I recently recollected something I hadn't thought about in a long time.
About two decades ago in Sacramento, I was goofing around playing in bands. Somebody I met on the local music scene, a guy called Dean, invited me to write something for a zine he published: Be Brave Bold Robot.
I gave him a short story called "Just Whistle" and he was kind enough to include it in Issue 9 of his zine, released fall 2003.
Now, please understand, we're talking about a zine here. Actually photocopied onto paper, with physical staples. No, you couldn't download it. You had to go to a show, where Dean would schlep a box of copies and sell them to you for a buck or so. These things haven't existed since before most of you were born.
There's something I need you to realize: this shit was cool. Zines like this were created fully in the spirit of believing that people, wherever they were, right at that moment, could create something of cultural value that was fun and expressive, and you didn't need a corporation or an algorithm or a promotional budget to impart value to it. Though I'd lost track of this memory for a while there, I'm proud now to think that my first publication was this indie and this DIY.
It's probably safe to assume this issue of the zine is out of print now (unless Dean decides to run off more copies tomorrow), so perhaps he wouldn't mind if I typed it up and reposted it here. Perhaps someday I will. The title, "Just Whistle," may sound cute, but the story isn't exactly suitable for work. Though that depends on what kind of work you do.