Getting To Know Your Local Zinester: Lauren Eggert-Crowe

Lauren Eggert-Crowe
Galatea’s Pants

What was your first zine about and when was it made?
Technically, my first ‘zine was Chrystelian Weekly, a newsletter I made on Microsoft Publisher ’95 when I was twelve years old. It was a newsletter from The Land of The Unicorns. For almost two years, I made one every few weeks and sent it to my two cousins, Raija and Nicole. It was filled with notices about upcoming Crescent Moon festivals, serious reportage on pegasus kidnappings, history lessons about Fairy Rights, and breaking news about the corruption trial of the dreaded Fawna Louise. All illustrated with extra-awesomely pixelated clipart, of course.

Describe your most recent zine.
Most recently, I completed the 10th Anniversary Issue of Galatea’s Pants, the ‘zine I’ve been making since I was sixteen years old. I wanted to celebrate not only my own accomplishment of producing a ‘zine for over a decade, but the accomplishments of other creative women around me. I interviewed several of my friends about their own projects. Food blogger Nishta Mehra of Blue Jean Gourmet. Aisha Sloan of the Seminole Street Artists Colony in Detroit. Printmaker Melanie Cervantes of Dignidad Rebelde. Activist Claire Tran of Right To The City. And columnist Anna Pulley. I also interviewed my 16 year old self about what it was like to make a ‘zine.

Of all the things you’ve ever made, zine-related or otherwise, what’s your one favorite?
It’s almost impossible to choose a favorite thing that I’ve made. But I’m really proud of my poetry chapbook, The Exhibit, forthcoming in January 2013 from Hyacinth Girl Press. It’s my first big publication, and I’m psyched.

Name three of your influences and how they affected your work.
When I began Galatea’s Pants, my biggest influence was Kate Flannery, the author of the ‘zine Sneer. It was straight up 1998 Riot Grrrl. She wrote about feminism, John Hughes movies, Sylvia Plath, craftiness. I was hooked. Right now, in poetry, my biggest influences are Jane Miller and Lisa Ciccarello. Jane is a master of lyricism. She can do breathtaking short lines that feel like perfect round pearls, or long run-on prose poems with gorgeous detail. Her language is very deliberate, as is her reading voice. Lisa is my contemporary, and we’ve collaborated on several projects. Her poetry has this haunting, lulling rhythm to it, like a spell or an incantation. She infuses her lines with magic, transforming the mundane into the magnificent through poetic alchemy, even if she’s just writing about a video game.

What do you do when you’re not creating and how does it help or harm what you do artistically?
Watching TV, staring at Facebook, grocery shopping, cooking, hiking, exploring L.A., traveling. Sometimes these are sources of inspiration. Other times they just give me an excuse to turn my brain off for awhile.