joe erbentraut

zines

Since 2020, I’ve published a Substack newsletter on politics and pop culture through the lens of the push for queer visibility and prosperity in west suburban Chicago. In the fall of 2024, I launched a companion printed zine for the newsletter and in June 2025, I published the second edition of the series.

Queering the Burbs #01 is a collection of 16 essays and interviews including retooled versions of some of my favorite pieces that have appeared in the newsletter over the past four years as well as many new essays that are exclusive to this collection. Interviews in this issue include conversations with local Fox Valley activists and artists Annie Hex, Scott Naylor, and Lyndsay Hartman.

Queering the Burbs #02 is a collection of essays and interviews centered on the first four months of Trump’s second presidential term and focuses on how the local queer community is navigating this era and still finding pockets of queer and trans joy. The new collection includes interviews with local artists and activists Martin Beirne, Rhiannon Hammer, and Beverly Trafton.

The cover art of both issues was created by Jaime Torraco, a very talented local visual and tattoo artist.

“Almost as soon as the first Queering the Burbs zine was released in October 2024, so many people were asking when the second issue would come out. That first issue drew from eight years of my lived experience as a queer, nonbinary millennial living in Chicago’s western suburbs, and I assumed it would take me some time to gather up enough to say to warrant a new issue. 

It is now Pride Month 2025 and we are living under an administration that is doing everything it can to erase trans and nonbinary people from existence. We are experiencing a worst-case scenario for queer and marginalized folks in real time. There is so much to say. It was time. 

The essays and interviews included in this zine directly address the horrifying political landscape our community is currently navigating, but this issue also speaks to something bigger. From Charli XCX and first crushes to Tori Amos and mental health journeys, this zine celebrates how we as a community tap into queer and trans joy no matter how dire the circumstances.

No matter what the fascists do, we still must document our lives and our stories—our joy, our love, our fears, and our pain. I hope this zine helps queer and trans folks feel seen. I hope it makes you laugh and maybe even cry. I hope it helps you feel less alone. We got this because we got each other.” — Joe Erbentraut

The zine is also available for purchase in person through select local partners. Buying through these rad small businesses in and around the Fox Valley lets you hit two birds with one stone–supporting a local queer-elder journalist and a queer/ally-owned business all in one go! I highly recommend either route.

An up-to-date list of current Queering the Burbs zine stockists can be found below. If you are interested in carrying the zine at your business or would like to recommend a business where you’d like to see the zine available for sale, contact me at queeringtheburbszine@gmail.com.

PURCHASE THE QUEERING THE BURBS ZINE AT: