Collegiate Times

I visited a restaurant downtown this past week and found some sort of pamphlet sitting on a side table near the entrance door. The four-page pamphlet, titled “To Earth, from Venus,” lay nonchalantly among a few other advertisements and magazines, but this pamphlet encompassed poems, essays and recipes that were anything but ordinary.

From some cultural history, I recognized “To Earth, from Venus” as a “zine,” short for magazine. Zines have been around since the 1930s, but the fad tailored off around the 1990s. They’re cheaply produced and self-published works each with its own focus or interest. Zines aren’t meant to bring in a profit, and the creators typically print out a small number of copies because of financial limitations.

A zine’s main goal is to spread information or opinions about the zine’s focus to as many people as possible without the restraints imposed by publishing companies.

I hadn’t seen a zine before, so I was pretty excited to discover an underground group had organized to create one for the Blacksburg community.

The issue of “To Earth, from Venus”  I found, issue one, focuses on women’s and gender issues. The first page dons a hand-drawn picture of Venus and Earth behind a poem by a writer pen-named “Open Mike.” Open Mike’s poem breaks expectation for rhyme and instead focuses on the relationship between man and woman, beginning with Adam and Eve. The poem develops into a social commentary about gender relations and violence, closing with an introduction to the zine as a whole.

The second page holds two more poems that focus again on gender relations from two very different styles, along with more drawings and a note in Spanish. Opposite is an essay titled “Shaving My Legs and the Societal Construct of Gender,” which is fairly self-explanatory.

“To Earth, from Venus,” concludes its with a unique entry “The Vulva Scope” and a tasty-sounding recipe for Maya’s Margaritas. Printed along the backside edge, the e-mail address for “To Earth, from Venus” (ToEarthFromVenus@gmail.com) accepts submissions from anyone wishing to print their work in the zine’s next issue.

I wouldn’t be surprised if someone sends some hateful rant to the e-mail address, but I truly hope “To Earth, from Venus” garners support from the Blacksburg and Virginia Tech community. These creators (I’m assuming more than one person had to work on this) spent their time and effort to produce something that expresses open-minded awareness of societal norms, gender roles and power relations — but entertains, too.

Furthermore, the zine features pieces from both women and men and includes cultural diversity, albeit only one submission. This zine shouts inclusion, diversity and openness. Even if you don’t agree with the creator’s views, you have to give these people some credit for their work.

How many of us devote our time to activism? I’m particularly excited about discovering this zine because, although activism isn’t entirely dead, apathy is eating away at our culture’s desire to get involved in social and political action.

This zine represents a revival of activism within at least one group. This zine provides an opportunity for others to contribute to the movement. This zine could be a challenge to opposing views to begin another movement, possibly creating another opponent zine.

If you feel threatened by or disagree with “To Earth, from Venus,” then let that ignite your own friendly activism, rather than reverting to unproductive, useless hate. I look forward to the next issue of “To Earth, from Venus” and maybe an issue from another new zine too.

A version of this article appeared in the Oct 20 issue of the Collegiate Times.