The Future Generation: The Zine-Book for Subculture Parents, Kids, Friends & Others

by China Martens

A pioneer of the genre, especially when it comes to mamazines, China Martens started The Future Generation in 1990. She was a young anarchist punk rock mother who didn't feel that the mamas in her community had enough support, so she began delivering articles on radical parenting to her compañeras in an age before the Internet made such a thing easy.

Now, for the first time, 16 years of her zine and parenting writing life come together. This zine-book uses individual issues as chapters, focuses on personal writing, and retains the character of a zine that changed over the years growing from her daughter s birth to teenagehood and beyond. Personal and political; ideas and actions; the intimacy of a zine meets the arching reach of a book.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction, Politics, Memoir

Paperback

First published April 1, 2007

Reviews

[Emily]

Had it's lulls, but it was very cool to see how a mother and daughter grew and changed across time and it definitely made me think about my own values and experiences wrt to parenting and family

[Ciara · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is one of those zine anthology books that has been such a popular format for the last few years. this one anthologizes "the future generation," a long-running zine for "subculture parents, children, friends, & others". china gave birth to her daughter, clover, in 1988, & hence kind of pre-dated a lot of hip mommy stuff that swept the country in the 90s, & then had some lonesome struggles being the parent of an older kid while all her subculture parent buddies were struggling with parenting younger kids. so the book has a lot of very unique perspective about these issues, which i appreciated a lot. there still aren't really a ton of parenting zines out there in general--not as many parenting zines as there are navel-gazing emopants zines by teenagers & twentysomethings, anyway. but within the parenting zine community, there are very few written by parents of older kids & teenagers. china's daughter is now in her twenties! & this book spans china's entire active parenting life. i think she started when clover was two, & the book ends with clover's first year in college, working as a waitress, living at home & having a companionable friend relationship with her mom.

i have to say, it took me a little while to get into this book. it's kind of large format, & the text is sometimes pretty small & packed into two columns. it's broken up occasionally with photos & collages & crazy zine stuff, because it's a zine anthology, but china only anthologized her own writing (there were lots of contributions & other stuff in her zines that she excised for the anthology), & so sometimes it got a little heavy. & some of the parenting theory stuff, drawing on the example of tribal cultures & writings of anthropologists, etc etc...well, it dragged a bit. i'd read these anthropologists & child evolutionary psychologists & stuff myself if i wanted. i appreciate what china was doing, but i just couldn't get too excited about it personally. i think things picked up a lot when china got more into just telling stories & sharing experience & letting the political meaning come out naturally. maybe that is also why the writing about parenting an older kid appealed to me more--i think the writing itself was just a little stronger.

it was definitely an interesting read, but i acknowledge i'm not really the target audience, childless as i am, without even any close friends who have children. i have a niece in ohio, but not much relationship with her or her mom (my little sister). i plan to have kids someday, & when that day comes, i'll probably give this a re-read, along with all the other gazillions of parenting books i read all the time even though i don't have kids. (i went to midwifery school. somehow you can't go to midwifery school without amassing a small library on child psychology & parenting technique.) but be forewarned: thanks to the not-entirely user-friendly format, this isn't the kind of book you can curl up with, you know? you definitely have to read it in bits & pieces & it will probably take a while. oh, & it totally bummed me out that the very last line in the book was about "not holding yourself back by trying to be PC". i mean...REALLY? it's 2009, people. can we please stop blaming the imaginary cult of "political correctness" for stopping us from acting on every guilt impulse?...whatever.

[Artnoose McMoose · Rating 4 out of 5]

An anthology by China Martens of her zine and Slug & Lettuce column of the same name. A testament to a punk mom who still did zines while raising a child, and remarkable because she started almost two decades ago, before the wave of punk mama zines and books.

A little repetitive at times because after all it includes reprints from zines made sometimes years between. Still, worth checking out for parents, would-be parents, and friends of parents.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so glad that this radical parenting classic is back in print! China Martens blazed a trail for hip mamas and feminist parents everywhere with her zine The Future Generation--I count myself as a one of the many writers following in her footsteps. The new afterword from China's daughter is thoughtful and poignant. This would make a great gift for any expectant parent fed up with the candy-coated "What to Expect" series.

[Fivel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Martens' writing, her politically charged punk rock parent-centric zines, are deeply meaningful to me. It's great that there's an anthology together. I'd recommend looking out for her next work, which she edited with Vikki Law, called "Don't Leave Your Friends Behind."

[Maia · Rating 4 out of 5]

so far it is a lot of fun

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

a gift from my friend p~ it is so far a great collection of essays.
Loved it.

Great tips and stories from another non- tradionional mother!

Thank you.