A weekly inside look at the unique faces and personalities that make up The College of Wooster community.
Sally Kershner
Features Editor
What made you want to start making zines, and what do you hope for them to accomplish on campus?
So, I’ve been thinking about this. One thing that I really hate about not necessarily college but academia is that it’s very pretentious. I feel like a lot of people who I want to get their hands on this information won’t be able to. So like, when you go to any sort of academic database you have to pay like 30 dollars. And not everyone has that. I find it hypocritical for academia to be talking about intersectional theory but then not addressing the fact that a lot of people who need access to this information won’t have it.
So with my zines, what I’m working through now is how to make them accessible for everyone. At first I was charging a flat rate for my zines, but then I realized not everyone would have the money for that. Even though they are three to five dollars, not everyone has that. So what I started doing is a pay-what-you-can system I learned at my summer internship. So, if it’s 50 cents, then sure, I’ll take it. If you can’t give me anything, that’s fine too. And if you contact me via email, I’ll send you a free pdf.
When I went home for the zine festival, someone made a zine in braille for people who are blind. So I’ve been thinking about how I could do more inclusive things like that. I’ve also got three brothers who are mentally disabled, so they’re not on [that] reading level yet — how can I make zines for people with mental disabilities, too? How can I make sure that my zines feature thoughts and research from academia but without including the pretention? I don’t want to water down the information, but I want to present it in a way that everyone, even less privileged people, [can] grasp it.
How do you think students can responsibly engage with allyship?
I know I’m very vocal about being against performative allyship. Allyship is really confusing. Here, I feel like a lot of students are engaged in the history classes, or the WGSS classes, or the philosophy classes, and they’ll say really good things inside of the classroom, and outside of the classroom they’ll be perpetuating anti-blackness, or perpetuating any type of -isms. A lot of white students will like, tell you why people of color might be hesitant to call the cops to the neighborhood to fix something. They might not understand closed communities and why they wouldn’t want to let outsiders in.
I feel like a lot of the students here are very textbook smart — they’ll read all these articles and think they’re doing something, but they’re not. A lot of people want a pat on the back — people will literally say things, then look at me for my nod of approval.
So, for allyship, I think students here need to be more empathetic. Like, not being invasive, but actually getting up and talking to people who are different from them and developing empathy. I feel like someone here might be really anti-capitalist, but when engaging with a homeless person would be really abrasive and stand-offish. Or people who will say “black lives matter,” but won’t talk to black students on campus. Students need to willingly listen and constantly engage themselves, understanding that activism is an everyday thing. It’s not something you just stand up for once at an event.
Who is a figure that’s been a significant artistic influence for you?
I’d say Princess Nokia, because she embodies being a carefree black woman. For me personally, I struggle trying to be a carefree black femme because there’s always black and brown bodies being shot, there’s always violence against trans women of color, there’s everything with the racism and violence of our current prison system being basically legalized slavery — it’s really difficult for me to ingest all of that every day and still try to be carefree.
Princess Nokia is just so unapologetically black; there are all these videos of her just not taking anyone’s shit, which I really like. I feel like it’ll take a really long time for me to be a liberated black person, but through watching her and people like Solange, I feel like maybe one day I can get there. It’s nice to know that those women are out there, navigating the world, telling their story and trying to help other people get liberated.