From radio flashbacks to fashion runways, the 80's are back, but what does it mean, really?

We find ourselves returning to this decade for hope and inspiration, for eclectic music and fashion that was risky and new rather than retro.

Many of us found our voices in the do-it-yourself cultures of 'zines and punk rock. This next issue of Die Cast Garden will be in that spirit.

In the 80's, we never thought we would look back at the decade for a model of hope in the midst of great darkness. We compared it to the movements of the 60's and 70's and despaired of the downturn in activism. The cold war fueled our apocalyptic fantasies of mutually assured destruction. Little did we know that things would really drop off in the nineties.

The sky line of New York is forever altered with thousands dead, and a war in Afghanistan has left thousands dead, homeless and suffering. Flag-waving has become a new cliché. Now more than ever the activism of the '80's, the Antiapartheid and Central American Solidarity movements, seems especially inspiring.

Those who survived the 80's, who came of age in the 80's, or who were born in the 80's, we want to hear from you.

We are currently looking for poetry, mirco-memoirs and other non fiction writings on music, politics, fashion, literature and culture in general. We will be putting together a paper zine of Xerox art which will have an online equivalent. We are also looking for multimedia work.

Editorial Policy

Once work is accepted for publication, Die Cast Garden acquires the rights to publish. After publication, rights revert to the author. The author agrees that any subsequent publication must acknowledge Die Cast Garden. By submitting work, you affirm that you have read and agree with these editorial policies. Please submit work in the body of the email, or as an attachment. For attachments, text files should be in rtf (rich text format) or a Mac file. For visual and web-based work, please submit a URL where the work can be viewed, or describe the work via email before sending attachments. The deadline for submissions for 1983 is April 30. Send inquiries and submissions in the body of the email to the editors.