Posts tagged Scene Report

Let’s Talk About: ‘The Truth Tour and how to be an ally at POC and Native events’

By Cata, POCZP East Coast Intern

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. 

DC ‘TRUTH TOUR’ EVENT RECAP

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:

“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.

DONATE link via PayPal: http://bit.ly/SHdmyh

SCENE REPORT [MIDWEST]: Fargo-Moorhead Zine Fest organizing is coming along nicely!

Fargo-Moorhead Zine Fest was created by POCZP Midwest Coordinator Joyce Hatton. The fest goes down September 7th, 2013.

For more information, visit fargomoorheadzinefest.tumblr.com and “like” facebook.com/FargoMoorheadZineFest.

By Joyce Hatton, POCZP Midwest Coordinator

Exciting news! There will be a screening of the movie “Rez” directed by Dominique DeLeon.  After the screening, there will be a Q&A with members of the crew. “Rez” tells the story of a young Anishinaabe teen who is caring for his younger sister on the Leech Lake reservation in Minnesota. “Rez” was filmed in Cass Lake, MN, and the 17 cast members, 13 of them are from Cass Lake.  For more information, go to specialboyfilms.com.

Also: FMZF has a sponsor!  The Rourke Art Gallery Museum has offered the use of their museum to host community zine workshops.  There will be three per month during June, July and August.  This will be a great way to build up excitement and awareness about FMZF, as well as create many positive opportunities for community building.

This sponsorship from the Rourke is very exciting and gratifying.  I began organizing in January, and this is only the second solid outcome I’ve had as a result of my outreach efforts.  A huge part of organizing is persistence!  At times the lack of response to emails and phone calls was very frustrating.  There were some false starts, opportunities that were unworkable due to time or location constraints, or other unknown issues.

The goal is that FMZF be a diverse event, meaning: people of many different races, ethnicities, cultures, religions, genders, sexuality, and classes have knowledge of the event, feel comfortable attending FMZF, and have had an opportunity to make a zine prior to and/or during the event so that each person feels zines are accessible to them and therefore feel included. It is hard work to make this happen! But it’s worth it!

How can you help?  

• Consider tabling at FMZF! There is no formal process of applying currently. There will be eventually, most likely in July.  If you think you might be interested and want to get on the radar, or to find out more info, check out fargomoorheadzinefest.tumblr.com or send an email.
• FMZF needs a logo and a poster. If you might are interested, please email fargomoorheadzinefest at gmail dot com.  FMZF believes all work is worthy of wages, either cash or barter, FYI.  However, this is a labor of love with a small purse, so… don’t quit your day job… ha.
• Input toward developing a safer space statement would be very helpful. The more input, the better.  Because of a safe space can be so hard to visualize/define/implement, I think it would be helpful to keep language as actionable as possible.  As an example, instead of “respect each other’s boundaries” which leaves a person wondering “well, how do I do that?” a more actionable phrasing is “don’t touch people or their possessions without asking.”  Feel free to email suggestions or tips (again, fargomoorheadzinefest at gmail dot com) or start up a conversation on the Facebook page.

Thanks!

Joyce

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ABOUT FARGO-MOORHEAD ZINE FEST

Fargo-Moorhead Zine Fest activities will include: zine sales, zine trades, zine tutorials, kids activities and speakers.

Event is free and open to the public.  This is a kid-friendly event.  Tabling fee is 15 dollars.  A supporter has offered to pay part or all of the tabling fee for people who are unable to afford it.  Volunteers/co-planners needed.  Amazing swag bags will be your reward! 

Email fargomoorheadzinefest at gmail dot com for more information.

SAFER SPACE STATEMENT COMING SOON 

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DO YOU WANT TO SUPPORT POC ZINE PROJECT?

We are 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 and internship info” 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.

DONATE link via PayPal: http://bit.ly/SHdmyh

SCENE REPORT: Pocket Zine Workshop with Girl Scout Troop 30280

By Joyce Hatton, POCZP Midwest Coordinator

Back in February of 2013, Joyce independently led a pocket zine workshop with Girl Scout Troop 30280, an all Native Girl Scout Troop in Fargo, North Dakota. Here is her recap:

On Wednesday February 20th I taught Girl Scout Troop 30280 how to make pocket zines. It was especially meaningful to me because Troop 30280 is an all Native Girl Scout Troop. I was grateful for an opportunity to pass on zine making skills to youth of color. (I wrote more about the troop here).

I met with them at the Native American Center, where the troop holds their meetings. The girls in the troop range from about 5 to 11 years old. One of the first questions I asked was how many of the girls were artists or writers, and all of them said they were!

I told them a little bit about the history of zines, which they weren’t very impressed with. They were, however, very impressed when I got out a stack of an unfolded pocket zines I’d written and told them “On this one sheet of paper, I wrote a book. And I published this book myself. I made twenty copies of my book for two dollars.”

I told them how cool zines were because they can be about anything you want. I asked some of the girls what they were interested in, and what they would want to make theirs about—overall the group was pretty interested in animals.

So I told them “You can make a zine about your favorite animal, and then you can copy it, publish it, and give it to your friends. Zines are a really cool way to teach your friends about things that you’re interested in.”

The girls seemed to be really excited about that. I felt like a broken record reiterating that “you can write about anything at all, anything that is important to you,” and “there’s no wrong way to make a zine,” but I really wanted to dissolve the fear of doing it perfectly so the girls could just dive in. Dive in they did!

Here are some pictures of the zines they made that evening: 

Photo #1: A. doesn’t like to draw, so she wrote about animals in the zoo.

Photo #2: I was really impressed with the art in D.’s zine. She told me all about her technique for finger-painting with markers.

Photo #3: S. loves to read, so she wrote her zine about books. The book on the cover is called “Book of Doom.

Photo #4: The picture of this zine is cropped to keep identifying information out. M. had a huge blond streak in her hair, and talked about her mom’s salon quite a bit.

Photo #5: N. started out drawing animals, but decided to draw animals pooping.

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MAKE YOUR OWN POCKET AKA MINI-ZINE

Video by pinkyshow

DO YOU WANT TO BE A POCZP COORDINATOR LIKE JOYCE?

If you are in the Midwest and want to support POCZP with Joyce, 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.

DONATE link via PayPal: http://bit.ly/SHdmyh

SCENE REPORT: MidWest Zine Fest 2013

On April 13, 2013, POCZP Midwest Coordinator Joyce Hatton attended MidWest Zine Fest for herself and on behalf of POCZP. She created this report back as part of POCZP’s advocacy to help address safer space issues and to encourage more communication/outreach between white zine fest organizers and POC in the community where the event is taking place.

As a result of Joyce’s recap, we have been directly in touch with MidWest Zine Fest organizers. Our advocacy is about building relationships and sharing resources—with the focus always being on the liberation of POC.

We understand the utility of call out culture but we prefer to directly address issues with people one on one. We have found this leads to more tangible positive change than simply reading someone/an entity online (although sometimes it is needed!).

Enjoy the recap and let us know what you think!

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MidWest Zine Fest 2013: The Awesome and the Not-So-Awesome

By Joyce Hatton

Joyce Hatton and POCZP member Mimi Thi Nguyen at MidWest Zine Fest 2013 (photo by Joyce Hatton)

On April 13th, 2013, I attended MidWest Zine Fest in Urbana, IL.

There were two speakers: Joe Coyle, and Kevin Hamilton. There were 21 tablers listed on the schedule, but a few more attended than were listed- myself included. I met some really interesting people and left with a huge pile of zines. I was really glad I went.  Other events that I didn’t attend included a photo scavenger hunt, a stencil workshop, a film screening, and a punk show.

THE AWESOME

• When I walked in I saw several people wearing “radical librarian” name tags.  I <3 librarians, especially radical librarians.
• I was delighted to see Georgi Johnston there, because I had just ordered the zine “Erik Satie was a Punk” through the mail. I was excited to read one zinester’s analysis of “punk” in a decidedly non-punk context (Satie was born in 1866 and and punk broke in 1977, as Georgi points out in the zine).  I talked briefly with Georgi and we ended up doing a zine trade.
• Joe Coyle gave an excellent talk titled “Young People, the Prison Industrial Complex, and Writing” about work at a writing program based out of the Champaign County Juvenile Detention Center. 
  

Joe said: 

“The voices of young people are often neglected in discussions about the justice system and other social issues. This talk showcases some creative work by detained young people that critically addresses these topics and imagines alternatives.”

A view of the crowd during Joe Coyle’s talk at MidWest Zine Fest 2013 (photo by Joyce Hatton) 

Coyle commented that sometimes even auxiliary prison workers get flack for being a part of the broken system that is the PIC.  As we talked we agreed there is value in the efforts of working through the system to improve the lives of incarcerated people, and value in working for radical change of the system.

Joe Coyle and Becca Sorgert tabling at MidWest Zine Fest 2013 with zines made by incarcerated youth and adults (photo by Joyce Hatton)

Joe and Becca Sorgert tabled zines written by incarcerated youth and adults as a fundraiser for the Beat Within thebeatwithin.org, an nonprofit magazine that publishes works by incarcerated youth.

• Kevin Hamilton spoke about the process of making the zine “A Place in Time: Two Paths to a Television Broadcast.” 

Kevin Hamilton (on stage) speaking about the zine making process at MidWest Zine Fest 2013 (photo by Joyce Hatton)

Kevin’s talk was a bit hard to hear because there was no microphone and zine fest was very busy at that time.  Fortunately I was able to borrow a copy of “A Place in Time,” and I really enjoyed reading it.

Kevin was motivated to make it after seeing a video of the 1967 TV show “Public Broadcasting Lab.” In the zine, images from one of the broadcasts were used to recap a discussion amongst students and faculty talk about racism on campus. Black students are very anxious to talk about it, and the white students and faculty much less so.

[POCZP Editor Annotation]

FROM LAST YEAR: Chicagoian Jonas of “Cheer the Eff Up” zine tabling at MidWest Zine Fest in 2012 (in the black hat and hoodie)

Photo Source: Nicole on WeMakeZines

Update via Jonas on FB:

The final 2 issues of Cheer the Eff Up will be available this year! #5 will be finished in time for The Portland Zine Symposium in August. Issue #6 will be done in early November! 

In the meantime, you can get issues #1-3 at a few cool distros on the internets. The most recent issue #4 can be found through Mend My Dress Press or Portland Button Works. 

Please support those distros, because they are run by some of my favorite zinesters on the planet. But, hell, I’m not going to lie to you: if you write me a letter asking for a zine or 2, I’ll probably just mail you stuff for free. Meh. I’m a sucker for mail. Message me privately for the P.O. Box addy. 

Later gators,
-Jonas

[/POCZP Editor Annotation]

A view of the zine tablers at MidWest Zine Fest 2013 (photo by Joyce Hatton)

Participants during the stencil workshop at MidWest Zine Fest 2013 (photo  by Joyce Hatton)

COMMUNITY & ALLIES: Here is where Joyce raises some very important concerns that we hope sparks an ongoing and collaborative conversation between white folks who organize events and POC in the communities where they hold these events. If we don’t address these issues, POC will continue to feel unwelcome, unsafe and shut out from community. We cannot abide this. <3 Let’s change the game.

THE NOT-SO-AWESOME

• Both Joe Coyle and Kevin Hamilton, the only two speakers, were white men.

Joe spoke for incarcerated youth, which due to the institutional racism of the justice system, many were people of color. Kevin’s zine spoke to racism on University of Illinois campus during the 1960’s and in my opinion, serves as a reminder that at any moment any one of us could be an individual that shapes history.

I appreciated Joe’s talk, and Kevin’s zine very much, but I always feel uncomfortable when white people speak about racism to a white audience (there did not appear to be people of color sitting in the audience of either talk.)

I appeared to be one of two people of color tabling zines there. There were some people of color who attended the event, which I was very glad to see. But I think it’s very important for POCs to have an active role in events, to have an active voice in presenting information. It seems like a distraction to talk about issues of race out there when your own space isn’t integrated.

I spoke with event organizer Jeanie about the lack of POCs at the event. Jeanie said that some zinesters of color were planning on coming from Chicago, but were unable to at the last minute. We talked for a bit about the need for more representation of POCs at zine events, and discussed barriers and solutions to making that happen.

POCZP stopped by Urbana-Champaign last year and put on an event at the Independent Media Center where Midwest Zine Fest was held. A few people commented to me that they had attended. While it was exciting to hear that, it was a little discouraging hear at an event with so few POCs tabling zines at MidWest Zine Fest.

• There was a zine there about “ghost hunting” and it included an image of a “proud Native American.”

The zine said that ghosts followed Natives around, and encouraged ghost hunters to follow Natives around in order to hunt ghosts. I asked the tablers of the zine about it in and they said “it’s just a joke” and offered to give me my money back.

I told them I hadn’t bought the zine, I had just noticed it while flipping through it. They repeated “it’s just a joke,” a few times, and eventually one person said “oh, you know, our friend made that joke. She’s a member of United Tribes.”

This is even more troubling when put in the context of the still-active controversy surrounding University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s recently retired mascot Chief Illiniwek.

• Dan from leaveyourbookmarks.com was wearing a tshirt that said “Chicago ain’t no sissy town.”

I approached him and had a brief conversation with him about the fact that “sissy” is a very loaded word that might make some people feel unwanted at the event, particularly given that he was tabling, which gives him the appearance of a person with power over the event. Dan was extremely polite, and offered to put on his sweatshirt to cover the shirt up.

We traded a couple of emails about our discussion a week or so later, and I think our interactions were very positive and educational for both of us.

I was very impressed with Dan’s immediate willingness to accept a new perspective, and complete lack of defensiveness.

I appreciate all the hard work the organizers did to host MidWest Zine Fest. I do not want to detract from the awesomeness of the event. What I wanted to do is give my honest perspective so that MidWest Zine Fest can grow to the be inclusive event that we all want it to be.

[/END]

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THOUGHTS FROM POCZP

POCZP founder Daniela Capistrano reached out to MidWest Zine Fest organizer Jeanie Austin this week after Joyce requested support.

Jeanie has been one of the organizers for the three MidWest Zine Fests, is a zine librarian with the UC-IMC Radical Librarians, goes to school for library science, and works with youth through Mix IT UP!

Here is the thread from our convo with Jeanie:

JOYCE’S EMAIL

 

Joyce

To her credit, Jeanie responded in a very honest way that frankly we rarely see from white zine fest organizers after this kind of interaction:

JEANIE’S RESPONSE

PART OF POCZP’S RESPONSE

Hi Jeanie,

Thanks so much for weighing in. POCZP does not use call out culture tactics because (although we understand when it is needed), we find it more productive to focus on solutions directly with folks we’re addressing. So we really appreciate your response and will include your note in the write up later today. 

I would also like to suggest the possibility of us all brainstorming by google hangout later this week or next week ways to collaborate in the midwest moving forward, with Joyce being a part of that in ways that make sense for her/work with her schedule. <3 Let me know what you think.

Warmly,

Daniela

POCZP founder Daniela and Jeanie are in touch about ongoing collaborations. Daniela, Jeanie and Joyce will be speaking about issues that came up at MidWest Zine Fest in more detail in the coming weeks so that resulting solutions can be shared publicly.

Jeanie is like many zine fest organizers—a person with a lot of other stuff going on who is passionate about building community. She reached out to us earlier in 2013, in fact, to present at MidWest Zine Fest. She also approached POCZP about a possible collaboration with a juvenile detention center in Urbana, IL and made an introduction on our behalf with Joe Coyle, who oversees the writing project.

This post isn’t about “calling out” Jeanie or anyone else at MidWest Zine Fest. We are about building community and making safer spaces for POC. 

COMMUNITY: Think about Jeanie’s comment:

to maintain safer spaces (which we do), there needs to be a lot of talk about what that looks like in action

This hits close to home for POCZP. We made our own mistakes during our first tour last year that we will not make again this year. We discussed these mistakes at Chicago Zine Fest and you can find all details within our prezi.

Despite POCZP being founded by a person of color, and being made up of POC and allies, we still made mistakes during last year’s tour that negatively affected some attendees. Some of our partner venues wouldn’t let people under 18 in, some of the venues were not wheelchair accessible and and we never created a Safer Space Policy for our volunteer event coordinators.

Even as POC, we need to examine our various privileges and how that informs the way we produce events.

So even as we ask the MidWest Zine Fest organizers to examine what went wrong and how to produce more inclusive events in the future, we continue to identify our own mistakes so that we can learn from them and then share that knowledge.

MidWest Zine Fest DID create a safer space policy. The challenge is (one that many event organizers face) how to make sure that everyone is adhering to that policy and whether or not everyone is one the same page about what the policy means. 

These conversations about accessibility, inclusivity and white privilege can be awkward, yes. But we need to keep having them. All the time. That is the only way positive change can occur. We need to all be a part of the solution.

Another factor to consider when assessing how the same mistakes keep happening over and over is volunteer organizer turnover rates. If there isn’t a handoff of information and a training component to onboarding new volunteers, critical information doesn’t get transferred. 

In the case of MidWest Zine Fest, there is talk that the festival may not event continue after this year (not confirmed). Jeanie herself will no longer be involved with planning the fest after this year, due to moving out of state.

Check out Joyce’s roundup of zine fest posters that includes a note about MidWest Zine Fest’s problematic poster choice. 

Again, we aren’t interested in simply calling out issues and walking away. We appreciate the time and energy it takes to organize zine fests and would like to partner with MidWest Zine Fest (if it’s still around) in the future.

For additional context, here is a very positive review of MidWest Zine Fest written by a white male attendee. Here is another very positive review published by The Daily Illini.

Zine fest attendees can have very different experiences, even while being at the same event together. This is something to keep in mind when discussing what true inclusivity looks like.

COMMUNITY: How can we create a praxis - a constantly evolving framework - for zine fest organizers to reference as they build toward a goal of producing an event that is truly inclusive? We should all be sharing resources. Send us your ideas: poczineproject@gmail.com.

Also, feel free to reblog this recap and include your own thoughts and links to resources. We’ll be sure to find them and share <3

- POC Zine Project

SCENE REPORT: Oasis for Girls and The POC Zine Workshop

By Liz Mayorga, POCZP West Coast Coordinator 

Photos by Itoro Udofia, POCZP Intern

The Oasis for Girls Program, located on Mission St in San Francisco, serves under-resourced girls and young women ages 11-24. They focus on empowering women by helping them reach their full potential through lifeskills, art, and career planning. They are part of Writer’s Corps, which brings professional writers to teach youth.

These writers are placed in a community setting to encourage youth to explore their talents and dreams. Oasis for girls creates a safe space within that spectrum for African American, Arab, Latina, Native, Ascian-Pacific Islander, low-income, immigrant women, transgender and queer women. And I felt honored to work with them as part of the POC Zine Project on March 27, 2013.

Students and Roseli Ilano, WritersCorps Teaching Artist, Oasis for Girls, (center) at the POCZP Youth Zine Workshop on March 27, 2013, at the San Francisco Arts Commission

Itoro and I had the pleasure of leading a POCZP Youth Zine Workshop for Oasis for Girls. We met Roseli Ilano, the Writer’s Corps teacher, at the San Francisco Arts Commission. She greeted us with a warm smile, and introduced us to eight students, all young women of color from different High Schools in San Francisco.

Roseli lead us into a conference room, asked the girls to take a seat, and everyone introduced themselves, awkwardly, like the way we do when we’re in conference rooms, but it didn’t take long for this group to open up. Roseli created a level of comfort that not only encouraged the girls to speak, but helped me and Itoro feel at home.

We started by talking about The POC Zine Project, it’s mission, and our involvement in it. We covered how zines allow people to write between different worlds and form communities, and why they’re so important to communities of color. We highlighted these points with examples of work by Tomás Moniz, Mimi Thi Nguyen, and Osa Atoe.

The girls were impressed to hear about a father who writes about his daughters and his own struggle to help them stay strong and true to themselves, were surprised to hear about a Professor who started off as a zinester, and a musician who broke all norms and expectations by following her passion and creating the fanzine she wanted see. Most of all, they were happy to see people writing about people and topics we’re told to ignore.

After a brief history of zines as a radical self-expression and DIY publishing, we showed examples of Youth Zines and moved on to create one-page minis. This part of the workshop started with a circle and ended with a circle. Itoro asked, “If you could write about anything, what would you write?” We went around sharing the topics that were on our minds.

The topics varied from sexuality to social-economic issues, how women were too often blamed for being assaulted, and how their experience of San Francisco was nothing like the San Francisco people expected to see.

Roseli asked the girls to arrange the art supplies. As they did and prepared to create their minis, I asked them to make two or three zines, and proposed for them to write about the most important women in their lives, unless they wanted to write about something else. Most of the girls wrote about the women they admired, their mothers and grandmothers, their friends and role models.

We ended the workshop by going around the circle again, sharing our minis, our stories with each another.

I can safely say that Itoro and I gained a lot from working with this group of women. Making zines is gratifying, but it doesn’t come close to the satisfaction I feel when working with other people, especially youth, on art projects. Roseli and the girls were a wonderful group: curious, intelligent, engaging, and they had a lot to say.

I felt privileged to be there, to be a part of their circle, and to see their zines.

TESTIMONIAL

“The POC Zine Project creates a space for young women of color to explore their stories in a fun and fresh medium- a medium where the only rule is to take risks and let your creativity soar.

Our young women raised their voices, told their truths, and shared their dreams on paper, fully supported by the POC Zine Project workshop facilitators. In the process they not only learned about the radical history of zinemaking, but became a part of it.” - Roseli Ilano, WritersCorps Teaching Artist, Oasis For Girls

For more information on the Oasis for Girls program:

Phone: (415) 701-7991

FAX: (415) 701-0131

MAIL: Oasis For Girls, 1008 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94103

OR WALK-IN: Office Hours are Mondays – Fridays from 11:00 am – 7:00 pm

EMAIL: sfoasis@sfoasis.org

On the Web: www.sfoasis.org

Blog: sfoasis.blogspot.com

ABOUT LIZ MAYORGA

Liz Mayorga is an MFA Writing candidate at California College of the Arts. She writes and illustrates comics and storybooks, often featuring monsters. Her inspiration comes from her crazy family and Chican@ Pop Culture.

She is the Co-Director of San Francisco Zine Fest, and is now happy to be part of the POC Zine Project.

Learn more about her here: lizmayorga.com

COMMUNITY: 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.