I/We Zine

I/WE Last year I wrote I/ WE- a paper that looked at what I called the zoom in/ zoom out method.

The idea was that there are multiple histories or stories that are ...

...unfolding simultaneously. If we zoom into our lives (the micro) and the questions we have, then zoom out to the lives of others (the macro) we’ll see that they’ve had similar questions and we can see if their ideas work for us. This will help us answer the question

I used the idea with three people that had a strong impact on my life- a friend from high school, Georgia O’Keeffe and Frida Kahlo

I wondered if I should be an artist when I was younger. My friend, who was a painter, welcomed me into the long and diverse story of women who are artist. She wrote me letters even after I graduated. letter from my friend

I learned about Georgia in my first art history class. Her belief in putting complex ideas in simple forms, like her flower paintings, can be used to help ppl understand ideas like structural oppresion. my drawing of Georgia

Frida, like many ppl now, inhabited identities that were oppressed or ostracised (communist, queer, bi-racial, disabled). She survived by living on her own terms and keeping those she loved close. cover of my Frida book

why i wrote it

I wrote I/WE because after the election, the people around me feared for themselves and each other. They feared that in the Trump era, they would be attacked or oppressed because of who they are (immigrants, lgbtqia, anti-facist, black and brown, etc.).

After hearing Trump’s remarks about the Charlottesville attack“what about the alt-left that came charging at, as you say, the alt right...there is blame on both sides..I have no doubt about it.”our fears have been confirmed.

I wanted to find a tool we could use to survive this cross-section of the Post 9/11 and Trump eras. Zoom in/ Zoom out is a process that lets us adjust our view of the world, like a photographer adjusts the view through a lens to find a fitting composition, to see the connections between the past and the present.

To find which methods work and/ or if we need new methods.

To view my full original paper- scan this code:

what now?

After I wrote I/We, I noticed how people- past and presentuse the zoom in/ zoom out process. It’s something that we do often, but don’t necessarily give a name to.

We look to our friends, heros, people in our Facebook feeds, and the people in the poster on our wall to help us answer important questions we have- who am I? who will I become? what ideas are most important to me?

I saw people zooming in and zooming out during the Womens March in DC, when adults and children carried signs with quotes from activists like Glori Anzaldua and Angela Davis- using their words from past leaders to inspire them. They were also gaining inspiration and support from each other.

After the March, I saw the method again in Huey Newton’s Revolutionary Suicide. This passage is from the end of the book

Moving forward, our activism must look different then it has in the past.

We haven’t had this level of hostility and anti-intellectualism from our national leaders in a long time. This sentiment is seeping into and emboldening xenophobic and hateful people.

We have to examine the tools we have and see how they can be adjusted or create new tools. The word radical contains the Latin word radix, which means root. One of the definitions for the word is “very basic and important.� Some theories that have been called radical- like free health care and trans rights- are actually at the root of humanity. Zooming In and out, examining the micro and macro, and making the connections between them will be key to making radical changes and protecting the people we love.

Stories are the foundation of culture. Zooming in and out has an effect on how we think, the kind of world we chose to build, what kind of communities we chose to make, what we chose to value and what narratives we deem important and therefore repeat. I is always WE and vice versa.

talk back

Use this page to take notes. Please share ur notes with others.

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