Zines

Happy International Zine Library Day! Highlighting Julia Bleakney's "Anxious" Zine

Happy International Zine Library Day! Today, we are highlighting a recent donation to the Zine Collections, Anxious, by Elon's own Julia Bleakney. We had no idea that little baby Julia was so punk rock, but we are so grateful to her for sharing this incredible piece of her own history with us! The original zine is quite delicate, so we've decided to put it aside for preservation while allowing folks access copies. Please stop by Belk Library for a copy, or send us your address and we will mail you a copy.

Julia writes, "Anxious was a punk ‘zine created in Belfast, Northern, Ireland, from 1983-84 by Julia Bleakney, Sheena Bleakney, and Valerie McVeigh.

We started Anxious in the front room of our house when we were in secondary school (high school in the U.S.) in East Belfast. Sheena and I are twin sisters, and Valerie was a close friend from school. It was the early to mid-1980s, and we’d been introduced to punk music in a couple of ways: as we were doing homework in our room, we listened to alternative radio stations Radio Luxembourg and BBC Radio One; we especially liked the DJs John Peel and David Jensen. And also we had some friends in school who were into punk music and who introduced us to the music and to other friends. When you’re 14-15, as we were at the time, we had a lot of questions about the world and a lot of things to say about it, and creating our ‘zine Anxious was an outlet for us to explore those questions and ideas. I don’t remember where we got the idea to do a ‘zine–but I think it’s because we saw similar ‘zines for sale in the record shop in town and realized it was something we could do too. Before we created Anxious, we worked on another ‘zine we called A Bigger Splash. We changed the name to Anxious after one issue, as well as the format (print size) and some layout details.

Anxious ran for three issues (Sheena says we had five issues!) before we got interested in other things, notably helping to create and then run a community center in Belfast for punks and others who felt out of place with the political divisiveness in Northern Ireland. For the ‘zine, we interviewed bands from the North and South of Ireland, including Ruefrex from Belfast and Paranoid Visions from Dublin. We reviewed gigs we attended (some of the bands we reviewed were Stalag 17, Asylum, and Toxic Waste from Belfast and Reality Control from England). And we wrote articles on topics we cared about, such as animal rights. We were especially committed to an idea of not conforming to the status quo and rejecting traditional party politics. We sold the ‘zine in local record shops and at gigs, and we also sold it through the mail, shipping it to readers in the UK, Europe, and the United States. Anxious was an important way for us to find a community of like-minded folks, not just locally but all over the world.

Julia Bleakney

June 2022"

Zine Kits Available for Check-out at Belk Library!

Zine kits are now available for check-out at Belk Library! Four kits are available, and will circulate for a period of one week. Bring your Phoenix Card to the Belk Library circulation desk and request a kit. In the box, you'll find: 

• Scissors
• Glue sticks
• Assortment of pens, pencils, and markers
• Washi Tape
• A Folding Tool
• Blank white paper
• Blank colored paper, assorted
• Ephemera and magazines for cutting up
• Examples of mini-zines to serve as guides

Please reach out via this guide, or through the library chat feature, with any questions. 

THERE ARE FOUR KITS AVAILABLE, SO CLICK HERE TO CHECK THE BELK CATALOG TO SEE IF ONE IS AVAILABLE FOR CHECK-OUT!

Pick up a Grab and Go Zine Kit at the MakerHub in Downtown Elon - Wednesday, October 20, Noon-4 pm

In honor of National Day on Writing, please stop by the MakerHub in Downtown Elon for your free Grab and Go Zine Kit, featuring supplies to make a simple, single-sheet mini-zine. We are especially grateful to Dan Reis and Ket Cordova in the MakerHub for organizing this, ordering supplies, and assembling the kits! Sign up ahead of time, or drop in!

Tell your own story with zines! Zines are self-published, DIY publications. They've long been used as a tool for creativity, activism, and telling marginalized stories!  And check out zines from Elon's Zine collections! !

May 14, 7 PM - Past, Present, and Future of Queer Comics Panel!

PLEASE REGISTER FOR THE ZOOM LINK AT: https://forms.gle/u2CF6kzWL2FaqDiy9 

Sam(antha) Meier is an archivist, editrix, and public historian.  She is the Archivist for Discovery at Cline Library's Special Collections and Archives (SCA) at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona, where she oversees the processing, arrangement, and description of SCA’s archival holdings/ Additionally, she currently serves as the interim Collections Management Archivist, handling matters related to the acquisition of new archival collections for the Colorado Plateau Archives. Previously, Sam served as a Library Technician with the Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress, as an archival technician at the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) Library & Archives, and as a digitization assistant at the University of British Columbia Library Digitization Centre. She received her Master of Archival Studies, First Nations Curriculum Concentration, from the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies (SLAIS) at the University of British Columbia. At present, Sam is collaborating with Joyce Farmer and Shanta Chevli on an anthology of Nanny Goat Productions’ underground comix, including Tits & Clits (1972-1987), Abortion Eve (1973) and Pandora’s Box (1973). She has written about women’s underground comix for a variety of outlets in addition to presenting her work at public gatherings and academic conferences. 

Maureen Burdock is an artist, writer, and teacher. Born in the Black Forest in Germany in 1970, she grew up during the Cold War Era in Germany and the United States. Her creative and scholarly work examines topics of displacement, gender, memory, and trauma. Burdock is currently working on The Queen of Snails, a graphic memoir that is her dissertation in the Cultural Studies PhD Program at the University of California, Davis. Before working towards her PhD, she earned an MFA in Studio Art and an MA in Visual and Critical Studies from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Burdock is the creator of Feminist Fables for the Twenty-first Century: The F Word Project, a series of graphic fables that address forms of gender-based violence in various cultures, published by McFarland Books in 2015. In addition to the Feminist Fables, she has published a number of shorter graphic narratives and peer-reviewed essays about comics, life writing, and memory. Burdock lives in Northern New Mexico with her wife and Gracie, their boxer puppy, where they enjoy trail running and backpacking.

Sowjanya Kudva: I have been working in video production for nearly two decades. I write, produce, direct, shoot, and/or edit across multiple mediums and genres (for corporate clients, non­profits, independent filmmakers, and my own passion projects). Over the years, I have worked in Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, Durham, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, cultivating a robust network of filmmakers, freelancers, artists, activists, production houses, and all around amazing people. In 2014, I started mentoring San Francisco youth in filmmaking practice and theory, and quickly learned that I loved teaching. I decided to become a professor and completed an MFA in Film & Media Arts at Temple University in 2019. I now work as an Assistant Professor in Cinema & Television Arts within the School of Communication at Elon University.

Silk Club - April 15!

"Silk Club is an organization for Austin-based self-identified Asian American women, non-binary, and genderqueer folks to collaborate on projects that celebrate our experience. It is a space committed to validating and empowering intersectional identities, building creative opportunities, and fostering connections between different Asian communities." *We love everything Silk Club does, but especially these incredible Tarot cards!  

REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK HERE: https://elon.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIrcOGspzwrG9Sc8_rvPl2kPCkZaWlIBC9Q 

Zinesters at Duke Who we Love!

Amanda Bennett is a writer, teacher, and doctoral candidate in Literature at Duke University, and has overseen some incredible student zines! Learn more about  Amanda's  work  at her website: https://herfoolishwit.blogspot.com/

In particular, be sure to read Desideradum: the Pieces of Us (pictured left), a zine created by student Celine Wei in Amanda's "The Pieces of Toni Morrison" class! 

Celine Wei (Duke Lit, Class of 2023) is also a force behind Duke as a Cultural Object: LIT201 Zine! 

Celine also connected us with Shania Khoo (Duke Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Class of 2022), and both contributed to  breathe: reflections and art from asian communities at duke and Margins, issue i: Bodies. 

Be sure to check out all of Shania's zines (front covers pictured below!) at https://issuu.com/shaniak 

Celebrate Zines in July!

Happy International Zine Month! 2019 marks ten years since Portland-based zinester Alex Wrekk dubbed July as International Zine Month. And July 21 is International Zine Library Day! Here are some links and ideas to get you through the month. 

• Some quick facts about International Zine Month from the American Library Association
• Some information on International Zine Library Day 
• Support local and regional zinesters at a zine festival
• Say hi to us at the Greensboro Zine Festival! (We're not tabling, just there supporting local artists and making our zine collection even better)
• Make your own zine!