Skip to content

When Is Software Too Indie?

Think about the size of an independent publisher when assessing your needs.

Robert Rackley
Robert Rackley
5 min read
When Is Software Too Indie?

When I was transitioning between high school and my first year of college, I created a zine. I was armed with a typewriter my great aunt had owned, a glue stick and some plain white letter paper. There was a Kinkos nearby for production of my little publication. I named the zine Martha Dumptruck, after the picked-on character in the movie Heathers. The cover was a picture of DIY lo-fi hero Lou Barlow that I lifted from the album The Freed Man (which later got warped from sitting too long in the sun — one of the perils of vinyl ownership). The contents consisted of a fake interview with the cover star conducted via a magic 8-ball, some record reviews and an address where anyone who shared the sensibilities of the zine could write to me.

During my second semester of college, I developed a lump in my chest that would initially be dismissed as just my sternum, but would later be diagnosed as lymphoma. I had to start treatment at Duke Medical Center immediately after my diagnosis and drop out of East Carolina University a few weeks short of the end of the semester. Grades had to wait while I got some unwanted spare time. I needed something to focus on, apart from my cancer treatment.

π

Related Posts

Non-standard Sunflower

The election is, whether mercifully or unmercifully, in the rearview mirror. Like some others, I want to turn my attention away from the day’s news, so closely coupled as it is with political events. Before I read about Kid Rock being appointed ambassador to the U.N., I mean

On Dark Horses

A conversation with a colleague led me to a surprising musical discovery.

On Dark Horses

The More Things Change

What are we to make of claims that we are part of a civilization in collapse?

The More Things Change