The Encyclopedia of Doris: Stories, Essays, & Interviews

Doris zine #0

by Cindy Gretchen Ovenrack Crabb

Cindy Crabb has been writing her influential, autobiographical, feminist zine, Doris , since the early '90s. This new collection offers stories, essays, and interviews from 2001-2011, and it collects issues 19-28 as well as some never before published writings. If you've read Doris before then you know what's in store. If you haven't, then I'll say that Cindy has a great writing 'voice' that makes you want to keep turning the page. Over 300 pages!

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Politics, Activism, Memoir, Unfinished, Transgender

322 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 2011

Reviews

[Ashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

delightful and packed full of really well-thought out, beautiful writing. discussions of death, abuse, trauma, healing, anarchafeminism, and even a couple recipes. lots of little pieces that i’ll hold close to me, some very readable and accessible essays on anarchism that id definitely recommend esp for people unsure about it.

unfortunately i cannot give it five stars because of the repeated use of the t-slur (which I know especially in zines was frequently used as a term of endearment towards trans people). crabb didn’t use it in a derogatory way but it did still make me cringe every time.

[chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am actually always reading this book

[Waffle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential. Going on the "life affirming/life changing, must share with everyone I love, will return to often, seemingly endless fruit for thought/discussion/implementation to better my own life and this world" shelf.

[Danna]

The Encyclopedia of Doris is a collection of Cindy Crabb's zines, written over a 10-year period. Cindy delves deeply into topics that make many of us uncomfortable: incest at the hand of her step-brother, her troubles with consent and future sex partners, abortion, anarchy, and much more. As I read her entries, which read somewhat like a diary, I kept feeling that this should be required reading for everyone! Her piece on consent was amazing and instructive for men and women.

I went through Doris with a highlighter and marked everything that touched my soul: from Crabb's tendency to wear a tiara on shitty days to how she views the world. I was less interested in the entries solely focused on anarchy, so I skimmed a couple, but read every other word.

I identified with Crabb and the private emotions she made public. I believe most of us can, whether we've had trauma like hers or not. She is able to name sensations and emotions that most of us never speak about, but have felt such as, "My slight embarrassment and uncomfortable pride one day when I realized I'd slept with half the boys in the bar. Ok, there were only 8 boys in there, but still..." (124).

Reader advisory: graphic, many typos and spelling errors, informal... All the more reason you should read this book.

[Ocean · Rating 5 out of 5]

you need to read this book. it's a roadmap. it's a miracle. it will make you feel less alone. it will point you in the right direction. there's even a fucking chocolate cake recipe, come ON!

[Tinea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Readin Cindy Crabb all grown up as I was growing up a fukd up punkkid anarcha-feminist survivor of sexual assault & abuse is partly why I felt/feel totally empowered to still claim those identities, write blog posts like zine pages, center my own healing and care plus care of others and care for the earth, feel extremely, be crafty in terms of makin simple beautifuluseful things with my hands, and live in small but poignant details of the world tho I guess I'm all grown up now too!

This anthology is the sort of thing you give protégées as gifts when the struggle's got em down. Doris is a zine I reference again and again, I look up google image searches of scanned pages when I gotta quote a story or lesson (try it! the best pages of the anti-depression guide are waiting for you in google!). I lived for a few tuff years out of the Support and Consent zines. I like to know that there was once Girl Gangs and could be again. Cindy & I even lived in the same county in Ohio at the same time once loving the same good old earth but tho we exchanged a little email we never got to meet up.

Punk hero, distiller of science and theory and politics and complex post-traumatic stress disorder into comics & little thoughtful digestible tidbits. Yes, go read Doris. Then write and draw and cutnpaste and send out your self to the world, too, because that's the point.

[Ashlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

So dog-eared, pen-marked, and love-worn that it just might fall apart and return to the original zine-sized chunks it's comprised of.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleasantly surprised to find this book at my library! I had read a few issues of Doris zine, but had no idea she had published this anthology. It manages to keep that gritty, cut & paste feel of the zine, even in book format. Cindy writes at length about feminism, her mother's death, friendship, and heartache. My favorite story is the one about planting things and not expecting to actually have the ability to make things grow, and her surprise when she did, indeed, grow food for herself. My only complaint is that sometimes stories and events repeat themselves in other stories, as this wasn't edited down from the original publication in zine format.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely one of the best books I have read in a long time. It took me about three months because it hit a chord so strongly at times I had to put it down for self preservation. Cindy Crabb is able to talk about really difficult issues, and theory in the most amazing, honest way. I also learned a ton of new shit that I now want to read more about! This is a book for all my feminists, radicals, queers. More than anything, it is for all my radical friends who have lost parents and know what thats like.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A- A great anthology of this fantastic zine, Encyclopedia of Doris. It's arranged according to letters of the alphabet, and deals with issues like punk, death, alcoholism, abuse. Great, really intimate.

[Alan Nicoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

I find this book incredibly impressive and heartfelt. I've read it at least twice and I consider it essential reading for men who want to understand women. I gave a copy to my counselor; she said it was dull, but of course there would be nothing new in it for her.

[Klley · Rating 5 out of 5]

i heard her at this zine reading and then i leafed through the zines and got excited and purchased. its pretty scattered and is gonna be great for radical bathroom reading.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing, which isn't surprising. I'm a rather new Doris fan, but Cindy Crabb is just so great at writing in a way that is engaging, informative, and empowering at the same time.

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome essays every girl should read. and boys too

[Kristilee · Rating 5 out of 5]

So inspiring, brave, and beautiful.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic.