As some of you all may know, I am a regular peruser of the Pander Zine Distro message board, and I try to involve myself in whatever is currently being done by other members. In the early days of November, I noticed a thread that was simply entitled "Pander Secret Santa", and the creator of the thread was no other than my friend Jon from Indianapolis, who does an excellent zine that everyone should check out. E-mail me for more information about that, as I am not sure if he wants me to put all of his information to everyone that reads this zine. Pretty much, Jon appointed himself the master of the ceremonies, and set down the list of rules that everyone was to follow in making the Secret Santa memorable. And, believe me, it was incredibly memorable.

I was paired with Linda Nguyen from Throwdown. To properly shop for the people, Jon collected a listing of what exactly everyone liked, and I got a list of what Linda liked in a short email. Simple enough, as what she wanted was pretty much what I expected from your typical indie/punk/emo girlina. I got a box started, and put in some poetry books and issues of my magazine, along with some other zines that I felt represented more of the zine culture that she may not have been into at that time. I feel all good, getting the Secret Santa box out by like the twentieth, with mucho days left before the holiday, and I forget about sending her the box until like January 1st.

On January 1st, I was thinking to myself "Hey, I wonder why I never got my Secret Santa box?". I jump on the pander list and lo and behold, I have a post proclaiming how cool the box is from Linda, and an assurance that she had sent out the box earlier just like I did. Jon got in touch with me on instant messenger telling me that the box was sent to my Indiana/school address, a problem because I was then at my parents' house for the holiday season. I got back to DePauw on the sixth, a Saturday, and our mail service is not in on weekends, so I had to wait until the Monday after to pick up the package.

The Monday finally comes, seemingly taking eons to come, and I am able to go and pick up the package from the college's post office. The box was a simple, small cardboard dealy, and I was able to open it after having it in my knapsack during my Winter Term class, An African-American experience. Seriously, though, I am sure that the students in the class were having a good time looking at me, as I must have seemed like a kid opening a Christmas gift. That is not too far away from the truth. At first, I had thought that she only had sent me a book, until I lifted it up and saw all the awesome things that awaited me. Under the sheet of tissue paper was a treasure trove of just completely cool and innovative gifts that Linda was nice enough to pick out for me, totally putting my present to shame.

First off, the book, a copy of Virgil's Aeneid translated by Robert Fitzgerald, was a totally excellent present that I only wish I had a few years ago. Don't get me wrong, that was an excellent present, and totally something I want. But it was the other, smaller things that completely and utterly blew me away. First off, there were these awesome half-magnets that I do not know whether Linda made or not, but there were these half-marble things sandwiching little pop-culture icons, making a magazine. Mmm. I only can recognize something saying "Kiss" in one of the three that she sent me, but I have to say that they look hella cool sitting on my refrigerator. However, I was no where near ready to see what she had stuck to an index card.

I practically had a heart attack when I saw the pins that Linda had stuck on the index card, being ones from Le Tigre, Rocky Horror Picture, and Shock Treatment. It just really got me that she was able to find one for Shock Treatment, so those are now currently stuck to my knapsack, really adding a lot to the indy cred that I need so badly (this is sarcasm folks). Finally, the packet was finished up with an utterly delicious Red Hot Valentines sticker that I still need to find a great place for, and a number of J-shaped pipe cleaners. This gift was one of the most memorable I have ever gotten from anyone, and the fact that it was from a stranger just makes it all the more better.

The zine scene just really needs more of these events to foster some sort of community where only a shadow one exists now. From all I've noticed about the various zine communities, it seems as if there is just way too much internecine fighting and bickering between the groups. These events do a lot in trying to forge bonds of community that will prove hard to be destroyed, even with the purposeful isolation of certain groups by overzealous zinesters. Thank you Jon, thank you Linda, and thanks to Ericka Pander for allowing something so cool to go on. I will be doing this for years to come, and would be more than happy to take over its' reigns should Jon not be able to continue it. Mwah!


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