Abstract Door is a perzine that covers lots of ground: people watching in Chicago, show reports, lots of public transit rides, and daring attempts at international romance, just to name a few. Each issue features a beautiful, block-print-stamped reproduction of a door from somewhere in the city—cemetery gates, an old apartment, the entrance to a monastery. Abstract Door #5’s cover is a CTA bus’s door. This issue riffs on the zuihitsu writing form (fragments and short essays responding to the author’s surroundings) that here loosely contrasts Chicago with other cities. Vicky’s mini-essay/stories cover crushing on babes in high school, give a good Chicago zinester visitor’s map, consider how one makes unexpected travel buds through Livejournal, going to “Vega$,” and taking a lot of public transit rides. Memories zip past like bus and subway stops flashing past the window. Sometimes the ride stops, but only briefly. All this in a layout with hand-drawn pictures, photos, weird Livejournal icons—and it’s in color. I envy Vicky’s casual zine swagger. –Jim Joyce (abstract-door-zine.tumblr.com)