Category: Zinefest

Zinefest 2019 Tablers: No News Yet

This email went out out to tablers about ten days ago, but it seems that it went straight to spam, so here it is, on the internet, for all to see:

Dear You,

Thank you so much for applying to table at the 2019 Feminist Zinefest. We had a wonderful response–160 applications, the most ever. While that is great news, signaling a tremendous investment in feminist zine culture in NYC and beyond, space is finite, so we anticipate not having enough space to accommodate everyone. The James Room at Barnard has room for 33 full tables (i.e., 66 half tables), but we will try to add tables in other rooms on the same floor to create more space.

Continue reading “Zinefest 2019 Tablers: No News Yet”

Advertisement

Community Agreements

New York City Feminist Zine Fest Community Agreements

Have Fun!

We invite you to have a good time and meet each other.
Challenge Your Participation

Challenge yourself to speak up/participate more or move up by making room for others to speak/participate more.

**Respect people’s names and pronouns at all times

**Oppression is real and exists

Most of us in the room have and/or are currently experiencing oppression. As we share this space we will work against oppressing one another.

We all make mistakes and hold each other accountable.

If someone says something that feels hurtful or offensive, we encourage you to acknowledge what just happened. If you have said something that was offensive or hurtful to someone, we encourage you to acknowledge what just happened.

Check your responses/Gauge your reactions

If something comes up during a discussion or activity that you find hard or difficult, try sitting with that feeling to better gauge how you’d like to respond.

**Respect people’s physical boundaries and personal space at all times

Please do not touch people or their belongings without the consent of the person (even hugs!). No physical violence or threats of violence of any kind will be tolerated.

**Even if your intentions are well meaning, please do not ask someone what their “old name” was or if they are trans, gender nonconforming, or intersex.

Barnard College has unfortunately had a long history of transmisogyny (prejudice against trans women) and we want NYC Feminist Zine Fest to challenge that, not replicate it. It is up to the individual whether or not they want to offer up that kind of information.

Take care of yourself/Take care of your needs

Please don’t hesitate to ask if you need any assistance.

**Please respect the space

We are all responsible for throwing away our own garbage and recycling and cleaning up any mess. Please don’t hesitate to ask if you need any assistance. Damaging or destroying any equipment, materials, or building property is not allowed.

**If you choose not to respect this group agreement, you may be asked to leave.

derived from the Sylvia Rivera Law Project

Acuerdos de la Comunidad

¡Divertirse!

Te invitamos a pasar un buen rato y conocer a los demas.

Ponte a prueba su participación

Ponte a prueba de hablar/participar más o ascender al hacer sitio a otros para hablar/participar más.

**Respetar los nombres y los pronombres de la gente en todo momento.

**La opresión es real y existe

La mayoría de nosotros en el espacio tienen y/o actualmente estan experimentando opresion. Al compartir este espacio vamos a trabajar contra la opresión entre unos a otros.

Todos cometemos errores y sostenemos mutuamente responsables

Si alguien dice algo que se duele o se siente es ofensivo, le animamos reconoce lo que sucede. Si ha dicho algo que era ofensivo o se duele alguien, te animamos reconoce lo que sucede.

Compruebe sus respuestas/Mida sus reacciones

Si algo sucede durante una discusión o actividad que usted se siente es difícil, trate de estar con esa sensación de mejor medir cómo desea responder.

**Respetar los límites físicos de las personas y el espacio personal en todo momento

Por favor, no toca a las personas o sus pertenencias sin el consentimiento de la persona (incluso abrazos!). La violencia física o amenazas de violencia de cualquier tipo no será tolerado.

**Aunque sus intenciones son buenas intenciones, por favor, no pedir a alguien lo que era su “nombre antiguo” o si son trans, de genero no conforme, o intersex.

Barnard College ha tenido por desgracia una larga historia de la misoginia trans (los prejuicios contra las mujeres trans) y queremos que el Zine Fest Feminista de NYC desafiar eso, no replicarlo. Depende de la persona si quieren ofrecer ese tipo de información.

Cuida de ti mismo/Cuide sus necesidades

No dude en conseguir comida y beber, ir al baño, estirar o tomar descansos en cualquier momento. Por favor, no dude en preguntar si necesita ayuda.

**Por favor, respeten el espacio

Todos somos responsables de tirar nuestra basura y reciclaje y limpieza de cualquier espacio desordenado. Por favor, no dude en preguntar si necesita ayuda. No se permite dañar o destruir cualquier equipo de oficina, materiales o propiedad del edificio.

**Si decide no respetar este acuerdo de la comunidad, es posible que se le pida que deje.

Interview with a Zinester: Interference Archive!

Today on interview with a zinester, we have the bunch of rad folks over at Interference Archive talking to us about their work collecting and exhibiting zines to the public! Their space in Brooklyn gives a home to a lot of radical activist work and artwork and they will be bringing some of their community flair up to Barnard this weekend for the zine fest. Check out what they’ve got to say!

fem_zine_3

Give us a short description of yourself and the work you do (including any zine samples if you have them!).

Interference Archive explores the relationship between cultural production and social movements, through exhibitions, an archive, publications, workshops, and an online presence. The collection contains cultural materials and crucial tools of communication and expression: posters, flyers, publications, photographs, books, T-shirts, buttons, and audiovisual recordings. Through our programming, this cultural ephemera is used to animate histories of people mobilizing for social transformation, which is often marginalized in mainstream society. As an archive from below, we are a collectively organized, and are open to the public.  We work in collaboration with like-minded projects, and encourage creative engagement with radical histories and current struggles.

How did you come to collect zines? Why are they important to your collection?

At the Archive, we have collected zines through our involvement in social movements, punk, riot grrl, and political art projects over the past 25 years.

A large part of the Archive’s original collection came from the personal collection of Josh MacPhee, who started collecting zines as an extension of making them. The first zine he made was in 1988/89 with a group of friends, and was mostly poetry and graphics, with some punk record reviews. They tried to sell it for a quarter in the high school lunch room. The first zine he “collected” was a mail-art type thing he picked up a year earlier.

Zines are important because, through the process of creating and distributing them, their creators become part of a DIY community and meet other artistic collaborators.  Through zines we encountered a wider network of people independently publishing and disseminating alternative media. They are a marker of the ability of marginalized individuals and small groups to express themselves, and articulate different ways the world can work. They are the foundation for understanding that we can both do things ourselves, and do them in ways that run counter to the status quo.

What is your favorite zine or piece of mail art? Do you like any specific style/part of a zine?

Mimi Nguyen’s evolution of a race riot made a gigantic impression; another favourite is Annie Danger’s Go Fuck Yourself, about DIY sex toys.

If you could sum up your zinester life in a kitchen appliance, what appliance would it be?

I think if Interference Archive were something in the kitchen we could be described as a large glass Pyrex storage container-solid, accessible and climate controlled which you can look through whenever you want.

fem_zine_4

Interview with a Zinester: Julia Lipscomb!

We’re back with Interview with a Zinester! This time, we’ve got Julia Lipscomb, a bi-coastal zinester that has volunteered at several zine libraries, including the Zine Archive and Publishing Project (ZAPP) in Seattle and currently ABC No Rio. We’re excited to have her table at the zine fest this year! Let’s hear what she has to say:

(psst, if you haven’t checked out our last interview with new zinester Devon Spencer, you can see it right here!)

JuliaPicture

1. Give us a short description of yourself and the work you do (including any zine samples if you have them!).

I write personal zines! I’ve been writing zines since 2004, and honestly my zines have gone through as many phases as I have. In high school, I wrote about music. In college, I was writing poetry and chapbooks and sometimes zines about archiving from my internships. After college, zines proved to be my only recession-proof skill. How NOT to Write a Resume is a comic published after sending my resume to over 200 positions and getting rejected by 30 interviews. I think it’s important for zines to come full circle. When you evoke difficult feelings in zines, it is the responsibility of the zinester to start in a happy place and end in a happy place. Whether that’s framed by poetry, comedy or another rhetorical device is up to the zinester. No matter what I write about, it’s always personal.

Currently I’m pursuing a Masters in Arts & Cultural Management at Pratt Institute. Basically I love working in nonprofit arts organizations so much that I decided to study them! My classmates and professors are very inspiring.

2. How did you get introduced to zines? Were you influenced by anyone? And what was your seminal zine moment?

Like most zinesters, I started publishing zines before I even knew what a zine was! My seminal zine moment was visiting the Zine Archive & Publishing Project (ZAPP) in Seattle the summer after graduating high school. In Spokane, Washington, where I grew up, I could count the number of zine publishers on one hand. At ZAPP, there were thousands – and by thousands, I mean twenty thousand – zines in every genre imaginable (or unimaginable). It was unreal and definitely humbling. I knew I had to step up my game.

Growing up in Spokane, I was influenced by local writers and cultural leaders, by people who included zines in a larger community of artists, musicians, writers, publicists, record labels, and other innovators doing their thing independent of profit. Local journalist, Isamu Jordan, was publishing a weekly music column in the alternative publication, 7, and interviewing every musician in the community – I was very inspired by that and started interviewing musicians myself. Sadly, Isamu passed away suddenly last September and I can’t think of my earlier beginnings without remembering him.

3. What does it mean to do “feminist zine-making”? Does feminism appear in your work (explicitly or implicitly)?

Anyone regardless of gender who uses zines to protect and defend their political, economic and social rights is doing feminist zine-making, in the broadest definition of the term. I also believe that keeping a space open for zinesters – whether for a one-time event, open hours library or in collaboration with another arts venue – is inherently political. That’s what makes public spaces for feminist zine-making so difficult – and necessary.

Most of my zines are more implicitly feminist, though I can’t deny once publishing a zine titled sex + intellect aimed at sexism in academic circles. My latest zine, One Ear Bud Free, is a work zine inspired by other work zines like Dishwasher and Temp Slave. One Ear Bud Free is an exposé of all of the temp jobs and unpaid internships I worked and the music that got me through them. You may recognize a few jobs where being a woman or having a speech disability simply got in the way of my performance or chance at long-term employment.

I’m super inspired and excited for NYC Feminist Zine Fest, and I want to write more feminist zines! Lately this past season I’ve received a lot of criticisms for being a woman who watches football by both men and women alike, so I think a zine about football is in order. Go hawks!

4. What is your favorite zine or piece of mail art? Do you like any specific style/part of a zine?

A friend from ZAPP in Seattle makes these beautiful silkscreen zines and runs Blue Dot Prints. I also love Gina Siciliano’s zines that I picked up in Portland. She draws these beautiful, incredibly-detailed comics and her narratives are very moving and relatable. I’m attracted to more “art” zines, though I do have a soft spot in my heart for grainy offset zines found in old school punk zine archives.

Blue Dot Press’ work: http://www.bluedotprints.com/

Gina’s work: http://ginasiciliano.com/home.html

5. If you could sum up your zinester life in a kitchen appliance, what appliance would it be?

This is my favorite question of all because I had to think the hardest on it. I keep thinking of the broiler underneath conventional ovens. The broiler is the best way to make the yummiest open face grilled cheese sandwiches. You can make something gourmet with your best cheese, or you can use the broiler to simply make something good to eat at 500 degrees in less than 5 minutes.

Shameless zinester plug: Come read and make zines with me at ABC No Rio. The ABC No Rio zine library is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings from 6-9pm. I’m in on Thursday’s!

Coming soon – Philly Feminist Zinefest!

Mark your calendars, folks – an amazing team of zinesters & activists is putting on the PHILLY FEMINIST ZINEFEST this summer, on August 26th!

The event looks incredible – there will be tons of zinesters, workshops, a raffle,  *plus* vegan baked goods (mmm). The zinefest is also a fundraiser for Project Safe, a social justice organization providing advocacy, harm reduction, and support for Philadelphia sex workers.

If you want to table, registration is still open until July 15 – sign up here: Philly Feminist Zinefest Registration. And don’t miss the zine reading they’re planning for Saturday, August 25, at The Wooden Shoe Bookstore!

Also, these workshops will be held throughout the event (summaries and more info can be found here):

From Smoochin’ to Sexin’: Navigate, Negotiate, Communicate – by Screwsmart
Project SAFE: Decriminalizing Sex Work by Project SAFE
Soapbox Alternative Zine Structure – by The Soapbox
Puttin’ the Pain to Paper: Writing about Tuff Stuff – by the For The Birds Collective
How to be an Ally to Sex Workers – by members of SWOP and PERSIST Health Collective

Find out more info on the Philly Feminist Zinefest blog/homepage!

A few photos…

Here are a few photos from the event…

Crowd scene, courtesy of zinester and photographer Kate Wadkins:

Captains Zine and Zine: Kate and Elvis in front of the Homos in Herstory-promoting cardboard cutout! :

Crowded! photo by Dre Grigoropol:

More packed room, photo courtesy of Autostraddle:

Zinester Sarah Rose, of Once Upon A Distro, reading from her zine (photo courtesy of Dre Grigoropol):

* Thank you! *

Thank you everyone for an amazing & inspiring day. There were a lot of incredible zinesters, hundreds of people at the zinefest, and a great vibe of real community throughout the afternoon.

We’ll post photos of the day here soon…meanwhile, enjoy reading the many zines you picked up today, as will we!