User:Maxhohlbein

=Freshman Seminar=

I Always Wanted To Put Out A Zine

 * Topic

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 * '''Research Component

I Intend to research the history of the zine to learn more about how and when this movement came about. I will also do some research on the local zine culture, which ones are popular in this area and why?, What does it take to put out a decent zine?'''
 * ''Week 1

'Brainstorm and come up with a great name for my zine. Start looking for others willing to contribute. '''


 * '''week 2

Begin the layout for the first issue, built the skeleton. Just figure out what will be in this issue so I can known exactly what content i need to produce, or have others produce for me'''


 * '''Week 3

Have all of my core contributers lined up. Write an article to accompany photos from a trip this summer, line up A local artist to do an original spread, find someone else to write up something on a local band, either an interview or just a simple review, and last but not least a choose a skateboarder from the area to interview'''


 * '''Week 4

Get my the interview questions written and asked, and start shooting photos as well, work on my article.'''


 * '''week 5

Find a few people willing to advertise in the zine to help with printing costs, local skateshops and such.'''


 * '''Week 6

Find an affordable printer and start bugging people to get me their contributions'''


 * ''Week 7

'Make sure i have everything for the zine at the begining of the week, spend the week laying it out and writing a manifesto for the inside cover'''


 * '''Week 8

send the master copy off to the printers and get ready for my presentation.'''

Midterm Assignment 1: Taste & Aesthetics
There is one sculpture at the sculpture park that I have never liked:” Father and Son” by Louise Bourgeois. It’s not that I think the sculpture is poorly crafted; it’s quite the opposite. The figures in this sculpture are crafted amazingly. It’s just that I think the idea of the sculpture itself is too weird--A naked man and a naked little boy standing across from each other with their arms stretched out. Maybe a more advanced person would find this image appropriate, but to me it feels a little pedophilic. While I know this may sound immature and ignorant, I don’t really know how else to perceive this piece. This sculpture makes me uncomfortable no matter how much I appreciate the craftsmanship. So I did some research. I learned that Louise Bourgeois also did the sculptures around “Father and Son”, all of which I find to be quite wonderful. Those eyeballs have always been something I really enjoyed and it was interesting to learn that they were done by the same person. Before now I never had an opinion on Louise Bourgeois, I had never heard of her; it was that one particular piece of sculpture that I didn’t like. After reading about “Father and Son”, it began to make a little more sense. In most of the biographical information I read about Bourgeois there is mention of her dealing with sexuality at a young age and how her father had an affair when she was very young. A lot of Bourgeois’s work deals with sexuality and exploration of the body. Also, Bourgeois was left with three boys after her husband died, and father/son issues are repeatedly brought up in her work. I understand what she is doing to a certain point, and I guess art is supposed to make you uncomfortable sometimes, but that still doesn’t help me like this particular piece. I actually started to feel bad after reading some news articles about this piece. There were a lot of people who feel the same way, but when I read what they had to say, it just sounded dumb. The people on the other side of the fence--the people who love this sculpture are so passionate about this piece and are truly moved by it. Reading their reflections made me feel close-minded to be offended by this piece and not be able to enjoy it for what it is. That’s the sort of person that I am; I want instant gratification, I don’t want to have to look at something and have to decipher whether I like it or not by discovering it’s underlying meaning. I much more enjoy looking at something like one of the Eyeballs and going “Whoa that’s cool”, and then marveling at it for a minute before I decide whether or not to dive into the contemplation of deeper meaning. I really do like most of Bourgoeis’s other work. Especially one of her most famous pieces called the Spider which is basically just what it sounds like, a big scary spider that is about 20 feet tall made of bronze. Bourgoeis has a vast body of work and has worked in several different mediums. What I got out of all of this was an explanation for what I thought was just weirdness. Learning about Bourgoeis didn’t change my mind about “Father and Son”, but did make me understand it and not feel quite as uncomfortable when I looked at it again. The reason these figures are naked is to express the nakedness of emotion as they reach for each other but are not able to make a real connection. I understand what Bourgeois is saying, but I still think the sculpture itself is kind of creepy. I do genuinely enjoy looking at some of her other sculptures, like the Eyeballs, and I don’t condemn her for making me a little uncomfortable with “Father and Son”.

Midterm Assignment 3: Always Wanted To Progress Report (100 words or so)
So far I have made a fair amount of progress on my zine. I have drawn up a basic layout and chosen the size and the stock of paper I will use. I have started writing what parts of the zine I will be writing and so have most of my other contributors. I am a little bit behind schedule but I should be ok. I have a few books checked out from the library and have just started to dive into the research portion of this project. I still need to talk to a few people who I need material from but I’m not stressing…. yet. I just finished the cover.

Final Presentation

 * Topic (10%)

Making My Zine


 * Research (20%)

< Works Cited Bishop, Shawn. Personal interview. 27 Nov. 2009. Shawn was one of the people who helped me make my zine. He is a longtime zine maker and collector of zines. Block, Francesca Lia, and Hillary Carlip. ZIne Scene, the Do It Yourself Guide to Zines. N.p.: Girl Press, 1998. Print. A decent book about what zines are and some strategies on how to make them. Holt, Henry, and Chip Rowe. “Home Page.” The Book of Zines. CC Media, 2009. Web. 7 Dec. 2009. An amazing web site with tons of info about zines. Got most of my info here. Stoneman, Phil. “Fanzines: Their Production, Culture and Future .” Lundwood. N.p., May 2001. Web. 7 Dec. 2009. . This essay with great, it gives a clear an in depth analysis of the zine world. Originally Submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Publishing Studies University of Stirling. Any one who has an interest in zines should read this.


 * Your accomplishment (20%)

I did finish a zine. It's not exactly what I was hoping for, but i did get it done. I made a zine and it isn't just a bunch of pictures with no words. There are really some words in there and for that I am proud. I have made zines before but never put much work into them so i guess that my project should have been titled, make a zine I am proud of, or colaberate with others to make a zine because that was one of tehe other important thing for me in doing this zine; to include content from multiple sources, and i did, so I am proud of that.
 * Project Review (50%)
 * 1)The interview that I did for the zine went well, i got to go and hang out with one of my friends and learn a bunch of stuff about him that i never knew, so that went well and the photocopying went well to. There were not too many problems when it came to printing.
 * 2)Staying on track went very poorly. I talked to a lot of people who seemed interested in helping me, but when it came time to produce something for the zine they were no where to be found. When I started loosing a of the content that I thought i might have i began to feel overwhelmed. I didn't want to shorten the zine but i also didn't want to be th eonly one writing for it. I procrastinated until the very end and had to scramble and put a lot of garbage filler into the zine that i would not have had to use if my people had come through, but i can't put  the blame on them, this was my project.
 * 3)In the future I will try my best to only invest in those who i know can come through. I will also not let myself slow down just because things are going poorly, i wil instead try and push trough to try and make things better. Another thing that i will do in the future is listen to the people who are critiqing me. I let someone read the article that i wrote before i printed the zine and when they gave me advice I just blew it off and now i am regretting that, so in the future i will be open to all critisim of my work.

Self Assessment

At first I was really not into this class. I didn’t feel like there was any structure and I hated the fact that we got out of every session two hours early. I thought that it was a complete waste of time and that I shouldn’t have to be taking it. I believed that I would learn nothing from it but I ended up learning one of the most important lessons that you can. A class is only what you make of it. Sure there were not a lot of assignments for this class but the ones that we did get offered infinite room for exploration and creativity. My regret for this class is that I just looked at it as I would anything else that I thought to be pointless. I didn’t explore the opportunity of the Always Wanted to Project as deeply as I should have and that was a mistake. Instead of taking this class as something that I could actually benefit from I chose instead to find fault with it, which did not benefit me in any way. Yes I completed all of the assignments but I could have gone much much deeper, particularly in regards to my zine. I should know by now that people will not always force you to learn, if you are really interested in something then you need to actually pursue that interest instead of just waiting for it to pursue you.