I think Jimmy Kimmel should make zines.
The Zine-O-Sphere #010: on teaching with zines when the world is falling to fascism...again
*My opinions, thoughts, and rants do not reflect those of my employer. Though, I am immensely grateful to be employed there :)*
I’m currently sitting in the zine library, surrounded by zines on every topic you can imagine. It’s always gratifying to spend Friday afternoons in this small room of what was once the New York Times building. Doubly so when you notice the diversity of thought gathered here across our display shelves. So many wonderful, painful, and life-changing works represented here in such a way that makes me proud of what we’ve accomplished since this library was created a mere four years ago.
I’m also aware of how fragile this kind of place is in our current climate. Can a beautiful place like this continue to exist? Well, I certainly hope so and will fight to make that happen. It’s too important to lose.
Higher Education is in a strange place. This precarious tight rope we all walk seems to permeate everything these days—the news, the content we watch on our phones, the classroom…hell, even the workplace pantry.
Last week, a few of my coworkers sent me a link to a startling development in Texas.
If you didn’t hear this story yet, an instructor and two administrators were fired at Texas A&M at the request of a student who “disagreed” with what the instructor was teaching in a Literature course covering children’s fiction—simply by the mere suggestion from a book that there are more than two genders.
The student, citing Trump’s executive order from earlier this year, filmed herself arguing with the instructor saying it was “illegal” to teach such gender ideology. Texas Republican lawmakers and leaders joined the student’s crusade, calling for an massive audit of the course offerings and the dismissal of the instructor.
It was reported in the New York Times this past week that the President of the University has now resigned. Oh, boy.
When speaking privately before this all happened, Former Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh and the student in question shared the following exchange:
In one of the clips, Welsh told the student that meetings with “the professor, the department head, the dean all went pretty well.” He said the university doesn’t want students signing up for courses without knowing what the content will be, and added that after reviewing the class, his recommendation was to “call it what it is” and make it for “professional-track people who want to study LGBTQ literature.”
The student interrupted and asked if he approved of LGBTQ studies at Texas A&M. Welsh said “only two” courses in the field were taught at the university. He added that “there is a professional reason to teach some of these courses,” including for careers like clinical counselors or jobs in government where “you want to understand the issues affecting the people that they’re going to treat.”
In another audio clip appearing to include Welsh, he asked the student about her intention for meeting with him and voiced his suspicion that the student was “trying to pick a fight.”
“What do you expect us to do, fire her?” Welsh asked, to which the student replied “absolutely.” He cut in with “well, that’s not happening,” and then the clip stopped.
Well—unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. Dr. McCoul and several other administrators were terminated by the University pretty much immediately. I actually started seething when I read about this for the first time, particularly after I heard the audio clips and read the class syllabus.
Having attended both of my degree programs at a public institution in the Southern United States, I am honestly appalled at how this situation has shaken down. While I personally cannot remember an instance in which I or a classmate vehemently disagreed with the course content enough to call for the firing of the instructor, I’m sure there were plenty of times where there was disagreement and debate amongst classmates that made us think. Certainly, things could get heated in that realm, but it rarely reached beyond the boundaries of our classrooms. After all, that’s what a liberal arts education actually is.
It’s wild—I sit at an interesting intersection of this conversation. For one, I took courses in Film, Gender Studies, English, History, and Political Science. I experienced all types of classmates in all types of settings with all kinds of content. I worked with instructors in every discipline I loved, liked, respected, and in a case or two, politely tolerated. Still, I could never imagine calling for their dismissal over their teaching or work. Never.
Facing serious consequences for perpetrating sexual harassment, unfettered corruption, and plainly outlined misconduct is one thing. But being terminated for teaching well-documented content you’ve taught for years that a single student finds offensive? Hmmm. Sounds like a massive breach in academic integrity to me.
Even as an academic, I will acknowledge course and curriculum audits are important, but not in the “let’s censor people” way. I never imagined a university would be forced to do this after the firing and imprisonment of Angela Davis all those decades ago. I thought McCarthyism, the Red Scare, and the Blacklist were somehow behind us, but even that idea seems a pretty naive whitewashing of our history these days.
So here I sit, surrounded by these self-authored, self-published works I have devoted my life to stewarding, and you know what I thought?
“Jimmy Kimmel should make a zine.”
Now, look. I know how that sounds. He is a public figure/comedian, likely flush with wealth and assets most of us will never see in our lifetime. Jimmy Kimmel making a zine is sort of like Anderson Cooper or Joy Behar making a zine. It’s absurd. They have large platforms from which they can speak their mind at length, right?
I get it. It’s not what zine culture is about. If anything, we throw two middle fingers up in the face of the mass media any chance we get. We are anti-mass media.
But what happens when that mass media turns its back on you? What happens when the comedians and journalists lose that massive platform, seemingly overnight? Cause guess what—it happens in this world more than you think. Take a moment and read about the 1930s in Germany or the entirety of the Eastern Bloc after the Second World War. You may fine some pretty eerie parallels.
Kimmel would really benefit from making a zine because it’s basically the creative equivalent of telling any and all censors, losers, authoritarians, and sorry-sorts to go fuck themselves. Zines are and always have been the free speech medium. Yes, that comes with the caveat that people can create self-published material we may disagree with or find offensive. I could tell you all about the history of far right Polish zines and the decades of self-published KKK pamphlets. They exist.
But that culture exists because zines are, in Josh Datko’s words, “censorship resistant.” When you control the production and distribution of your work, it’s less likely to get you pulled off the Vaudeville stage abruptly, Kermit the Frog style.
It would really make a splash if he made a Bob Iger “fanzine,” satirizing how far from grace that guy has fallen in his attempts to make a shitload of money and kiss President Trump’s you know what. Same goes for all those CEOs and tech moguls. The lengths to which they go to make that guy happy just so they can make money are incredible. As a chronic people pleaser and former teacher’s pet, I would be impressed if I weren’t so disgusted by their spinelessness.
I doubt Kimmel would ever go back to Always Be Caving (I wish I could take credit for this one, but it’s a Bill Maher joke) after this devastating PR stunt. At least I kinda hope so, because it would be badass for him to say no dice to the Walt Disney Corporation and join the rest of us in the 21st century.
But—I also recognize how many people are employed by late night. To threaten their livelihoods is also deeply disturbing and a true sign of the nasty times. I can’t pretend to know the answer to that problem but would argue most of them just wish their leadership would show some class and stop capitulating. Defend us, damn it!
Anyway, since we’re all going back to basics, maybe all the late night hosts and comedians on Trump’s shitlist could make zines. Imagine just how many zines out there could exist about JD Vance’s ridiculous Fox News appearances alone.
What I really want to know is if any of them (the comedians, not JD) ever did. I have a sneaking suspicion Jon Stewart at least read zines back in the day.
To them I say (as if they could hear me), use the resources at your disposal, but do so wisely. Analog and authenticity seem to be the currency of the people now. Or at least, the people tired of AI, algorithms, and hatred ruining our lives. That’s gotta be more people than we think.
I don’t know. I’d still like to believe things might be different if social media didn’t hold our lives hostage. I find myself drifting into the present moment more and more these days, trying to send my doom scrolling patterns back to the hell from whence they came. I want to talk to people again and be part of an honest, real, and empathetic community. I still think that’s possible.
I guess all there is left to say is—thank goodness for free speech, zines, and self-publishing.
‘Til Next Time!
Hi zine friends! I hope you all had a good week, in the midst of well—everything. Stay safe out there.
Upcoming Events in the Land of Zines:
A couple of housekeeping things—
To those who signed up for the Gen X/Gen Z collaborative zine, please be patient with me! I really dropped the ball on this project and want to get it back up and running when I can. I haven’t given up!
There is so much happening with zines this semester than I am hopeful I can write about it here. Let me know if there is anything you all hope to see from this newsletter in the future.
If anyone has any resources, thoughts, or zines to share with me, please leave ‘em in the comments below. I would love to hear from you :)
Happy Zine Making!
