Magpies

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Zine Orgy Archive, coming soon

We are currently in the process of cataloguing the Zine Orgy Community zines. Please stay tuned for updates!

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Goodbye Philippines, Helllo CCP!

Magpies took part in {Author}ities: The 9th Philippine International Literary Festival as two of the collective’s members joined poets and scholars Conchitina Cruz and Rae Rival-Cosico in a panel for a talk entitled, "Taking a Stand: Challenges and Opportunities in Publishing" held last April 19, 2018 at Bulwagang Pambansang Alagad ng Sining, Cultural Center of the Philippines.

Shaunnah Ysabel Cledera and Mac Arboleda shared the endeavors of Magpies as a striving collective based in University of the Philippines Los Baños, a science-oriented university. Examples of these endeavors are joining and holding events that promote zine culture within and outside Los Baños. Among others, Zine Orgy is a bi-annual event that Magpies organizes along with campus-based organizations and individuals. In sharing said efforts of the collective, the speakers asserted the problems they face such as financial difficulties as a small independent press, lack of public spaces that are affordable and convenient for holding events for zine community within the UPLB campus, and lack of support from the university administration for the literature and arts enthusiasts.

Poet and Philippine High School for the Arts Creative Writing teacher Rae Rival-Cosico spoke about feminist press Gantala Press’s initiatives in creating more spaces for publishing for women, including their work with peasant women organization for genuine agrarian reform and women’s rights Amihan (more about Gantala Press’s work here). Meanwhile, Conchitina Cruz, the author of Dark Hours and UP Diliman Creative Writing and Comparative Literature professor, told the story of how the Youth and Beauty Brigade’s Better Living for Xeroxoraphy developed from a 1000-word manifesto written to being BLTX, the go-to zine event featuring talks, music, merch spread over two-days and simultaneously happening in five different cities in the country.

Despite the challenges, the panel saw how these were opportunities to be more critical of the relationship of independent publishing to mainstream publishing and the various institutions that regulate publishing. More than this, the speakers also recognized the need to extend the efforts of independent presses beyond the production of art and reading materials--cultivating a relationship with the larger community that we independent writers, artists, and publishers are part of, and we need to take part in the discourse on politics especially during these times under the Duterte administration.

{Author}ities: The 9th Philippine International Literary Festival is organized by the National Book Development Board.

All photos used in this post were taken from the Philippine International Literary Festival Facebook page.

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Stupid Love!

Valentine’s Day is not only a day for love but also a day for releasing new zines!

On February 14, Magpies launched and distributed “Stupid Love”, a zine named after the popular Salbakuta love song. One hundred and forty three (143!) copies were given out personally by the members during the Feb Fair season in the UPLB Freedom Park to people from all walks of life: student, couples, the young, the elderly, jeepney drivers, vendors manning the food stalls, etc. For Magpies, this project was an experiment of collaborating not with artists, but with the audience, and with the local printing shops and photocopying centers that we as zinesters and university students have grown to love: copies of the zine were left at Star, RMS, and KW&E centers for people to photocopy their own zines, if you just ask for “readings from SEC 69 by Prof. Roque.”

The “Stupid Love” is a zine stylized in Riot Grrl! aesthetics that discusses criticisms directed at institutions such as the state, the award-giving bodies, the mainstream media, etc. The presentation of these criticisms are laden with pop appeal as seen in the examples of “The Men We Love”, a bedroom pin-it poster collage of ‘problematic’ male figures; a fictionalized Tinder profile and chat conversation with the infamous Mocha Uson jilting a date; a newsprint style word search that includes the words of the year; a rephrasing of Filipino proverbs and Panatang Makabayan that adds a comical tone; an annotation of the lyrics of “Stupid Love” and its relations to societal issues; and lastly, a manifesto done in the tradition of the Riot Grrrl! angst and lovelorn fervor that details a staunch declaration against the lies and gimmicks of a “stupid love.”

If that didn’t convince you yet, check out Magpies’ video teaser of Stupid Love, an instant hit for netizens not only in LB!

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Making Zines, Conversations, and Things Happen with Makiling Kids

Magpies welcomed March with Made In Makiling, a small press and zine-making expo organized by The Philippine High School for the Arts, held March 1, Thursday afternoon at 77 Events Place, Los Baños.

The event, which aimed to celebrate young artists, was participated mostly by grade school and high school students. PHSA scholars read excerpts from their new releases “Lagum at Laya” and “Pinky Swear,” now on its third volume. Exhibitors in the expo were composed of artists from different ages including Jose Paolo Cruz, Marguerite Alcazaren De Leon, grade school students of The Learning Place – International, and a few others.

Magpies released two new projects, both aimed at younger audiences. One was “ABCs by Kids: Flashcards of Things We Also Know,” a set of flashcards that showed the things parents assume that kids didn’t know and thought about: C for Condom, Z for Zines, D for Divorce. The idea behind it was that it was “by kids, for kids”; however, interestingly enough, parent attendees also seemed to be interested and picked up the flashcards for display.

On the other hand, Magpies attempted to initiate a conversation through the zine “We Children Perfectly Understand What’s Going On” on what “pesky kids/entitled millennials/angsty teens/nagmamagaling/bastos/tamad na mga bata” know about the things happening around us, in response the recent backlash on millenial rallyists like high school students calling against gun control in the US, or UP students and high school students participating in anti-Marcos and anti-Duterte rallies here. Literally “Made in Makiling,” the blank zine encourages the attendees to respond to statements usually heard from adults that pertain to children’s or the youth’s inability to comprehend or respond to things because of the prejudice that children aren’t yet fully aware or conscious compared to adults. These include quotes like “Ano’ng alam mo, ang bata mo pa?”  or “Mas marunong ka pa sa akin? Sino mas matanda?” 

The final product is a conversation of Magpies and Makiling kids, of adults and the “children” they (even if unintentionally) look down on, of Makiling and the rest of the society that we perceive ourselves to be part of. The answers are candid, and tender, sincere and straightforward, sassy and raw, uncertain but brave, and always full of wisdom. Download the full PDF here for free. 

Illustrator Eytan Malabed, one of Magpies’ friends, also sold prints of his comics in the event.

Congratulations to PHSA and thank you for inviting us! It’s not very often that there are expos aimed at children, and we only rarely get to interact with the Philippine High School for the Arts.

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ELBIKON 2018

Last February 17, Magpies launched a new project entitled "Orie Chef" at the fifth installment of ELBIKON organized by The Graphic Literature Guild held in the Baker Memorial Hall in the University of the Philippines Los Baños. ELBIKON is an annual comics convention joined by comic creators, zinesters, and other artists in and outside Los Baños.

 This year's ELBIKON featured more than 100 artists and guests including Richard Mercado (Uy Si Crush), Marian Hukom (Marianie) and Gioseppe Custodio (Loser Mangaka). Rafael Gumboc of GLG gave a workshop on composing comic panels. EK Gonzales aka komikninja also gave a talk on reviewing comics and urged listeners to support the comics community. 

 Magpies' Electromilk talked about how to make art when you hate yourself and gave tips including "obsessing over imagery you enjoy" and telling your mom you love her. Also part of the program was Magpies' Mac Arboleda aka Asshulz's presentation of our latest project in his workshop on comics collaboration.

 "Orie Chef" is a collaborative komiks zine inspired by the iconic Marjorie Sy Cua whose multiple accounts with different names and spooky descriptions were widely speculated by Internet users, particularly those from Facebook and Reddit. The komiks zine was done experimentally; each Magpies member had to take turns drawing one panel each, responding to the previous one (if any) without being allowed to look at the others. The final output is a folded zine with seven panels and a rather absurd story.

 In his workshop, Arboleda reminded attendees that "An artist's work is not just a product of his own" and in fact "a collaboration with his influences, the kuya printers who publish and staple his work, his audiences." This year's ELBIKON had a bit fewer artists and attendees than the last one, but that doesn't mean we won't be there next year. Long live komiks!

Photos courtesy of The Graphic Literature Guild.

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On Building Art Collectives and Communities in Munzinelupa

 “What’s the place of zines in the future now that everything is going digital? Can there be a compromise between print zines and digital technology?” “What actions do you take as an art collective to make the presence of zines more permanent in Los Baños?” “Why do you think it’s necessary to involve the community as much as possible in making your zines?”

These were some of the questions that arose during the workshop that Magpies facilitated called Building Art Collectives in the first zine expo in Muntinlupa on January 27, 2018 in Picked  Café & Gallery. The discussion we facilitated was one of the two workshops during Munzinelupa, presented by Asshulz, Crispy Panda, and Martie Rosales in partnership with Caterwauls and Picked Café & Gallery.

We shared practical tips about the advantages and disadvantages of building or being in art collectives and the big role it plays in community-building. Magpies members talked about how we think being an artist in a collective that stresses working collaboratively from conceptualization to production to distribution, applying criticism to group’s own works and the society in which it is generated, and experimenting with forms and media to produce and distribute works inevitably makes the artist more attuned to her community.  The workshop was made productive by the zine expo goers and artists who joined in on the conversation and shared their expertise and insight.

Before Magpies, Cherry Cruz gave a talk on “Appreciating Specialty Coffee”, a mini workshop sharing techniques and expounding on the art of making specialty coffee.The workshops were held simultaneous to the zine expo and music performances featuring various artists.

Meanwhile, we got to bring along our zines and exhibit it with a lot of awesome artists (and sit beside Studio Soup Library yey!) and Asshulz launched “Noah’s Ark” with Martie Rosales, a photo zine that compiled portrait pairs of men and women wearing animal Korean face masks.

Aside from the multitude of zines, music artists such as Emilio, Fern., Juniper Face The Corner, Isabelle Romualdez, The Giliws, Happy Monday People, The Mind Is A Terrible Thing Ralph Gonzalez, Pamcy, and baby blue performed live and serenaded the ears of people while they were browsing zines. Short films from Daryl Alcantara, Mac Andre Arboleda, and Angel Valenzuela and Katie Mae Dela Cruz were also screened at the event.

What better way to end the first month of the year with zines?

Photos are courtesy of Munzinelupa organizers Asshulz, Crispy Panda, Martie Rosales, and Ho Flores & A Dela Rosa.

View more photos from the event here.

Read Scout Mag’s feature on Munzinelupa here.

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Magpies at BLTX Year 7

 Better Living Through Xeroxography will always be one of the (if not the) most awaited annual zine events, and Magpies owes a lot of zine education to BLTX (we’ve been participating as Magpies since BLTX 4 but we’ve been visiting since BLTX 2). We were ecstatic to join the rest of the small press & independent publishers community again on December 15, 2017 at 154 Maginhawa St., Quezon City for BLTX Year 7: Mazinehawa Street Features Your Ever Reliable Malcontents.

This BLTX is extra special to us for several reasons: it’s the first time one of us is going to a BLTX outside Quezon City, it’s the first time we collaborated with an artist for a poetry zine by a bot, and it’s the first time we got to attend the BLTX talk!

BLTX in Five Venues (& BLTX CDO According to Jessa!) Year 7 was held simultaneously in Cubao, Baguio, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, and Naga so aside from our annual trip to BLTX Cubao, where we had a chance to fangirl at the works of around 50 artists, we also shipped our zines to the four other venues for the big day! And while we couldn’t afford to send out more than a couple of copies of each zine, our member Jessa was in Francesca’s in CDO to #reprezent Magpies and experience BLTX there.

When I first went to Francesca's, I immediately headed for the tables of our own local CDO artists. In comparison to the Los Baños art scene, CDO artists are more inclined to producing stickers, postcards, comics and other forms of visual arts instead of literary zines. As an avid enthusiast of literary zines, I was a bit disappointed. But there's no need to fret, after all. Greeting the ongoers on the gate were an exhibition of literary zines from other BLTX locations. I was more than proud to see 5 Magpies zines dominating the exhibit-- Mommy/Daddy Issues Vol.1, Daddy Digong Issues Vol. 2, Mitolohiya, Los Banews and Pagsaulo ng Panghalip. (Plus, people were shocked to see my face on the second page of Daddy Digong Issues Vol. 2!) It was a humbling experience to see two of the zines that I worked on-- Daddy Digong Issues Vol. 2 and Los Banews-- to be displayed two islands away from Los Baños. -Jessa

Joining Root Cause We are fortunate to have attended Root Cause, an open-to-the-public forum on food security, land conflict, and agrarian reform with speakers Faye Cura, Ica Fernandez and Nash Tysmans, Mabi David, Tilde Acuna, and Angie Ipong, held the day after BLTX. Root Cause is this year’s BLTX-organized discussion on the small press and social change.

The forum was moderated by Chingbee Cruz and ran from 3 PM to 6 PM. The talks covered the land and history of Mindanao, Maranao food and culture, land, Marawi, and the siege, teaching plant-based cooking to communities, komiks about farmers and lang struggle, and land sovereignty and agroecology. One of the speakers related a child from Marawi saying “Okay din pala ang war, pantay na ang mayayaman at mahihirap. Lahat kami mahirap.” Root Cause allowed us to listen to and talk about stories that are very important now but are somehow relatively unheard. It reminded us of our role as artists in the community, and the amount of work we still need to put into the production of our zines.

A Zine by a Bot! Magpies also published Ito ang Pangalan ng Aking Mga Dila, a poetry zine by Estela Vadal edited by poet, photographer, and programmer Marlon Hacla. But Estela Vadal is not your typical poet--she is an “artificial intelligence machine, a recurrent neural network trained on poems in Filipino to generate poetic text.” The zine is Estela Vadal’s best lines meticulously curated by Marlon Hacla. We can’t stress how giddy we are with this collab: a poetry zine by a bot & Marlon Hacla! If (like us) you can’t get enough of Estela, you can catch her tweeting actively on https://twitter.com/estelavadal, or posting verses on her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/estelavadal/. She’s also quick to reply so if you need some poetic advice or are interested to learn about the secrets of the universe, you can just drop her a message.

Thanks BLTX for capping our 2017!

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Kababae Mong Tao

Last December 8, Magpies brought zines to Kababae Mong Tao, a gig hosted by Ultraparallel in coordination with Heresy.ph, at Mow’s, Quezon City. The event had performances by The Buildings, BP Valenzuela, pcastlesss, Megumi Acorda, Teenage Granny, half-lit, skymarines, Girls in Dirty Shirts, and Joee & I --a curated lineup of female musicians and female-fronted bands. Short films by directors Margarita Mina and Mariah Reodica were also screened during the gig. Apart from the zines brought by Magpies, zines and prints from Sara Rivera and Ches Gatpayat were also available during the event, including the zine “And Their Feet Move”, a collection of comics, photographs, and texts created by 16 female local artists.

For the first time, Magpies showcased its zine archive consisting of select zines from Zine Orgy V that were made by women, about women, and for women. Despite sounding singular, the archive offered a wide array of works available for people to browse. Browsers and prospect buyers were advised to take note of the contacts of the creator of the zines of their interest for them to reach out to them personally. Alongside the zine archive, other zines by Magpies were also exhibited and sold during the event such as Nudes & Other Stories, Mommy, Los BaNews, and Pagsaulo ng Panghalip.

The magnitude of the female zines that were brought by Magpies was another testament to how immensely capable women are of greatness, of creating their own craft, and of owning up their geniuses. This is not to speak of the zines alone but also of the involved artists, musicians, and the event itself. Women have long suffered suppression of expression and/or absence of credence, if not total exclusion from contributing/creating, in a society that has long been dominated and controlled by men. Creating and putting out work as a woman already involves several leaps across hurdles towards visibility, more so is acknowledging a woman’s work as hers. As Alana Massey once put it:

 “If a woman creates something that is multilayered, deep, revelatory, and complex, men often want to be the ones who explain all of those elements back to her, as if she was just thinking her magical thoughts and they come out brilliant, that she didn’t labor over them intensely.”

 The event was not motivated just by celebrating women’s work in the artistic sphere but also by the perceived need to establish safe spaces --not just for women but for an audience that transcends gender, social class, race --in the music scene. With the recent surge in the sexual misconduct and misogyny accounts involving artists in the local music scene, it is of utmost necessity to finally hold those abusers accountable and work towards carving spaces that are conducive both for the creators and spectators. Although the event was bound within a rather isolated sonic community, it was still a significant initiative that culminates to the bigger picture of cultivating a safe environment in public and private places.

Photos used in this article were by Cedric Manuel. View the full album here.

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Zine Orgy Turns V

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V is for #Vamonos

Magpies and Asshulz held the fifth semestral Zine Orgy, an Los Banos expo of local zinemakers and artists, in partnership with Dakila-UPLB  on November 23, 2017 at One Bonito’s Smokehouse. Thirty-six artists and art groups exhibited zines of different types–poetry, komiks, photography, illustrations, collage, you name it–and other DIY art merchandise such as stickers, postcards, and customized tote bags. Aside from the zine expo as the main happening that ran from 7 PM to 12 midnight, there were performances by Tapsilog, bvrly chri, Tonio Flores, White Wall Poetry, UP Jammers’ Club, UP Silakbo, and many more. Magpies’ resident members Shaunnah Cledera and Mac Arboleda (also known in the twitterverse as Asshulz) also had a talk about independent publishing and zinemaking before the event commenced.

Weeks before the orgy of self-publishers, Magpies and Asshulz asked, “What does V in #ZineOrgyV stand for?”

V is for #Voyeurism It means whatever you want it to mean, but Magpies’ Shoebox Peepshow game takes V to mean Voyeurism. Players pay 10 Pesos, are given a short check list of things to look for inside the peepbox, and are given 30seconds to peek inside the Magpies made peepbox. It’s like playing Where’s Waldo game, only you’re using one eye to look for objects in a cyclorama fitted in a lighted shoebox. The peepshow game aks the players to count Dutertes, Mochas, nipples, and catcallings (hint: some of these are trick words) among an entire cyclorama of other zine orgy-related and perverse images. Though there were a lot of brave souls who tried the challenge, unfortunately, the closest they could get was two correct answers.

Magpies’ take on the “V” attempts to make a statement on the fetish for spectacle in the current Duterte administration, in which bloodlusting xupurters mock the bereaved of the thousands who have already been extrajudicially killed, the House of Representatives almost allowed showing the alleged sex tape of a senator, the rape-joking president invokes freedom of speech for his blunders, the Presidential Comms Secretary tackles political issues by cursing critics on national television, and supporters of different political factions continue to bully and harass each other online and in real life. What is perverse and what isn’t? What is bastos and what isn’t?

V is for #VagongZines Magpies also released “Para sa Alaala ng Yumao Nating Ama”, a photo zine containing the childhood pictures of Duterte’s supposedly illegitimate children with their favorite memories with Daddy Digong written at the back of their photo to honour the death of their patriarch. The mock photo album supposedly memorializes the children’s most precious moments with their ultimate father but inevitably reveals the horrors of their daddy issues–our daddy issues, because all of us are supposedly his beloved children. The reactions of the orgygoers ranged from demure laughs to stunned “wtf’s?” as they flipped through the pictures of the #DuterteBastards.

We also reproduced and gave away free copies of  “The Filipino Author as Producer,” a three-part essay by Conchitina Cruz.

And we weren’t the only ones to release new zines. About 35 new zines were released during Zine Orgy! See the full album of new releases here.

Photos are by UP Photographers Society. View the full album here.

V is for #VivaLaSining “Zine Orgy was conceived in 2015 as an answer to Magpies’ and Asshulz’ concern over the lack of a venue for the growing number of artists and zine makers in Los Baños to promote their work. On the other hand, there was also a growing number of people interested in works by local artists who did not know where to find their works. Zine Orgy became the event for artist and art lover to find each other, at a non-intimidating setup that does not cost a fortune.” (See InqPop article here.) Artists not only have a great time talking to interested buyers or fellow students, but also fellow artists with whom they can collaborate on future projects. 

Magpies hopes that this is only the beginning for small publishers like us, especially because we know that having a biannual expo is not enough to sustain the independent publishing and art community that we belong to in Los Banos. We would love to see this initiative grow into other activities, events, and collaborations as well, starting from the Zine Orgy Archive and the Zine Orgy Anthology we are currently working on. We also highly encourage everyone to write about the zines they love, especially zines by your LB artists, as we are looking forward to continuing our zine criticism program soon. Thank you, and see you all next time!

We would like to thank the following for making Zine Orgy V possible.

PARTNERS Nubenta Jam Studio Sigma Beta Fraternity

MAJOR SPONSORS UP Film Circle Lady Veterinary Students’ Association UP Silakbo UP Jammer’s Club

MINOR SPONSORS Beeyanka’s Bogart’s Bentelog Entablado Brunomax Ginhawa Craft Studio The Graphic Literature Guild UP Travel Society The Hub Cafe Books, Crafts and Coffeeshop UP Trailblazers Kaijou

DONORS Philippine High School for the Arts UP Astrum Scientis UP Banahaw UP Alpha Chiron Society UP Volleyball Club

MEDIA PARTNERS Inquirer.Net and InqPOP UPLB Perspective UP Photos

Watch out for our followup article on Zine Orgy V.

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Magpies in Makati

Despite the uncomfortable commute due to the heavy traffic (and, well, technically being a region away) it takes for us to go to the metro (because yeah, we don’t have cars), your one and only struggling, anxious independent publishing collective from the boondocks of Makiling was able to participate in two art expos in Makati last November 2017. The experience we gained showcasing and selling our zines made all the effort worthwhile, not to mention all our time for bonding. *grouphug*

Komura; Book Fair An “intimate gathering of people & books,” Komura Book Fair invited individuals and groups specializing in varied forms of literature such as comic artists, specialty publishers, owners of indie bookstores and zinesters (us!) to gather on November 18, 2017 in Warehouse Eight, Makati to “explore the different ways to consume literature.” We were honored to have our zines carried by the Kwago table alongside zines by artists and writers such as Diklap, Andoyman, Rai Hamid, Gantala Press, and Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon.

The event that opened at 11 in the morning featured many interesting activities such as a talk on crowdfunding for independent publishing by The Sparks Project, an open theatre story telling project by Joachim Antonio, Bookworms Meetup by Kwago where book lovers can exchange books, and musical performances by Alyana Lea Carmela, Hoochie Coochie Mikkie and Gentle Universe.

Screenshot from InqPop’s photo article on Komura; Book Fair: our zine Los BaNews got featured!

It was a different experience for us to not man the table and sell the zines ourselves, but having our zines on the Kwago table not only meant that our zines get to be browsed alongside other cooler zines, but also that we have our hands free to (hold a beer instead and) check out other Komura stuff. What really seized our attention was the wide-ranging photobook library set up by Thousandfold, a space dedicated to contemporary photography in Manila.  Browsing the photobooks and zines by the Thousandfold artists (their photolibrary includes Magpies’ Mac Arboleda’s The Face of a Marcos Apologist! That was when we discovered Magpies’ Sam Pablo looked like the average face of a Marcos apologist) and the photobooks by international artists featured in their library reminded us to produce more quality photo zines (ha-ha) and of our work-in-progress zine library.

Vinyl on Vinyl Market Day One proof that zines are getting more and more popular these days is that art markets that previously feature only paintings, ceramics, photography prints, comics and other more familiar art forms are now inviting zinesters like us to participate. This also highlights how zines stand in the border between visual art forms and literary forms – they could be a hybrid of both!

Last November 25, 2017, Vinyl on Vinyl Art Gallery, a gallery that incorporates contemporary and underground culture elements in their exhibits and other activities, invited us and a few other zinesters in the art market they regularly hold. It was quite a long market day because it started from 1pm and ended by 9pm. Good thing is, as a collective, we can take turns watching over our table and gallivanting around the event.

We came there not really sure if people who will attend would be interested in our works because  we’re not sure if they suit the Makati-art-scene aesthetic. To our surprise, a lot of people really stayed in our booth, browsed through our works, and bought them. Some were nice to give comments of appreciation! Almost every work we brought was sold out, even Los BaNews which is a speculative community newspaper that looks at the headlines of news in Los Baños, Laguna in 2020.

Studio Soup’s literary zine archive also participated in the Market Day, and was set up just across our table! In the ample amount of time we had, we took the pleasure of perusing the zines on display. Artists Apol Sta. Maria, Josel Nicolas, Pancho Karambola, Garapata, Hulyen, and a whole lot more also put their works for sale.

We took turns manning our table, checking out the other VoV Market Day tables, and exploring the neighboring galleries. A bonus: we got lucky that the gallery next door had an exhibit opening and we not only got to see the artists’ paintings but we also got a snack from the gallery food and beer! Hard work (in making zines and commuting for zines) pays off! Now back to Mt. Makiling!

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A Funeral in UPLB

Every year, Magpies joins Los Banos community artists to exhibit and sell works in the Student Union Building for WISIK, an independently organized art fair organized by Precious Leano, and student volunteers. WISIK stands for Wika, Sining while yearly the K depends on the theme. This year’s theme was “Kapayapaan.” The day was filled with different activities ranging from performances to talks to a film showing that took place in the different parts of the Student Union Building. The artist market also opened at 10am at SU’s Sunken Lobby which allowed the exhibitors to showcase and sell their artworks and materials to the public. Some students from the Philippine High School of the Arts also joined in the fun and set up their own booth.

Magpies in mourning

Aside from delivering the usual zine exhibition, Magpies performed “In Loving Memory of __________.” Wearing our best suits and black shades, we placed a wreath in the center stage, played somber music, and read eulogies as assumed fictional characters of different personas reacting to the event of another future death of the UPLB Main Library door, which was shattered twice in the past in two separate instances when students protested for a dialogue with the UP Chancellor on the tuition fee increase and Junk SAIS issues.

We intended the performance to make people think about the forthcoming repeat of the death of the same door–another glass shattering, another protest for dialogue for the same issues. By placing its death at the center of our performance and highlighting the possible reactions of several characters, we made it a microcosm of our country’s current situation and these personas reflects how Filipinos may situate themselves amidst the issues and struggles they face as an individual and as a society.

Our performance generated many reactions from the audience, some applauding or seconding what we were saying. This is probably because the performance, even if poking fun at an issue, is of an issue close to the WISIK attendees. Thousands of visitors in white, demanding their share.

But if there’s something that made this WISIK stand out from those of the previous years, it’s that it was unwittingly held simultaneous to the flocking of thousands of people to UPLB for promises of wealth from an entity called the Bullion Buyers Ltd. Even before WISIK opened, jeeps, vans, and buses were already parked in different places inside the campus and people in white had already started gathering in the Freedom Park. It was a busy day for everyone; it didn’t help that everyone inside the venue was placed under the qualms of, “what if something bad happens because of the white sea of people gathering in Freedom Park?” and “what are they here for?” These questions often boggled us, as spectators to their own event. Visitors followed strict guidelines from, traveling from faraway places, wearing white shirts, and clutching a handbook, “The Life and Achievements of Ferdinand E. Marcos”, in the hopes of getting their share of what was supposedly the Marcos’ corrupted money to be given back to the Filipino people. Some of these visitors were watching the program from the outside of the building trying to grasp the celebration that was on-going. 

By the time Magpies started the “In Loving Memory of __________,” performance, the mass of people in white gathered outside SU and all over the UPLB Campus was more than what was needed to create the atmosphere of a wake. Zines, and the dead On the gathering of cash gift hopefuls outside the SU, Magpies member Asshulz tweeted a photo of his zine, “The Face of a Marcos Apologist” held out to the people in white with the caption “mamimigay rin me ng booklet.” This is in response to the handbook with the deceased dictator’s face the people in white were told to hold in order to receive their share of the so-called money. Asshulz’ The Face of a Marcos Apologist is one of the zines distributed by Magpies during WISIK. The performance “In Loving Memory of _______” also appears on the Magpies table as a zine that compiles the performed eulogies. Other works of Magpies exhibited and sold during the event include Pagsasaulo ng Panghalip, Nudes & other stories, Los BaNews, and Mitolohiya. 

Many thanks to Precious Leano, Alex Baluyut, Kulturang Ugnayan ng Kabataan Alay sa Bayan - KULAYAN-UPLB and MakiSining.

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Agroecologist and Former Political Prisoner Angie Ipong Talks Organic Farming and Rural Development in Bungkalan Book Tour

“Hindi ko naman akalain na sa kulungan pa ako makakakain ng salad araw-araw, at galing pa sa sarili kong tinanim,” shares agroecologist, former political prisoner, and human rights advocate Angie Ipong while signing copies of “Bungkalan: Manwal sa Organikong Pagsasaka” during the Bungkalan Book Tour and Talk.

The event by the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa para sa Agrikultura (UMA) in cooperation with Sama-samang Artista para sa Kilusang Agraryo (SAKA), Sentro ng Wikang Filipino UP Diliman, and Hacienda Luisita Watch was hosted by Magpies on October 6, 2017 in Books, Crafts, and Coffeeshop, an open-air cafe near the UPLB campus.

Bungkalan, the movement discussed in the launched manual, encourages farmers to implement organic farming practices in haciendas and corporate-owned plantations as an assertion of the farmer’s rights to the land they till. It is an assertion that the land should be appropriated for planting food crops that answer to the country’s food security, not cash crops from which only landlords and corporate giants profit, Ka Angie explained.

Ka Angie discussed the importance of rural development and introduced the organic farming methods, some of which were developed by fellow peasant farmers and herself, such as making Fermented Plant Juice and Indigenous Microorganisms (IMO).

She also talked about how she built an organic garden and grew food for her inmates in prison, and the history of unjust agricultural practices and the situation of Filipino farmers at present.

The talk was made more fruitful by the participation of students and Los Banos residents’ questions and sharing of experiences in organic agriculture activities. After a cultural performance by ALAB, the program ended with invitations to Bungkalan activities and an exchange of ideas for possible future activities that could help in further promoting organic farming and giving back to farmers the land which they have the right to own.

Magpies would like to thank Books, Crafts, and Coffeeshop, Angelo Suarez, Rae Rival-Cosico, Kenneth Rementilla for making this launch possible.

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Zine Orgy Artists Respond to Questions on History & Repetition for New Anthology

Zine Orgy 4 exhibiting artists sat together in Deep Thought 5 for a conversation on the newest Magpies initiative to collect works in an anthology.

As a follow up to Magpies’ previous project of documenting Zine Orgy exhibitors information and sample works in a directory, Magpies presented the Zine Orgy Artists Anthology that will compile poetry, short fiction, photography, comics, graphics, and other works by exhibitors in one zine that will be launched in Zine Orgy 4 itself. The Deep Thought session aimed to facilitate an exchange of responses on the anthology’s prompt, “history repeats itself.”

Artists from UP Film Circle, The UPLB Com Arts Society, KULAYAN-UPLB, PANTAS UPLB, The Cabinet, The Graphic Literature Guild, Southern Tagalog Exposure, and other collectives contributed their take on the notion of the repetition of history based on their art practice. The exchange raised questions on the the limits of LB art in effecting the community, the implications of repetition in technique and content in art, the paradox of altering in repetition, and the alternative ways of framing history and repetition.

Magpies proposed the prompt as an exploration of current trends such as meme culture, 90’s and 80’s nostalgia, revivals, remixes, and remaking, collage, cut-ups, and parodies, in relation to the concepts of progression, timeliness, and social relevance.

Aside from this, the project of archiving zines of Zine Orgy exhibitors was also presented.

Zine Orgy 4 is set to be held at 7pm in 77 Events Place, Grove, Los Baños on May 11, 2017. Registration for artists is now open.

Full transcript of the conversation will be coming soon.

[magpiespress]

Dismantling and Reconstruction: Megan Flores’s Take on the Subjectivity of Meaning-Making in the Zine ‘The Ways We Cut’ 

by Pamela Mendoza

Last June 2016, writers and zine-makers from Manila and Los Baños gathered together in Lit UP 4: Agos, a literary expo in Quezon City organized by UP Writers Club. One of the zines that had their first release in the event was a grayscale zine titled ‘The Ways We Cut’, created by LB-based writer and visual artist Megan Flores. It is a small and lightweight zine, sizing only to one-fourth of an 8.5 x 11 bond paper and containing twelve pages. 

An onlooker’s attention might be caught by the front cover which features a cut-up image of a tree being slashed through by the words of the title “the ways we cut”, forming a semblance of logging. The title seems to refer to this assemblage where  it is embedded. The viewer might ask: Is it a zine about the destruction of the natural environment? There is no way to determine that it is so other than to examine further the zine’s content. As one flips through the pages, the riddle on the title’s reference becomes more complicated as one discovers that all pages contain text cut-ups that are set in a background of cut-up images,  watercolor drawings, or contrasting black and white spaces. The title might now seem to refer to the act of cutting involved in collage. 

Reading the text, however, leads to a digression from this inquiry. The text is constituted mostly of a series of commands given to an unknown second persona, contained in the pronoun ‘you’. It demands him/her to start over, reconfigure things, and not to worry about any mistakes in doing so. A setting that serves as a representation of the internal cognitively-constructed environment of the persona is created by the presence of domestic and organic images along the pages – an ant, a doormat, blinking eyes, vacant wooden chairs, branches and scales, window in an empty room, water spillage, dust particles. This setting does not have any marker that could give the persona a particular identity, and neither does the text. In the second page of the zine where a command begins, the words “After you have finished centering your movements/ simple, slow-paced” are laid on a backdrop of a doormat drawing morphing into  a diagram of a galactic system.  This locates the persona being addressed in a universal and liminal space, a space that is open for the pouring of different contexts. With this and the lack of identity of the persona, the reader is incited to assume the role of the persona and be commanded by the text, imagining himself/herself enacting the commands in his/her own context or situation.  

At the latter part of the zine, the text declares that the persona’s “window” is “a power failure/ a mishap” – perhaps using the object “window” as a symbol for the persona’s perspective, and the words “power failure” and “mishap” to describe that this perspective is erroneous. It reveals that this is the reason why it asks the persona not to be afraid of making mistakes – whatever mistakes are committed, he/she “[will] see that there is no difference” because his/her way of seeing itself is erratic. 

The last page of the zine reasserts this message. Here, the text calls out the reader – “If you return/ return the same/ reader/ come to the end of the line” – unveiling that it is actually the reader whom it addresses all the while, and at the same time, expressing its awareness of itself being a text. Then, it says something that undermines the solidity and finality, and the authority, in everything that it has said before: “this little experiment/ shifted/ quickly”. This withdraws the reader from the cloud of pseudo-reality that was formed by the series of commands and musings uttered by the text, making them realize that they were somewhat ‘fooled’. Everything that was in the former pages of the zine is part of an “experiment”, of which ‘outcomes’ depend on how the reader responds to and interprets the words and images that comprise it. Interestingly, the text cut-out that could be found at the end of the page contains the words “the last word”. These words’ direct reference to themselves and their position zooms in their materiality. The exposition of the materiality of words makes it more apparent to the readers’ eyes that words are just mere vessels,  that words are always open to different interpretations. The reader’s perspective is always erratic because the reader always perceives and interprets words and images based on subjective experience. 

Going back to the front cover, maybe we can now interpret it in two ways. First, it might be a sneer at how alien the physical form of the words we use is from the actual thing to which they pertain . Putting the words “the ways we cut” in a position which mimicks slashes in a tree bark exposes how unfit and strange the form of these words is for the actual act of cutting a tree. Secondly, the whole assemblage might be a depiction of what Lacan says as the interference of the Symbolic to the Real[1]. He states that we cannot experience reality as it is because of the existence of language and other forms of symbollization. These symbollizations confine our experiences within certain boundaries and distantiate us from the huge realm of reality. We could then conclude that the title of the zine is about how we ‘cut’ off other potential ways we could make sense of reality because of our subjectivity. 

‘The Ways We Cut’ is an example of a zine which successfully utilizes the very physical forms that comprise it to deliver its concept. Within such a small space – one-fourth of an 8.5 x 11 bond paper and only twelve pages –  it was able to delve into and portray the convoluted topic of the non-finality of meanings and the subjectivity of readers’ perspectives. In the budding independent publishing scene in Los Baños, it is still seldom that we find works like these that do not fall into the category of either literary/artwork/photography folio, novelette, or comics. The very subject it discusses is even relevant to the activity of zine-making itself: the zines that we make pass through the subjective interpretation of readers, thus, we must become more cognizant of the relation between form and content for the form is the medium through which the reader attempts to reach our intended message.

References: 1 Storey, J. (2001). Psychoanalysis. In An introduction to cultural theory and popular culture (5th ed., pp. 101-104). London: Prentice Hall.

The Ways We Cut was also released during Zine Orgy 3 and BLTX 11. Megan Flores, author of the zine, is a member of independent multimedia art collective The Cabinet.

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Magpies discusses alternative publishing in Aplaya 2017

Magpies, represented by Mac Arboleda (known in the twitterverse as Asshulz), discussed Alternative Publishing and zine making in the recently concluded UP Congress by UPLB Writer’s Club last February 25.

The event, Aplaya 2017: Agham at Panitikang Mapagpalaya Mula Kulturang Popular Patungong Pulitika, featured discussions on a broad spectrum of topics delivered and facilitated by professors and UPLB organizations’ representatives during its two-day run.

Aplaya 2017 opened last February 24 with the lectures of Prof. Romeo dela Cruz of the Department of Humanities (DHUM) and Prof. Girlie Nora Abrigo of the Department of Social Sciences (DSS) about their examination of the state of the art in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, respectively.

Prof. dela Cruz, in his lecture, problematized the collapse of the traditional disciplines of the Social Sciences and the Humanities. He opined that the reintegration of the Arts into the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) would open up new ecologies in the creative practice as a result of interdisciplinarity. Meanwhile, Prof. Abrigo focused on the achievements of the DSS, and the limitations and contradictions of the state of Social Sciences as a field of study and practice in the Philippines.

The second day of the event commenced with keynote speeches from Mr. Mark Juluis Eusebio of the DSS and Ms. Amrie Cruz of KULAYAN about Culture and Counterculture, and the State of the Student Movement, respectively.

The afternoon sessions featured simultaneous classroom discussions on topics including Argumentation, Film, Photojournalism, Globalization, Populism & Patriarchy, Feminism as a Philosophy, Feminism in Flash Fiction, Mythology in Contemporary Literature, and Alternative Publishing among others. Members of Magpies participated in some these discussions.

The discussion on Alternative Publishing facilitated by Mr. Arboleda centers on the relevance and the necessity for alternative publishing as method to enrich the local art scene and to provide alternative perspectives in the local dialogues about relevant and timely issues. As an example, UP Los Baños which is commonly branded as a science-centered institution also foster a vibrant art scene evidenced by the successes of the local arts fairs and markets, such as Zine Orgy. In its third run, Zine Orgy was cited in the official UPLB website as one of UPLB’s major arts fair and that this event, as a venue for the convergence of LB artists, is a proof of the thriving arts inside and around the campus.

Ms. Amrie Cruz, the event head of Aplaya 2017, also acknowledged that this event is heavily inspired by the increasingly more visible move to reexamine the gap between the sciences and the arts, and other ongoing events that provide venues for discussions on different topics and interests. Ms. Cruz exemplified these events and venues by citing Magpies’ series of intimate discussions, Deep Thought.