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A great gathering. Parish, Parish release at Uncharted Books....

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:35:43 -0500

A great gathering. Parish, Parish release at Uncharted Books. March 10, 2012.

PEDDLED GOODS

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:05:00 -0600

Happy book release day, folks! All editions of Parish, Parish are now available for purchase or download. If you live in Chicago, I’ll even bike deliver a copy of the book to you for free (for real).

groundsmanpublishing.com/snagacopy

PARISH, PARISH RELEASE

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:51:00 -0600

Parish, Parish hits the shelves tomorrow. Don’t miss this chance to snag a unique, limited-run handmade edition of the book! Some background:

» Almost four years ago, I went to New Orleans to write a few stories for the weekly I was working for. I was fresh outta college, and at the time, it was a big assignment. Everestish, even.

While in NOLA, I wrote stories, and I wrote them with energy. One about Katrina’s aftermath, one about a libertarian presidential hopeful, another about environmental desolation within city limits. Videos were made, photos aplenty were taken, a podcast was created.

Alas, nothin’ was ever published. The editor was laid off shortly after I returned to Kansas with my material. Thus, editing purgatory, forever ‘n ever. Bummer. The stories were like little daffodils lounging in sidewalk cracks.

Figured I’d rewrite it all.

Now, it exists as a lyric essay. I call it “Parish, Parish.” It’s a creative nonfiction that blends journalistic prose with daydream imagery and inner turmoil. I’m set to have 100 handmade copies of the book completed by March 10, stitching the pages into covers adorned with sponge-painted acrylic lettering. »

If you’re in Chicago and you’d like a copy for yourself or for consignment, email:
hello [at] groundsmanpublishing [dot] com

If you live elsewhere in this great ‘ol US of the A’s.
groundsmanpublishing.com/snagacopy

The book will be available at Uncharted Books, Quimby’s, 826 Chicago starting next week.

You are beautiful, you are the landscape.

All the best,
Groundsman Publishing

“We’re bound to obey what our officials want us to...

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 11:36:00 -0600

“We’re bound to obey what our officials want us to do whether we agree with it or not. They’ve flipped the coin on us, and we need to flip it back.”

2008 Presidential Candidate Daniel Kingery

(see also: Parish, Parish, page 11)

Beeswaxed thread within the sigs // sewn into matted...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 12:57:49 -0600

Beeswaxed thread within the sigs // sewn into matted cream-on-black covers // adorned with black-on-red acrylic // defined by ink outline. Oh, they smell nice, too.

SWAMPLAND ELECTIONEER

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 09:12:00 -0600

Kingery, Daniel. Libertarian. Stalwart. Whitmanesque in clairvoyance, and in facial hair, too. I tried to keep my focus as I felt the gravity of Zoe’s eyes locked on me from across the table.

“We’re bound to obey what our officials want us to do whether we agree with it or not,” he said. “They’ve flipped the coin on us, and we need to flip it back.”

With his fingers he brushed his beard, an eight-inch facial foray that stretched into the unknown. Iowa native, former marine, handyman extraordinaire; my greatest regret is not giving him my vote. The electoral climate was far too biased to let him win in 2008, granted. Obama’s so-called grassroots campaigns trumped Daniel’s own grassroots efforts by far. But then again, most of Daniel’s funds came from his laundromat in Wilcox, Arizona. Other campaign contributions often came from laborious tasks, like tire work.

He preached at the table: get rid of congress, they’re treasonous liars. Hear! Hear! from the crowd.

Daniel, you would’ve been the sixth president with a full beard — the first with full-on facial fur in 115 years. A modern-day Rutherford Hayes.

— Parish, Parish

JULIE MARIE BYRNE

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:35:00 -0600

Majestic, haunting, serene, devastating. Julie’s voice evokes sentiments of summer’s cicadas, of the ocean’s lapping waves, of waking up from an afternoon nap in a swirl of beautiful confusion. She’ll be playing at the Parish, Parish release and reading on March 10 at Uncharted Books.

“Young Wife” by Julie Marie Byrne.

Pages in production.

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:03:47 -0600

Pages in production.

MARCH 10, 2012 >> RELEASE AND READING

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 09:18:00 -0600

» A barge broke through the levee wall,
causing ceiling fans to sag.
The stupid journalist,
he put a machete to grass,
and through gaps in the weeds,
he saw a girl with horn-rimmed glasses. »

Join us as we celebrate the release of “Parish, Parish,” a nonfiction lyric essay that combines elements of journalistic prose, interpersonal struggle and eccentric psychedelia.

Story by Brian Lewis-Jones
Interview conducted by Kyle Klipowicz
Featuring the amber sounds of Julie Marie Byrne

Uncharted Books, 2630 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Logan Square, Chicago, Illinois
6 p.m. » 9 p.m.

“Parish, Parish” is the debut release from Groundsman Publishing. Fine handmade books will be available for purchase.

Refreshments will be provided until y’all eat and drink everything.

I cranked on the single speed, dreaming of Kansas and cycling...

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 11:20:00 -0600

I cranked on the single speed, dreaming of Kansas and cycling around the campus. But this was different; not a human in sight, for the seashell-littered street lacked proper houses on its fringe. In a way, I felt free. Alone in desolation, a partnerless sojourner, no immediate deadline, nothing but exploration of soul and NOLA.

FROM THE FOURTEENTH PAGE

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:08:00 -0600

I walked by the man with a desire to share words. An American flag stood tall outside his discolored government dwelling. At the base of the flag, a photograph of a young boy, surrounded by rocks laminated with white paint. “Come home Michael,” a cardboard sign read. I approached the man and he did not notice me, and I do not blame him, but I could not help but feel sad for it all, and a particular sadness for my sadness, considering my lack of lacking.

And dang, three years of waiting for Michael.

— Parish, Parish

A surgical procedure of sorts. Hand-punctured pages with beeswax...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 00:15:00 -0600

A surgical procedure of sorts. Hand-punctured pages with beeswax thread.

Awl together now (awl together now).

ABOUT GROUNDSMAN

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:11:00 -0600

Established in 2012 as Logan Square’s DIY bookmaker, Groundsman Publishing strives to deliver enthralling stories via quirky hand-bound paper packages. The bookbinding process is one of invention, discovery and raw beauty. Beeswax-infused hemp thread, cotton-based paper and acrylic sponge stencil exist as the lighthearted beginnings of a manufacturing process forged in sanguine sentiment. So please, snag your coffee, dear reader, and partake in our unique paints smudged twice over, our peculiar vernacular stitched into art, our handmade designs that embrace oddity. For how real life does feel when born of blemishes and bound in books.