Brock Press

Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Chao Sun

Media Credit: Chao Sun

Kate Andres-Toal has a different meaning for 'cut-and-paste' than most. She knows it to be much more than a few clicks of a mouse, but associated with hours spent gluing together her latest issue of self-publication and a meaningful alternative to the ever-invasive world of mass media.
The third year Brock University communications major first began making zines over seven years ago, as a method of working through issues like politics, vegetarianism and the impacts of the media.
Andres-Toal, a "local legend" in the Niagara zine scene, now sees zines as an important way of expressing opinions in opposition to the dominant ideology, and the ultimate DIY publishing.
"No matter who we are and where we go, we're constantly bombarded by various forms of media and the messages they want to impart," she said. "These messages are often sponsored by companies through their advertisements and aimed at us as consumers. For me, and I think for a lot of zinesters, zines are a form of media for regular folks like us who will never own a newspaper or host a TV show to voice our thoughts. Zines are an easy, fun and cheap way to talk back."
Though blogs and 'e-zines' have rapidly become some of the most popular outlets for free self-expression, the print zine is commended in the zine community for its invested effort in the physical product.
"I think zines and blogs involve very different mindsets," said Andres-Toal. "Committing something to print gives it a weight, a sense of finality, and a lot more effort goes into producing a printed object. I don't think people take a blog entry as seriously as they would a physical copy of an article they read somewhere ... And honestly, there are a lot of shitty zines out there, but just the fact that a person took the time to create it and the courage to share it, that's noble."
Thanks to festivals like CanZine, organizations like Broken Pencil and zine libraries, which are dedicated to promoting and protecting zine culture, zines have retained an important place in society since their most recent boom in the early '90s. Welland's Youth Innovations drop-in centre holds a zine library, but the Niagara zine scene is struggling in comparison to bigger cities like Toronto or Halifax that boast vibrant zine cultures.
"I don't really know about the Niagara zine community, which I guess says a lot about its presence," said Andres-Toal. "A lot of Niagara folks who are involved with zines end up moving to Toronto, which sucks. I mean, I can understand why, but I also think it's important to build up a thriving alternative arts culture in a place where it doesn't really exist."
Niagara group Down to Earth (DTE) has been working to do just that. Brock students Randi Townsend and Piotr Pawlowski created the vision of Down to Earth a little over a year ago, and now 250 copies of their publication are distributed to downtown St. Catharines and the Brock community with each issue's release.
"[DTE] promotes individualistic art, organic human relationships, sustainable living and a closer understanding of collective consciousness," said Townsend. "The zine itself is made up of contributions from various individuals (local and some from abroad) which reflect our vision. DTE is based on egalitarian principles, wherein the group is non-hierarchical so equal opportunities are given to all/any contributors."
Down to Earth's zine, in compliance with the general 'zine mandate', separates itself from other forms of media through its anti-advertising content and lack of censorship.
"We are free of shitty sponsored advertising in the name of profiteering," said Townsend. "Secondly, anyone is free to contribute, and almost all get printed. Our message is anti-capitalist, which runs totally contradictory to mass media. We do not operate on any sort of specific agenda or censor our material. We are open to all contributions, therefore many voices are represented, not just those which echo the dominant ideologies."
The absolute accessibility of zines makes them perhaps the only truly free press; you do not need money to begin publishing and there is nothing that lies between what you want to write and the written. While the mass media becomes increasingly dominated by just a few large corporations, Townsend envisions more and more people beginning to create their own media.
"Hopefully, more people will be empowered to get involved, or start there own zines as a means to rebel against and subvert mass media, and create real, true media - of the people, by the people," said Townsend.
As interested citizens continue to seek out new ways of making their voices heard, the appeal of the traditional handmade zine has not diminished. The print zine has only been made all the more valuable by its tangibility and sense of human connection that is so often lost on other forms of media.
"There's nothing like having a favourite zine to keep in your bag and read on the bus or in a waiting room. I love their subversive appeal, like how I can sneak them into the pages of magazines at the library and share them with strangers. You can't do that with a blog," said Andres-Toal. "I think that as long as there are people like me, who would rather sit on their bedroom floor, cutting up magazines, getting their fingers all gluey and generally making a mess than stare at a screen, screwing around with all this techno-html-junk and getting carpal tunnel, there will be zines."
Kate Andres-Toal will be hosting a zine workshop at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library on March 12. Those interested can call the library at 905-468-2023 to sign up. For more information about Down to Earth, visit www.myspace.com/downtoearthzine.

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