You get a zine, you get a zine, you get a zine, everybody gets a zine!
By Ella Miller
The Cecil Community Centre hosted the inaugural Zine Dump at the beginning of November. The event was pulled together by a team of just seven volunteers who ambitiously set out to create a space for the local zine economy to flourish, both financially and in terms of the ideas and community attached to it.
Zine Dump comes at a time when some of Toronto’s bastions of zine culture are struggling; Toronto Comic Arts Festival changed venues due to planned renovations* at the Toronto Reference Library; Broken Pencil and Canzine shuttered after the pro-Israel stances of their founder, Hal Niedziecki, surfaced.
Taking all this into consideration, Toronto should count itself fortunate that Zine Dump has made its home here — it was a smash hit that truly negotiated a radically inclusive, caring, community space for itself in a city that is too often too hostile. I certainly am grateful…even if my wallet isn’t.
Here is a list of my five favourite zines I bought (in no particular order):
“Ethnic Trader Joe’s” by Jason Li
Li’s zine provides a perfect response to the Trader Joe’s tote bag trend by dissecting the cultural appropriation that is commonplace in grocery stores.
My favourite genre of zine is the ode to something so intensely obscure and that is exactly what “Ethnic Trader Joe’s” is. In it, author and illustrator Jason Li ponders Trader Joe’s line of ‘ethnic’ food products and the various Joe’s that were ascribed to them (i.e., Arabian [sic] Joe’s).
Li crafts personality profiles and portraits for these members of the Joe family. It’s a meditation on the subtle racism that exists within the American grocery store, but also a story of reclamation and a testament to what putting just a little bit of thought in could do for these brands.
“Fujoshi Shame and Agony” by Zoot
Me too girl.
Maybe this one is too much of a self-report, but I thoroughly enjoyed this exploration of the relationship between queer women and the thing they desire most (fanfiction of their problematic, blorbo-from-my-show mlm slash pairings). The art style is cute and dynamic, the pages are peppered with references to despicable yaoi deep cuts and the questions asked about the shame imposed on women with any sexual desires are substantial.
“Twilight Journal” by Meghan Mackay
Mackay’s Twilight Journal is a time capsule into the dark and twisted world of being a teenage girl in the early 2010s.
This whole zine felt like the screenplay to the most hilarious sequel to Little Miss Sunshine that died in development hell. The zine consists of scanned pages of Mackay’s diary from when she was 13-years-old and grappling with the unspeakable horrors that every teenage girl experiences. The cherry on top? Every page has a quote from Twilight by Stephanie Meyers printed on it.
Now, indulge me as I write another list of my favourite quotes from this literary genius in the making:
- “I feel bad for Krystiana because maybe 1½ month ago she was at Greek school and she loves the smell of permanent markers and so she was smelling them but she accidentally got high.”
- “I don’t even want to be friends with him anymore because he’s a RAISIST PUSSY ASSHOLE! FUCK FUCK FUCKING FUCKNESS!”
- “I might write down swear words but I don’t say to many.”
- “I use recycling bin and green bin. I be myself, I AM A GOOD PERSON. So where’s my karma?”
“Why I Won’t Drive A Car” by Aviva Davis
Guys only want one thing and it’s disgusting (a comprehensive public transit system).
If you don’t already hate car culture, you will after this zine. “Why I Won’t Drive A Car” helps me channel my blind rage for Toronto drivers. I think I’ll photocopy the pages and start slapping them on the windshields of every Cybertruck that tries to mow me down whenever I cross the street. If I had a nickel…
“To The World” by Jehad Abu Dayya & Esraa Al-Banna
All the proceeds for this zine go towards Abu Dayya’s charity which offers educational opportunities to Palestinians in order to help them learn English.
“I believe that all those beyond the wall that surround us are the free people of the world. My dream is to travel the world and share my culture of my occupied homeland. But the genocide being committed against us—I fear it will reach me before I can fulfill my dream. My wish for this year is for the genocide to stop. Pray for me to stay alive.”
* A previous version of this article stated that Toronto Comic Arts Festival changed venues due to rising event space costs. This was an error on our part, as the festival changed venues for another reason. The article has been updated to reflect this correction. Thank you to the reader who pointed out our mistake.
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