In the era of AI robots being deployed by the White House to root out apparent travesties like being respectful of people, cultural diversity, the environment, and a collective future, zines are roaring back as a mode of cultural expression and politics. Passing from hand to hand and often free for the taking, zines are a powerful mode of people-to-people exchange, information sharing, and organizing.
This was a theme at our zine workshop, which CBR Lab co-hosted with graduating senior Morgan Doersch, who has been doing an independent study on zine-making and exploring their relationship with environmental activist culture and politics. Morgan is working on creating a campus zine library–for details stay tuned.
We had a strong turnout of industrious students, faculty, and staff. After a short overview of the history of zines, the sound of snipping paper, pencils traversing paper, rulers slapping the table, and bone folders sliding along the edge of paper took over our august, wood-panelled and high-ceilinged headquarters.
Honestly, there are few better ways to spend a lunch hour…