Patty's Response to Jennifer Eisenhauer

In her article Dr. Eisenhauer discusses the cultural stigma surrounding mental illness and her motivation for composing a zine about her own personal experiences. Zines are a sort of underground movement; remarkable in their ability to create communities that bridge social, cultural, and geographical gaps that connects many different types of people. A connection that also blurs the line between reader and writer, as after reading a zine the reader often writes a response to the author, possible to discuss or share their similar experiences. Einsenhauer writes under the pen name Dora, initially fearful the impact her openness about her mental illness might have on her professional life. But instead, she found that her zine empowered her and challenged her to face her fears and the negative stigmas that are associated to those with mental illness. These negative stigmas are generally perpetuated in media, however perzines, personal zines such as Dr. Eisenhauer’s, allow mental illness to be talked about truthfully, without common stereotypes. Zines also blur the lines between consumer and producer. It all is based around the fact that zines are written, edited, created (physically made), and distributed all by the writer. It seems that the process and aftermath is as equally important as the writing.

I appreciated Dr. Eisenhauer’s history of zines, as before this class, I had never heard of them before. I was extremely intrigued by her presentation the first day of our class, even more so upon hearing the small examples of Dr. Barrett’s class’s zines from Texas. I think that I am equally intrigued by the extremely personal nature of the zines, but also of the creation part of them. I think that is the artist talking in me. I also see myself able to incorporate a ‘zine-type’ project into my elementary art classroom. I am often looking for art projects that combine both art and writing, both personally and for my classroom. Many of my artwork in college combined the two. Often though I find projects that are made for the high school art room, not the elementary. By the time I make it work for my age level, the content and meaning that made it great are so watered down it is no longer as meaningful. I can see myself using this article and zines in life, both in my art education life and in my own creative life. I can see myself incorporating a zine-inspired art project into my classroom curriculum this up-coming year. I have also decided to create a zine for my final project for this class. This article was both informative and inspiring. I can’t wait to start working on my own zine.