Happy Friday! I want to use this post to quickly reflect on one of my new favorite ways to destress as a student: making zines! If you do not know what zines are, they are like collages of text and images that have historical roots in activism and marginalized communities.
Wellesley’s main library, Clapp Library, is currently under renovation and our library and technology services have temporarily relocated to the Modular Lots on the campus’s east side. In the Modular Lots, one of the library reading rooms has a small table for zinemaking! The table has paper, scissors, gluesticks, coloring pencils, and a box full of magazines and newspapers to cut from.
This week, I started going to the reading room to make zines as a way to channel some stress and anxiety into something productive. I have made one or two zines before and have always wanted to get into it as a hobby. I am so glad that I started now because I did not anticipate actually how much I would enjoy it.
I went into the reading room without a particular vision for the zines I wanted to make; instead, I just picked up the nearest magazines and started cutting out some aesthetically pleasing images and gluing them together on one sheet of paper. It is so relaxing to keep my hands busy and put together these different images into one cohesive collage. It’s also fun to listen to some music or TV while making zines.
I am definitely a beginner in zine-making, so my works so far are not the prettiest! But overall, I am very happy to find a new hobby like this. Oftentimes, I find it easy to just scroll on my phone when I want to destress after a long day of classes. Making zines and collages is a way for me to destress by being creative and productive.
Thank you for reading this week!
At the zinemaking table in the reading room
Trying to combine different pieces
Work-in-progress! Trying to find some smaller cutouts to add to the bottom half
This isn’t really a zine or collage LOL, just two adorable cat pictures that I stuck together