New KPIRG Board Moves Forward on Volunteer-Run Zine

Publication to be available at the beginning of July

The newly elected board of directors for the Kwantlen Public Interest Research Group are moving forward with the group’s volunteer-run zine, for which they’ve already begun holding workshops. Titled “KPIRG ZINE Issue 1—A Sea of Injustice,” the publication will be available online and in print by the beginning of July.

Zines, defined on KPIRG’s poster promoting the workshop, are “small circulation self-published works of original or appropriated texts and images usually reproduced via photocopier.” The poster also invited passers-by to “come get creative” and bring their artistic creations and “beautiful & creative mind.”

Three KPIRG staffers, four KPIRG directors, and one student volunteer attended the workshop in the social justice space of the Surrey campus’ Birch building. Works such as poems, articles, and essays will also be included in the final issue, although a majority of what has been created so far has been visual art.

“We were all involved in creating 3D art and painting. There was a lot of glitter. There were sewing materials,” says Kimberley McMartin, KPIRG Board Organizer. “They were just different expressions of how you saw social and environmental justice or action.”

At the workshop, attendees also “discussed different issues” that are relevant to KPIRG’s values of inclusivity, diversity, and anti-oppression. McMartin believes that the workshop reflected those concepts, calling the event “an all-around really great, safe space.”

She also supports the decision to continue producing the zine because it encourages Kwantlen Polytechnic University students to collaborate and engage with their community.

“It provides another outlet for them to get together and for them to recognize that there are other people out there who think like them, who talk like them, who believe like them and want to be out there advocating for the things that they want and believe in,” she says.

Currently, dates for upcoming workshops have not been decided upon. KPIRG’s outreach and communications coordinator Inder Johal says that their scheduling “depends on space and student interest,” and she hopes that KPU’s busier fall semester will encourage more students to contribute.

“In the meantime, the summer zine can give an insight of what you can do and what it’ll look like online and in print,” adds Johal.

A call-out for the zine will be issued in KPIRG’s June newsletter, including samples of what was made at the workshop, so that students can “get an idea of what they can submit if they were unsure about it before,” says Johal.