Letter From The Editor
Dear Femme Fam, The Fem Issue has been in the works for over two years, even way before Drifter was a thought in my head, and now it’s here filled with gut wrenchingly powerful artwork and writing that was truly an honor to publish! The idea behind this issue was to create a space for the Women and Femmes-identifying community to express themselves through any and all artform. Femininity has long been the target of violence by the patriarchy, BIPOC and LGBTQA+ Women and Femmes have been the main target of this violence but their voices have not been silenced, they have only gotten louder and they refuse to be forgotten. Femininity holds power because we have rage rooted in compassion and kindness to empower each other, which is why this issue is dedicated to showcasing Women and Femme identifying artists, writers, and journalists. I want to thank all the artists and writers who trusted us with their work. The Fem Issue came out better than I even imagined because of every single one of you. Please take the time to follow all the artists and writers featured and support them anyway that you can so they can continue creating amazing work. As an independent publication Drifter is proud to showcase the work of local artists from the San Fernando Valley and beyond. I hope both our contributing artists and our audience connect with the pieces highlighted in the issue helping them to feel seen and heard as well as find inspiration to create. Thank you, Madi Parsley Creator and Editor-in-Chief of Drifter
Checkout Our Website & Social Media: drifterzine.com IG: @drifter_zine Spotify: @Drfiter Email: zine.drifter@gmail.com Cover Illustration by Madi Parsley
Drifter Zine recognizes and acknowledges the first people of this ancestral and unceded territory of the Achoicominga that is now known as the San Fernando Valley. We honor their elders, past and present, and the descendants who are citizens of the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians. We recognize that the Tribe is still here and we are committed to lifting up their stories, culture, and community.
Credit: Fernandeno Tataviam Band of Mission
Se Taqigalis pal ne Siwanawal (Un Canto para la Siguanaba) Ini taqigalis pal Nanzin Pedrina Sandoval, se ikman siwayulu afrocaneh ipal Siwatewagan, wan muci ne tumiagawan sihsiwayulu tiltik, afrocaneh wan mezali. Nanzin Pedrina walah gipia nawipual maqil xiwit, uni tesu panu miak pal ne sihsiwayulu tiltik. Xiginelnamigigan wan xigintagezagan intuhtugay. Nusan nignegi nina ga tunan Siwanawal senpa nemit tuwan wan yaha gialwiga ikahkacimbo itugay tesu gengaya. Gipia miak pal tecilwia. Este poema es para Nanzin Pedrina Sandoval, una ancestra trans afrodescendiente de Santa Ana, y toda nuestra familia trans negrx, afrodescendiente e indigena. Nanzin Pedrina llegó a tener 85 años, eso no pasa mucho para las mujeres trans negras. Recuerden y digan sus nombres. También quiero decir que nuestra madre Siwanawal siempre está con nosotras y lleva muchos nombres distintos. Tiene bastante para decirnos. This poem is for Nanzin Pedrina Sandoval, an Afro Descendant trancestor from Santa Ana, and all of our Black, Afro Descendant and Indigenous Trans family. Nantzin Pedrina lived to be 85 years old, something that doesn’t happen a lot for Black trans women. Remember and say their names. I also want to say that our mother Siwanawal is always with us and goes by many names. She has a lot to say to us.
Ketzali Weyapan @ne_siwanawal3
Xinecmaga mutayektenewalis Siwanawal, Siwanawal Nimunegi nignamigi uksenpa nutaixgehgezalis Ma nuapan mutalua uksenpa Ma nuapan mutalua uksenpa Nignegi nigpia ne nehmacnemilis tik nuweyga, Siwanawal Nigitas ne tunalku xucigisa tik tuteupan Nimeztahtani, nimeztahtani Xinecpalewi, xinecpalewi Timeztahtanit, timeztahtanit Xitecpalewi, Xitecpalewi Mezgagit tik ne kohtan Mezgagit tik ne weytecan Siwanawal, Siwanawal Tik ne mihmixti nimezita Siwanawal, Siwanawa Nimezita tik ne ixkalyu nunoya Senpa nipaxalua muwan, Siwanawal Taha ne tawil tik nugunyua Naha ni siwayulu wan mihqaniyulu Ma nuihiyu patani ga ne sental Ma nuihiyu patani ga ne sental Xitecmaga mutayektenewalis Siwanawal, Siwanawal Tutecan xucigisa gengaya gen ne Nawat Tutecan xucigisa gengaya gen ne Nawat Senpa nimeztasuhtas Siwanawal Titecpalewia senpa wan tigpalewia Tunantal Tinemi neh qak ne sihsiwayulu tinesit Tinemi neh qak ne sihsiwayulu tizahzit Tinemi neh qak ne sihsiwayulu ticugat Tinemi neh qak ne sihsiwayulu tipagit Tinemi neh qak ne sihsiwayulu tihyumigit Tinemi neh qak ne sihsiwayulu timigit Nimuyawalua iwan nuqey Iga mutasuhtalis necmaga tay nimunegi Pal nigilwia nimutasuhta Senpa nimutasuhtas Suhsul padiux ga taha Nunan, Siwanawal
Dame tu bendicion Siguanaba, Siguanaba Necesito encontrar de nuevo a mi imaginación Que mi río fluya de nuevo Que mi río fluya de nuevo Quiero tener paz en mi cuerpo, Siguanaba Veré el verano florecer en nuestro templo Yo te pido, yo te pido Ayúdame, protégeme Te pedimos, te pedimos Ayúdenos, protégenos Te oyen en el campo Te oyen en la ciudad Siguanaba, Siguanaba En las nubes yo te veo Siguanaba, Siguanaba Te veo en el rostro de mi abuela Siempre paseo contigo, Siguanaba Sos la luz en mi oscuridad Sos la luz en mi oscuridad ciudad Yo soy mujer trans y género fluido Que mi espíritu vuele por los cosmos Que mi espíritu vuele por los cosmos Denos tu bendicion Siguanaba, Siguanaba Nuestro pueblo florece igualmente como el náhuat Nuestro pueblo florece igualmente como el náhuat Te amare eternamente Siguanaba Siempre nos ayudas y proteges a la Madre Tierra Estás allí cuando las mujeres trans nacemos Estás allí cuando las mujeres trans gritamos Estás allí cuando las mujeres trans lloramos Estás allí cuando las mujeres trans sonreímos Estás allí cuando las mujeres trans gemimos Estás allí cuando las mujeres trans morimos Giro con mi refajo Porque tu amor me da lo que necesito Para decir que yo me amo Me amare eternamente Muchas gracias a ti Mi madre, Siguanaba
Give me your blessing Siwanawal, Siwanawal I need to find my imagination again May my river flow again May my river flow again I wish for peace in my body, Siwanawal I will see the summer bloom in our temple I ask of you, I ask of you Your help, your protection We ask of you, we ask of you Your help, your protection They hear you in the countryside They hear you in the city Siwanawal, Siwanawal In the clouds I see you Siwanawal, Siwanawal I see you in the face of my grandmother I always travel with you, Siwanawal You are the light in my darkness You are the light in my darkness I am a genderfluid trans woman May my spirit fly across the cosmos May my spirit fly across the cosmos Give us your blessing Siwanawal, Siwanawal Our community blossoms just like Nawat Our community blossoms just like Nawat I will love you eternally Siwanawal You always help us and you protect our Mother Earth You’re there when we trans women are born You’re there when we trans women scream You’re there when we trans women cry You’re there when we trans women smile You’re there when we trans women moan You’re there when we trans women die I spin with my refajo Because your love gives me what I need To say I love myself I will love myself eternally Many thanks to you My mother, Siwanawal
Sacred Love
Jess Fry @heartlandadventures
XXI
You Are The Sun
In Bloom
Growing Pains
Dany Greene @stick.and.sew
Summer Interlude
Moody Blues
Folding Unfolding
useless. Equality should be for all not the few.
gender equally without an anti capitalist base
or understanding of class struggle is absolutely
Jacklyn Arriola @mijacutsdeep
Valerie Arellano @guardianofneptune
A woman whose life’s work I want to highlight as quintessentiato feminism is Josephine Baker (1906-1975). As a Black, bisexual woman of low economic status navigating a very segregated world, she left the United States in 1925 to a more liberal France, where she pursued her dance performer career. As a child, she lived in extreme poverty, was abused by those that employed her, dropped out of school at 12, and had her first marriage at 13. She ended up becoming one of Europe’s most well-paid performers, using her status to boycott segregated clubs back in America, she even advocated alongside MLK during the civil rights movement. Whenever I doubt my capabilities as an artist, I remind myself of the fierce women like her that helped pave the way. Her quote I used for this piece is a reminder to value myself and practice self-love more.
Star Girl
Ariana @arixartcollection
MAD HONEY I know where to find the mead of poetry, when we were small we ate mad honey from the forest’s catacombs, a honeycomb buried beneath the taproot, we let it ferment.
Are you digging? When you finish I can plant things in the dirt. I have a ball of string, I fixed the sting, I filled my basket with black and red stars.
You folded your arms like a bat. Everything was synapses, a dandelion blown bald and you had the look of unraveling relief, your eyes wet as the green sky.
Eva Andrea Bertoglio @evabertoglio
QUEEN OF EMPTY SPACE The shadows of the power line generate the tether that I walk.
I arrive at the mouth of an alley without light, the black torn raw, an edge I can tug, another world deshelled.
Once, I loathed being an outsider so I learned to love outside, I invited strangers in and then left them in a vacant kingdom,
a whole world of dew, the moon spilling through wool.
Eva Andrea Bertoglio @evabertoglio
U r phenomenal and beautiful Even with your knee to my chest Can you believe U r phenom Onal and beau tiful un natural . . . Even when you shoot looks towards the back who is ob serving this mess, Now you set to smear and remove the sight of
If It
Sticks
as it hardens in the sun; you decided to spill, squeeze, leave nothing left singing with the breeze And how if it sticks, unmovable and pooling on our surfaces -- slowly golden sometimes -- use the water that cuts through it, or the dead leaf does enough, maybe the stale excuses of reaped wheat could be of use you can just slurp-swallow it like you always meant to. did you mean to. like when I eat what is not mine, devouring to be there being only 3
we still drips
Kim Morales @glosariodawson
ject heat || cold street with this poem i hand his dysfunction back to my abuser are you a maniac or just a god i didn’t know what haunches were until I was laid back on the warmth of my own waiting for you to deliver me to a new evil you were golden l ike the calf dragged one finger from my clit to the crack of my ass creating a thread of sensation a heat in me turned up to an unbearable degree i opened every pore and all of my eyes to learn the chilling slivers of ice you call feelings there was no breath in the air before you when you cursed me over and over through the 36 degrees our fucking, its own animal: rare, too precious to hunt but sought after ardently hiding out with heat on the walls from previous kills you smell me like an animal like a wild dog
and we return to the passionless street fighting through the snow with our bootless feet wrapped in canvas as uneasy as two loosies our tobacco, our nicotine our smoke and potential cancer in thin cigarette paper we return to the passionless street two loose friends i don’t even know the jungle anymore i used to be a quetzal, a king i think
(of where i entered i have a memory of a life i never lived or maybe only sometimes)
but not on this sleet slick avenue or that running corner with a drip-drop grate not here where the bitter winds can dry the kiss on your cheek only a jaguar when you see me at night my teeth never go away i scream with the owls i eat it raw and make the bones rise
Kim Morales @glosariodawson
Garden Doodle
“Garden Doodle” came about one day while sitting in the garden at the Gamble House in Pasadena, California. I simply said to myself, I wonder if I can STILL draw. It is a comtemplative sketch as I learned how to draw when I was a little girl from a drawing book my father bought for me. I have always been fascinated with drawing women, their faces, and hair and because Fashion Sketching was a part of my initial college education, many of my drawings have an aesthetic of beauty. Drawing a woman’s face is sensitive yet powerful. I am not only drawing features, but her mind, her thoughts, her voice, and her essence. She comes to life with the way her eyes are set and when observing her what seems lifeless begans to connect with the soul of the viewer. Ultimately, I am sketching variations of my internal self. This is an emotional space for me because drawing is connected to my childhood, my love for my father whom I miss greatly, my innocence, and dreams. My wonderment is about fully regaining who I am as an all around artist and that “STILL” is very important to me because when you are young you never wonder if you can “STILL” do anything. You believe you CAN do EVERYTHING. When you get older if feels the world passes you by and that you have missed many opportunities and chances yet, the “STILL” allow me to push forward despite losses and set backs because I am STILL alive and I STILL can.
Renaissance Marie Austin @Raghouse_international
Love Her and
Let Her Love You Sydnie Waldron @syd.w.art
She Is Brutal
Her Brutalism
Jade Ashleigh @ jadeashleighart
Brutalism’s Her
Brutalist In Her
Twenty Ascend
Diptych
Caitie Kohl @caitiekohlart
Beth Dishes Drama
At The Dog Park
Follow Me
Caitie Kohl @caitiekohlart
by Iván Salinas @ivansali_ The first time I heard of Yungatita was through a collaboration with el rey del valle, Alex Andre--an awesome musician of the SFV area that had just dropped a song titled, “We Could Be Cool” in early 2021. I was in the middle of crafting a Valentine’s Day playlist (El Valle del Amor) and in my search for more songs I decided to check out some of Yungatita’s music on Spotify. A fairly recent release popped on my screen. It’s cover featured a photo of Yungatita holding a synth in one hand as she stood on a giant octopus sculpture--the same sculptures made by Mexican artist Benjamin Dominguez, located in Legg Lake, San Gabriel Valley. The words “Over You,” were written in white bubbly letters against a purple sky, which made me begin listening to the tracks, and before I knew it, I had gone through all six songs of a short and sweet 20 minute bedroom-pop EP. Full of playful synths and mid-tempo songs of love and heartbreak, I had just listened to the magic of Yungatita, the music project of multidisciplinary artist Valentina Zapata. Reppin all of east L.A., Yungatita has shared the stage with indie artists like Katzu Oso as a keyboard player in his band. In fact, it is where she met her band members that have accompanied her both in the studio and on tours--except for her friend Ernie, who she’s known since high school. In early 2020, Yungatita played alongside Michael Sayre, at her last show in Oakland, at the Noise Pop Festival, before the covid-19 pandemic. In spite of this set-back, she has continued to release singles (latest being Sigh Guy) and has met up with her bandmates in the studio, ready to hit the stage the moment venues start to re-open, all while being enrolled at Cal State Long Beach for a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts. With the help of her bandmates and released under Counter Culture Records, all six songs demonstrate an amazingly well-produced EP that will have you dancing in your bedroom, fantasizing of your favorite indie dream crush, or counting-down the days and weeks it’s taken to get over your toxic boo. This Q&A (slightly-edited for clarity) is part of a conversation we had over zoom. From Yungatita’s upbringing as a musician to funny anecdotes at DIY venues, you can listen to the full conversation on our website!
Tell me a little bit about your love for music and how you began producing some of your own? My dad was in a band in the 80s, they would actually get gigs withpretty well-known bands. My mom was a tour manager for many mexican musicians like Pepe Aguilar and Alejandro Fernandez. That actually kind of influenced me, both my dad and my mom, to really enjoy music and want to be a part of it. I first started playing the piano. My parents put me in piano classes when I was six or seven. I got taken out of classes and got pushed to play sports instead, but as I was kind of growing up, I picked up instruments here and there. I picked up guitar for a little bit when I was a preteen and I kept playing piano, learning Beatles songs. It wasn’t until high school and my early 20s that I had a lot of little toy synths. And I would just carry them around everywhere. As I got older, I joined more serious projects, and actually ended up getting into Katzu Oso’s band.
Is that when Yungatita got started? My friend had told me Katzu Oso was looking for a keyboard player on Twitter. And I was just like, okay, whatever. But she commented on his tweet, “get my friend to play in your band.” And then he actually hit me up. I told him I don’t have a keyboard or anything, but he’s like, “whatever, just come through.” When I met his band members they were like, “Oh, you make your own music? We should make another band!” Prior to that, I was in a bunch of bands, but they were never working out. They would always break up. People always had other priorities. You know, they had kids or they’re getting married or something. And so I released my first song, “Bedroom.” I think it was in 2017. I released a version of it with my friend, Dane. He helped me produce it and we put it out and somehow it hit. It got reposted by a few famous blogs on Soundcloud and YouTube. And it took off, it got a bunch of plays in like one night. Since then I have been dropping the song here or there.
How’d you land on the name Yungatita? I had no intention of it becoming a band name. But, back in 2013, I spent almost two months in Mexico (San Miguel Allende) by myself studying silversmithing. I had a different Instagram handle at the time. And I was like, you know what, I need to reamp like, I need a whole new start. I was just sitting on the bed and I had my computer with me. I was living in this little house at the time, and then, I don’t know, the name yungatita came up, and I was like, Oh, I’m just gonna make that my Instagram handle. I went on everything, my tumblr, my Twitter, etc., and I changed it all together. And so it ended up sticking because I was releasing things under that name, so when we started the band, there was no reason for me to change it. People already kniw it’s me, so I kind of just went with it.
What was the last venue/show that you played before the pandemic? It was with Michael Sayre, up in Oakland, at the Noise Pop festival [Starline Social Club]. After that, we had an entire tour lined up with Harmless, you should look them up! He makes really cool music. We had a tour lined up with him. But it got cancelled because it was kind of towards the end of March. And by that time they had already announced the lockdown.
Do you have a Favorite Venue in L.A.? The Bootleg Theatre!
What do you prefer, recording new songs in the studio or playing live? I like both, obviously. But it’s so much easier to have something completely finished. And then you get to go to a performance. You know, it’s so much easier because it’s already there. Definitely, like performing way more than I like actually sitting down. I’m kind of a perfectionist, so if I don’t like it I’ll scrap an entire thing, like, my band members will be helping me lay down a riff or something, and I’ll be like, “Oh, yeah, all that work you did, I threw it all away because I just didn’t like it.” So it’s kind of harder because I’m just set on it sounding a certain way, but that’s part of the process.
You confessed that the songs in your EP were written while you were in love and heartbroken, but, at the same time, it’s kind of a personification of the past. The “Over You” concept of the album is also the “Over You”of everything that you’ve been struggling with, or that has set you back creatively or personally. Was that the headspace you were in while you were putting together the EP? All of the songs that I wrote for the EP, I had written them over a long period of time, I want to say like, maybe, four years. Each one that I wrote, I was at a different point in a terrible relationship that lasted about that much time. When I put that EP together, the intention was to get this out of the way so that I could just move on. I want to be free from all of this stuff I’ve been through in my past and be free of getting tied down by relationships, by material things, by my own insecurities or traumas. And I’m just over it. I guess the order of the songs as well, they tell a little story.
My favorite song in the EP is “Seven Weeks and Three Days,” how did that tune come about? Was it a collaborative process with your band or something you produced on your own? I wrote completely by myself in my bedroom. It took me two hours to write the whole song. That time, I don’t think I had a band yet. So it was literally just me in my room, crying. I wrote this entire song and recorded it completely in a matter of like two to three hours. And it was pretty late. And the only thing is,
a few days later, I went to my friend’s house, and he helped me kind of like, you know, lay it down and mixed it and all that I he added that little synth solo at the end, because we’re kind of working on it together. But the entire song I just wrote by myself a few nights before.
What part of LA are you based in? I rep anything East of LA.
For your EP cover, you’re standing on top of this giant Octopus, where is that?! I took that picture at Legg Lake, aka Whittier Narrows. The sculpture I’m standing on, there’s actually a bunch of them around the park, they’re made by Mexican sculptor Benjamin Dominguez. I grew up in that area, at a certain point in my life, and I used to run cross country, that’s where we would practice sometimes and have our races. When I knew I was gonna drop an EP, I was like, well, I kind of do want it to come off playful and it has a lot to do with my past. So my friend Chica who’s a cool photographer, she was like, “oh, yeah, I’m down. Let’s go. I have new gear I want to try out.” So, she took that photo of me there at Legg Lake.
Earlier this year you dropped ‘Sigh Guy,’ which also has a really cool art cover! What’s the story behind your latest single? Originally I wrote “sigh guy” about myself. There was a point, maybe last year, even a little bit before that, where I felt like I was wasting a lot of time, so I wrote it about myself. I’m like, okay, like, you’re being annoying. I saw myself as a different person. As if I was watching you, like, at my best, and you were like, at your worst, I would be like, “Come on, bro. Get it together!” It was more about being in that and being in that space of like, I’m not really doing anything beneficial for myself. But you know, I wanted to get out of it. But now I’m just gonna waste time instead, you know, it’s kind of like that. So I was just writing about that, that space that you get into sometimes, you know, a rut type of thing.
What have you been listening to lately? I’ll constantly be listening to Modest Mouse. It doesn’t even matter. Like if I’m happy or sad, or that they’re an older band at this point. I love Modest Mouse like they’re my favorite band of all time. But if we’re talking like new stuff that comes out, I listen to a lot more of my friends’ music, like Rudy Mora, Alex Andre, Cola boy. A bunch of cool people that are in the scene that are just dropping fire right now.
What is Yungatita currently working on? Are we expecting any releases in the near future? I’m actually working on a bunch of stuff right now. I’m trying to drop to two singles. By like, early summer, or like, midsummer--not the movie midsummer. But, hopefully, either an EP or an album by the end of the year.
Lastly, what is your zodiac sign? Cancer.
Having A Good Cry
Jeanette Benitez
@sfvphotos
Alana Harris
Unitled
@ spexx_art
Maria H. Andrade-Reyes @ mhar_Reyes
Tan Poderosa Como Su Mirada
Black Femininity Lost in the Crossfire Where do I fit in? Mind askew, in complete disarray, trying to find what is expected of me. Identity lost in chasm of endless disassociation. Where do I go? Looking at the screen, how do I find a place to belong? Skin colored like sienna cascading ridges on mountainsides Alabaster skin of those who oppose me Perception of who I am never to be known, shrouded in confusion, control, and dominance.
Deja Magee @ thewarblerette
Body Original
Sophia Villavicencio @souphiarts
Nikolas Roumenov Iankov @ nikiswatchingpaintdry
TRANScending
Mariam Danial @ mnd_x
My Body Is Not A Political Playground
Breaking Down Reproductive Justice With Sandra Kumwong by Gillian Moran-Perez @gillicansisland Sandra Kumwong is the author of “Becoming an Abortion Doula”, a personal essay published in the anthology Colonize This which features the voices of young women of color and their views on today’s feminism. Her story uplifts the work of those who continue to dismantle white supremacy in the healthcare system. After reading her essay, I grew to admire Kumwong for doing her part to make the world a safer space for women from all backgrounds. If you haven’t read the Kumwong’s essay along with the other amazing works in the anthology, you can buy a copy of Colonize This at Seal Press and Tia Chucha’s Centro Cultural & Bookstore on their websites. Kumwong is a full-spectrum doula — a trained individual who provides physical, emotional and informational support to another individual going through childbirth or other health-related experiences. She’s an advocate for reproductive justice, a term coined by SisterSong, an organization founded in the 1990s, by a group of black women in Chicago who recognized that the women’s rights movements was dominated by middle-class and wealthy white women who “could not defend the needs of women of color and other marginalized women and trans* people,” according to SisterSong. The organization’s framework empowers women of color and uplifts their voices in the world of feminism by recognizing the many intersectional characteristics that may affect an individual’s reproductive choices, such as childbirth, becoming a parent, etc.
Kumwong begins her essay by describing the strength of her mother in a single sentence: “the sun could fall on top of my mother and she would hold it up with her bare palms with no issue.” During a conversation with her mother about Kuwong’s experiences interning at Planned Parenthood, her mother reveals her own abortion story, a choice that Kumwong came to question whether it was really her mother’s decision. This begins the discussion of what reproductive justice is and why the term “pro-choice” isn’t always accurate, because many don’t feel the choice is theirs. I had the opportunity to speak with Kumong and listen to her insightful opinions about the reproductive justice framework, how it’s more than just advocating for reproductive rights and what are some ways to get involved. In the end not only did I gain a better understanding of this practice that is new to me, I also gained a friend from across the coast whom I can talk about healthcare activism and pupusas. So I hope this article inspires anyone to learn more about reproductive justice and how to be an advocate for their community.
“the women’s rights movements was dominated by middle-class and wealthy white women who ‘could not defend the needs of women of color and other marginalized women and trans* people,’ according to SisterSong.”
Why is the term Pro-Choice problematic and how can we unlearn to use this term? Is there another term that we can use to replace this term? I think the way people align their political alignments with, especially abortion, is up to them. I think that there is more of a movement in the reproductive justice field to identify as pro-abortion which is something that I would identify as just because I think pro-choice came at a time where people were fighting for abortion rights. Mostly white women were fighting for abortion rights and the view at the time was cis women deserve to get an abortion because if they don’t then this will happen, but then there’s restrictions to that. It’s a very conditional term I think. Whereas if we use the term pro-abortion it takes away all the conditions and throws out the window because no matter what happens, what the situation is, you should always be able to choose abortion if you want. In the experiences with the people I’ve supported and in my own experience, abortion sometimes is not a choice for people. Maybe people are in a space where they find themselves pregnant and they would really love to go through with the pregnancy and their first choice wouldn’t be an abortion but they would have to pick an abortion because they are restricted by their income. People may be restricted by financial status, their citizenship status, maybe their relationship status. It feels like they are pigeonholed to this choice. While they would not regret getting an abortion, it is still not their first choice because there’s so much more to it. Abortion is a topic where a lot of intersections happen where its more than just abortion. How can we teach reproductive justice to people of all backgrounds? How can we begin to talk about reproductive justice to people with cultural backgrounds who don’t talk about abortion, puberty and even contraception? The term reproductive justice was coined by SisterSong which is a black women led organization, so even saying the words ‘I believe in reproductive justice’, it already has the connotation where you believe that reproductive rights should apply to everyone and it’s in response to white washing of abortion movements and pro-choice movementes. I think these discussions are happening in our communities, and speaking of someone who is of Thai background but who is born and raised in U.S., the way people talk about abortion in Thailand is much different just because of the way imperialism works. What I’m trying to say is there might be stigma [around abortion]
“The term Reproductive Justice was coined by SisterSong which is a black women led organization, so even saying the words ‘I believe in reproductive justice’, it already has the connotation where you believe that reproductive rights should apply to everyone and it’s in response to white washing of abortion movements and pro-choice movementes.” but the stigma might be really different [in other places] I think if you’re trying to talk to your own community members and your family [about abortion] I really think speaking from the heart, about the topic [works]. I think people respond more to things that appeal to them personally. Do you believe that using the language of reproductive justice is another way to make the world of “feminism” more inclusive? I think RJ is a more inclusive feminism, I think it’s a more evolved feminism because RJ has been here for a while, when black feminists who came together and then realized that the world of feminism wasn’t for them because it didn’t meet their needs and it didn’t meet other POC needs, it didn’t meet queer needs, it didn’t meet trans needs, so they created reproductive justice as an intersectional way in response to how feminism was not inclusive enough.
How can mobilizing political movement around reproductive justice help eliminate unethical treatment of women as seen in the forced sterilizations in ICE detention centers? Everything is RJ. I think of abolition as RJ and that’s what I really am thinking about when we talked about the forced sterelizations in the ICE detention centers because we will never achieve RJ until we don’t have jails, until we don’t have ICE, and we don’t have the hyper policing of black and brown communities in and outside the U.S. because we know the anti-abortion movements are not just in the U.S. You saw the murders that were happening in Atlanta about a week or two ago and I think that something that was beautiful that came out of it was the recognition of sex work and pro sex work movements, [which] was really uplifting people who are sex workers who work in the communities who are being recognized by the mainstream. In your essay in Colonize This you wrote about your current experiences as an abortion doula with the Doula Project and I really appreciated how open you were about the process and the brief stories of resilience from each of your patients. Since the start of the pandemic, has access to reproductive justice been a challenge for people? One of the biggest issues that we have in the U.S. is the lack of abortion providers, where in most of the country you cannot find abortion providers within an hour or two. There have been many many cases where people have had to fly to get an abortion and obviously those are people who can afford to do that. There’s a saying that no matter what happens abortion won’t be illegal for white women because they will always find ways to access that meanwhile everyone else is just suffering so I guess this is a problem that isn’t new where they haven’t had access to centers and physical providers. I think it’s been really eye opening [during the pandemic] for those who’ve had this access always. On the other hand there have been a lot of movements to take abortion pills to be shipped legally across the U.S.law. There’s been a lot of movement around that where people are trying to loosen that restriction. That’s just abortion alone. I think talking about birth, it just has been such a horrible, horrible time for people who are pregnant or for people giving birth. I think it was a lot for the first few months where they weren’t allowing support people into hospital rooms so if you were someone who was laboring you can’t even bring in your partner, you can’t even bring in your mom, you can’t even bring in your doula and that’s really dangerous for a lot of people.
You know that black maternal mortality is really affected by these racist providers who are not trained in culturally competent care and they are able to rely on their doulas and people who advocate for them. So that was a huge issue in the beginning and so black midwives, black nurses, black doulas were really advocating against this because obviously covid is a risk but so is death in childbirth. An article entitled “Spring 2020: Mitigating Black Maternal Mortality” found that “According to the CDC, per 100,000 live births, there were 14.1 deaths among Asian women, 30.4 deaths among Indigenous women, and 42.4 deaths among black women, in comparison to 13.0 deaths among white women.” There’s a thing that people said that ‘honestly covid will not kill me it will be something else like a racist provider’ and I think a lot of times when people heard that, like a white doctor, they would say what are you talking about, this is a pandemic. Yes, this is a pandemic but also racism has been here a lot longer than covid and all these problems have been happening before covid and it’s just going to get worse before it gets better. For anyone who is new in learning about reproductive health activism, what are some steps you recommend on how to become informed, aware, and involved in this space? If you are someone who uses social media definitely be very selective of who you follow on social media. Really just uplift people who have been doing this for a long time like honestly, one of my biggest fears writing this story was that this was not new, this is not my work, this is not my voice. Everything I do is because of generations of black women activists, brown activists, queer and trans activists that really mold my framework so I feel like following as many people as possible who really follow the RJ framework [has been helpful]. People who know RJ would be very adamant about it. They should be people who post abolition as well, racism as well, and not just birth work. I think that’s where we have seen a lot of the issues in white women being doulas if they only consider being a doula is associated with work and anything else they don’t work with.
Her second piece of advice is to do lots of reading on theory on feminist writers of colors and those who are still alive. The third one is a little bit more actionable — find your niche in it. There’s lots of ways to be active and to mobilize in your community. If you’re someone who doesn’t want to be a doula which is totally fine, or someone who doesn’t want to do law advocacy or organize protests and stuff like that that’s also fine. I think we have a lot of different needs in a community that needs to be filled so just find what you love and what you’re passionate about and what fulfills your soul and be conscious of everything else and be inclusive of everything else and don’t be afraid that you have to be good at everything. Lastly, during our conversation Kumwong shared two Instagram pages that highlight the topic of abortion experiences and sex work in the Asian community. The page “Shout Your Abortion” is a space where people can anonymously share their abortion experiences and uplift others, and “Red Canary Song” organizes migrant and
“Any movement that dismantles U.S. imperialism is a Reproductive Justice movement.”
Historias de Mujeres
Ixchel Hernandez @ixchelhernandez_work
Weho Ladies Paradise
I Am A Nice Guy
“Highly palpable, these pieces speak to the vulnerability, loneliness, boredom, and mysticism of childhood, from the differently insightful perspective that usually comes with adulthood. As such, this tactual series opens possibilities for new interpretations of the past.”
Jamie Price @enigmatic_aberration_
Memories of Americana Suburbia
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Megan Jones @jegan__mones
That
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Love
I see your forehead lines The wisdom you hold between your eyes Kinda wish I didn’t lie But hey, I’m glad you have it made I don’t even like sex a lot Just do it cause you think it’s hot Had me jumping fences for infidelity Yet here you were warning me About the dangers of the world and humanity Just wish I didn’t have to run from you at parties We stay kept under carpets and scraps Yet so hidden in plain sight We are sinners and sodomites Plus morality always made us yawn We play with the devil at dawn It’s a small world That was your best friend at the party right? No, let me play oblivious Our secrets are hush-hush To keep you I keep my mouth shut Life’s not as complex when it’s just between us Don’t care that I’m a tranny I forget you just fuck “real” dudes It’d be cooler than you and your man Your boyfriend ain’t make you laugh as I do He ain’t different like I am Do the illegal things that I and you do Have deep talks like me and you do Share the youthfulness that I and you do Take the pain and bear it as I do But it’s cool bet you don’t keep him a secret too I guess life is just complex for a gay trans foo
Ethan Molina @fruitloopfoo
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C o n t r i
Ketzali Weyapan: Ketzali Weyapan is a Guanaca gender-
fluid trans woman of Nahua, Lenca, African and Spanish descent. Her mother’s family is from Santa Ana, El Salvador and her father’s family is from Cabañas, El Salvador. She lives in Asha’awanga (Chatsworth), the ancestral lands of the Tongva, Tataviam and Chumash nations in Tovangaar (Los Angeles). They graduated from Cal State Northridge with a degree in Central American Studies and a minor in American Indian Studies. She is a Nawat language student, a Nawat paraeducator, Spanish - English language interpreter, writer and musician. They work and study with their friends in the school Tamachtiluyan Shuchikisa An Ne Nawat (The School Nawat Flourishes Today), an online Nawat language school started by Nanzin Petrona Xemi Tapepechul de Bull Shields and Nanzin Anastacia Lopez Lopez for trans and non-binary Nawat language students. Also, she is a councilmember of the organization ANIS (National Association of Indigenous Salvadorans) International.
IG: @ne_siwanawal3
Jess Fry: Jess is a fat, white, femme nonbinary lesbian artist
(she/they). Her formal training is in oil painting, but their most recent work is an experimental mixing of watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil as she plays with color, abstraction, and movement in her figurative work. Their art is a labor of love, intention, and celebration for all that is femme, scarred, fat, aging, wild, fragile, wounded, raw, and honest about it. Grief work is at the center of her artwork, honoring the dance of mourning and healing as sacred, creative alchemy. Grief has birthed space for them to craft visual mythologies of femme resilience through intimate relationships with nature and the body. Jess is inspired by queer mysticism, queer temporalities, memory keeping, mourning rituals, shadow work, winter, and water. They believe in the regenerative power of artmaking as a means of building more merciful and embodied relationships to ourselves and the people, creatures, and land in our lives.
IG: @heartlandadventures
Dany Greene: Dany Greene is a trans / non-binary em-
broidery artist living in Harlem, New York (they/them prounouns). Dany is self-taught and works by day as a criminal public defense attorney. Profit sharing is an important part of Dany’s art practice, and as such, 35% of every purchase goes directly to a trans or BIPOC led organization of the buyer’s choice. Dany’s work can be found on Instagram.
IG: @ stick.and.sew
b u t o r s
Jacklyn Arriola: My name is Jacklyn Arriola, like most
women I wear many hats. Like most people my age I have a few jobs, collage is by far the most rewarding. This piece was inspired by the feminist in my life that that do it all, everyday, while reminding me that gender equally without an anti capitalist base or understanding of class struggle is absolutely useless. Equality should be for all not the few.
IG: @mijacutsdeep
Valerie Arellano: As a woman of color from low econom-
ic status, I did not have the proper tools in life to discover my full potential at a young age. I dealt with low self-esteem when thinking of my future, this idea that not many people can get very far with their artistic passions and should settle for a well-paying job that they are not passionate about was ingrained into me. That discouraged me for a while in my college experience, I opted for sociology, and while I found it very relevant to my life experiences and making sense of society, I was experiencing an identity crisis and asked myself every day, “Is this something I’m passionate about or just something I find relevant to learn?”, these questions to myself made me uncomfortable because it meant I had to take a chance, but ultimately, I am happier pursuing art education today because I’m no longer denying myself of what I want to do in my life.
IG: @guardianofneptune
Ariana: My name is Ariana. I’m a female artist, and a writ-
er, and somehow I’ve come to realize that means the same thing. I’m from Los Angeles, California and my art is a contribution to shedding light on female artists and the progress we’ve made to be recognized in a predominantly male society.
IG: @arixartcollection
Eva Andrea Bertoglio: Eva Andrea Bertoglio is a
poet and hybrid artist who uses surrealist and divinatory techniques to transmute found language and imagined language into poems and visual art. You can find her work in PomPom Lit, Unchaste Vol. III, E-Ratio, and Sulphur Surrealist Jungle. She teaches workshops and collages in her attic in Portland, Oregon..
IG: @evabertoglio
C o n t r i Kim Morales: Kim Morales (they/them) is a queer chap-
inx-boricua poet, playwright, community education organizer and teaching artist with S.O.U.L. Sisters Leadership Collective. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Kim is currently exploring drag as Glosario Dawson and continues to use their writing to discuss and explore identity, solidarity, community, mental health care, love andpower. Kim’s work has appeared in SPICY, Fembot Mag, Desert Rose Literary Magazine, La Raza Anthology, on stage at Dixon Place and Sitting Shotgun, and mulltiple zines and independent, femme-centered projects in the U.S. and internationally. Check out their their drag and word experiments on Instagram.
IG: @glosariodawson.
Renaissanc Marie Austin: Renaissance Marie
Austin is a Performing and Visual artist based in Los Angeles. She is the founder and owner of Raghouse International a wearable art fashion design company. She is engaged in designing, songwriting, and music journalism on the daily as well as creative content creation for social media platforms. She studied Fashion Design and Fasion Marketing at American InterContinental University, is a double graduate of El Camino College in the fields of Commercial Music, Music Theory & Composition, and Applied Performance Degree, and is an excited and active member of the Art Educators Club of CSUN.
IG: @Raghouse_international
Sydnie Waldron: Sydnie Waldron (b. 2000, Alliance,
NE) is a queer artist currently living and working in Hastings, Nebraska, and is a bachelor of arts candidate at Hastings College. Her practice explores concepts of materiality through notions around intimacy and eroticismrevolving around the celebration of queer bodies. Her work has been shown in solo shows at the Carnegie Arts Center in Alliance, Nebraska, and participated in group shows at the Carnegie. She has also had the opportunity to participate in several student exhibitions at the Jackson Dinsdale Art Center in Hastings, Nebraska. Waldron is the curator of an upcoming group show that will be taking place in the summer of 2021 at the Carnegie.
IG: @syd.w.art
b u t o r s Jade Ashleigh: Spliced, assembled and bound. Misshapen
and distorted female beauty, mutilated and warped by the male gaze. jade Ashleigh’s work is centred around feminism and empowerment of women, with emphasis of looking at victims of sexual abuse. Combining the masculinity of brutalist architecture and the vulnerability of the female, this enhances threat and seduction of phallic buildings towards femininity. The juxtaposition of contrasting images is used to highlight female victimisation of the male gaze within glamour and sexuality. Jade Ashleigh also looks at the relationship between witchcraft and feminism today. Piles of collated images and documents scatter across her studio creating a comforting chaos. The work emerges from experiments with the analogue processes of film and photomontage, exploring the history of the archive and women’s identity and desires within it.
IG: @jadeashleighart
Caitie Kohl: Caitie Kohl’s hypersexualized mixed media
paintings are exciting and absurd. The human female form is amalgamated with non-human matriarchal creatures - creating surreal and unsettling compositions. Kohl’s work is a protest on societal gender norms and standards. The hybrid female figures depicted in her paintings allude to a sense of protection and power, as they claim their space as matriarchal beings. Kohl’s work explores and plays with the clout of the male libido in our society.
IG: @caitiekohlart
Jeanette Benitez: Jeanette Benitez is a San Fernando Valley based artist whose art mediums are paintings, collages, digital art, and photography.
IG: @ sfvalleyphotos
Alana Harris: Alana Harris is a print-maker and collage artist currently located in South Carolina.
IG: @spexx_art
C o n t r i Maria H. Andrade-Reyes: Maria is an artist based
in the LA area. Her photographs are based on the exploration of personal and childhood fears, dreams, and experiences while in the foster-care system, a senior in the Art Education program at Cal State University Northridge and graduating in this coming May. Maria is currently a peer mentor at CSUN for EOP-Resilient Scholars Program. A program that serves former foster youth in their educational journey, and the Co-President of Art Education Club at CSUN and enjoys building community with other art educators and artists..
IG: @mhar_Reyes
Deja Magee: My name is Deja Magee. I’m 23 years old
and a recent English graduate from California State University Northridge who is in love with film, film critique, astrology, and enjoying life to the fullest. My Instagram and twitter handles are @thewarblerette. IG: @thewarblerette
Sophia Villavicencio: I am a full-time student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York majoring in Illustration.
IG: @souphiarts
Nikolas Roumenov Iankov: Born Nicole Iankova
(she/her) and now Nikolas Iankov (he/him). My artwork seeks to bring awareness of my experiences as a transgender individual to those in the community as well as people that face the challenges of any type of “-isms” such as feminism, racism, sexism, and more. The materials I use within my artwork correlate with the social issues going on in today’s society through transformation and abstraction. Ultimately, my work acts as a conversation starter and strives to initiate dialogue, debate and hopefully instigate social change and community growth for all audiences of my work.
IG: @nikiswatchingpaintdry
b u t o r s
Mariam Danial: I am a 26-year-old artist from Glendale,
California. I received my BA in Art in 2019 from CSUN and am currently working on attaining a single-subject teaching credential in Art at CSUN as well. I like to play around with various materials and mediums within my artwork. This includes mixed media, digital work, fabrics, acrylic paint, and ink. I use art as a vessel to express my views of life which helps me make sense of the world around me.
IG: @mnd_x
Gillian Moran-Perez: Gillian is an English graduate
student at CSUN with an emphasis in Creative Writing. She received her B.A in Journalism at CSUN and currently serves as the news editor for the Daily Sundial, a student led publication. She is passionate about covering social justice issues that affect the CSUN community and the greater San Fernando Valley and hopes to enter the field as a bilingual reporter. Outside of the newsroom Gillian writes plays that mix the creative nonfiction and elements of magical realism in a bilingual format.
IG: @gillicansisland
Ixchel Hernandez: Ixchel Hernandez was born in
Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico. She was raised in Koreatown, Los Angeles where she currently resides. She received her BA in California State University Northridge. She is currently in the graduate program at the California State University of Northridge. In 2020, she exhibited in The Collection of Chinese and Foreign students Design Work IV, exhibition and catalog in CA and Sandra University, Shanghai, China. She is currently exhibiting a painting in the Alla Prima group Exhibition, Chancellor’s Office, California State University of Long Beach.
IG: @ixchelhernandez_work
Contributors Jamie Price: Jamie is a queer visual artist currently based
in Chicago. In the past years, she’s been working on projects that focus on intimate and public explorations of femininity, queer identity, class, race, as well as on ideas about ecology, as a critique to the dominant and oppressive societal values.
IG: @enigmatic_aberration_
Megan Jones: Megan Jones is an artist living in Pittsburgh, PA who creates minimal line art with her index finger on her laptop’s trackpad. She likes that her lines aren’t perfect but still seen as a piece of art that others can relate to.
IG: @jegan__mones
Ethan Molina: Ethan Molina is queer, Indigenous-Chica-
no activist from Pacoima. He started getting into organizing in middle school when he became a youth leader at Somos Familia Valle. There Ethan learned how to do public speaking, networking, committee work, and more. Later on Ethan became a media manager at PAC solidarity, and works on improving the community that surrounds him. Today he does poetry to spread awareness on intersectional topics. He wants to help future generations of trans and gay BIPOC individuals.
IG: @fruitloopfoo
Reign: Hello, my name is Reign and I’m a 21 year old Latina
that loves to write and draw. I suffer with depression and anxiety but my writing and drawing is my only escape. Through writing I can make my own world and in my drawings I no longer have to answer back that I’m not sad. My art is my escape; my breath of air.; my freedom.
IG: @reign__of__sadness
Editors Madi Parsley: Editor-in-Chief & Creator Madi Parsley is a journalist from the San Fernando Valley who received her BA in Journalism and English Literature at Cal State Northridge. An intersectional feminist, she focuses her reporting on the sociopolitical issues affecting womxn and San Fernando Valley communities. Her love for feature writing, poetry, and visual art has inspired her to create her own print and online platform Drifter Zine, which is dedicated to showcasing the creative and journalistic work of San Fernando Valley locals. In her free time, she creates absurd collages and illustrations under the name @thiscatcollages on Instagram and can be found walking around with Lola, her trusty Minolta SRT 102 that she sort of knows how to use. IG: madi_parsley
Iván Salinas: Assistant Editor Iván Salinas is a poet based in the San Fernando Valley experimenting with words, images, and sound. His literary work has been published in a variety of journals and magazines including Curious Publishing, Dryland, Drifter Zine, Backlash Lit, and more. He earned a B.A. in English, Creative Writing at California State University, Northridge where he’s advocated for quality of education that addresses racism and social justice. Iván happens to be undocumented; born in Ciudad de México, he immigrated to Los Angeles when he was ten years old to reunite with his family. Since then he’s lived in a state of Nepantla: in-between lands, languages, y culturas. In his free time he enjoys DJing and interviewing artists and musicians from Latin America. IG: ivansali_
Orgs & Publications Somos Familia Valle
@somosfamiliavalle Grassroots San Fernando Valley LGBTQ+ Education, Advocacy, Leadership & Wellness
Tataviam ECLD
@tataviam_ecld Education & Cultural Learning Dept. Serving Native American youth who reside on Tataviam homelands. Educational, leadership and cultural programs
Colored Minds
@coloredmindsinc Black&Brown Unity, mutual aid organization based in Panorama City, CA. They advocate for faculty of color in higher education and dismantling white supremacy
To Support in the SFV! Mutiny Media
@mutinymedia An online and zine mutual aid publication. Please submit art, creative writing, essays and more to their website or DM them for more info
Tia Chucha’s
@tiachuchas Cultural center & independent bookstore in Sylmar, CA. “Where art & minds meet for change”
Proud Asian Women
@proud.asianwomen PAW+ is putting on an AAPI artists ft. gallery show @avenue50studio located in LA.
