The 2006 Edition

 “Your zine is great! And only mildly depressing.” — Actual reader

“Very interesting. … I was bummed that in the end everyone died!” — Another actual reader

“Utterly addictive.” — David Shields, author of Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, among other works (and also an actual reader)

“Where Were You?” is a zine, published annually. Each edition consists of one year of entries from an ongoing journal dating back to 1992, when I first became interested in the intersection of mundane life and high-profile death.

The project has changed over time, and today I simply keep notes about “where I was” when I learned that someone – anyone have heard of, or find interesting, basically — has died. These notes have gradually evolved into a kind of sporadic, elliptical diary: a life in deaths.

The 2013 edition is available now, here. 

The zine iteration of the project began with the 2006 edition. Copies of that are no longer available.

Same deal with the 2007 and 2008 editions.

The 2009 and 2010 editions were created as e-zines (with crucial and much appreciated help from Harold Check). The 2009 edition is available here, on Feedbooks. The 2010 edition,  is also on Feedbooks. These digital editions are free. Details of the 2009 edition and how it came about are here.

The 2011 and 2012 editions were published jointly in a special “double issue,” because I was busy. I used Magcloud, which makes it available in either print or digital form. I do not recommend the print edition — or Magcloud. The digital iteration is free. Go here.

Research for the 2013 edition spawned a side project: An “epic poem” titled “One Year of Descriptive Phrases from New York Times Obituary Headlines: 2013.” It’s just what it sounds like, and was published by HiLobrow on January 3, 2014. The poem was later converted into an audio piece, by way of a text-to-voice translator:

Please sign up here to be notified of future editions of Where Were You?: https://tinyletter.com/RobWalker.