'Zine' appears

The creators of The 'Zine, the student guerilla magazine distributed across campus this past Tuesday between the pages of newspapers and the tops of urinals, expect their free-form publication to start a revolution.

"I'm a revolutionist," said Chloë Nash '11, co-creator of The 'Zine. "I want it to be a reawakening in all of us and evaluate what is it to be human, to examine raw and natural emotion."

"When people asked us what The 'Zine was, we never really told them. We had people use their own interpretation of the work to get out that raw emotion" said Alyssa Blaker '11, co-creator with Nash.

The 'Zine, a collection of drawings, sketchings and ruminations, is hard to define. It draws its name from the definition of a zine, an amateur magazine in small circulation. Blaker and Nash produced the second issue of The 'Zine in the beginning of April, and distributed 600 quarter page sized magazines all over campus and downtown Saratoga Springs.

After creating a smaller trial issue in February, approximately six pages in length, Blaker and Nash decided to spend $100 in materials to release the second issue of The 'Zine. They used Skidmore's Office Services to print and cut the pages. They stapled each issue together by hand. Blaker estimated that the first issue took 20 hours to complete.

Blaker and Nash were inspired by The Public Journal, a similar free-form magazine published at Cornell, Princeton, Tufts, the University of Michigan, and Bates. The Public Journal is described on its Web site as "anonymous, confessional literature. It is a poignant, juicy, and racy exchange between community strangers. A comfort, a dirty secret, and a raw, lovely truth."

The contributors to the first 'Zine were acquaintances or friends of Blaker and Nash. They encourage random contributions to their publication in future issues.

"The way that it works is that we give contributors pages that are the size of 'Zine pages," Nash said. "You could spit on paper and call it art, as long as you give us back the page, that's all it needs to get published."

While contributions may be varied and random in their subject, the layout of the magazine is mediated.

"It's a lot of time so the left and right side of the pages go together, and the order of it. People don't necessarily think the order matters but it does. We try to relate the theme of two like contributions," Blaker said.

Blaker and Nash plan to continue The 'Zine with the next issue coming out in the Fall semester. They are currently trying to figure out how to receive funding for their magazine without chartering themselves as a club.

"We're going to try to get funding without being an out-there club. We don't want to have a table. We want to be underground and maintain a mystery," said Nash.

Response to the magazine has been, according to the co-creators, very positive.

"Everyone really really really likes it," Blaker said."

"With one exception," Nash added. "We were handing them out in downtown Saratoga Springs and this old couple were eating. So I saw the old man and he looked like a 'Zine type. I guess The 'Zine fell in the hands of the hostess. She told us, 'I don't get this, can you explain this to me?' So, there's also an un-zine type who are closed off to real thoughts."

"Even though we're trying to make it very accessible, some people won't understand," Blaker said. "My parents really didn't understand it."