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Intrepid Press publishing despite writer shortage
By Nancy Pasternack/Appeal-Democrat
2007-09-17 22:33:00
Assembling the first copies of the first issue involved use of an industrial stapler from the Gatsby era. No one on the staff of Intrepid Press – a teen and young adult-created publication – had physical strength enough to work the antique efficiently. After finishing about a hundred copies at the Yuba County Library, said Skye Appleby, 19, the process was aborted due to a stapler-related thumb injury.
Now five issues wiser, Appleby, and Nancy Nehl, 18, laugh about the
early months of producing their “zine,” or homemade magazine.
Free copies of the black-and-white booklet, which is produced at the
“literary arts center” at Amicus Books in downtown Marysville, appear
in local restaurants and boutiques every three months, on average.
Each issue contains a fresh batch of original poetry, photography, illustrations and comics.
Appleby and Nehl had a lot less experience when they first brainstormed ideas for Intrepid more than a year ago.
But they also had a lot more help. As many as eight contributor/publishers were on hand for the first few issues.
| Intrepid Press editor Tania Ramirez, left, works with staff members
Nancy Nehl, center, and Skye Appleby on their most current issue
Thursday at Amicus Books in Marysville. The magazine publishes original
poetry, photography, illustrations and comics. |
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“They’ve dwindled,” said Kara Davis, owner of Amicus Books, which sponsors the Intrepid project.
Davis is concerned that without an influx of newcomers, the
publication, which she sees as a “great way for young people to be
heard,” will perish.
Even the remaining staff members have trouble finding time.
“We’re all in school,” said Editor Tania Ramirez, 32, who, along with Appleby and Nehl, attends Yuba College.
Thursday was production day.
Appleby, Nehl, Davis, and Ramirez cut and pasted, arranged and
rearranged pieces of what would become the publication’s 28-page fifth
issue (sixth, if you count the leprauchan-sized zine-ette the group
made for St. Patrick’s Day).
Appleby said she originally thought her contribution to the whole
project would be the poems and photos she has continued to make since
childhood.
But zining work was full of surprises.
“I never thought I would have to interview somebody, because I’m uncomfortable talking to strangers,” she said.
A biography she wrote about former Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox co-owner Don
McCullough made it into the baseball team’s program this summer, as did
a photograph she took of the empty red seat he left behind when he died
in April 2005.
Among Intrepid’s participants who have fallen away over the course of
the last year were some who attended Marysville High, Marysville
Charter Academy, and Wheatland High, according to Nehl.
They went away to college or got too busy during the school year, she explained.
For now, she and Appleby continue to enjoy the process of putting Intrepid Press together.
They are carrying on in a long tradition, started by the likes of Ben
Franklin and Thomas Paine, though revolutionary circumstances may have
produced a stronger sense of urgency.
“It was the beginning of summer (2006),” Appleby said of Intrepid’s beginnings, “and I didn’t have anything else to do ...”
Appeal-Democrat reporter Nancy Pasternack can be reached at 749-4712. You may e-mail her at
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