Could YOU be Bristle Magazine?

bristol | media and culture | announcement Tuesday October 02, 2007 12:25 by Bristle Collective - Bristle Magazine editors at bristle dot org dot uk

Wotcha readin 'reader'?

Do YOU know how to put words together to form sentences, that may or may not make sense?

Can YOU not stand idly by while the world goes to capitalist heaven in a handcart, and the dispossessed seem happy to be strewn along the wayside?

Do YOU have something to say about Bristol, good, bad and a little bit different?

Then join the Bristle Collective and start making yourself heard!

Some of you may know, and some of you may not:

- A group of people in Bristol produce a magazine called 'Bristle'. It's meant to come out quarterly, but in fact comes out when and only when its ready.

- Bristle magazine is self-funding, and completely independent. It receives no grants, carries no advertising, pays no wages or stipends, and toes no party line. It is that rarest of rare things in the 21st Century: writing as an art form, for the purpose of generating debate, asking questions but also giving possible answers.

- Bristle is DIY in the classic sense, in the punk ethos. We do it ourselves because that way we keep control, we don't have to mind our P's and Q's, we don't censor, we don't copyright or ring-fence. Some of the collective are punks. Some of the collective are not. At least one of the collective likes protest folk. At least one of the collective likes euphoric house and chanting 'here we fucking go!" at partys.

- Bristle is sold in Bristol, through newsagents, health food shops, kwik-e-marts and social centres. It costs £1.20. On average 600 copies of each issue are sold. Venue sells a lot more, of course, but wheras they have something to sell, we have something to say.

- Bristle has been going for over 10 years, and has produced 24 issues in that time. That is an average of 2.4 issues a year, or 2 and two fifths in old money. If you laid each page of each issue sold side by side, the paper carpet that you would create would stretch to .... fuck knows ..... Clacton or Knutsford or somefing or nuffin?

- Despite being a local magazine for local people, Bristle magazine is widely respected in many circles, nationally and internationally. We are catalogued in the British Library, and more excitingly, the Kate Sharpley Library (www.katesharpleylibrary.net).

- Bristle Collective is always looking for new members, and by new members yes we do mean YOU! You don't have to be a punk, or an Anarchist, or a man, or a woman, or young, or old - just yourself!

- We need people who would be committed to the project to write, draw pictures and cartoons, decide themes, investigate, take photos, chase articles, answer emails, plan pages, layout and DTP, proofread, distribute to existing outlets and find new ones, sell at events / campuses / workplaces / and on the street. YOU could do one or some or all of these things and you would be a valuable part of the project.

So, now you know!

So ......... ?


We're currently at the start of planning for issue 25. Our next collective meeting is upstairs at Kebele Social Centre at 6pm on Sunday 14th October.

If you would like to be involved but can't make the meeting, or want more information, you can email us at editors@bristle.org.uk

Directions to Kebele:
http://www.kebelecoop.org/

Bristle website, which includes a list of outlets and other info:

www.bristle.org.uk