I wrote this zine because there is a lack of media that I can really, truly relate to. It is glaringly obvious that this radical scene is comprised mostly of heteros, of whites, and of males. I am Asian, I am hella gay, and I am female.
Disclaimer: I wrote this for me a lot more than I wrote it for you. There is a lack of solution offering, and at the same time a lot rambling, because it is cathartic for me. It is highly anecdotal; I write from experience. Don’t assume that my aim is to educate ignorant fucks. It is not my job to cry and bleed so that they can fucking evolve.
Always for the greater gay, xROSIx
ROSI, IN HER OWN WORDS:
I am Vietnamese-American, female and hella gay (also vegan, straightedge, intersectional-feminist, anti-theist/agnostic and non-pacifist). So this is written from that perspective.
Yesterday I was leaving the gym with a friend of mine, and we were debating the existence of the “Lobster and Lefse Festival.” I said “But it’s a whole weekend! How can you make a whole weekend out of lobster and lefse?!” Two older white women started chatting with us and assured us that it was a real thing, and yes, it was a weekend long. It was a friendly chat until one woman said “Here in North Dakota we can make a weekend out of anything,” and suddenly my friend and I weren’t laughing.
It hurts when people assume that I’m not from here, that their culture is not my culture. It burns, because I know the only reason they think that is because I’m black. I am steeped in Uff da culture, this is my home, but I am always treated as in outsider in my home.
I recently read “Not Straight Not White Not Male” by rosi, and it was a balm to my irritated soul. In the disclaimer she said “I wrote this for me a lot more than I wrote it for you. There is a lack of solution offering and at the same time a lot of rambling, because it is cathartic for me. Don’t assume that my aim is to educate ignorant fucks. It is not my job to cry and bleed so that they can fucking evolve.”
rosi addresses many issues, her relationship with her mother, who rosi sometimes felt embarrassed by, because of her mother’s lack of assimilation into American culture; privilege; a desire to be white/internalized racism; becoming comfortable with her Asian identity; misogyny; animal rights, and more. rosi writes about these topics very honestly and with so much anger, but amazingly, no bitterness. It was very helpful and eye opening for me to read, as I struggle with many similar issues.
I think that, in addition to “just” being cathartic, zines such as this contribute to a person’s growth. For a person of color to admit to themselves that they want/had wanted to be white is a huge thing, and to share that with someone else is so powerful. Internalized racism is partnered with shame, and so to be able to open up and communicate about these issues, and learn that other people feel this way to, is a huge step to decolonizing the mind.
In “Proving Myself: as an Asian and as a Female” rosi shares the way her thoughts influence her actions. For example, if a man notices them checking the oil level in her car, she will go buy oil and add some, just to show the man that, yes, she, a woman, knows how to replace her oil! It seems that rosi has had her competency called into question so often that she feels the need to preemptively display her ability. It is so unfortunate when we modify our behavior to suit or defy those people, because that means we are less free. We think we are defying the bigotry, but really it is winning because we are still letting it control us. rosi knows this, and as she noted, she offers no solutions, but it’s a big, wonderful deal to know you’re not alone in that struggle.
GEEEET IIIT: - i won’t charge you if you live in vietnam. - if you need a shipping option for your country added, let me know - real-life friends, you don’t have to pay me, doopies. - can’t afford it? wanna trade for your zines? message me - if you want a pdf instead of a hard copy, message me before even adding it to you cart. - infoshops, distros, galleries; let me know in what spaces you plan on hosting this zine
‘NOT STRAIGHT NOT WHITE NOT MALE’ CONTENTS
Hand-designed cover
Introduction note
“And Ode to Chinkophiles: Y.e.l.l.o.w.F.e.v.e.r”
”Chauncey: This fucking guy” - a detailed account of the wildly inappropriate escapades of a middle-aged white man projecting his yellow fetish onto yours truly
“I Have Discovered the Words with Which to Express my Visceral Resentment of White Cockiness” - where I bitterly examine my aesthetic inferiority complex (^ and a follow-up clarification on the preceding essay)
“Sorry, Mom” - being vietnamese-american in america can be fucking irritating..
“Pre-Gay” - some things i want to say to old friends and family
“But Really, Come On, You Surely Know By Now” - about the differences in expectations in ‘female’ attire and aesthetic and ‘male’ attire and aesthetic
”Dysfunction Over Fashion” - how my boi-complex fucks with my wardrobe choices
“Proving Myself: as an Asian and as a Female” - where I discuss, shortly, my relentless need to prove to everyone that I can be “better” than my stereotype (^ and a follow-up clarification on the preceding essay)
“Your Masculinity is Under Attack: In response to the new onslaught of ad campaigns that perpetuate sexism under the guise of ‘making fun of sexism through exaggeration’” - an obnoxious, satirical piece
“A Documentation of Vocalized, 21st Century Gendered Bigotry” - where i list just a few months’ worth of sexist, patronizing remarks
“A Documentation of Vocalized, 21st Century Racial Bigotry” - where i list some racist remarks I’ve received throughout my life
“Not Asian Enough / Too Asian: month one - working in a Vietnamese restaurant couched in white O.C.”
”Broken” - a weird arty thing symbolizing South East Asian-American diasporic identity crises idk
“E.S.L.” - short and dry. about my being a 1st generation American in my family and not understanding American customs
“A/S/L? 13/M/CA” - a short essay about how i used to create online role-playing characters to live out my dreams and escape my identity
”Don’t Tell Your Parents I Think They’re Racist: (unless I’ve asked you to)” - PSA to white allies. In summary, don’t decide for me when I should have race talks/race fights, and don’t decide for me which relationships I must now compromise for the “greater good”
“White People Making White People Jokes” - where i discuss why i don’t think it’s always appropriate
”Sup, Hypocrites” - shortly addressing skinny-shame, prude-shame, and femme-shame
”Microcosms of Patriarchy” - hiding from the world in the radical scene does not mean hiding from non-consensual, intimate contact, unfortunately
”Being Conscious of Womanhood” - an analysis of the unconscious things i do because i am hyper-aware of what it means to be a woman in this society
”On Privilege, Allies, and Bitterness” - me listing and rambling for a page about the aforementioned topics
“Cathartic Vomit” - me being pissed about this and that
comic relief
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COMMUNITY: Do you want to review zines for POCZP? Learn more about POCZP internship & volunteer opportunities here. We are still accepting applications.
If you are interested in POCZP leading a workshop or other event in collaboration with your organization - worldwide - email poczineproject@gmail.com.
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SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT
If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.
The Truth Tour consists of folks from the Pine Ridge reservation of South Dakota and allies, traveling to different cities in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic to tell their stories, advocating for a return to matriarchal leadership and raising awareness of the ongoing genocide of their people. The event I attended was a film screening of the documentary “Red Cry,” held in Washington, DC, on April 16th.
Below is an entry point into a continuous conversation, not a rule book.
A big question that surrounds POC (people of color) events from those outside of the community holding the event is “how can I be an ally?”
A simple answer to these questions is to put your self in service to the community and don’t take up space.
April 16 – Washington, DC – Metropolitan Community Church of DC – 6:30pm
When the Lakota Grandmothers came to DC in April, my partner and I cooked a meal for an event as an act of support/solidarity. What follows here are my reflections as an audience member/participant in the film screening event.
I write with a strong desire to contribute to a (hopefully) ongoing conversation of allyship. The night of the event in DC there were many important voices and stories shared. The group had come a long way to spread their voices. I am thankful for their journey. I felt blessed to be among these strong travelers and hope to meet them again one day.
However, among the powerful stories offered there were important voices and stories that were missed. Here are some things I observed as I watched the evening pass with a complex interplay of isms and unchecked privileges.
For days afterward I couldn’t get out of my head the Q&A session after the “Red Cry” screening.
The white anarchist/activist who stood up and said “I don’t know about the rest of the room, but me and my house mates on THIS side of the room- we’re REALLY in SOLIDARITY with you all! REALLY!”
This wasn’t a question; it was a comment offered perhaps to receive an ego stroke from the audience/caravaners and it was distracting.
Then, there was an African-American woman who stood up asking to be part of the Lakota people, referencing her own Native heritage. It was refreshing to see a person of color seeking to honor their indigenous heritage— but the word use: “Can I be a part of you?” made my face scrunch.
Again, this was not a question pertaining to their journey or to the film.
Then, three or four folks raised their hands… again without questions… but instead with gifts. Literally folks were walking up to an elder with shells, books and bags of what? I don’t know.
Weird? Yes. Distracting? Yes. Ego strokes? Yes and yes.
Three-quarters of the way through the event, the main Native male speaker who had been speaking the most and facilitating, acknowledged that the others on his caravan, including most of the women, had not spoken. He suggested that they go down the line and share something.
“Yes, finally!” I thought, time to hear everyones voice. But, wait. One more person in the audience needs the spot light and asks a question/comment…then POOF! Our time is done.
A song is sung and things are wrapped up. There is never time to hear the voices of the other Native folks, most of them women, from the caravan.
NEXT STEPS
As POC organizers we need to reflect:
On this Truth Tour designed to advocate a return to matriarchy, how did the Native man facilitating (and the crew as a whole) not realize that his voice was filling the time available at the expense of other (female) voices from the caravan?
How do we as POC organizers/activists let inter-communities privileges distract or disappear an important layer in our events or projects?
How did the audience continue on unaware of their distracting behavior?
Why did certain audience members(and why do some folks) think it was/is ok to deconstruct their internal conflicts on some one else’s time?
This brings me back to allyship. Here are some ways to be an ally:
1) Be aware of your layers (gender, colourism, class, race, orientation, shyness etc).
2) Take your OWN time to process privilege, settlers guilt etc.
3) Do your service, go home and process in your journal or with other allies about your experience and how to be a better ally next time.
It’s all good. We are all learning here, but to distract from someone else’s event/or project with your own internal conflicts is unchecked privilege. To disappear someone else’s voice or story with your own, no matter if you’re an ally or a member of the community is rude. These patterns disrupt progress.
Privileges unchecked and unprocessed hurt ourselves and our communities. Until we learn as how to beware of our layers and hold one another accountable the biggest thing that will come of our events and projects in the eyes of others (and maybe ourselves) is debriefing the distractions.
Distractions are annoying. And, distractions are NOT solidarity. Lets move the focus back.
NYC ‘TRUTH TOUR’ EVENT RECAP
April 8, 2013 – New York City, NY, Judson Memorial Church- 239 Thompson St. (Solidarity/Decolonization Training) – 7:00pm
By Anonymous contributor to POCZP
I attended the Indigenous Solidarity and Decolonizing Training at Judson Memorial Church in hopes of learning more about the Lakota people, their struggles, and what it means to be in solidarity with indigenous communities. I was looking forward to participating in conversations about the meaning of decolonization and how one develops and sustains a political praxis around decolonizing the self in relation to community.
These days I have been thinking a lot about what it means for me, a women of color to challenge the mindset of settler colonialism that is part of my privilege and my immigrant histories. I believe that the complexities of communities of color engaging with native and indigenous communities should not be limited to understand through reading books and watching documentaries, so I went to this event to listen, to learn, to say hello.
I have deep respect the leaders of this training, for their histories and communities, and for the ways in which they walk through this world. However what I experienced last night was triggering, frustrating, and very confusing.
All but one of the Lakota grandmothers was present and the reason for this was never clearly explained or discussed. We began by asking those in the room who have any European ancestry, to stand up. As expected nearly eighty plus percent of the room were of European descent; I was one of few women of color, and perhaps South Asian in the room who did not stand up.
I have a vague understand of the purpose of this exercise, to call attention to the active realities of colonization as part of people’s being, and that as privilege that you cannot erase. However the presenters did not once ask any questions or specifically engage with the people of color in the room to ask why there were present, what it means for people of color to experience colonialism, and how the displacement of communities of color can reinforce colonial oppressions that native peoples face.
Once again white people became the center focus of the discussion, a conversation that I am sick in tired of having.
How can we destroy the constructs of whiteness if we continually reify them in our political spaces through reliving trauma and shaming one another?
There were several instances where the main “teacher” of this “training” used disparaging language against biracial and multiracial people. They outlined the role of elderly women, or the grandmothers in the struggle without giving the elderly women in the room a chance to speak out on their own and share their stories.
There was a moment where a white man was being disruptive and the presenter challenged him on his behavior, but did not ask him to leave the room. Of course this man continued to be disruptive and my friend, a women of color, had to ask him to leave.
I could give further specifics and in detail but I am not interested in calling out the presenter or the organizers of this event. Rather, I write this to raise the question of how can we build solidarity and decolonize together when so many of our political spaces are dominated by the politics of whiteness and by those whom I gender as being male-identified and male-bodied?
What is it going to take for men to recognize their male-privilege and to step down, work together on building true allyship with women in the struggle, and to call each other out?
There is a lot to say about this training. I am vested in having these conversations in person, and with people I hope to build my politics and community with.
However, in sharing this, I hope we can have a more open and honest dialogue about how to challenge spaces that are political defunct in the moment, and how to create something new that has a liberating direction.
Editor’s Note: POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano attended the NYC Truth Tour date and put a call for feedback on the POCZP Facebook page. Subsequently, Daniela spoke with this anonymous contributor, who gave POCZP permission to publish their thoughts under the condition that they remain anonymous. POCZP respects their choice to remain anonymous, as often it can be very difficult and triggering as a POC to question POC-led movements/actions.
MORE ON THE APRIL 8 NYC TRUTH TOUR EVENT
Below are POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano’s thoughts on the NYC Truth Tour event, originally published on the POCZP Facebook page. She also recorded this positive moment at the end of the evening:
[DESCRIPTION: The event leaders asked attendees to participate in a round dance at the end of the event. Couples were placed in the middle circle, while the elders were in another circle around it. After a while, others who weren’t necessarily elders were encouraged to join the outer circle. Native and non-native folks participated in the dance. This video captures about 80% of the round dance duration.]
By Daniela Capistrano, POCZP founder
The event overall was (for folks we spoke to) very triggering and complex. I wish that more female elders spoke, since that is what the tour is about. However, I also understand that there is another related event where female elders will be speaking.
This event wasn’t an “easy” experience. Some folks said there wasn’t enough actual training and that it was more of a blame game. Others did not agree with this assessment at all and said they got a lot out of it.
The event leaders asked everyone at the start of the experience “to listen with your heart.” Some people in attendance had a very had time just listening and there were many privilege issues at play. One white male would not stop interjecting and made it all about him until he was asked to stop. He could not handle that feedback and left.
Another white male took up way too much time singing a “spiritual” song, making the focus about him instead of the elders. A white female spoke on behalf of a black male in attendance without his consent. Many interesting and triggering actions went down last night at this event, a microcosm of bigger issues at play …
Some participants had issues with being put on the spot based on race, class and gender. Another controversial facet of the training was when attendees were challenged to cut up their government IDs as a symbol of their commitment to decolonize. Clearly there are many factors that would inform someone’s decision to participate or not, such as citizenship status in the U.S. and the dangerous ramifications of not having ID while experiencing racial profiling or worse. Race, class and gender were also factors.
One could argue that this act of cutting up an ID meant nothing and was in fact hurtful to undocumented folks in attendance or others in tenuous circumstances. Lots to think about. But I aired on the side of listening with an open mind and staying until the end. I chose to cut up my ID to confront my privileges; to know what it felt like to destroy government issued materiality; and to think about all the privileges that made it so “easy” for me to cut up my ID without any real consequences. I did it for myself, didn’t judge those who didn’t and also doesn’t think that cutting an ID automatically “decolonized” my existence and mental state. For me, it was an act of undoing mental damage tied to identity politics.
I am glad that I did stay until the end of the event, because I was able to meet one of the female elders, who I hope will collaborate with POCZP on the Race Riot tour this fall, as #IdleNoMore is our core focus.
Because I stayed until the end, I was able to capture the round dance on video, which had a very peaceful and healing affect for many who participated.
In closing, it’s 100% OK to not agree with all facets of a decolonizing event. It’s OK to not agree with the leaders and to walk out when you feel triggered. Several people did walk out. But I am glad that I stayed.
NOTICE: POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano reached out to Truth Tour organizers in April to share feedback and to discuss a possible collaboration for the Race Riot! tour. She also reached out again upon publishing this piece. We are patiently awaiting a response.
COMMUNITY: Help make this a productive conversation by adding your thoughts in your reblog.
RESOURCES
Educate yourself on what the Truth Tour is all about:
“Red Cry” premiered on April 1, 2013, at the Mother Butler Center in Rapid City, SD in Lakota Territory. It was shown on consecutive nights in other cities as part of the Lakota Truth Tour.
Limited quantities of the Red Cry DVD are available for free. If you would like a DVD sent to you, Truth Tour organizers request that you give a donation of $5 or more to cover the costs of shipping and materials.
Please mail your address and a check made payable to “Lakota Solidarity Project” to:
Lakota Solidarity Project PO Box 881 Asheville, NC 28801
If you would like to show the film in your area, they ask that you download the Organizer Toolkit and use this as a model for how to organize the screening. Contact them if you are interested in screening “Red Cry.”
“Let’s Talk About…”is an experimental series by POCZP created to share communal knowledge, resources and reflections on a wide range of topics affecting communities of color.
If you are a person of color—or a white person with a history of supporting POC Zine Project— who wants to contribute to “Let’s Talk About…” submit to poczineproject@gmail.com with “Let’s Talk About” in the subject line.
All submissions to “Let’s Talk About…” will be compiled into a zine (print & digital) that will be released by POCZP in December of 2013.
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SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT
If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.
I’m also really eager to see what People of Color (POC) Zine Project is bringing. They’re based out of the Bronx and do really important work in bringing non-whites to the forefront of zine communities. This is something that AZF Is highly lacking, and I really appreciate their presence this year.”—Amanda Mills, co-founder and organizer of Atlanta Zine Fest
POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano will be tabling on behalf of POC Zine Project at the inaugural Atlanta Zine Fest on June 8 and 9. The table will feature a selection of POCZP zine partner titles, as well as some zines, art and jewelry by local ATL zinesters of color. <3
Be sure to stop by the POCZP table to purchase a fresh copy of Mixed Up! A zine about Mixed-Race Queer & Feminist Experience (you can read and download here for free as well), selections from Free Poet’s Pressand be sure to get your issue of masConsumption before we run out of copies!
We’ll also have limited edition POCZP buttons for sale/trade! <3
I will be bringing issue one and two of Tom Girl and artist trading cards. Also, I’ll bringing a few pieces of my dad’s jewelry to sell. It’s handmade. I’m also bringing various button rings and earrings that I made by myself.
POCZP will also be joined by Chantelle Kodua, an environmental enthusiast who enjoys working on various DIY projects in her spare time. When she isn’t out saving the world, by digging recyclables out of trash cans, she can be found spending copious hours on tumblr. She can be contacted at chantellephone.tumblr.com.
Daniela is attending Atlanta Zine Fest on behalf of POCZP to connect with the zine community and local zinesters/writers/publishers/artists of color in preparation for the POCZP tour date in Atlanta in October.
POCZP is sharing tabling space with local zinesters of color, as part of our advocacy to make zines by people of color easy to find, distribute and share.
If you are interested in collaborating with POCZP in Atlanta, contact poczineproject@gmail.com. We are especially interested in hearing from artists/zinesters/activists of color and white folks interested supporting POCZP’s efforts.
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SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT
If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.
POCZP helped support the call for submissions toMixed Up! A zine about Mixed-Race Queer & Feminist Experience last fall. We’ll be distributing copies at Atlanta Zine Fest this weekend <3
AUTHORS: Zine editors Lil Lefkowitz, Lee Naught & Lior and contributors to “Mixed Up!”
Thanks so much for your email, and for uploading MixedUp to your Issuu. We’d love it if you made the zine available in whatever way you feel like! So totally feel free to post the printable, so folx can make and distribute their own. And, of course, if you wanna make copies and sell them, by all means!
Hey, mixed-race folks, how do you respond when you get asked what you are? Do you feel at a loss for words when trying to describe your racial, ethnic, or cultural background? Do you find yourself struggling to understand where you belong in the context of prominent racial paradigms? Do you run into a POC-white binary that is reductive, incomplete, or simply not enough? What does it mean that there often isn’t an easy answer? And what happens when you add gender, feminism, and queerness into the mix?
Hey, queers and feminists, let’s respond to the lack of representation of mixed-race folks like us. Yes, we are deeply indebted to the countless beautiful queers and feminists of color who have demanded to be heard; who fight, survive, and die on a daily basis. We are indebted to colonized people and feminists of color around the world and in the stateswho have taught us that black and brown are beautiful; who have shown us how to act with compassion and love and thoughtful rage in the face of white supremacist violence. This zineis a call to continue this work; to build upon the work of anti-racist and decolonial literature, given the nuances of our lives as mixed-race queers and feminists, so often living on stolen land while refusing to forget the land stolen from our ancestors.
No doubt, racism against folks of color is fucking real, and those of us who are mixed race and sometimes or always pass as white are much less prone to the multiple forms of violence faced by black and brown folks. However, too often, that’s the end of the conversation. This zine strives to challenge the narrow conception of POC vs white, a binary which doesn’t allow space for many folks’ experiences or for more complex identities (even among POCs and white folks).
As mixed-raced queers and feminists, we refuse to whitewash our histories. We refuse to label individuals based solely upon our perceptions of their skin color or features. Colonialism attempts to whitewash, erase, assimilate and subjugate through violence and oppression. We refuse to finish this work. We invite you to collectively participate in this refusal.
A Working Definition of Mixed-race: While this may not be the perfect term, we are using it to frame a very broad set of experiences and identities, which may include tracing all or part of one’s culture or heritage to brown people and colonized people, inclusive of all skin tones. This may also include being raised with multiple cultures or with immigrant experience.
Why Queers & Feminists? Not only are we interested in the ways that mixed-race folks’ identities interact with queerness and feminism, but we also believe that it is important to prioritize stories from queers and feminists, whose voices are often marginalized. Moreover, with a topic as broad as race, we want to anchor our discussions in some common politics. This anchor is important because it is a big part of how we (the editors) choose who to organize with, live with, form community with, fuck, and, in this case, write zines with.
Possible Topics: Privilege. [Not] Passing. Sex, relationships & dating. Conflicting and conflated identities (especially related to race and queerness, transness, feminism, class, dis/ability). The POC/white binary. Cultural appropriation. Structural and institutional oppression. Art, music & creativity. [Not] Belonging. Cultural estrangement. Immigrant experiences. Families & histories. Colonizing processes in family, work, activisms & relationships. Being too brown/not brown enough. Home. Diaspora. Performing identities. Physical manifestations of race, and intersection with other forms of identity and presentation. Preserving and paying respect to heritage & history (eg: interviews, oral histories, folklore). Remembering. Tracing origins and roots. The importance of race/ethnicity/culture to political formation. Mixed-race community. Food & recipes. Remedies. Developing new language(s). Race/religion overlap (and exclusion). And much, much more.
Media and formats: Poetry, prose, essay, visuals (B&W for zine, possibly color online), audio (for online), interviews, and other formats (pitch them to us!— we’re good catchers).
Deadline for submissions: Extended to January 15th, 2012. Submit to mrqfzine [at] gmail [dot] com.
If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.
Hello Everybody, I’m having a call for submissions for issue three of Tom Girl! The theme for this issue is Gender. I know it’s a very broad topic but that’s why I wanted to discuss it. There is so much under the umbrella of gender, which is one of the main reasons I wanted to have a call for submissions.
I only have my perspective, and I can read and research all I want but it’s not the same as a first person account. When it comes to gender, everybody has an opinion, personal experience, a story. I wanted to expand this zine by adding many other voices.
In addition to that I wanted to answer a few specific questions:
Is gender even necessary/real? If so why?
If gender is real/necessary, what does it mean to be a “woman” or a “man”, outside of traditional gender roles?
Are woman and men truly different or has society told us so?
And I wanted to discuss gender beyond traditional “female” and “male”, trans*, gender fluid etc. I want everything from poetry to drawings to essays. As long as it fits within the theme. If you are not sure if your idea or piece fits within the parameters, please feel free to email me.
When is this due???All submissions are do around the first week of July (July1-July 5) and the absolute last day is July 5.
Where do I submit/send comments, questions, concerns??? email at simplebutchic247@gmail.com
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ABOUT JUDITH
I’m Judith. I have an old name to match my old soul. Multiracial. Feminist but more of a Womanist. I love foreign films, tea, Brits, cats, and diy projects. I adore vintage/retro clothes and hair. Lastly, I am involved in to many TV shows and am shipping to many characters.
Editor’s Note: A Community Submission OR Call for Submissions post is usually from POC folk submitting their own zine or zine call to be featured by POCZP. If you would like to share your zine with the POC Zine Project community, here’s how to do it.
When you submit your zine, feel free to add some background, a description of your work and art and your mission statement. If you just send us the name of your zine, we’ll simply link back to a source for purchasing it and use the language you already have on your site.
Please make sure to include pertinent info for CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: deadline, submission info/email/tumblr, related links, your own bio, etc.
As long as the zine was created/co-created by a person of color, we will always share Community Submissions. Enjoy!
POCZP also accepts anonymous submissions and zine donations from POC. Click here for submission guidelines.
Basically, I think y’all are doing awesome work and I am honored to be able to support the project in whatever way I can. - Sarah McCarry, Guillotine creator & POCZP fundraiser
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Much love and many thanks to Sarah McCarry, who is donating all proceeds from the Guillotine #4 special edition presale to the 2013 Race Riot! Tour fund. Woo! xo
Announcement from Sarah:
I cannot even TELL YOU in the LANGUAGE OF WORDS how excited I am to be publishing Mimi Thi Nguyen and Golnar Nikpour’s conversation on punk. No lie, friends, this chapbook is going to melt the fuck right off your face.You can preorder it now; it’ll ship in mid-June. Use the discount code PUNKSNOTDEAD for $2 off your order between now and May 31. All the proceeds from the special edition will benefit the POC Zine Project’s Race Riot! 2013 tour.
Guillotine is an ongoing series of handbound chapbooks with letterpress-printed covers, and each chapbook is a single essay.
“Punk is a moving target”: Punk is an unwieldy object of study—because of fictions that circulate as truth, absences in archives and the questionable subject of recovery, and the passage of “minor” details into fields of knowledge. A conversation about the politics of methodology, and historiography, of subculture. 32 pp., 4.5 x 6.5”. ***SHIPS IN JUNE 2013, 243 IN STOCK***
MIMI THI NGUYEN is an Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the author of The Gift of Freedom. She has made zines since 1991, including Slander and the compilation zine Race Riot. Nguyen is a former Punk Planet columnist and a Maximum Rocknrollshitworker; she is also a frequent collaborator with Daniela Capistrano for the POC Zine Project.
GOLNAR NIKPOUR served as co-coordinator of Maximum Rocknrollbetween 2004 and 2007. She is also a founding editor of B|ta’arof, a magazine featuring art, literature, historiography, and cultural critique related to Iran and its diaspora. She was born in Tehran, Iran, and lives in New York City.
SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT
If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.
Part of POC Zine Project’s advocacy is empowering new and seasoned zinesters of color in the U.S. (and soon worldwide) to share their stories while supporting other POC. Liz is the second official regional coordinator for POCZP (meet Joyce, our Midwest Coordinator, here). We are excited to share developments as this part of our experiment in activism and community through materiality unfolds.
LIZ, IN HER OWN WORDS
Liz was born in Los Angeles, California, but moved back and forth between Mexico and LA throughout her childhood. She is the youngest of three and the only female in a traditional, Catholic, Mexican-American family.
Though her brothers taught her how to throw a good punch, she was often confused by the strict gender roles in rural Mexican society, which told her to be passive and meek. Luckily, Los Angeles was a place where contradiction could exist, a place where you could an aggressive girl, and a Mexican Punk. LA and the influence of popular culture gave Liz an identity she could be proud of.
She moved to the Bay Area for school, but ended up falling in love with SF Zine Fest, and community of artists. They pushed her to pursue her passion for Art and Literature.
Liz now writes fiction and non-fiction, makes comics (check out Inked), and is a working illustrator. Her inspiration comes from her crazy family and Chican@ Pop Culture. She is the Co-Director of San Francisco Zine Fest (SFZF) and is now happy to be a part of the POC Zine Project.
See Liz in action at a recent POCZP Youth Zine workshop in San Francisco, where she led activities with assistance from POCZP intern Itoro Udofia.
Liz hopes to expand and connect the DIY West Coast community and serve as a resource. She wants DIY projects (and zines) by people of color to be especially accessible to youth, because she needed community this open and empowering as a teenager.
It is also a goal of hers to promote multi-media as a part of zine/DIY culture and expand the limits of what a zine could be, because artists, especially artists with a story to tell, need to be more visible.
COMMUNITY: Join us in welcoming Liz. We are excited to support zine culture and POC storytelling on the West Coast! We will have several events in this region during the 2013 Race Riot! tour. Stay tuned for details …
DO YOU WANT TO BE A COORDINATOR LIKE LIZ?
If you want to support POCZP with Liz, other coordinators, interns and our touring members, let us know!
We are also looking for representatives in every state, as well as regional support, as we build toward the National POC Zinester & Ally Conference/Convergence. Ideally you have some experience with organizing events and building community, but experience is not required. All are welcome. Priority will be given to people of color who apply but allies are definitely welcome.
Contact poczineproject@gmail.com for more details with “regional coordinator” as the subject line.
If you are outside the U.S. and want to be a part of our emerging POCZP Global Ambassadors program, email poczineproject@gmail.com as well to stay informed as opportunities arise.
SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT
If everyone in our community gave $1, we would more than meet our fundraising goal for 2013. If you have it to spare, we appreciate your support. All funds go to our 2013 tour, the Legacy Series and the poverty zine series.
“Colita de Rana…Love, Identity & Panochas” by Tracy García and company (2012)
This zine opens with a labeled cartoon vagina. Ok, wait. Back story: Colita de Rana = frog tail—it’s from a saying that signifies healing. And: Panochas = Pussy.
The ideas in this zine were loved into pages by anger, angst and ambition. I know this because I saw it’s spirit awake when one of my friends (a co-author) attended a QPOC, Queer People of Color conference back in the day and we took a Panocha workshop. The most powerful experiences, people, books, zines, movies, artwork plant the seeds of future creation. This is the fruit of one of those seeds. In Colita de Rana there are plenty of female anatomy lessons, self-love reminders and a gesture to genetic trauma.
My favorite page is a poem by a lady from Inglewood (my dad’s old stomping grounds). She talks about the domestication of love… “how did love become so scary? was it the moment it got domesticated?” This a powerful question hidden on the third page of the zine.
Seeing this quote through the zine’s title can lead the question: How can we heal from domesticated love? What is that? Certainly it involves government control and production of a certain kind of love.
Page 8 displays a cut-out of a dinosaur called a “clitosaurus” above the prehistoric animal is a quote about the deportation of lesbian undocumented immigrants in the 1990’s. Shit is real. Colita de Rana lets us know.
Disarming dinosaurs still deliver through history. Our history, herstory unknown rather wished erased and gone but still lingers at the bottom of some hearts. This anatomy textbook for the “exploration of love, identity and panochas” is humble but proud. Check yo’ self, she says.
Page 10: heterosexual questionnaire. It’s your turn, straight folks, to have your coming of age story be commodified, died this hue then this shade and retried again and again —tooth combed for possible in-congruencies or untruths.
I love this zine and I hope they keep on the riot. This zine would be a great new friend to all questioning and angry Xican@s. Bring them on.
READ & DOWNLOAD COLITA DE RANA
“Watermelon…and other things that make me uncomfortable as a black person” by Whit Taylor (2011)
I found this gem at zine fest in dc this past July. Really, nothing can beat a fantastic new zine in the dead of summer heat when you think who is so noble and great that they are out promoting their zine? And then, there is someone.
Besides the fortuitous timing Whit Taylor is a great mini story shower/teller. In her zine she is showing us why certain things don’t roll so smooth for her. She keeps the tone light even during more serious topics. Taylor is able to do this because of a dry and even tone through out the story. Her drawings rock. They remind me of the drawings from Tina’s Mouth, another awesome lady comic.
Watermelon can easily find a place among folks working to deconstruct the stereotypes that can plague different communities. Humanizing an experience is a big part of breaking down stereotypes. When you don’t know someone personally its easier to paint them as something their not.. literally. Tayor does a great job at this. In fact my favorite quote from her is: “I love Alice in Chains, which according to my uncle makes me a teenage white boy. I grew up on my parents’ 1960’s & 70’s soul music but became a victim of 90’s suburban life. So sue me.”
Her honesty is fresh. And yet it leaves me wondering about somethings… like what about her cousins in the frame about New Orleans? What kind of comic/zine would they write? Would they agree with her? These are questions that often come up for myself as I and many other creators find pieces of their autobiographies show up in their work…would my family/community agree? How do they see it?
And this is what’s great about Watermelon. This is how Taylor experienced growing up where she did, being who she is. Really that’s all we got: our experience and it’s one that others are either going to learn from or identify with. And zines really open up a space for folks who usually don’t show up in books or magazines to share their version.
Thanks Ms. Whit Taylor, for sharing yours.
Watermelon is a great zine about one girls’ reflections on the stereotypes that live in her world. Specifically this zine helps to thwart the power these stereotypes might have on others by simply humanizing them and breaking them down. After all it did spark a pretty humorous discussion in my house about our own battles with awkward/embarrassing moments striving to straddle the lines between our cultures and the way others see us in our culture.
It’s a daily deal, as is shown by Whit Taylor in Watermelon.
COMMUNITY: Do you want to review zines for POCZP? Learn more about POCZP internship & volunteer opportunities here. We are still accepting applications.
If you are interested in POCZP leading a workshop or other event in collaboration with your organization - worldwide - email poczineproject@gmail.com.
ABOUT CATA
Cata is a two-spirit mixed race writer/yogi/graphic novel reader/zine lover in Washington, D.C., originally from the LBC (Long Beach California).
This year’s tour featuresMichelle Tea, Ali Liebegott, Dave End, Texta Queen, Daniel Levesque,and of course CCR!
As Cristy aptly put it:
Too many queer boners in one sentence? Its okay, the universe prefers it that way. Come out and listen to us read and perform from our latest projects, laugh a little, rage a little, gaze into your lovers eyes and cry a little……
We know some of you are bummed that this rad event is 1) far away from you and 2) 21+. We hear ya. Sometimes it seems like all the cool shit is in NYC, right? But that’s just not the case. We know from our travels that people are doing amazing things all over the world, including in small towns.
But this amazing thing is actually going down in NYC tonight, so if you can make it, show some love and stop by our table and For The Birds Collective’s! POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano will be there in solidarity with Mimi and the other readers, along with our Chief Fanalyst Julia B. and Race Riot! tour vet Cristy C. Road.
We’ve been thinking about all the people who can’t afford to purchase Women & Performance’s “Punk Anteriors” special double issue (it’s $85) or attend tonight’s event, so we’ve snagged a copy and made it available to read online, zine-style. <3
We’re also going to live-tweet when we can from @poczineproject using the hashtag #PunkAnteriors. Look for our tweets! <3
“Punk Anteriors: Theory, Genealogy, Performance” is issue 22.2-3 of Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory and was co-edited by Beth Stinson and Fiona I.B. Ngô.
The issue emphasizes punk feminist spaces and times by bringing them to the forefront to forge and generate “punk anteriors.” We use the word “anteriors” in the title of this issue to think through the included articles that specifically address punk spaces and remnants—plotting what might come before, or anterior to, the telling of punk’s stories in two senses. First, punk anteriors point to the temporal, interrogating punk’s (always seemingly) resistant genealogy and questioning the source of politics and performances for punk. Second, we mobilize punk anteriors in the material and spatial sense of place, bodies, and archives. That is to say, we re-consider the context for the everyday performances of punk as occurring within atmospheres of imperial design; racial, feminist, and anarchist social movements; and immigration, poverty, and dislocation.
Along with the hope of re-centering people of color in punk’s narratives, part of the goal with this issue has been to expand the places where we find valuable knowledge and aesthetics, to re-imagine who counts as an intellectual producer in punk’s history, and to work across genres. Though the process was not always perfect, we have found this track productive and insightful, and hope that this model might inspire others to explore these topics and others in similar and even more brilliant ways.
COMMUNITY: After reading “Punk Anteriors,” let us know what you think! Click here to submit your review of excerpts of the journal or the entire publication.
EVENT DETAILS
Big thanks to tonight’s organizers for creating punkanteriors.tumblr.com/ and making this roundtable discussion as accessible as possible to the general public.
We also want to give an especially BIG thank you to this issue’s co-editors Beth Stinson and Fiona I.B. Ngô <3 Thank you for disrupting problematic facets of academia in your own ways.
Muñoz is Professor of Performance Studies at New York University, where he writes, researches and teaches Comparative Ethnic Studies, Queer Theory, Marxism, and Performance Art. His books include Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics (Minnesota, 1999) and Cruising Utopia: the Then and There of Queer Futurity (NYU Press, 2009). Muñoz has published articles on punk, art, queer theory, critical ethnic studies, poetry, and performance art in venues such as Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory, GLQ, Social Text, Theatre Journal, The South Atlantic Quarterly, American Quarterly, and Criticism.
Mimi Nguyen
Nguyen is Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her first book, called The Gift of Freedom: War, Debt, and Other Refugee Passages, focuses on the promise of “giving” freedom concurrent and contingent with waging war and its afterlife (Duke, 2012). She is also co-editor with Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu of Alien Encounters: Popular Culture in Asian America (Duke, 2007), and co-editor with Fiona I.B. Ngo and Mariam Lam of a special issue of positions on Southeast Asians in diaspora (Winter 2012). She publishes also on queer subcultures, the politics of fashion, and punk feminisms. She is the author of Slander and Evolution of a Race Riot zines and has contributed her writing to Punk Planet and Maximum Rocknroll. In 2012, she went on a couple POC Zine Project/Race Riot! Tours to discuss and read from zines by people of color.
G. S. Nikpour served as co-coordinator of Maximum Rocknroll — the longest running DIY punk fanzine in the world — from 2004-2007. She is also a founding editor ofB|ta’arof, a magazine featuring art, historiography, and cultural critique related to Iran and its diaspora. She was born in Tehran, Iran and lives in NYC where she still writes for MRR, plays drums in a hardcore band called In School, and is a PhD candidate researching Iranian political modernity at Columbia University.
Nyong’o is Associate Professor of Performance Studies at New York University, where he writes, researches and teaches critical black studies, queer studies, cultural theory, and cultural history. His first book, The Amalgamation Waltz: Race, Performance, and the Ruses of Memory (Minnesota, 2009), won the Errol Hill Award for best book in African American theatre and performance studies. Nyong’o has published articles on punk, disco, viral media, the African diaspora, film, and performance art in venues such as Radical History Review, Criticism, TDR: The Journal of Performance Studies, Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory,Women’s Studies Quarterly, The Nation, and n+1. He is co-editor of the journal Social Text.
Former co-producer/songwriter/front woman for The Slack Republic. A visionary extraordinaire she launched her own boutique music label, wynott records (former Rxlngr) in 2007 and has since managed artists such as Muhsinah, Jneiro Jarel & 00Genesis and consulted other acts like J*Davey, Viktor Duplaix & Dante Fried Chicken. While she continues to expand her brand designing YNA, her product line which debuted at the 2012 Afro-Punk festival, M.J. is quietly writing, producing and recording the debut solo release of her new indie-rock outfit, “Mon Mecs” with plans to also release a several rap songs early this year under the moniker “Mec Jagger.”
Our mission is to make all zines by people of color easy to find, distribute and share. We are an experiment in activism and community through materiality.
All donations support POCZP touring and advocacy costs.
