Ever heard of Bamboo Girl or Thought worm? Panelists Sunday at the Independent & Small Press Book Fair named these publications as among their favorite self-published magazines, better known as “zines.” Eleanor Whitney said one of her favorites was called On Subbing, about the life of a substitute teacher.

Jenna Freedman, who created an archive of zines at Barnard College, moderated the panel, which was held at the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen. The program was titled “Zines: Independent Publications in a Corporate Media World.” Participants included Ms. Whitney, who wrote her undergraduate thesis on zines and the political empowerment of young women; Lauren Jade Martin, who publishes a zine called Quantify and is earning her Ph.D. in sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center; and Ayun Halliday, who publishes a handwritten, hand-drawn quarterly called the East Village Inky. Ms. Halliday confirmed to the Knickerbocker that her book, “Job Hopper: The Checkered Career of a Down-Market Dilettante” (Seal Press), about what she called “day jobs,” may be optioned for television.

***

HOSTILE HAIKU During an earlier panel at the book fair, Jason Bitner spoke about a publication he co-created, Found magazine. It collects letters, photos, “to do lists,” doodles, notes, and myriad other printed ephemera that people have abandoned, lost, dropped, or thrown out. The magazine reprints these disparate items, describing who found them and where – allowing readers to peer voyeuristically into others’ lives.

The audience enjoyed Mr. Bitner’s reading of five haiku found on the front door of a building on Chrystie Street. The haiku had been posted by a resident who was awakened early by a neighbor’s alarm clock. Here’s a selection: (Haiku #2) “Maybe you didn’t / Realize just how loud it / Actually is.” This was followed by another: (Haiku #5) “Is it possible / To buy a softer one? Or / Turn it off sooner?” The author of the poetry ended the note with, “I know the poetry is bad. But I haven’t gotten much sleep.”

***

BROOKLYNITE BASH Daniel Treiman held a party at Floyd, N.Y., on Atlantic Avenue last month to celebrate the second issue of the Brooklynite, a general interest magazine focused on the borough. The crowd, mostly in their late 20s and early 30s, played bocce and ate hot dogs and hamburgers catered by Schnack, a Carroll Gardens eatery with its own blog.

Mr. Treiman compared the publication to a kind of borough “ethnography.” One can feel the texture of Brooklyn’s varied neighborhoods unfold in the magazine’s pages – from the visa problems of Russian circus dwarves in Brighton Beach to competitive spelling bees at a bar near the Williamsburg-Greenpoint border. Other pieces report on the future of Coney Island or the effects of revitalization in East New York.

“It’s important that Brooklyn have a magazine that’s not afraid of tackling tough issues,” Mr. Treiman said. “Right now is a time of tremendous change in the borough, so it’s worth having forums for exploring which direction we’re headed and sometimes even yelling ‘Stop.'” Here, the avowedly liberal Mr. Treiman playfully echoed William F. Buckley Jr., who wrote, in launching the National Review: “It stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.”

“We’re not boosterish,” said Mr. Treiman, who has sharply criticized the Atlantic Yards development proposal. In a section of the magazine called “The Pontificator,” Mr. Treiman compared developer Bruce Ratner to the avaricious Mr. Potter in Frank Capra’s film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

The party contained a mix of writers, photographers, business people, and journalists. Seen were Elizabeth Holtzman, who wrote an appreciation in the inaugural issue about her former Congressional colleague Shirley Chisholm; clothing entrepreneur Michael de Zayas of Neighborhoodies.com; and food critic Arthur Schwartz.

Mr. Treiman’s journalistic experience includes an internship at the American Prospect and a staff writer position at the Forward. Asked to compare his magazine to other borough periodicals, he quipped, “There’s one thing the Brooklynite has that BKLYN will never have – vowels.”

gshapiro@nysun.com