I made a zine!

I did something recently that I was incredibly proud of, and that something was I made a zine! Though it was a short, but difficult creative endeavor— I learned a lot about the process in case I decide to try this creative project again!

If you’re wondering why I decided to embark on this journey, I truthfully just really always felt inclined to make one, but didn’t have the time or programs to design one. My entire life I’ve been inspired by the zines of the 90’s punk scene, and the early aughts indie scene. There’s just something about physical and analog media and publications dedicated to music, lit, movements etc. that I feel connected to!

The main motivator to complete this project was to make the zine for a final in my creative writing class, because deadlines help me get sh*t done. My premise was simple and sweet. I, along with my friends, wrote an homage to Whittier, Uptown and South Minneapolis in the form of Haiku and “three sentence stories” delving into our experiences of living in this neighborhood.

this was an 8 page zine, that I titled Tiny Uptown because well… It’s tiny, in all ways possible (tiny in size, tiny in volume, and very tiny in story format!). It took me probably about 4 to 6 total hours to create, but just about every hour had mishaps and blunders— some easy to fix with white out, and some that caused me to break down and cry on my living room floor, cursing my paper slicer.

All in all, it was a learning experience that I will cherish and maybe practice until it gets perfect. I gotta say, it feels so darn good seeing the final result hanging on a poster board, or sitting in a coffeeshop! I just want everyone to understand why I love the area I grew up in. I’m glad I have friends who contributed and love the south Minneapolis area as much as I do.

Keep your eyes peeled in the future for my mini-zine! I may do a 2nd volume to Tiny Uptown in the near future!