I recently released two new zines in my online shop! All of the details are listed below.
Six Snapshots of the Gendered Other
I am non-binary. I am genderfluid. I am queer. These are words, and words are limited.
In this zine, I have used photography to capture the complexity of my relationship with my gender. Pictures can say what words cannot. However, I am a writer first and foremost, and I still believe in the power of words even while I acknowledge their limitations. Thus, I have anchored the photographs with written reflections so that the two can enhance each other. These photos and reflections do not capture everything, but offer six snapshots of my experiences with gender and gendered Othering. This is a cathartic, reflective personal zine in which I revisit the topic I wrote about extensively years ago.
Spilling the Music With Creativity and Ephemeral Sounds
This is an 8-page, handmade perzine that combines stream-of-consciousness writing and collage to reflect on life, penguins, music, dreams, and returning home.
I recently ran an interactive “Make a Zine” project on Bluesky.
For this project, I wanted to empower people to stop passively doomscrolling on social media and instead actively create zines as physical media that they can hold in their hands. I wanted to show people that their voices matter and they can have an impact. I designed this project for social media users who feel overwhelmed by the current state of the world and want to do something but don’t know where to start. Making a zine won’t solve all of the world’s problems, but it does offer a starting place. It is a way to move out of paralysis, doomscrolling, and despair. In this project, I discuss some issues with social media, propose zines as a counterstrategy, introduce the concept of peace education and its relevance to zines, provide zine-making instructions, and give examples of zines. Furthermore, I encourage people to reflect on the project, continue making physical zines, share their work both online and offline, and engage with the broader zine community.
Czyzewska, A. (n.d.) Catholic policies & parental rights legislation: Impacts on 2SLGBTQ+ and allied youth and educators in Alberta’s publicly funded Catholic schools. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://www.adelaczyzewska.ca/zine-ma-thesis
Edwards, N. (2024). Peace, what? Peacebuilder, who? Telling the stories I wish they had taught me in school. GEOZONe. https://geoz.one/zines/peace-stories/
Navarro-Castro, L. & Nario-Galace, J. (2019). Peace education: A pathway to a culture of peace (3rd ed.). Center for Peace Education, Miriam College.
Pantony, S. (2025, July). Art is for fun and zines are imperfect: A handwritten perzine about overwork, rest, and play. Ko-fi. https://ko-fi.com/s/0622c5d8ed
Tran Myhre, K. (2023, July 20). Of what future are these the wild, early days? (Resources for emerging movement-builders). Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, But Enough. https://guante.info/2023/07/20/activismzine/
Tran Myhre, K. (n.d.). Zines. Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, But Enough. Retrieved February 28, 2026, from https://guante.info/zines/
I grew up immersed in technology, and until recently, I quite liked that. Mine was the first generation to grow up on the internet, use social media, and own smartphones. As a child, I played games on the family desktop in the computer room with dial-up internet. I remember watching webpages slowly load on my screen, bar by bar, and the computer’s effortful sound as it chugged along. In high school, I bought a laptop and created my first-ever social media account. The internet got faster. When I graduated, I got my first smartphone.
I used to believe that technology is a tool, one that is neither inherently good nor evil, and that what matters is how we choose to use it.
However, as our relationship with machines has grown progressively fusional, I realized that my philosophy required revision. Capitalism and neoliberalism direct our relationships with technology. Billionaires and corporations rule over it. It is becoming ever more addictive, manipulative, ubiquitous, and socially and environmentally destructive. Integrating it into every aspect of our lives without question is the default, the norm. It is being pushed on us from all sides. We are using technological “tools that are embedded with values of their own” (Koughan & Rushkoff, 2014, 00:51:48). Therefore, I believe there has been an erosion of choice.
I no longer view technology as a neutral tool that we can choose to engage with as we see fit. For example, even though I want nothing to do with artificial intelligence (AI), when I use a search engine, I am given an AI-generated summary. Most of the applications and tools I used for years have recently integrated AI, and it is often impossible to opt out. We are being required to use it at work and school. People are using AI to parent their children and navigate mental health issues. Some believe they are developing intimate relationships with it. We are encouraged, even impelled, to outsource every small, simple task to AI. Not only tasks, but also our very thought processes. We are meant to give it all to the machine and the people in power behind the machine.
We are too immersed. We have gone too deep. This technology is not neutral. We cannot choose how to use it. Its creators are choosing how to use us.
I cannot avoid AI completely, but I can choose not to engage with it voluntarily. I cannot cut all technology out of my life and escape to the woods, but I can withdraw as much as possible from the aspects I see as the most questionable, troubling, dysfunctional, manipulative, and dystopian.
The ruling class is trying to take away our agency. They are using technology to control us, but we do not have to sit back and passively accept that. We do not have to eat all the slop they are giving us. We do not have to outsource ourselves to the machine. We can take a step back. We can say no. We can pause, question, think, write, act, and create for ourselves. We do not have to become one with their machine.
References
Koughan, F. (Writer & Producer), & Rushkoff, D. (Writer & Producer). (2014, February 18). Generation like (Season 32, Episode 4) [TV series episode]. In K. Druckerman, B. Tarver, & D. Fanning (Executive Producers), Frontline. Left/Right Docs; WGBH Educational Foundation; WGBH/Boston.
Lewis (2010) wrote, “If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold” (para. 3). This is the case for social media. Major corporations do not altruistically provide us with social media to help us connect. Rather, they do so to make money off of our attention and data.
It is a clever scheme. Create a platform that encourages people to share as much about themselves as possible. Tell people the platform’s purpose is to stay in touch with friends and family and make new connections. Make it free to join and have your user base create its content. Include features such as “likes” and “follows” that are designed to give people hits of dopamine and make posting feel competitive. Create an endless news feed that users can “pull to refresh… like a slot machine” and other features designed to maximize its addictive potential (Winans et al., 2020, 00:15:58). Then, in between photos of friends and funny videos, slip in advertisements.
Social media is an ideal marketing tool. Unlike billboard, magazine, or television ads, social media ads are tailored to individual users. Major social media corporations feed on your data and sell it to the highest bidders. These corporations claim it is for networking and building connections, but that is not its primary purpose. Social media exists to generate profit.
On the other hand, I cannot deny that social media can connect people in ways never seen before its creation. People from all over the world can find each other and stay in touch. Entire communities can flourish online. Marginalized people who are otherwise isolated from physical, offline communities can connect over social media. When a pandemic shuts the world down and people are unable to visit their friends and family, social media can help them feel less alone. Genuine friendships and meaningful connections can be made through these platforms.
Social media can be an effective tool for networking and community-building. However, at the end of the day, regardless of what the people running the major platforms claim, their bottom line is revenue generation. We cannot forget that this is the mandate they design their platforms around. We cannot let our guard down when we use them. As it stands, social media is not neutral and does not exist for our benefit, even if we may find ways to benefit from it.
Recently, I have seen alternatives to the major social media platforms springing up. These are smaller companies claiming that they want to do things differently, like Bluesky and Gander. I have been moving away from the megacorporations and towards these smaller ventures that promise something more community-based and less exploitative and profit-driven. Is that truly possible in today’s neoliberal, capitalist landscape? I am skeptical but hopeful that these alternatives will deliver on their promises and that we will see social media designed for networking and connecting rather than increasing market shares.
References
Bluesky. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved February 3, 2026, from https://bsky.app/
Lewis, A. [@blue_beetle]. (2010, August 26). If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold [Comment]. MetaFilter. https://www.metafilter.com/95152/Userdriven-discontent#3256046 *Different versions of this quote come from various sources. Lewis (2010) is one.
Winans, K. K., Muratore, R., & Winans, J. (Directors). (2020). Childhood 2.0 [Film]. Double Edge Films, Co.
I’m very excited to announce that I will be facilitating a free, in-person zine workshop this fall!
The Educational Power of Zines: A Zine 101 Workshop With an Overview on Zines in Education and Research
Date & Time: Friday, October 3, 2025 | 2:00-4:00 PM
Location: Ethnography Lab, EV Building, 10.625, Concordia University, 1515 Rue Ste-Catherine O, Montréal, QC
Join us for an interactive workshop all about zines! In this workshop, we will:
Review what zines are and discuss their history
Review various examples of zines
Explore using zines in and outside of classrooms (zines in formal, non-formal, and informal education)
Explore using zines to conduct research and disseminate research results
Discuss our experiences with and questions about zines, their benefits and limitations, and different ways to create them
Make zines together (instructions will be provided)
This workshop will also provide resources for learning about, teaching with, and making zines.
What Is a Zine?
“Zines are independently published booklets. They can be on a variety of topics like music, feminism, gender, art, spirituality or mental health. They tend to be composed of mixed media like text, illustrations, comics, collages, photographs, and more… The language they use is usually accessible to a general audience. They come from a do-it-yourself (DIY) culture, which emphasizes that anyone should be able to make a zine” (Pantony, 2024, p. 13).
“Zines are self-published or published by a small, independent publisher. Self-publishing allows marginalized voices to express themselves beyond the constraints of mainstream media, and also lets authors take control of the process of publishing. Zines also present an alternative to the hierarchical and commodified world of mainstream media… Zines provide a vehicle for ideas, expression, and art” (Van Leuven, 2017, para. 2).
Thanks to the Visual Methods Studio, the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture, the Ethnography Lab, the Sustainable Transition Team Research Initiative, Fonds de Recherche du Québec, and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada for their support.
Sage Pantony 