Street Librarian

Chris Dodge Utne Reader

Have you ever left an art museum and suddenly seen something—a single leaf, say—in a new light? My perceptions have been altered in a similar way by reading 'America’s finest news source,' The Onion (33 University Square #270, Madison, WI 53715; $39.95/46 issues; www.theonion.com). Parodying USA Today and hometown papers alike, its straightforward style tweaks politics, society, and current events in a hilarious way that makes 'real' news seem twisted by comparison.

'Twelve Customers Gunned Down in Convenience-Store Clerk’s Imagination,' one headline announces, while another reports: 'Newly Unearthed Time Capsule Just Full of Useless Old Crap.'

Talk to Chris Dodge in the Media forum. Click here: café.utne.com

In The Door Magazine ('the world’s pretty much only religious satire magazine') (Box 500, Missouri City, TX 77549-0500; $29.95/6 issues; www.thedoormagazine.com) one can find tips for repelling Jehovah’s Witnesses, preview Southern Baptist amendments to the Bible, and read about a book titled Jews in the Village: The Secret Alliance Between Judaism and the Village People. Put out by professed Christians, The Door avoids meanness despite all its skewering. Like The Onion, it also runs serious interviews in each issue.

The Journal of Irreproducible Results (Box 234, Chicago Heights, IL 60411; $19.85/6 issues; www.jir.com) offers occasional comic relief for those who have steeped too long behind the ivy walls of academia. It lampoons jargon-laden scientific and sociological writing with pieces such as 'Seat Up or Seat Down? The Bioenergetics of Unisex Toilets.' Geared mostly for scholars, JIR annually awards the Ig Nobel Prizes 'for irreproducible achievements that cannot or should not be reproduced.'

One need not be any kind of an insider to enjoy Funny Times (Box 18530, Department 4CJ, Cleveland Heights, OH, 44118; $21/12 issues; www.funnytimes.com). It’s the best one-stop source of cartoons, comics, and political humor in print. Published monthly, the tabloid runs columns and essays by Molly Ivins, Daniel Pinkwater, Jim Hightower, and Dave Barry, not to mention cartoons by Keith Knight ('The K Chronicles'), Lynda Barry, Andy Singer, Marian Henley, and others.

This Just In
Nervy Girl! ('the thinking woman’s magazine') (Box 16601, Portland, OR 97292; $20/6 issues; www.nervygirlzine.com) began publication last fall with an issue on feminism, followed by issues examining reproductive health, erotica, and Islam. In its pages I’ve learned about Public Radio International’s Satellite Sisters radio show, read a statement by Asian sex workers, and wondered about bespectacled cartoon heroine Angie. Distributed free in Portland, Oregon, this bimonthly deserves wider attention.

Readers in Vancouver have gained Momentum (c/o Emerald City, 425 Carrall St. # 205, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6B 6E3; $30/6 issues; www.momentummagazine.com), a new women-edited publication devoted to the joys of skateboarding, biking, and pedestrianism. Calling itself 'the magazine for self-propelled people,' the first issue (April/May) contains a nice mix of articles on bicycle commuting, pedal power (pedal-driven grain mills, for example), and transportation policy.

Creators of three-time Alternative Press Award nominee The Baffler are calling for donations after a blaze destroyed their Chicago office in late April. A new edition of the iconoclastic political and pop culture journal (#15) was sent to the printer a week before the fire. For more information: www.thebaffler.com.

Talk to Chris Dodge, Street Librarian, in the Media forum at Cafe Utne: cafe.utne.com