Microcosm, Microcosm, Microcosm

Last month, Microcosm Publishing released a public statement, on its website, addressing “abuse and support.” It reads, in part: “This statement is in response to individuals in the zine community accusing the founder of Microcosm, Joe Biel, for emotional abuse. Alex Wrekk (of Brainscan and Stolen Sharpie Revolution) and Cindy Crabb (of Doris zine and distro) have written about this, and other zinesters have requested information. … We unequivocally stand for those who have suffered from abuse. And we’ve struggled with where to go from there. The collective believes that ostracizing someone isn’t a healthy, restorative response, and we’ve struggled with accountability being more than a radical judge-and-jury trial. We believe that we’ve been ill-equipped to address emotional abuse and support on an organizational level. We’ve struggled with how to provide that space and forum in Microcosm. … While the movement is gradual, there have been many organizational changes in the past months. Joe stepped down from being a collective member, and Microcosm will be collectively owned by the remaining members by the end of this year. The collective is working to create a Resource Council, an independent group of volunteers to offer support and mediation to Microcosm. Our hope is that an external ring of support could offer help with personal conflicts that fall outside of our Non-Adherence Policy and assist in maintaining a compassionate Safer Space Policy for the non-physical space that is Microcosm. We can’t expect to bandage anyone’s wounds. We do sincerely hope to open the conversation and aid in creating the resources that may someday help others.”

It’s unclear what continued role Joe will have in Microcosm. For the time being, he’s still listed on Microcosm’s “about us” page as the person to contact about “upcoming publishing projects, printing questions, or owing you money.” Microcosm has also announced that it is moving its mail order headquarters, new address: Microcosm Publishing, 112C S Main St., Lansing, KS 66043.

Initially, the page on which this statement was posted allowed for users of the Microcosm website to post comments. In less than 1 day, commenting was closed and all comments were deleted. However, Derek Neuland created screen captures of the comments, which Alex Wrekk has posted at her website. Among the comments was one left by Sparky Taylor (Joe Biel’s partner after his divorce from Alex), which said “I’m sad to say that I no longer support Microcosm Publishing. I cannot support a group of people who so adamantly claim to oppose abuse, but in practice have let it continue for years. This abuse was perpetrated against me, and I have remained largely silent in hopes that Microcosm could be salvaged. I no longer believe this is possible.”

Alex has also published a response to Microcosm’s statement. A discussion of the topic is ongoing at WeMakeZines.