When I read through the current issue of Paradigm, I found many pieces that were thought provoking and some that just didn t quite work. I don t know whether I m being too blunt in my judgment, but that s how I felt. On the whole I d have to say that I like the direction in which Skot and Jason seem to be steering Paradigm. There are not enough zines around that attempt to discuss the sad plight of the arts in places like London and (perhaps in the future) Oakville. The editorial portraying “The London No Arts Festival” was especially poignant. I mean, why the fuck would somebody organize an art exhibit in a mall and then cover up the “dirty bits” on the nude pieces of art? Moreover, just reading about that kind of small minded shit personally pisses me off. The pieces in Paradigm that didn t quite fit in with the zine s overall agenda seemed to be the poems, and the insert, “Insects as Secret Agents.” While there was nothing wrong with many of the poems on their own, they didn t seem to say much about the subject at hand (namely, the arts in our mall culture). As with all things, though, there was one exception: Kevin Angelo Hehir s “A manifesto, if you will.” This poem seemed to perfectly capture the spirit of what Paradigm is trying to get across. Concerning the insert “Insects as Secret Agents,” I couldn t quite understand why it was included. It says nothing about the arts. And the whole examination of bomb-carrying bugs seemed to be really out of place. Like if Paradigm was a zine dealing with nano-technology I could sort of see this…Looking at Paradigm as a complete package I d have to say that the creators should focus more on their ideas about the state of the arts in Ontario. This would probably entail a lot more weeding out when it comes to the poems, stories, and inserts. I think that once this is done Paradigm could turn into a real kick-ass zine worthy of its name. (DP)
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