Leila Darabi, Queen of Trash
Ok, I just have to say it: Leila Darabi is the Queen of Trash. I’d never heard of her when I founded The Visible Trash Society in 2004, but once I decided to make at least a moderate effort and turn the concept into a blog, I soon discovered her fabulous trashpile, everydaytrash.com. Wow!
Now I’m no slouch when it comes to being interactive, nor when it comes to digging up and publishing content when I put my mind to it. My zine (QZ, short for Queen Zine) came out twice a month from issues one to 100, then monthly after that for another 22 issues. I’m saving issue 123 for a “ten years later” issue. But anyway, back to a different kind of trash…
If I were to make a colorful comparison, I’d say that Leila’s everydaytrash.com is like the US Open, and Visible Trash is more like that sleepy little putt-putt place you saw on some country road in South Carolina, the one with the big green homemade dinosaur grazing next to a lumpy fiberglass volcano whose red lava waterfall is set on endless loop. Leila’s a serious trash reporter, taking nighttime excursions with freegans to explore the trash bins of Morningside Heights, interviewing interesting people like professor Robin Nagle, and even getting invited to exotic destinations to talk about trash. Meanwhile, I grow Visible Trash at about the same rate as decomposing cigarette butts. It’s not that I don’t often go trash hunting, it’s that I don’t often see stuff that rocks my world, so I don’t have anything for show and tell. From a couple comments Leila’s made lately, I see she’s been having the same problem.
But still, she posts. And she also has a day job which sounds fairly demanding. Hats off to her - I dunno how she does it! So anyway, if you’re looking for real news on all things trash, go to everydaytrash.com. And if you want to play some putt-putt, come on ’round to the trailer in the back. We’re probably open.
September 1st, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Whoa. You just made my day/week/season!!! Thank you for this lovely tribute and, even better, surge of motivation to ramp up and spice up substantive posting on everydaytrash. The one thing I disagree with here are the semi-disparaging remarks about The Visible Trash Society. It’s about quality not quantity. I’ve discovered some amazing trash-related things reading your blog—a couple times I’ve even learned about trashies fighting the good fight right here in my own town. How you find this stuff from Europe eludes me. So impressive. I think it’s cool our blogs cover the same topic in different ways, one compliments the other. Rock on.
September 1st, 2008 at 1:18 pm
[...] The Visible Trash Society made my day with a digital collage and glowing post dedicated to….everydaytrash.com! What an honor, especially coming from a respected colleague. Little Shiva is an artist, [...]
September 1st, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Heehee… well, it’s not that I’m putting myself down, it’s that I’m always so blown away by the fact that you (Leila) manage to post so MUCH, interesting and of good quality, that you manage to do interviews and go places and do real reportage AND hold down a day job… seriously, hats off!
Trash hats, of course!
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:59 am
Leila really is an inspiration to garbloggers and trash posters around the world, I read everyday trash all the time for the dirt on what is happening.
And of course, Little Shiva, you are such a good white trashionista, I wish you would blog more, but I agree with Leila, you really do dig up some good garbage when you do post!
LOVE LOVE LOVE your graphic of Leila in a trash hat and garbage can, I think I will have to go and create some trash hats for reals, love, etc Ruby
ps any news re: fantastic plastic??
November 28th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
yep! she is one of my favorite garbage lady’s too!: