Thursday, January 26, 2017

Cemetery Gates Volume 5, Part 1: Cities in Dust


The whole end of December and all of January have been rather challenging for me, so I apologize for the absence. Besides all the usual holiday-craziness/traveling, my sweet cat Havoc got sick right before Christmas (and right before I was heading out of town). I took him to the emergency vet before leaving, and he seemed okay after getting checked out, but when I got back he still wasn't himself, so we've been going back and forth to the veterinarian (this is the first time he has ever been sick in 11 years!). He isn't quite out of the woods yet, but he seems better. And as if that wasn't stressful enough, I caught the nasty flu bug going around and have been sick for the past two weeks and haven't had energy to do much besides sleep, not to mention the awful state of the U.S. at the moment.

Anyways, it seems like I am on the mend (fingers crossed) and next week I'll find out if my dark prince Havoc is doing better. At least while I was sick I had the chance to catch up on some long-overdue reading, including Cemetery Gates Volume 5, a DIY zine created by the badass Kendy aka MissMuffCake! She releases many amazing zines (you can check them all out on Etsy!), and this one is filled with cemetery stories and photography. I've shared past issues of Cemetery Gates (check out Volume 1 and Volume 3!) and loved them, so I was stoked to dive into Volume 5!


Here is a description of Cemetery Gates Volume 5, Part 1: Cities in Dust from Kendy herself:

Cemetery Gates vol 5 is part of a series titled Cities in Dust. I am exploring Northern CA ghost towns cemeteries and digging up history. The formatting has changed from my last 4 zines. I am trying something new. 16 pages with a color cover. 

This issue is about the ghost town known as Liberty City and the neglected cemetery my boyfriend and I spent time exploring. 16 pages with photos, a brief history and some information on the different sects of Freemasonry I found within the settlers buried at the cemetery.

All zines are printed, stapled and made with love.

First of, the color cover looks incredible, with a photograph of a tall, worn tombstone marking the resting place of Fannie, who died in 1878, framed by green grass, blue sky, and vineyards in the background. Upon opening the zine, we are treated to the story of how Kendy came upon an old and overgrown cemetery near the city of Galt, California. She speaks of slipping through a decrepit gate and wandering through weeds and broken headstones to discover a plaque stating the crumbling cemetery she was standing in was the last piece of a disappeared town that was called Liberty City.


Forgotten cemeteries and a mysterious town?! I was hooked!

Kendy goes on to describe what happened to Liberty City and gives some really neat background on this town whose only inhabitants are now ghosts. There are also many stunning photographs of the cemetery and its monuments, taken by Kendy and her boyfriend Matt. I really enjoyed reading about Liberty City and seeing the cemetery photographs, the history behind it all was so fascinating!

The solitude and decay of the Liberty City Cemetery really embody the spirit of the "Cities in Dust" motif of the zine (and I'm sure Siouxsie would wholeheartedly agree). I loved reading about this cemetery and its history, so much so that I'm sure I've re-read the zine several times over by now!

You can support DIY and buy this zine (and many other volumes of Cemetery Gates) via Kendy's Etsy shop!

Make sure you also follow her her blog, Facebook, and Instagram, too!

Stay spooky!

2 comments:

  1. Ooh, how fun! I haven't bought a zine in forever, and this looks like the perfect one to get back into it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thank you for the kind words! i hope you feel better and havoc as well. it seem like being sick - human or feline is going around! lots of cat naps are in order!

    ReplyDelete

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