zines & AMC

When I went to the AMC this year, I meet up with a few women from ABUNTU, (http://iambecauseweare.wordpress.com) a women of color and survivor led collective. They "generate strategies and actions that prevent, disrupt, transform and heal sexual violence." I attended the Caucus of Women of Color Bloggers and they were in attendance, and along with the other mujeres there, it was awesome and inspiring while we learned the different forms of media we were using to not only change ourselves, but change the world, as Gloria Anzaldua says. Alexis and Lex also run brokeandbeautiful press (http://brokenbeautiful.wordpress.com), where they have zines available for free on the subjects of survivors, domestic violence, sexual assault. Their press, according to their site, is based on the basic assumption that love, knowledge and inspiration are renewable resources for revolution that we produce together everyday. When I first started wanting to do writing to heal workshops in my community I came across their site and their super helpful and one of a kind worksheets and zines that are available in PDF format to download. Others are available for a small donation. Ones to check out are: Wrong is Not My Name: A Tribute to Survival Via June Jordan; Wishful Thinking (because you make the world so much brighter); Emergency Broadcast a workbook on creative activism and Moral Revolution:A Zine on Creating an Ethical World Together created by Kriti Sharma and inspired by Sarah Hoagland.

At the AMC, Johanna who writes the zine Sisu, Nadia who writes the zine No Snow Here and I (I write the zine Hermana, Resist) led a panel on Women of Color Zinesters. It was an intimate and small group and I have to thank the AMC for making it possible and all the strangers who donated so that the WOC zinesters and bloggers could travel to Detroit. The group was mostly comprised of people who had never done a zine and hopefully they left enthusiastic on having their voices heard and using zines as the medium. While there, I forgot to mention a comp zine that I had put on the back burner because of the few entries. Afterwards, we talked about those attending could submit to The MAIZ Chronicles (http://www.hermanaresist.com/maiz.html) and we'll give it another shot. Interestedly, Alexis from brokeandbeautiful press said she had been putting out zines before she knew they were called zines, so their zines are not well known in the zine community because she mostly gave them away for free in her area, Durham and the Triangle area, North Carolina. I run a distro for zines by women of color and have had it "closed" for some time now because of the lack of zines being put out by WOC. Maybe, just maybe I'll see some new zines trickle in.

I've also been trying to give exposure to zines in my local community. I have these two suitcases I got at the thrift store for about $3 each and I've packed them tight with about 200 zines. This is my traveling zine library. I have shoe boxes here and there filled with another 100 or so zines and might get a third suit case. Suddenly there's an interest in zines here, with folks wanting me to speak to their classes on zines and collaborations between different community groups and how to make zines to reach a wider audience. Hortencia Armendariz (horticulturelandia@gmail.com) is putting out a zine, Domingo Siete, and she is on her fourth issue. In it, she interviews locals who are community building on the grassroots level. In it you'll read about the local community supported agriculture, the Critical Mass we have in our area and the run ins they've had with cops and cars, who tried to run over them and intimidate bike riders, and a group of young punk activist kids called the Valley Peace Alliance. All in all, the zine community is changing, growing and leads me to believe there is still some hope for zines. What I like about zines, and we discussed this at the WOC making zines panel, is that they are low cost, accessible and how they can be used as a revolutionary tool.