Today at Multicultural Human Services, CLWC volunteers introduced 18 high schoolers to the concept of a "zine" and then watched in awe as each student mastered the craft. The results were funny, poignant, and very honest!This was the final workshop in our summer partnership with PRO Urban Youth, and we couldn't have had more fun. The classroom transformed into a quietly buzzing zine-making factory, and by the end of the two hours every student had published an original zine and, as a bonus, got to keep photocopies of every other zine. Here are just a few selected titles:
* My Sweet 15 on March 30, 2008
* Last Year of High School!
* The Best Rapper Alive
* How Chris Paul Inspired Me to Work Hard
* My Two Year Old Daughter's Birthday Party
* No Standard Curriculum...But a Standardized Test!!!: The SAT
* Six Ways to Forgive
In case you've never seen one, a zine is a self-published magazine focusing on things largely ignored by mass media. When you make a zine, the idea is not to create a mini-Ebony; it's to offer an alternative view on something about which you are knowledgeable (or hope to be knowledgeable). One wonderful thing about zines is that you can make one out of a single sheet of paper! That's right; you can fold one piece into eight panels, which turns out to be quite a sufficient amount of space to tell a story about your life, offer advice about matters of the heart, or make your case for something political.
Want to make your own zine? We used a template called How to Make This Very Zine! which can be found on our friend Anne Elizabeth Moore's website. If you'd like more information about the curriculum for this workshop, email info@capitolletters.org.
Finally, we want to especially thank Molly McGuff, who made her CLWC volunteer debut today! If you'd like to volunteer with us this fall, email volunteer@capitolletters.org.
