The Pamphleteer Project

Sharing women/feminist focused, people of color influenced, gender-inclusive zines and comics with groups and collectives around the world!

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The Pamphleteer Project at East Mountain High School displaying the zines we created during the Trash Mash-Up residency!

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Thank you for making the project happen!!

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Just made the design for buttons- in production by Sweet Candy Distro, for the pop-up zine library @ Titwrench Stockholm!

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("The Fool" card from the Collective Tarot, art by Sara & Lola Kolp)

The Pamphleteer Project Indiegogo Campaign has come to an end. WOW what a ride! Just a month ago I was sitting in a coffee shop with my friend Shelly, hashing out the campaign perks, considering dates, and wondering if it was at all possible.

It was.

Now, I will tell the truth-- I didn't make the goal--  no, I did not. But, I came damned close, and I am so SO grateful to everyone who kicked in everything from $1 to $250. Really. Every single shekel made the difference in being able to do what I did the glee, at 3AM this morning.

I BOOKED A TICKET TO STOCKHOLM. 

If you've following the money raising journey, you know I've been looking up dates in documented history as they correspond to money earned. After waking up a few minutes after midnight, when the campaign offically ended, I did my usual search for the magic in numbers and timelines. Maybe I didn't make my goal, but I did make a discovery:

The final tally was, $1907. As you might imagine, a TON of things happened in the year 1907. Like, the Diamond Sūtra, the ancient Buddhist text was discovered was discovered tucked inside another sacred text in the bowels of the British Museum. Frida Kahlo was born on July 6. Robert A. Heinlein was born the day after. Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language met in Paris to hash out the details of making Esperanto the official language of EARTH. The RMS Lusitania make its maiden voyage to New York from Liverpool. LOTS of things. 

But, I needed something SUPER DUPER major to feel better about not making that goal!

That's when I saw here, ooh, I saw her!

Astrid. Astrid Lindgren. Swedish author of a book about a little girl named Pippilotta Viktualia Rullgardina Krusmynta Efraimsdotter Långstrump.

You know her as PIPPY LONGSTOCKING.

OKAY? Only the kid I wanted to be when I was 9. 

I ran to my Collective Tarot deck and fished out The Fool card. There she was at the end of the deck, little Pippy Longstocking, not quite prepared for the journey, but she ready to go. 

My 5AM mind, not quite wound down from clicking that button for my ticket, I flashback on a conversation with my friend, Barb. We were slurping cheese with chips, and drinking a few beers at Marble, when we started talking about travel, and the wild things that can happen, and how to ride that wave of chance. She talked about becoming the "Holy Fool," when the unknown is imminent.

The unknown is imminent. I am Good Fortune's Holy Fool. 

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She's Alive! ALIVE!

24 . . . 24 . . . HOURS TO GO. I don't want to be sedated. I want to feel what I am feeling-- which is an intense sense of gratitude. I have a lot of reasons for feeling like my life is a bit of a shit cake, right now: jobs, home shifting, wonderfully exhausting, collaborative efforts very possibly becoming a creative army of one-- but tonight, The Pamphleteer Project makes me feel great. Strong and ALIVE. She's ALIVE!

Nearly midnight.

I'm about to set some alarms, so I can wake up in time to watch phases of the first full lunar eclipse of the year, dubbed, "The Blood Moon." Well, that's pretty serious-sounding, isn't it?! What a scare tactic! I'd rather think in terms transformation . . .

So, yes, the campaign draws to a close in 24 hours. The goal is nearly met! Even so, I am grateful for THIS moment, i am grateful for the slow and steady intake of breath. 

Along the way, I have been looking at money raised, and matching the number to events in history. Until we got out of the 400s or so, almost every event documented in history was one of war, conquest, and the destruction and reformation of people, and lands. This evening, under the "Blood Moon," I decided to take a look at the year 1797, where the amount as come to its pause and was floored. 

The year 1797 marks a most wonderful, horrible, balanced, remarkable, sad, and ELECTRIC event. The birth of Mary Shelley and at the same time, the loss of her mother Mary Wollstonecraft. 

The thought has given me chills. Two feminist writers and probable pamphleteers one arriving, one departing, in the year 1797. Mother and daughter. Literary revolutionaries writing each other in and out of history-- a timeline picking up where one abruptly ends. I'm goose bumped and teary-eyed as I write this, because I'm thinking how afraid I have been to claim that title for myself: WRITER. And, though they were able to establish comfortable lives for themselves, it must not have been easy to call oneself a writer, in that age, without enduring the chortles and snickers of society, and the assumption that a woman writer will die penniless and cold.

This is just another reason why The Pamphleteer Project is important. To lift up the feminist voice, which may include one's own-- which may also include the men in our lives who know where to stand. Not IN FRONT of us, but shoulder-to-shoulder with us. 

That's what I feel right now-- like I am standing between and shoulder-to-shoulder with The Wollstonecrafts, as grand as that sounds! I feel supported, as the ebb and flow of the tides pull and push me-- as I help others while helping myself. I feel a little less exhausted. And, even if I don't reach the goal, I will have 1797 as a benchmark, and a pause for remembering who I choose to be:

Writer.

PS-- I MUST find Mary Wollstonecraft's personal travelogue: Letters Written in Sweden, Norway and Denmark to read on this journey.

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FOUR DAYS TO GO!

Thanks SO MUCH for pulling out all of the stops to help launch the Pamphleteer Project. Seriously, I am AMAZED by the number of likes, shares, endorsements and general ZINE LOVE that's flowing from all manner of direction. Thank you. Just a few days left, but it's not over until the curvaceous lady zines. SO. Don't stop 'til ya get enough, and please share the link. You never know what can happen in the 11th hour!

Thanks!

Marya

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Holding on! Six days to go!

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Just some of the perks for supporting the project!

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THANK YOU for supporting the Pamphleteer Project! PLEASE spread the word, and help me get to Sweden with a suitcase full of zines! 

[alexwrekk]

Marya is a rad lady who is starting

The Pamphleteer Project

and you should help her out:

HI! MY NAME IS MARYA— I’m the founder of ABQ Zine Fest, (now in its 4th year) The Albuquerque Zine Library, and a co-founder/curator of The Tannex, a DIY performance clubhouse, in this outpost, in the high desert of New Mexico. I love my creative community, and I do a lot to support and nurture it. I’m asking for your support as I embark on a new project that expands my love for zines, self-publishing, and storytelling …

THE PAMPHLETEER PROJECT MISSION: to help diversify existing zine collections, or help establish new ones by presenting women/feminist focused, people of color influenced, gender-inclusive zines and comics to groups and collectives around the world.

YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO THE PAMPHLETEER PROJECTwill help me get to Sweden to present a pop-up zine library and free workshops at the TITWRENCH Stockholm Festival— a women’s music festival. The fest was founded in Denver by Sarah Slater in 2008. TITWRENCH Stockholm is the first satellite of the original fest. After the event, I will donate 100-200 zines to a collective in the city. 

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YOUR GENEROUS FINANCIAL SUPPORT will:

Cover airfare to Stockholm.

Pay for simple materials to set up the zine library. 

If we surpass the goal of $2,500, this will allow me to take this pilot program and expand its reach to other collectives within the punk/zine community and beyond. Someday, I imagine this project being able to support other zinesters interested in delivering zines to groups and communities.

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WHY STOCKHOLM?

To spite our perceptions of Sweden being a utopia, The country is more diverse than the media reflects. Along with the changes to this nation comes unrest. Last year, Stockholm experienced 5 days of rioting.  On March 8th of this year, an act of fascism in the form of a knife attack occurred on the night of International Women’s Day, injuring several women taking part in a Reclaim the Night demonstration. These are acts of violence, but they are also acts of ignorance. The Pamphleteer Project supports the independent voice by presenting diversity as a means of and solidarity with local communities striving for peace through mutual acceptance. 

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WHY ZINES?

I know zines to be a form that can open pathways to self-expression when other avenues are blocked, guide people through difficult conversations, and fuel strong political actions in communities through the power of the independent voice. Most importantly, zines can connect us to the human intimacy of storytelling.

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OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP:

+ Due to time constraints, and optimum ticket-buying, please donate to the project via paypal. I know, I know… your donation via credit card is also appreciated!  

+ If you can’t contribute $$ please donate ZINES that fit the criteria mentioned in the project description. Please email me at thepamphleteerproject at gmail dot com to find out where to submit your zine! 

THANK YOU!

GO AND SUPPORT THE PAMPHELETEER PROJECT!

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You've probably seen me rocking this illustration on a tote bag I've been hauling my things around in since LA Zine Fest in February. I have the t-shirt, too! None other than Simon Sotelo, co-founder of LAZF and the artist behind this cool illustration will be designing the artwork for The Pamphleteer Project! The postcards, buttons, totes and such will all have the Simon touch. Pick you perk-- you can't go wrong! THANK YOU, Simon!

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April's Fool!

Just poured steel cut oats into my morning coffee, thinking it was sugar. I just April Fools'ed myself. What's not a joke is my indiegogo campaign. Every shekel helps! https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-pamphleteer-project.

LATER TODAY I will announce the artist who will be creating original designs for many of the PERKS you'll find as part of the Pamphleteer Project Campaign. 

Have a great day, folks! 

Marya 

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The Revolution Will Be Cataloged.

I’m just a few days into my campaign to raise funds to take a suitcase full of zines to Stockholm, Sweden in time to display them at TITWRENCH Stockholm, a music fest created by Sarah Slater in Denver, CO. and then donate those zines to a collective … in SWEDEN.

I know. Of all places. Why in the world does Sweden need feminist-focused, people of color influenced, gender-inclusive zines and comics? Isn’t Sweden the coolest, most progressive and tolerant country in all of Europe? I mean, they gave us ABBA and H & M. For better or for worse, they gave us the highly-romanticized Vikings. Sweden gave us the author Astrid Lindgren who wrote one of my childhood favorites, Pippy Longstocking. What about IKEA and Ingmar Bergman? Yes, yes. And, thank you, sweet baby Jesus for Alexander Skarsgård. So, what the hell’s wrong with Sweden that I have to drag a suitcase full of zines over there?

Hang on . . . HANG. ON.

I LOVE traveling, and I’ve been to Sweden. Loved it. When I visited Stockholm a decade ago, I was constantly spoken to in Swedish, as if I knew the language— like I belonged. I bought an accordion, drank chocolate for breakfast and everyday I had fika (a Swedish word that means to have coffee and something sweet with friends— they have a WORD for that). When I came back to Albuquerque, I was so relaxed, so happy— it took six weeks for that tiny blanket of cynicism to knit itself across my eyebrows. Stockholm is awesome. Sweden is great.

Oh, wait. Fikapaus. 

Sweden also gave us those modern-day noir murder mysteries like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by the late Stieg Larsson. And, a certain chemist who invented DYNAMITE. Alfred Bernhard Nobel. Not everything’s easy-peasy and smooth, over there. Case in point:

March 9, 2014. WOMEN ATTACKED AFTER ANTI-VIOLENCE DEMONSTRATION BY NAZIS. 

PS-- Swedish title of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo is: Män som hatar kvinnor – TRANSLATION: The Men Who Hate Women.  Yeah. 

Yes, in beautiful, you can practically drink fresh water from the gutters Sweden, women observing International Women’s Day were attacked in Malmo that evening, after a demonstration to protest VIOLENCE against WOMEN. The women were randomly stabbed with knives. 

SO THAT’S WHY STOCKHOLM. SO, THAT’S WHY ZINES. THERE. IS. A. NEED.

I want to take a collection of diverse zines to Stockholm and put them on the shelf as a sign of solidarity and support. To say in essence, your struggles are seen— here are OUR voices calling out to YOU. 

You may be aware that Albuquerque, where I live, erupted in organized demonstrations and hive-mind protests over the weekend. The Albuquerque Police Department has in recent years, has developed a bad habit of shooting to kill. The most recent killing of James Boyd, a homeless man found camping in the hills above Albuquerque has ratcheted-up the tension in the city between citizens and the police. Since 2010, 37 shootings by police— 22 of them, fatal, many of them, people of color. 

I AM AWARE THERE IS A NEED RIGHT WHERE I LIVE.

There are times when we must tend our own gardens. That doesn’t mean we don’t care about our neighbors. 

I’m going to Stockholm to be neighborly. Friendly. 

I am a citizen of the world, too. 

~m

Video reporting via The HOWL, Daily Lobo.

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Thanks so much for supporting this project! Getting there! Click here: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-pamphleteer-project

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A perk of supporting the pamphleteer project! Find out more: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-pamphleteer-project

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Guess that platform! Summer, 2013 http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-pamphleteer-project