Issue 20: Introducing NEW Artists!

Radical Issue Twenty (May 2021)

A New Affirmation for You! I love my body My body is healthy My body is beautiful I find pleasure in my body I treat my body with kindness I love my body

What is Radical zine?

Radical started as a way to spread a message of sustainable self-care and to support independent artists, writers, and healers with a focus on woc and queer creatives. Choosing to love myself unconditionally and heal is the reason I am still alive. Art, poetry, & choosing to support others gives me a greater purpose than just my own needs. XOXO, Leah Oviedo

D.I.Y. Therapy: Loving Your Body Completely Love your body if for no other reason than it's the only one you get. My journey to body acceptance was long and full of self-hatred. I fully bought into the idea that there is only one version of a perfect body and mine is not it. I was taught that every part of me was the wrong size, the wrong height, the wrong shape, uneven, imperfect.... I felt ugly, unworthy, and disgusting. It was a sick and twisted way to live.

Now I know that the ideal body images are just a profit for the beauty industry, the photos of women's bodies on magazine covers are edited and photographed at angles to create an illusion of perfection, and many women who look “perfect” have surgically altered their bodies. All of this body hatred in the name of marketing and profit is disgusting.

When I first started getting help for depression a major focus was on unlearning negative body image. I went from never being able to pass a reflection without judging myself to loving my body and taking care of my health. It took years to reach a full acceptance of my body as I am. Yet, even a decade later, I occasionally find myself wishing I looked more like the unrealistic ideal. Below is a list of actions that helped me love my body. I hope they help you to love your beautiful body.

Acknowledge the good things your body does for you and recognize the power you have to love your body and not feel ashamed of it. Find healthy ways to treat your body and stick with it!

Stop assuming people are judging you and stop caring about those who do. Let go of comparing yourself to others. Our bodies are not in competition.

Search for people who have messages of body acceptance. My favorite is the Love Warrior Community.

Create a body positive affirmation and repeat it as often as possible throughout the day until you no longer feel weird saying it. Put it on notes around your home, work, car, and/or randomly hang up some as signs in your neighborhood and inspire others.

Take back your power and learn to love your body completely! Challenge your beliefs. Your body is imperfectly perfect. Please love yourself.

Eunsoo Jeong is a Los Angeles based artist and creator of Koreangry, a comic/zine series based on my daily struggles as a Korean-American. Koreangry is a 7-inch puppet/ doll/ armature/ character that she created, sort of her alter-ego. The Koreangry zine series is an on-going search of the artist's life told with this character––photographed with hand made props in a set. Zines include written excerpts, word-play, poems, comics, crude sketches, and experimental digital collages. Koreangry welcomes connections on ig/fb/twitter @koreangry

Please Let Me Keep This Symphony

by Iris Orpi I like to sing along to your love as it spills on the silence of late afternoons and dyes the hour in the halftones of dreams.

Blended in the melody is the part of my innocence still intact, which I have entrusted to you.

It sifts through the noise and finds me in the young evenings, carrying me to the chorus whose familiar words were taken after my own heart.

Forgotten, and remembered in cycles, like the lyrics of the long drive towards springtime, I miss you, then discover you, then get you stuck in my head again and again.

At night, I tune my ears to your promises serenading my future.

Rain, disciplined orchestra of elements, coaxes my faith’s blossoming towards the returning sun.

Truth is our rhythm and purpose is our rhyme.

Life picks up the tempo and emotions break it down into pieces that make up eternity, where the notes on the scale are strung out like stars.

Iris Orpi is a Filipina writer living in Chicago, IL. She is the author of the novel The Espresso Effect and two books of collected poetry, Cognac for the Soul and Beautiful Fever. She was an Honorable Mention for the annual Contemporary American Poetry Prize in 2014. Her work has appeared in over two dozen online and print publications around Asia, North America, Europe, and Africa. twitter.com/irisorpi facebook.com/irisorpi

Can you love someone you don’t remember?

After the Last War destroyed most of the world, survivors form a new society in four selfsustaining cities in the Mojave Desert. In the utopia of the Four Cities, inspired by the lyrics of “Imagine” and Buddhist philosophy, everything is carefully planned and controlled: the seasons, the weather—and the residents. To prevent mankind from destroying each other again, its citizens undergo a memory wipe every four years in a process called Tabula Rasa, a blank slate, to remove learned prejudices. With each new cycle, they begin again with new names, jobs, homes, and lives. No memories. No attachments. No wars.

Aris, a scientist who shuns love, embraces Tabula Rasa and the excitement of unknown futures. Walling herself off from emotional attachments, she only sees relationships as pointless and avoids deep connections. But she is haunted by a recurring dream that becomes more frequent and vivid as time passes. After meeting Benja, a handsome freespirited writer who believes his dreams of a past lover are memories, her world is turned upside down. Obsessed with finding the Dreamers, a secret organization thought to have a way to recover memories, Benja draws her down a dangerous path toward the past. When Metis, the leader of the Dreamers, appears in Aris’s life, everything she believes falls to pieces. With little time left before the next Tabula Rasa, they begin a bittersweet romance, navigating love in a world where names, lives, and moments are systematically destroyed.

Thought-provoking and emotionally resonant, ReSet will make you consider the haunting reality of love and loss, and the indelible marks they leave behind.

Join Sarina Dahlan for a virtual author event hosted by Mysterious Galaxy on May 31, 7 pm.

Here's the event link, which includes instructions on how to register for the event and purchase a signed copy. https://www.mystgalaxy.com/dahlanmitchell53121

Art by Nia

Nia is a queer, black, self-taught visual artist living in Baltimore City. For over 25 years Nia has created both large and small-scale projects, from murals and sign making to creating greeting cards and painting pet portraits. Their artwork focuses on the different living beings that make up this planet, including flora and fauna. As a co-owner of Red Emma’s Bookstore and Coffee House and with the work they do with BRED, they hope to break the cycle of silenced emotions and create moments where feelings are present, raw, transformative and valid. Follow Nia on www.instagram.com/little.tree.art

Epiphany Waves In

by Jasmine Farrell Roars rolling to the shore.

Hissing as it retreats back.

A chaotic symphony of whirls, cooling the air and my ruminating thoughts.

Long night under a pearl moon.

So, I whispered my aches for freedom during sunrise as aqua rumbled up to my toes.

Clarity is liquified.

Jasmine Farrell, from Brooklyn, NY is a freelance writer and poet. Her most recent poetry collection, Long Live Phoenixes is available exclusively on Amazon. She wants people to reclaim who they are, so they can live life authentically and with purpose.

JasmineFarrell.com & Facebook.com/justbreathejasmine & Twitter.com/justbreathejas & Instagram.com/JustBreatheJasmine

Freedom

Teri Anderson creates work that looks into the idea of craft in art, textiles, installation and sculpture to create a linear or surreal environment which the audience have to inhabit. The work links to her heritage and how textiles were key in their family history including sample machinists and pattern cutters. Building on this Teri proposes an art practise which incorporates a craft based techniques into the art based discipline of installation. https://teriandersonsite.wordpress.com/ @tinyteri13 - instagram @teriandersonartist - Facebook

Art by Natalie Allgyer

My Hill To Die On This image almost didn’t get created. Even though I have nothing but the best intentions at heart I was so afraid of offending someone, but just because someone is offended, doesn’t make them in the right. Right? Well, this image may not make me in the right either, but I'm not doing my job as an artist if I don’t offend a few people in the process. Am-I-right?! This image represents not only the way I have been made to feel (metaphorically crucified for similar reasons as Christ was) but also the feels that so many women have, and are feeling.

“They know not what they do.” Kept repeating in my head as I created this image. Just like my other images this one is rich in symbolism. First the obvious one- The raw, exhausted, possibly dead, definitely exhausted from carrying that heavy cross, naked, female on the cross. No shroud. Just letting it all hang out. A woman’s body is beautiful, and scared. Why hide it? For this image the wound is on her left, feminine side, instead of her right masculine side. The crown of thorns are from a Hawthorn tree. Hawthorn is my Priestess name. I am a pagan priestess living in The South- need I say more about what that probably feels like at times? Now, notice the apples on the bottom? One of them is cut in half to expose its star.

The star represents Goddess, our forgotten Mother. It also represents the 5 point pentacleearth, wind, fire, water, spirit. Some also say it represents temptation {insert eye roll}. Next to them is Belladonna. She is looking up at the subject inquisitively. She represents a darker, but still very real, and necessary, side of femininity. Lastly is the actual location of the image used in the foreground. That is Weary All Hill in Glastonbury. This hill is where legend has it that Joseph of Arimethea came here and planted his staff (a hawthorn tree) after Jesus’s crucifixion. I can make an entire blog post about why I chose this for the foreground but I won’t. Please look up the legend of Weary All Hill yourself though! You will be seeing more of this type of thing from me going forward. I’m done living scared. I have nothing but love in my heart to share. If that’s not what you see reflected in this image, that is a reflection of you, not me. I create for me, but I share it for you.

Natalie’s whimsical yet dark style incorporates pieces of her own images that she makes with her dslr camera. It can take an upward of 20 images to create one of her works. She enjoys using elements of nature and the world around her in her art. Her carefully curated color choices in combination with painstakingly thoughtful lighting, contrast, and texture lends itself to her empathic vibe and painterly feel. Website- www.natalieallgyer.com.

Bio: Teacher Writer Traveler Wayfarer https://www.instagram.com/sabihawritespoetry/

Art by Lauren Elizabeth

My name is Lauren Elizabeth and I’m a Virgo. I was born in San Diego and grew up in Las Vegas. After moving back to CA and spending 10 years in corporate retail, I was lucky enough to get a job in an art museum which sparked my interest in creating original pieces.

While I never formally studied fine arts, my inspiration comes from the relationships in my life, the emotions those bring and expressing those through a little paint and markers. In the future, I see my tiny doodles going from paper to walls!

Follow Lauren on https://www.instagram.com/oneeyedlauren/.

GRACE NICHOLS AND HER PORTRAYAL OF ISSUES THAT WOMEN IN ETHNIC MINORITIES FACE IN HER WORK Grace Nichols is a Guyanese woman born in 1950 who moves to London. Her work as a woman of an ethnic minority in England is focused on the discrimination she was faced with in regards to her body type, skin colour, etc. Nichols uses poetry to portray the idea of body image by using different perspectives: a character she created, ‘the fat black woman’, the Guyanese community and famous icons that can be recognized easily. By doing so, it provides a motivational tone for the audience to remember that they are beautiful irregardless of society’s outdated rules. This essay references her poems: The Fat Woman Goes Shopping, Looking at Miss World, See our Sister, Those Farewell Party Nights, Beauty, Island Man, and Weeping Woman.

BODY IMAGE The topic of body image is mentioned through the perspective of the fat black woman. The idea that as a woman of color, “nothing soft and bright and billowing [flows] like breezy sunlight”. Nothing is simple for her, even mundane events like shopping can cause insecurity as she notices others “exchanging slimming glances” due to her body type. She observes the sales ladies judging her for not fitting the “frozen thin” stereotype. The line “the fat black woman gets up and pours some gin toasting herself a likely win, contrasts her discouragement she was facing. Though she is compared to “slim aspirants”, she feels confident in her own skin, thus illustrating the character’s personal growth and development.

In the poem Weeping Woman, Nichols portrays the idea of beauty standards through the perspective of a famous icon, Dora Maar (1907-1997) who was Pablo Picasso’s muse. She talks about how her face was distorted and how it makes her feel as if she is a “broken piece of crockery”. She felt worthless, as Picasso did not do justice to her beauty. The use of enjambment throughout gives insight into her destructive state of mind as she is feeling too much of a mess to be able to form full sentences and have her ideas be clear. Medusa and Cleopatra are referenced in the poem. They are strong women who were formally harmed by men which led to their own destruction, somewhat like Dora Maar’s current situation.

Picasso, her lover, hurt her self-esteem by using her face and changing it yet despite feeling honored, she looks down on herself. She recognizes that she is forever going to be represented as the “twentieth-century grief”. This snowballs to jealousy towards Mona Lisa who is looked at with beauty and praise. However, she does not understand that Picasso’s intention was to reconstruct society’s idea of beauty by turning her face into something unexpected. This links back to the idea that women all around the world are trying to look like someone they are not, due to societal beauty standards. This poem provides solace to the audience as they learn that famous icons also feel insecure and self-deprecate.

HOME AND DEPARTURE Her book Startling the Flying Fish (2005) has a recurring motif of departure as it follows a Guyanese person leaving for England to have a fresh start. Nichols tries to warn her sister of the difficulties a woman of color will face as a result of moving to a country full of prejudice

with “no flowers in neon”. She understands her sister’s naivety and attempts to steer her away from making a decision that could negatively change her life forever as “she won’t [be able to] escape the voices, the nuances” which is in reference to the haunting unwarranted opinions of others. A paradox is used in the line “a room full of dark-eyed girls glowing in their prime. In a voice tingling spines, he sings: Pretty Blue Eyes”. It exhibits the concept of imperialism and how Eurocentric features were made the beauty standard between women of all races due to the “reckless arrogance of youth”. Another motif in her poems is nature as she depicts that being around nature is better than being in a “grey metallic soar” which condemns people of color. She uses this motif to describe her hometown to alert others that staying in “the small emerald island” allows them to be free of bigotry. It shows the audience that moving to another city is not worth having to feel as though you are not welcome to society, because of their pre-made notions about people of color.

CONCLUSION Overall, Grace Nichols establishes the idea of body image and how it can lead to self-destruction, yet gives a positive meaning on how beauty can be reconstructed. The realization that Eurocentric ideas of the perfect life, or the perfect body being false, leaves the audience with a sense of belonging as they will know they are not alone when dealing with societal pressures on their appearance.

My name is Gitanjali Samayamantula (she/her). I am a 20-year-old university student working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, English Literature, and Psychology. I am currently based in Bangalore, India. The topics I base my work around, both writing and illustration, is feminism and race. I have been in the zine community for almost two months now. I am a writer, web manager, and social media researcher. I enjoy writing articles on beauty, film, and literature. My illustrations are showcased on my Instagram page and have been published in a few zines as well.

Promotion Links: instagram.com/sagsungallery gitanjalisa.wixsite.com/portfolio

Calystegia macrostegia

by Erika Reyes She drives for hours Beach fog empty heart At home, a fig tree grows missing her She drives alone.

The golden hills with white flowers an ocean breeze hums the will of life.

The flowers listen and dance a fragrance sweet and mellow the soul of a young girl meets the thunder of the ocean they converse haggling for something better close to a dance she never learned.

Check out my zines on the artificialaltar store on Etsy and some stories/writing on IG @artificialaltar. A Queer woman writing from Los Angeles, CA with Mexico and the rest of the Americas in mind. Also writing under ER Rizo with a novella on kindle: She Left It All.

Art by Irina Novikova

Drawing began to interest me from an early age, the first subjects for me were Fantastic birds and animals. By my first education I am an art critic (State Academy of Slavic Cultures), by my second I am a graphic designer (MGTA).

The main techniques that I use are watercolor, ink, gouache, acrylic. I love experimenting and mixing different materials. I draw a lot on environmental topics. The first big series that I drew is the "Red Book" dedicated to rare and endangered species of animals and birds.

I do illustrations, invent various creatures and stories for them, draw nature and portraits. I like to do the whole line drawings, forming the composition first in my head. I am inspired by baroque music and black and white films. Recently, I have been leaning more and more towards symbolism.

Links to my social networks: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?v=photos&lst=100009868569… https://www.instagram.com/irinanov4155/?hl=ru https://www.instagram.com/irina1187novikova/ https://m.vk.com/id506969575

Dermatillomania

by Mahek Khwaja In South Asia, girls know, Scratching henna flakes Every Eid On starched white bed sheets; It is joyful and unreasonable.

A South Asian woman knows The gratification of Taking off the last peel of cucumber Unnoticed, unnecessary, With the tip of a glistening knife.

A South Asian soul knows Cleaning the remains Of a premenstrual acne.

Imagine delving in this behavior For the whole day That it becomes your life The throat acid climbs in anger And your life smashed Like a broken manual thermometer.

Imagine this happening to a woman;

There is joy and victory of getting over it Of tackling the problem And making your way.

But there is pain in skin picking.

It’s like picking crumbs of life Breathing in your existence.

It’s tough to remind That you love yourself But you have to!

It may occur impossible To break the spell But you have to!

Caress your forehead with a baby lotion And kiss your eyes Wet with dried tears.

For the next fit Keep a used bar of butter Beside your pillow Scrape the dull yellow remains On the silver paper And try lulling yourself to sleep.

MAHEK KHWAJA, M.A in English Literature, currently works in Karachi as Manager Publishing at Paramount Books (Pvt.) Ltd. Being a scribbler, she has previously published with Hektoen International, MIFS Newsletter, The Perspective Magazine, Pakistani Facts and Zau Literary Magazine. She occasionally performs Spoken Word for private YouTube channels.

Facebook.com/mahek.khwaja.3 & Instagram.com/mahek.khwaja

Endangered Species

by Jessica Nathalia Callender A walk through a forest The sky an endless sea of evergreen The branches burst with life As birds and creatures flit from tree to tree The sunlight filters through the leaves The shadows beneath the trees tango with the rays of golden beams And the very earth feels more alive Amongst the lightness and lively vibe But the green of the forest Is no longer as green as the money As greed devours us like a sickness The sweet sound of birds singing in trees Is not nearly as sweet as sounds of man-made machines Pumping greenhouse gases into the air we breathe The beautiful sight of sunlight dancing amongst the green Not beautiful enough to compete with rays burning off of giant concrete and glass buildings That stand where trees used to be Say no more, to the smell of fresh grass After the heavy rains when we have the smell of wet garbage on the asphalt to perfume the air We say we're killing the Earth But Earth will still be alive When we're gone because the air Is too toxic for us to survive If we continue to endanger our own lives

Hey, I'm Jessica Nathalia Callender and I am a poet. I write as a way for me to express myself and to let people see things from a different perspective. I like to believe that everyone experiences the world differently, and my poetry is a lens for someone to view the ordinary world the way I see it, as as a beautiful and amazing place.

Instagram.com/nathalia_thepoet

Interlude

by Reevah Agarwaal

Reevah Agarwaal is a multi-disciplinary artist and poet from New Delhi, India, currently based in Chicago, IL. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2021. Her work explores nostalgia, family dynamics, and the idea of home using repurposed textiles of her and her loved ones and symbolic images and patterns. She primarily works with fabric and paper in quilts, soft sculpture, collage, and print media. Her writing practice includes poems that respond to personal and cultural history by referencing the impacts of colonialism and the influence of the Hindu epic in modern-day Indian homes.

Links: https://www.instagram.com/reev.art/

https://reevah.weebly.com/

From Ashes We Shall Rise

by Naomi Nair We’re the source of creation, An all – encompassing love.

Nurturing and sustaining The sacred cycle of life.

An embodiment of strength, Our courage knows no bounds.

Come hell or high water, We’ll face it with a smile.

A million women among us, Some daring feats they did.

We have proved time and again We’re no different from the rest.

Yet to the world we’re merely A shadow of the men.

We’re treated with irreverence, An expression of contempt.

Being woman may be hard But we’ll make it happen.

We’re together in this battle, From ashes we shall rise.

Naomi Nair is a bibliophile who actualises in writing and looks to words to help her make sense of the world. She sees life as a long lesson punctuated by impactful insights, and incubates those moments to come out with soliloquios expressions. An avid reader, her book reviews and poetry can be read at simplybookalicious.blog. She can be reached at naominair@gmail.com.

Art by Leah Oviedo

This illustration was inspired by the signs that read “Hate has no place here”.

Leah Oviedo is an artist, writer, self-defense instructor, and self-care advocate. Her main interests are intersectional equality, healing, and nature. Her art is meant to “inspire a love of self and healthy self-growth, of inner and outer peace, and the possibilities that we can all take action to be the change we want to see.” Find her work at ImpowerYou.org

I am SO STOKED to announce Muchacha Fanzine's CALLOUT for our "DECOLONIZE PUNK" issue – all aimed at celebrating & uniting punks of color worldwide! � � •⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ While punk as a subculture has largely been misconstrued as white, male, & straight by default, POC have played a key role in the formation of punk but are not often credited.

•⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ More than a music genre, punk is a political identity & radical subculture that POC have used as a tool of survival to resist our oppression. ⠀ •⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Decolonizing punk means resisting colonial capitalist cishetero white supremacist patriarchal spaces that infest the punk scene. ⠀ •⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It means reclaiming our place in punk & the DIY roots of a subculture we helped create.

•⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It means uplifting each other so we can ensure the collective survival of our people & dare to build a new scene (and world) together. ⠀ •⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Submissions (essays, art, photography, comics, lyrics, poetry) can be sent to muchachafanzine@gmail.com. Plz limit written work to 2500 words & attach .jpg art images. Plz include a short third person bio. ⠀ •⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Each contributor selected will be PAID & will receive a free copy. Women, trans, queer, & nonbinary punks of color are especially encouraged to submit. Deadline: July 1st 2021.

•⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (art by @skidskunx/callout by @muchachafanzine)

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Social/Environmental Justice Resources The official #BlackLivesMatter Global Network builds power to bring justice, healing, and freedom to Black people across the globe. https://blacklivesmatter.com/ This launch of A People’s Orientation to a Regenerative Economy: Protect, Repair, Invest and Transform guides us collectively into a sustainable future, wherein Indigenous sovereignty and values are front and center. https://www.ienearth.org/regenerativeeconomy/ Mama Black uplifts the voices of Black women across the African Diaspora, continuing the powerful legacy of Black feminist traditions, womanist inclinations, and radical leanings. This platform offers cutting-edge perspectives and radical thought on Black women's issues, centering the lives of Black women survivors of rape and sexual violence across the spectrum of assault. https://www.mamablack.org/ Grassroots Law Project bridges the gap between grassroots organizing and legal expertise in criminal justice reform by bringing millions of us together to address the most pressing and egregious failures of the system, hold powerful actors accountable, and advocate for deep structural change. https://www.grassrootslaw.org/ March for Our Lives mission: To harness the power of young people across the country to fight for sensible gun violence prevention policies that save lives. https://marchforourlives.com/

Healing Resources Nationwide Suicide Prevention crisis line: 1-800-273-8255.

Don’t want to call? Use a text help line. Text 741741 anywhere in the USA for a live trained counselor.

Black Line – A crisis line that gives priority for BIPOC folk. Callblackline.com 1-800-604-5841. You can also report incidents of vigilantes and police.

The Trevor Project – Suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth, 1-866-488-7386 or TheTrevorHelpline.org There are apps that support mental health. The My3App connects someone who is feeling suicidal with their three main support contacts. My3app.org Mental Health America offers free mental health first aid training, Mentalhealthamerica.net NAMI – Alliance of mental illness has a program called Peer to Peer, similar to Big Brother/Big Sister, which is a way to socialize and give support for those who are feeling isolated. Nami.org DBSA– Depression, Bipolar, Anxiety. Dbsalliance.org Survivors of Suicide Loss. SOSLSD.org The Love Warrior Community focuses on helping people work on self-love and body acceptance. Lovewarriorcommunity.com Affordable healthcare is available through various local clinics and through Planned Parenthood.

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