Jus t a li t tle tas te of the eclec tic mix of ar ticles we ha ve in e ver y issue of mix tape.

go on!maketime for thesmallthings justine& nichola

14 zine.comzine.com 15

I collect paperbacks. SometimesI sell them but mostly I can’tlet them go. I am happiestwhen I light on a Gold Medalspine, or glimpse a title likeThe Thrill Seekers. (RickiFrancis, Scripts Publications,1973: ‘Nymphomania, drugs,homosexuality, adultery explodedin one huge hospital orgy …) Iheart my little treasures: sevenby our, op-shop sourced, otenwith yellowed pages, ‘oxing’.‘spotting’, corners cut. Oten‘bumped’ rom being stuedunder doors as a temporarybarricade, or shoved up theback o cupboards where noone else can nd them. I’m orweird, spidery, previous-owner-handwriting. And bookplates,stamps or stickers. Then there’sthe ound art component: theholy cards, dockets, dollars,polaroids and love poemsthat once marked a page orsomeone else.The humble paperback industrystarted in the 1930s. Paper wascheap, packaging democratic.The new sot style took booksout o the library and put them inthe milk bar. You didn’t have tobe an intellectual to read greatliterature – traveling salesmenand truck drivers alike couldaccess James Joyce and EmileZola (albeit abridged and withthe prerequisite pulp cover). Theglittering pulps o the 1940’sand 1950s – the James M.Cains and Mickey Spillanes- marked the golden age. Theirlurid covers were all legs andlipstick, gum-cracking, gun-totingmolls and dolls, books with titleslike The Hoods Come Home andPure Sweet Hell. In the 1960sand 1970s, publishers cashed inon the counterculture then slidinto ‘conessions’-land and lmnovelisations and smut … whichis where I come in.I can’t remember where I gotmy penchant or pulp. Therewere always books when I wasgrowing up. I had three siblingsand when anyone had a birthday,we would all receive a book, i.e.or Simmone on the event oNicola’s sixth birthday. I havestrong memories o churchetes and book exchanges. Thecobblers at the New RingwoodMarket had shelves o amazingsmut and they didn’t seem tomind selling it to kids. On aholiday to Merimbula, when Iwas 8 or 9, I swam in a kidneyshaped pool and threw up atereating too much avocado, andmy sister and I stole a book romthe kiosk ‘library’. It was abouta plantation girl named Aurorade Beausoleil (translates to:the rise o the beautiul sun)who was deled by sundryleches rom page one to thebitter end. My search or pulpwas a search or an educationthat I wasn’t going to get romschool, or my parents, or eventelevision. I’m not sure what myexcuse is now. But we humanshave a hunter-gatherer instinct.We collect in order to preservesomething o ourselves, our past.By structuring the past, we arestructuring our identity. Here aresome o the pieces that makeup mine:

Confessions of a Hitch-hiker

Adrian Reid (Pan, 1972)“The boys there were super.Beatniks oten are, you know.Many o them are very intelligent.They just don’t dig society …”George and Hardy are twoteenage drop-outs who spendtheir summer hustling their wayaround the Riviera. They smokepot with beatniks, feece hornyold toads and ‘bricker’ (steal)bikinis and the rest o lie’sessentials. A picaresque or thebudding adventuress.

The Notebooksof Susan Berry

Michael Mott(Mayfower-Dell 6478, 1964)“Everyone talks about going butnobody goes …” Susan is a ree-spirited art student who goeso travelling and pretty muchbounces rom bloke to bloke andcity to country until somethingbad happens. Michael Mottis a poet. You know all thoseadventure stories or boys? Thisis one or girls. It’s just a shameabout the sailors.

The Passion Flower Hotel

Rosalind Erskine – (Pan G678,1962)“We’re in a highly articalsituation, said Mary-Rose.Prostitutes don’t go to boardingschool.” Wherein a group oenterprising boarding school girlsstart a strip-club-cum-bordello intheir gymnasium to service theneighbouring boys’ school. Thereis also a lm starring NastassiaKinski, but ‘Nasty’ doesn’t dounny and this book is hilarious,thanks to the quick-re dialogueand the beautiul delusions o‘Madam’ Sarah Callander. Shegoes on or a sequel - PassionFlowers in Italy.

Bonjour Tristesse

Francoise Sagan(Orange Penguin #1192, 1954)“I owed most o my pleasure othat time to money; the pleasureo driving ast, o having a newdress, buying records, books,fowers …” Francoise Saganamously wrote this book atthe age o 18 and then spenther advance on ast cars andancy wine. It’s about a girl, asummer-house in the South oFrance, her playboy ather andthe woman who threatens tobring order to their hedonisticexistence.

Sex and the Single Girl

Helen Gurley Brown(NEL, our-square 925, 1964)HGB looked kind o horsey butthat didn’t stop her rom nabbingthe man o her dreams. She’s78 now and still exercises twicea day, lives on sot—boiled eggsand soda water. She wrote thebible or the single woman in ahungry town. This is wisdom:- Have diculty with packages.He’ll help carry.- Never interrupt a man whenhe’s telling you a story.- Borrowing money is not sexy.- Political clubs are prettyswinging usually.- Have an ashtray with two reshcigarettes and matches handyin the john.

simmone howell

Simmone Howell is theauthor o Notes rom theTeenage Underground(Pan Macmillan, 2006).She likes op shops,sand dunes, polishedfoorboards, girl gangs,reesias, silent movies,and chocolate. She blogsat post-teen trauma -http://simmone.livejournal.com and sells strangeand wonderul books onEbay under the nameopshoppery.

Part One

Sex Education

Paperback Love

1 – Tur the make up remover wipes (otencontaining carcinogenic parabens and propyleneglycol, usually ound in antireeze) and use agood old-ashioned ace washer. Gentle on yourskin, plus gentle on the environment.2 – Instead o using a plastic shower pu thingy,go or a looah instead. Not only are they are abetter, more organic alternative, but they bu theskin like a dream, and help get the circulationgoing, and can be ully composted when fnishedwith.3 – Try to use soap that doesn’t contain palm oil.This can be tricky one, as it oten masqueradesas ‘vegetable oil’ on ingredients listings. Soapmade rom olive oil is a better choice, and youwon’t be contributing to the extinction o orang-utans, who are losing their habitat to palm oilplantations.4 – Ditch the shampoo and shower gel bottles.Bottles are made rom plastics derived rompetrochemicals – or, in other words, ossil uels.Many companies now make shampoo and soapbars which come packaged in nothing more thana sheet o paper, and rom my experience theywork wonderully. In act, I think my hair looksbetter than ever since using them, and I’m alsoputting ar less synthetic ingredients on my bodyas a result.8 – This is one or the ladies: when your monthly visitor comes along, why not treat them to a reusableoption, such as cups or washable pads? Less or landfll! I you fnd the ‘eeeeew!’ actor too high, then youcould always try organic tampons or pads.9 – Try to source organic beauty products. Better or the earth, and you’ll be absorbing less chemicalresidues to boot. Everybody wins!10 – Toothpaste can contain some airly horrid compounds, such as parabens (oten ound lurking inbreast cancer tumours) and titanium dioxide to whiten (recent studies have ound it to be a carcinogen).An alternative is to scrub your pearly whites with a baking soda paste instead, and i you ear an attack osmelly breath, use the age-old remedy o chewing parsley.

Leisl

is a writer, crater, cook and mad keen environmentalist. Visit her and read about her cratyadventures and lie at

www.jorth.blogspot.com

or at

www.dinnerdaily.blogspot.com

or abulousvegetarian recipes.

…wy  ge yu

Beauty Regime

5 – Slash that showertime! Not only will havinga three minute showeruse a lot less water (which isast becoming the most preciouscommodity on earth), but it will alsosave you money, not only on your waterbill but also on your heating bill. And whileyou’re at it, don’t orget to stick a bucket at youreet, so you can use the saved water to giveyour plants a drink.6 – Make your own cosmetics. There are heapso recipes available online, using things that canbe ound in your pantry and you’ll be saving onpackaging and won’t be giving money to bigbrand corporations with dubious environmentalpractices. How about these to get you started:Add a ew tablespoons o milk powder and ewdrops o lavender oil to your bath or a relaxing,moisturising soak. Or make a body scrub bymixing 1 cup raw brown sugar, ¼ cup almondoil and a ew drops o your avourite essentialoil or an invigorating buer. The possibilitiesare endless!7 – Don’t use perumes, use essential oilsinstead. Mix a ew o your avourites to createyour own unique signature scent, without thenasty synthetic chemicals.

D’ u pefum, usse il sd.D th hmpo d wg bot.Mk yu ow om.Te re p f cpevaabl ln