In your first assignment for the semester, you will create a manifesto for yourself in the form of a zine, laying out the questions and issues you would like to explore through your various creative explorations.
Think about a theme that you often return to in your work for DCC, your reading and media consumption, your thoughts and dreams. What matters to you, what keeps you up at night, what can you talk about for hours on end? Then think about how you could use this class as an opportunity to engage that theme more deeply.
Consider the focus of our class, but don’t limit yourself unnecessarily: you will be experimenting with remix video, speculative fiction, and game design, all of which are formats in which almost any issue can be combined with questions of identity and representation. You should, however, make an effort to select a theme that relates to your plans for your capstone project.
You can use any technique you like, so long as the final result can be photocopied on one sheet of 8.5x11in paper.
Bring at least 10 copies of your zine to class on September 20: one for each of your classmates and one for me. I encourage you to bring an extra copy to donate to the Women’s Studies zine library in 0135 Taliferro Hall.
There is no required content or method for this zine. However, I will grade your zine according to:
• How clearly and elaborately it lays out your goals, hopes, and plans
• How thoughtfully you engage with the ideas you discuss
• How much flair and originality you show in drawing on the zine methodologies we discussed in class
• How much effort you have put into the project.
Your grade for the semester includes a score for thematic connection across your different projects. I will be judging that largely based on the plans that you lay out for yourself in your manifesto zine, but I do not expect that your semester will end up following your manifesto completely. Instead, as the semester goes on and when you write your final reflection, I will be looking to see how the semester’s work has led you to develop, change, or even turn away from the initial manifesto that you laid out for yourself.