Who Do You Think You Are?
Telling Your Story on Your Terms, Through Zines & More with Jackson Bird
October 22nd - November 26th
8 - 10 pm ET
"The great thing about zines is the freedom to be able to express your thoughts any way you like. The more raw and honest, the better. It’s a world where the weird, absurd, and unique is appreciated."
- Mark Todd & Esther Pearl Watson
Course description
This fall, feed your creativity with this uniquely hands-on course dedicated to the craft of memoir through zines. Starting October 22nd, you’re invited to join Jackson Bird for six evenings dedicated to creatively telling your story on your own terms. Zines are an excellent medium for folks who may be intimidated by traditional publishing or writing a full-length work, and they’re amazing tools of self-expression.
What exactly is a zine? So glad you asked! Zines, a term dating back to roughly the 1930s, are self-published works intended for small circulation; however, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to zine design. Short for "fanzine” or sometimes "magazine," a zine can be any size, made of a variety of creative materials, and on any topic the author (AKA you!) wishes to express. With this class, we invite you to kick down the fences of imposter syndrome and institutional pressure to tell your own story and treat it as sacred.
Each class will have
a brief reading, reflection, or song excerpt to kick us off
a mini-lecture on topics including the craft of memoir, the history of zines, and creative expression
small group time for zine-making, feedback, and sacred practices on your own writing
large group time to share learnings from breakout groups and to present works-in-progress as desired
optional reading and zine-making assignments to complete before the subsequent class
a closing ritual in the form of a reading or sacred practice
The overview
Tuition:
full price: $300
partial scholarship price: $200
Registration Details: As soon as you buy your ticket, you will receive an email from programs@notsorryproductions.com confirming your spot and sharing the Zoom link for the class.
Please note that this email address could become lost in your spam folder, so it would be helpful if you add it to your address book.
Dates: Tuesdays from 8-10pm ET, from October 22nd to November 26th, 2024
Recording: Classes will be recorded for later viewing, but the course is best experienced if you attend each session live.
Partial Scholarship Details: At Not Sorry, we want our programming to support fair wages to faculty as well as accessible tuition to our audience. With this in mind, we have a limited number of partial scholarships available (first come, first served) at checkout. If you can afford the full cost of the class, we trust you to purchase the full price ticket tier, saving the partial scholarship price for folks who couldn’t otherwise participate!
Enrollment: There is no registration limit to this course, so the class could be anywhere from 10-100 folks, with plenty of room for small group interaction. We advise you to sign up prior to October 18 in order to receive a low-lift pre-course assignment in the welcome email from the course TA!
Questions? Email Courtney at programs@notsorryproductions.com, and she’ll return your message within 2-3 business days.
More Info
Everyone has a story worth telling. Using zine-making to remove the pressure for perfection, longtime zinester and onetime memoir author Jackson Bird will guide you through the craft of writing about your own life. Over six, two-hour class sessions, you will explore the power in telling your own story, tackle imposter syndrome, learn how to find creativity in constraints, and feel the freedom of creating art without gate-keepers. So grab a sharpie, some scratch paper, and maybe some fun stamps or stickers — it’s time to treat our own stories as sacred!
Suggested Course Materials
Several pieces of physical loose leaf paper and a writing utensil with which to construct your zine.
Access to an 8.5 x 11 printer paper, scissors, and a stapler is ideal - feel free to assemble a collection of colored pens/pencils, stamps, stickers or other fun elements to adorn your zine.
Missing any of these materials? Never fear! We’ll discuss how to work with what you've got as part of the course. Only have the back of a receipt and a highlighter? That can be a zine!
Here’s a basic breakdown of our week-to-week focus
Week 1: Why Zines? (And why memoirs?)
Week 2: Imposter Syndrome
Week 3: Make Your Own Rules
Week 4: Constraint As a Creative Tool
Week 5: Access & Community
Week 6: Beyond Zines + End-of-Course Showcase
Faculty bio
Jackson Bird - Instructor - he/him
Jackson Bird is a multi-disciplinary creator who writes and performs original works on the stage, on the page, and online. A TED Speaker and GLAAD Rising Star Digital Innovator, Jackson shares his and others’ stories of trans experience on his YouTube channel, jackisnotabird, and in his debut book Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place. He has a BA in Comparative Literature from New York University and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Vulture, The Advocate, and more. He’s a Civic Media Senior Fellow at the Annenberg Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California as well as a regular guest host on Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Jackson is the former host of the daily podcast the Cool Stuff Ride Home and spent the last few years as an ensemble member of the experimental theater company, the New York Neo-Futurists. A longtime zinester and one-time memoir author, Jackson is thrilled to be sharing the joy of zines with the Not Sorry community.