The Babyfish papers consist of a variety of zines, most with a radical, anarchist and pansexual base. The actual zine Babyfish consisted of six issues; this collection includes the latter five. Each of these issues are of varying lengths and themes, but for the most part they address radical topics concerning urban living, with a particular emphasis on the decay of inner-city Detroit. Other papers in the collection include additional radical zines, some of which were created exclusively by Sunfrog, others being collaborative efforts. The collection also includes financial receipts which have to do with the printing of Babyfish.
The title zine is rich in anarchist commentary on social, political, and economic issues that affected the United States government from the spring of 1988 until the final issue was published in the winter of 1994. The Detroit "journey" of Sunfrog is made more palatable by the collaborative efforts of regular guest artists, musicians, poets and those involved with the radical politics of the city.
"With the dynamic skills of Pat Medicine working overtime, the 'fish organized itself into thematic sections which honed recurring motifs. 'Radical Sexuality' (feminism, US Out Of My Uterus, homocore, The Radical Faeries) & 'Earth vs. The Machine' (ecological, anti-nuke, anti-car & anti-incinerator raves) appeared alongside poetry, interviews & reviews which featured such local musical talents as: Only A Mother, Yeastie Girlz, Sleep, Gories, Viv Akauldren, Roger Manning, John Bartles, The Blanks & more." (Sunfrog, Babyfish, Issue #6, p.7)
Babyfish's radical nature "clearly articulated a response to Helms-era censorship hysteria by its use of wild graphics and explicit words, encouraging cultural debate & never compromising the ethic of a "free-form" journal." (ibid.) Sunfrog clearly recognized that his efforts at expression were not definitive. In his final editorial he passes on the radical torch by saying "As we put raps on the final issue of Babyfish, it is clear that there is still an enormous amount of unpublished work which the community deserve a chance to see…this is our final entry in a prolific Cass Corridor journey." (ibid.)
"Late in 1987, Andy Smith poet, anarchist, polysexual advocate and creator of Babyfish moved to Detroit where he volunteered at church soup kitchens & food banks, wrote poems for a self-published chap-book called Automotive Earth, and explores the abandoned skeletons of Detroit neighborhoods with a passionate vigor for discovery. In the Winter of 1988, after an inspired poetic epiphany in a bagel shop in Birmingham, Smith adopts the name of Sunfrog as instructed by the muses. Andy and his best friend Joe Ginis (a.k.a. Swamp Thing) agree to start a music and poetry 'zine. After fervently disagreeing over names for the rag, the editors consult Jan, age 3 who offers up a drawing titled "Babyfish...lost its momma." (Sunfrog, Babyfish, Issue #6, p. 7)
The history of the zine Babyfish essentially documents the radical journey of Andy Smith, a.k.a. Sunfrog, in Detroit's Cass Corridor District. This zine's uniqueness lies in its radical, urban, anarchist, pansexual nature. This zine is a Detroit-based historical document, demonstrating the concerted effort of a particular group of people in expressing their reaction to social, political and sexual injustices in a depressed urban setting. Ties within this zine can also be seen within the much wider Detroit anarchist based community; i.e., The Fifth Estate, The Trumbull Theater Collective, and 404 Willis, and beyond. The zine ended when Sunfrog moved from Detroit to pursue other radical activities in a rural based setting with Lisa Lust Klieger and their daughter Ruby Jazz. The group presently resides in a radical commune near Short Mountain Sanctuary, Dowelltown, Tennessee.