THE ZINE COLLECTOR
A New Zine Podcast by Jaime Nyx
Jaime Nyx may already be known to some of you from her zine review blog, Sea Green Zines (seagreenzines.com), which she has been writing since 2011, an eon in zine years. She also writes the zine “Don’t Call Me Cupcake.” At the beginning of this year, she started a podcast/videocast called The Zine Collector, and has posted seven episodes to date. It’s obvious from the start that Nyx has put research and thought into each episode. The sound quality is fantastic, Nyx comes across as friendly and welcoming, and there’s even nice intro music. Overall, it’s a real pleasure to listen to.
Nyx spends the first couple episodes introducing herself and zines—yes, that basic question of what a zine is, which I’m sure you reading this already know, and yet, she finds definitions from several different sources that might make you think a litter harder about it. Nyx has a great love for zines, and that is the most appealing part of listening to her podcast. She appreciates the “generous community” of zinesters, and emphasizes the zine ethos of not being competitive, but cooperative—that we are all (for the most part) supporting each other. In this spirit, she then talks about several other zine podcasts that she listens or listened to and gets inspiration from. Her thorough show notes are a treasure trove to investigate further zine resources, with links to other podcasts, zine distros, and individual zinesters. Her segment “sharing is caring” highlights zine communities, like WeMakeZines.com, where listeners can get more involved and connected in the zine community.
Creating conversations in the zine community is very important to Nyx. When I asked her about it, she said her main motivation in starting the podcast was “extending what I was already doing in regards to connections/conversations and bringing that to new platforms.” Now that it’s up and running and she’s getting feedback, she wants to focus on “making people feel welcome.” She wants more people to feel like they have permission to make zines. Nyx struggles with anxiety issues and says she is “made of marshmallow fluff,” which I think somehow makes her the perfect fairy godmother for zinesters. She will always cheer you on, and remind you that “there are no gatekeepers in the zineverse, nor should there ever be.”
In later episodes, Nyx discusses specific issues in more depth, like zine pricing, consent and copyright in perzines, and to risograph or not to risograph. Episode five is a long interview with zinester Sober Bob, in which they discuss the disturbing trend of young people merchandising everything they do, believing that something is not worth doing unless it is financially viable. Episode six is like a meditation for zinesters, in which Nyx gives zinesters 5 tips, including remembering to breathe, have fun, and not get overwhelmed. I’ll be listening to that one repeatedly.
I highly recommend this podcast for its positivity and supportiveness of the zine community as a whole. Nyx responds to feedback and listens to what zinesters are interested in discussing. The easiest place to find her is on You Tube, but she’s also on Pippa, Spotify, Pocketcasts, and Castbox.
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