OUR TOWN
Going to Hell in a story by Leanne Bick | photos by Lily Beck design & illustrations by Lizeth Valdes Taylor Brunwald likes long walks on the beach, puppies and fried chicken. By day, Brunwald is an upstanding Ellensburg citizen, but every Monday at 7 p.m. he dons a new personality– Taylor B, radio d.j. and host of the show “Handbasket” on Ellensburg Community Radio (ECR). The radio shares its name with one of Taylor B’s personal projects, a zine – a self-published magazine – that explores a wide variety of themes. Handbasket zine, published independently by Taylor B, came before the radio show and is completely independent of the auditory experience. “The zine absolutely is not endorsed or condoned or anything like that by ECR,” Taylor B says. A few zine issue topics include heroes, body types, sex and pride, and that’s not all. “Politics and religion,” Taylor B adds to the list, “the two things you can’t talk about at the dinner table or on ECR.”
Bringing Up B In his own words, Taylor B was “raised an army brat.” His father was in the military, meaning his family hopped between southern states with changing duty assignments. “Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma,” Taylor B says, recalling some of the places he’s lived. “Yes, I’m calling Oklahoma part of the South but that’s a whole other conversation.” As a child, Taylor B found a love for zines through the show “Rocket Power,” in which one of the characters produces her
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own zine. As a fan of the band Rolling Stones as well, he soon found himself loitering at newsstands and snagging magazines in waiting rooms. Taylor B went on to obtain a bachelor’s of arts in communications with an emphasis on journalism at Cameron University, which would set him up for a career in media. After graduating from college, the first publication Taylor B worked for was OKIE Magazine based out of Lawton, Oklahoma. There, he had the chance to meet Indie Michaels,
editor of the magazine and a radio show person ality that Taylor B had listened to prior. Taylor B was ecstatic to work alongside Michaels, and during their time together he helped Taylor B get his zine up and running. It was full of essays, poetry and artwork, but excluded one thing: AI. “I despise AI,” Taylor B explains. “I’m fascinated with the people’s first hand perspective.” The Handbasket zine would soon become much larger, providing a voice for the people. At first its audience wasn’t very large, but a good friend of Taylor B’s, Tara Giancaspro, recommended creating monthly themes to make the publication more cohe-sive. Taylor B took the advice, and his audience responded in kind by multiplying exponentially.
Creation vs. Creativity The creative process is an elusive creature, one often described by artists and innovators alike with a variety of colorful metaphors. Taylor B uses the tasty comparison of a banana split to describe his favorite part of the creative process: seeing his projects come together. “What’s your favorite part of making a banana split?” He asks, providing what may be the obvious answer. “The banana split. But then it’s slicing the bananas. and putting on