Writer KATIE HAEGELE takes Dogonaut for a walk through her corners of the web...
My name is Katie Haegele. My last name comes from the topographic word hagen, which meant “hedge,” “enclosure,” or “protected place” in Middle High German, and I pronouce ithayg-uh-lee.
In college I studied linguistics, and I’m still very interested in the thing some people think makes us human. (Language, that is. I happen to think that treating other people and living creatures with kindness is what makes us human, but that rules out certain people, doesn’t it?).
I like to write creative nonfiction things best, I think; maybe poems. I also like to write stories that are mostly true, stories that are mostly made-up, and zines. I love zines. I have published my non-zine writing in newspapers, magazines, journals, and books, and I once read some of my poems on public radio.
I am a contributor to the popular books blog Books, Inq. I live in a quiet old neighborhood near Philadelphia. Please feel free to email me.
I've picked a few links that I think are worth a look...
I am devoted to this show. Every Wednesday night the hosts LadyDev and ReDox - who are a married couple who live in San Francisco's Bay Area and have a really amusing, sweet interplay between them - spin three hours of goth, EBM, and industrial music. (EBM means electronic body music, which is basically dance music for grouchy people.) I've always had a soft spot for the goth and these podcasters have introduced me to tons of groups I never would have learned about otherwise. I'm serious, my love affair with this genre rivals in intensity my junior high coming-of-age as a (hair-) metalhead. Dev and Dox arrange the songs like you'd hear them in a club, and it occurs to me as I write this that it would make a good backdrop for a party. Usually I download the show after it's aired, but sometimes I light a bunch of candles and listen to it live. 'Cause I'm spooky like that.
For a long time I avoided myspace, just like I avoid equally boisterous social situations in real life. But eventually I started noticing that people with bands, books, and other projects used the site to promote them, so I plucked up my courage and made a page for my zines. It's not ME on there, I figured, it's my persona as a zinester - and indeed it turned out to be a good way to meet people who are into the same things I am. But my myspace has totally taken a back seat to a new social networking site just for zine makers: We Make Zines. It's a ning site that was started this fall by an American zinester, but its membership is not US-centric. Zine writers and readers from all over the world have been joining steadily for the last few months, starting interesting discussions and uploading pictures of themselves at zine fests and just generally being creative and fun. Even diehards like me, who know how vibrant the DIY publishing community is, have been
surprised by how quickly this site has grown.
I am a little bit in love with this London-based artist, who makes intricate papercut pictures with stunning lines of poetry in them. I haven't been able to afford to buy any of his original pieces yet, but I keep checking his website (http://www.misterrob.co.uk/) and his shop (misterrob.etsy.com), which is where I discovered him and which brings me to the subject of ...
Oh Etsy, what a boon you have been to my ziney existence! This huge site is an online marketplace for many thousands of artists and crafters. I have sold hundreds of copies of my zines and books on here, which is awesome, and I also enjoy using it support other artists by buying their jewelry, screenprinted clothing, prints, and of course other zines. These days if you get a gift from me it's most likely something I found on Etsy.