Note from Victoria: The following is an interview I completed with one of my favorite zinesters ever, Alexis Pauline Gumbs! Alexis (or Lex, as I call her), is a sholar, an activist and a deep lover of one of the most famous black feminists out there, Audre Lorde. Lex teaches women and girls about things that Audre Lorde said and then ecourages them to act on Lorde's words. One of the most important lessons I ever learned from Alexis is that you can believe in and love yourself.
1) How old were you when you started making zines?
I made my first "book" with markers with a poem about a unicorn and my grandfather. It was in a blank hardcover book so maybe it wasn't a zine. I didn't know about zines. I just typed up poems and stories about the magic I saw around me and glued them into this blank white hardcover book. I was about 7.
2) Why did you start making zines? Who told you/taught you about them?
I started making my own photocopied, colorful, collections with collages, poems, and thoughts and essays when I was in college. I learned about some amazing feminists of color who had created their own press, called Kitchen Table Women of Color Press. They made some bright pamphlets with cardstock and African prints on them and they had speeches on them from amazing women like Audre Lorde and Angela Davis and Merle Woo. My teacher, Farah Griffin, told me about them and then I saw them in the library and decided I HAD to make some too! And I've never stopped.
3) What kind of stuff do you write about in your zines?
I write a lot about LOOOOVE. (Oohlalala.) Like love for the whole world or love for my family and community or love for one especially gorgeous someone. I also write about people who inspire me (like my mom) and things that make me really sad and angry (like war and violence) and changes that I think would make the world more loving and exciting to live in (like lowering the voting age to 8).
4) What is a huge mistake you made once when you made a zine? How did you fix it?
LOL! Everytime I make one I miscount the number of pages! So then I have to figure out what to do with those blank pages. Usually I say..."here is a space for you to write a love note! :)"
5) What advice do you have for girls interested in making zines?
You can do it!!!! Don't worry about if you are doing it right because you definitely are! Only you make the rules. Have fun!
6) What was the hardest thing for you to do as a kid making zines? As a grown up?
Hmm. As a kid and as a grown up...remembering what things I'm "not supposed to" cut to pieces and where I shouldn't put glue...like all over the carpet...is a challenge.
7) Did your parents/caretakers support you with zine making?
My parents kept and bragged on everything I made. Especially my mom. (Especially when I managed NOT to cut up the magazines she hadn't read yet..) I wrote a zine in honor of my mom and other Black women called brownsweetbrokenbeautiful which is where I got the name for my webiste (brokenbeautiful press).
And when my dad started writing poetry he said he was inspired by my poetry as a kid. His first book was about my grandfather too (unicorns not included)!