"This is, above all, a zine about race, but since I experience the world not only as a mixed-race person, but as a mixed-race queer woman with an inconsistent gender presentation, you will find experiences pertaining to all those identities in this zine." I've reviewed a lot of Nia's work before and I always come away from it thinking, Yeah, this is work people need to read. Because it is. That said, I think of all of Nia's work, Ungrateful Black-White Girl is the most articulate I've seen her be in writing about her own experiences. Her work is always powerful, but there's something about this zine that is both direct like her other work and also proactive; the anger is still there, but the setting feels more external--in this zine she's starting at a new school and is in a few setting different from her other zines. Maybe that's it. Maybe this zine feels more tied to a sense of place, whereas her other work was working through specific events or certain issues. UB-WG takes the form of dated individual entries that are titled things like "How to be a better white ally"and "This is what self-care looks like." It'll make you think; it's honest and forthright, and it's evocative of some of the things that I like best about zines. Get it. It's absolutely worth your time.
$2/Digest/24 pgs
Nia Diaspora
available here:
http://strangerdangerdistro.wordpress.com/catalog/
Showing posts with label nia diaspora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nia diaspora. Show all posts
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Saturday, October 11, 2008
"The First 7-inch Was Better: How I Became an Ex-Punk"
"The First 7-inch Was Better: How I Became an Ex-Punk"
by Nia Diaspora
50 cents, no trades, 1/4 size, 12 pgs, FTP.
Nia describes this zine as about her "progressive disillusionment with punk activist communities as I began to better understand their failure to live up to anti-racist, anti-sexist, and pro-queer ideals." It's a sage, succinct statement that both hits the main points and also, I think, doesn't say enough. It's a powerful zine, kind of heartbreaking and important to read, and what I thought was kind of beautiful about it was that at its center--quite literally--activism remains. There's a pull-out sheet titled 'check yrself' with some questions on it designed to get people thinking and talking. It's worth reading, even if you're not into punk--because while Nia's writing about a couple of different punk communities, those points are vital to think about in a broader context too.
available:
http://strangerdangerdistro.wordpress.com/catalog/
by Nia Diaspora
50 cents, no trades, 1/4 size, 12 pgs, FTP.
Nia describes this zine as about her "progressive disillusionment with punk activist communities as I began to better understand their failure to live up to anti-racist, anti-sexist, and pro-queer ideals." It's a sage, succinct statement that both hits the main points and also, I think, doesn't say enough. It's a powerful zine, kind of heartbreaking and important to read, and what I thought was kind of beautiful about it was that at its center--quite literally--activism remains. There's a pull-out sheet titled 'check yrself' with some questions on it designed to get people thinking and talking. It's worth reading, even if you're not into punk--because while Nia's writing about a couple of different punk communities, those points are vital to think about in a broader context too.
available:
http://strangerdangerdistro.wordpress.com/catalog/
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