Koshka Zine

Soviet poster circa 1925. Translation of text at top: “Miscarriages induced by either trained or self-taught midwives not only maim the woman, they also often lead to death.” Caption for upper-left picture: “Visiting the self-taught midwife” Upper-right picture: “Consequences of miscarriage” Lower picture: “Death from miscarriage” Text at lower left: “Any miscarriage is harmful.” Text at lower right: “Any trained or self-taught midwife who induces a miscarriage is committing a crime.” Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine Looks like there was a lot of fear of midwifery and abortion in the Soviet Union, just as there is in the US now! View Larger

Soviet poster circa 1925. Translation of text at top: “Miscarriages induced by either trained or self-taught midwives not only maim the woman, they also often lead to death.” Caption for upper-left picture: “Visiting the self-taught midwife” Upper-right picture: “Consequences of miscarriage” Lower picture: “Death from miscarriage” Text at lower left: “Any miscarriage is harmful.” Text at lower right: “Any trained or self-taught midwife who induces a miscarriage is committing a crime.”

Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine Looks like there was a lot of fear of midwifery and abortion in the Soviet Union, just as there is in the US now!

(Source: sovietico)

Reblogged 3 weeks ago from sovietico 20 notes
fyeaheasterneurope: May 4, 1990 - The Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR declared itself independent of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union didn’t recognize it for another 15 months, but May 4 is celebrated in Latvia as the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia. Happy independence, Latvia! Happy independence to Latvia, where my husband’s family came from! Better yet, we will be on the Latvian turf as of next Friday! I can’t wait.

fyeaheasterneurope:

May 4, 1990 - The Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR declared itself independent of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet Union didn’t recognize it for another 15 months, but May 4 is celebrated in Latvia as the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia.

Happy independence, Latvia!

Happy independence to Latvia, where my husband’s family came from! Better yet, we will be on the Latvian turf as of next Friday! I can’t wait.

Reblogged 1 month ago from easteuropeftw (Originally from fyeaheasterneurope) 42 notes

hello-amber:

yoursecretary:

chicago zine fest 2012 

by peter moxley & anne comperchio

There are lots of babes and friends and babe-friends in this video.

My silly face makes an appearance at 2:25.

I kept seeing this posted and only watched it now, and realized I am in it, holding up Koshka #1! Keep an eye out for a orange crochet poncho! Also, I know a bunch of folks in this video.
Reblogged 1 month ago from hello-amber (Originally from yoursecretary) 20 notes
Things are crazy right now, my hallway is full of zines and I have so much work to finish for my thesis! I just can’t wait to be on the plane to Riga, Latvia…and I can’t wait to see the Baltic Sea. I wear a lot of nautical stripes and I always think of the sailors in and around the Baltic when I get dressed…Things are crazy right now, my hallway is full of zines and I have so much work to finish for my thesis! I just can’t wait to be on the plane to Riga, Latvia…and I can’t wait to see the Baltic Sea. I wear a lot of nautical stripes and I always think of the sailors in and around the Baltic when I get dressed…Things are crazy right now, my hallway is full of zines and I have so much work to finish for my thesis! I just can’t wait to be on the plane to Riga, Latvia…and I can’t wait to see the Baltic Sea. I wear a lot of nautical stripes and I always think of the sailors in and around the Baltic when I get dressed…

Things are crazy right now, my hallway is full of zines and I have so much work to finish for my thesis!

I just can’t wait to be on the plane to Riga, Latvia…and I can’t wait to see the Baltic Sea. I wear a lot of nautical stripes and I always think of the sailors in and around the Baltic when I get dressed…

Posted 1 month ago 4 notes
Koshka #2 is out now!!!! “Homesick and Hungry”, 11 x 17”, 16 pages, b+w with “black, white, and read (red) all over” cover Inside you’ll find: -Jonathan Sanchez Leos’ story of gay porn, Russian police, and how they all come together with a Russian corner store -Riley A. Arthur’s photo essay on handmade greenhouses in the Czech Republic -Robert Krums’ illustrative jam on the product design in Eastern European grocery stores - A peek into my Oma’s cache of recipes - A wee comic on homesickness by Milena Simeonova -Csenge Csató’s drawings of her granny’s kitchen -A comics-essay on the gems and phlegms found in Eastern European delis I won’t be putting copies on Etsy just yet, so copies are now available at Quimby’s in Chicago or through Paypal.  Issue #2 is just $4.00 post-paid to ANYWHERE in the world, and Issue #1 still has copies available at $8.00 pp to the world.  BUT WAIT!!! For a limited time, I am offering a fantastic deal.  Let’s just call it the “I’m almost done with my MFA” sale. For just $10.00 post-paid, you can get both Issue #1 and #2 along with a totally awesome Koshka 1” button featuring the Koshka Kat! It’s a really great deal but will likely only last until the end of the month, so act fast!! (sorry there aren’t any “real” pics of anything yet, but I’m kinda spread thin and tired lately, and I don’t feel like getting all “blog-pro” and elegantly photographing the stacks of zines in my hallway.) For Just Issue #2: For Issue #1: For Issue #1, #2, and a 1” Koshka pin! Best deal at $10! View Larger

Koshka #2 is out now!!!!


“Homesick and Hungry”, 11 x 17”, 16 pages, b+w with “black, white, and read (red) all over” cover

Inside you’ll find:

-Jonathan Sanchez Leos’ story of gay porn, Russian police, and how they all come together with a Russian corner store

-Riley A. Arthur’s photo essay on handmade greenhouses in the Czech Republic

-Robert Krums’ illustrative jam on the product design in Eastern European grocery stores

- A peek into my Oma’s cache of recipes

- A wee comic on homesickness by Milena Simeonova

-Csenge Csató’s drawings of her granny’s kitchen

-A comics-essay on the gems and phlegms found in Eastern European delis


I won’t be putting copies on Etsy just yet, so copies are now available at Quimby’s in Chicago or through Paypal.  Issue #2 is just $4.00 post-paid to ANYWHERE in the world, and Issue #1 still has copies available at $8.00 pp to the world. 

BUT WAIT!!!

For a limited time, I am offering a fantastic deal.  Let’s just call it the “I’m almost done with my MFA” sale. For just $10.00 post-paid, you can get both Issue #1 and #2 along with a totally awesome Koshka 1” button featuring the Koshka Kat! It’s a really great deal but will likely only last until the end of the month, so act fast!!

(sorry there aren’t any “real” pics of anything yet, but I’m kinda spread thin and tired lately, and I don’t feel like getting all “blog-pro” and elegantly photographing the stacks of zines in my hallway.)

For Just Issue #2:

For Issue #1:

For Issue #1, #2, and a 1” Koshka pin! Best deal at $10!

Posted 1 month ago 12 notes

Pretty much the best thing that happened to me this week—a music video for the VDV, or Russian Airborne Troops. This will likely end up on the mixtape version of Koshka that will be made sometime in late summer because it’s too damn catchy!!

Apparently this guy is a big star in Russia; he’s got the handsome facial chisels even though his talent is questionable.

If you’re interested in what he is singing about, there’s an English-subtitled version with terrible video quality here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlQ6KqTlyfk&feature=related

Posted 2 months ago 7 notes
fuckyeahhistorycrushes: Grigori Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic. He was sometimes called the “Mad Monk”. Rasputin highly influenced Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and their son. He is most known for possibly discrediting the Tsarist government which ultimately led to the downfall of the Romanovs. Also known, for me anyways, as the villain in Anastasia, the animated film where he sells his soul to the devil to take the Romanovs down. This didn’t actually happen obviously but Rasputin did have an interesting death. He was stabbed once and his entrails were even falling out of the wound. He survived only to be poisoned with cyanide 2 years later by Prince Felix Yusupov and two other nobles, Dmitri Pavlovich and Vladimir Purishkevich who lured him into the palace under the false pretenses that Princess Irina would be there. This also didn’t take and it was speculated that he was never actually poisoned in the first place. After realizing the poison wasn’t working, either because it didn’t exist or because Rasputin was some kind of devil man, Prince Yusupov (The man who was trying to kill him because of his influence on the Tsarina) took a revolver and shot him in the back. When Yusupov left the body and the palace without a coat, he came back to grab a coat and went to check on the body. Lo and behold Rasputin opened his eyes and lunged at him. So as this “dead” guy is lunging at Yusupov and trying to strangle him, he’s obviously like “oh shit this dead guy strangling me”. However, Pavlovich and Purishkevich were there to back him up and shot Rasputin another 3 times. Guess what? He still wasn’t dead. So of course they clubbed him into submission which I bet took a while seeing as how nothing seems to get this guy. They finally disposed of the body, submerging him into a partially frozen lake. Best part? HE WAS STILL ALIVE THEN TOO. Yep. So after being shot four times, poisoned with a very considerable amount of cyanide (which autopsy reports show was indeed ingested) and bludgeoned, he was alive enough to have water in his lungs at the end of it all which means he was underwater trying to breathe. Does this make him crush-worthy? While he wasn’t the most attractive of men and most of the information above is debatable in the first place since there are only the accounts of Yusupov, Purishkevich, and Pavlovich as evidence, you have to admire his alleged fight.

fuckyeahhistorycrushes:

Grigori Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic. He was sometimes called the “Mad Monk”. Rasputin highly influenced Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and their son. He is most known for possibly discrediting the Tsarist government which ultimately led to the downfall of the Romanovs. Also known, for me anyways, as the villain in Anastasia, the animated film where he sells his soul to the devil to take the Romanovs down. This didn’t actually happen obviously but Rasputin did have an interesting death.

He was stabbed once and his entrails were even falling out of the wound. He survived only to be poisoned with cyanide 2 years later by Prince Felix Yusupov and two other nobles, Dmitri Pavlovich and Vladimir Purishkevich who lured him into the palace under the false pretenses that Princess Irina would be there. This also didn’t take and it was speculated that he was never actually poisoned in the first place. After realizing the poison wasn’t working, either because it didn’t exist or because Rasputin was some kind of devil man, Prince Yusupov (The man who was trying to kill him because of his influence on the Tsarina) took a revolver and shot him in the back. When Yusupov left the body and the palace without a coat, he came back to grab a coat and went to check on the body. Lo and behold Rasputin opened his eyes and lunged at him. So as this “dead” guy is lunging at Yusupov and trying to strangle him, he’s obviously like “oh shit this dead guy strangling me”. However, Pavlovich and Purishkevich were there to back him up and shot Rasputin another 3 times. Guess what? He still wasn’t dead. So of course they clubbed him into submission which I bet took a while seeing as how nothing seems to get this guy. They finally disposed of the body, submerging him into a partially frozen lake. Best part? HE WAS STILL ALIVE THEN TOO.

Yep. So after being shot four times, poisoned with a very considerable amount of cyanide (which autopsy reports show was indeed ingested) and bludgeoned, he was alive enough to have water in his lungs at the end of it all which means he was underwater trying to breathe.

Does this make him crush-worthy? While he wasn’t the most attractive of men and most of the information above is debatable in the first place since there are only the accounts of Yusupov, Purishkevich, and Pavlovich as evidence, you have to admire his alleged fight.

Reblogged 2 months ago from crikeyoctopodes (Originally from fuckyeahhistorycrushes) 496 notes