This year’s Asian Presidents Council, or APC, will be hosting a launch party at Stark Galleries for the first issue of their zine, a form of short magazine, titled “Pavements.” During the event, attendees will see contributors to the zine present their poems, short stories and artwork. Artists’ work will be displayed in a gallery format so people can do their own walkthrough with free snacks, zines and Asian Pacific Islander Desi American, or APIDA, Heritage Month merchandise being provided.
International studies and history senior Miriam Chen, director of advocacy for APC, said they chose the title “Pavement” because they hoped to pave a way to empower and increase representation for APIDA at Texas A&M.
“The idea was that each individual is charting their own path,” said Chen. “The zine is a way for students to share their experiences and thoughts from their various journeys through life.”
Chen said the theme for submissions is the personal stories of Asian American identity and experiences.
“The title of ‘Pavements’’ first issue is Quilted. As described in our zine, Quilted stitches together past memories and present moments,” Chen said. “A collection of struggles and triumphs woven into texts and artistic pieces that tell stories of each contributor’s unique Asian American identity to form a patchwork ‘quilt’ that will build solidarity and foster belonging within the APIDA community at A&M.”
Chen said “Pavements” will work similar to a magazine, with around 40 pages of 20 student submissions, with the full version of the zine available digitally.
“During the event, we will have students share their submissions, which could include reading aloud their poetry, short stories, or discussing their artwork,” Chen said. “We are also trying to display artists’ work in a gallery format, in which attendees can do a self-guided walkthrough as a more informal come-and-go style.”
Sociology senior and president of APC Erin Feng, one of the members of the zine committee, said the idea started last October, as they were inspired by Asian-American student organizations at other universities.
“This is the first edition of the magazine and it is the first time we have ever done something like this,” Feng said.
Feng said she made zines before last year, and the cover of the zine was created by the committee.
“Part of the zine team was making corresponding images or artworks with the submissions,” Feng said. “For poetry, some people on the team did illustrations for it.”
Feng said to fit the name of the issue, she created a collage to look similar to that of a quilt.
“It’s the first Asian-American zine on campus and for us it is really significant that we were able to put this together,” Feng said. “Also, the event is near the end of APIDA heritage month so I think it’s a really great way to close out the amount of programs we had.”
Feng said the event and zine is a good opportunity to showcase the amount of artistry in the APIDA community here at A&M.
Joseph Lopez, associate professor in the Department of Communications and Journalism, described the efficiency of producing printed media such as zines for organizations like APC.
“The culture of zines is being able to truly express yourself in a low budget way,” Lopez said. “It’s like this stepping stone to publication. It’s kind of like the blog or the personal website, before they were out you’d write these things.”
To view the zine online, visit http://tx.ag/quilted.
