all together<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Distributing it to the community<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As an art form, it is rooted in the 90&#8217;s punk scene, so how it looks is not really the important part.  Which is good, because once I hit the xeroxing stage, things get very warped and slightly ugly.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I like that though&#8230;I think it&#8217;s cute and charming.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, that&#8217;s a hard sell in the age of relatively cheap, professionally printed self-published goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Besides, selling them is not really the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">90&#8217;s punks understandably had a lot to be angry about, and the only way they could express and disseminate very vital, very frowned upon ideas was through zines. Yet, with the way things are now&#8230;the 90&#8217;s seem like a kind of paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I wish I lived in a world that was right, but in order to get there, I must exist in the here and now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Dee Valdes, I really don&#8217;t want to sell things I myself cut and copy, but that impulse towards self-publishing is fundamental to how I see things. The form introduced itself to me when I was high school, and it felt like a revelation &#8212; you can just <em>do<\/em> things. I would buy random zines online, then make some to encase my screaming spirit. I had always felt painfully, singularly alone, but through the mediation of a copy machine, my essence would instantly multiply&#8230;just like magic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Among my cohort &#8212; RGV art scenesters &#8212; I am generally associated with zines. That is an understandable thing, because it&#8217;s what I publicly spent my 20&#8217;s doing, and Ante Books did me a real favor distributing these works when the place was still around (RIP). In 2026, the word &#8220;zine&#8221; has many contradictory meanings. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":191,"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deevaldes.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}