I am a bit familiar with copyright law already, as a paralegal, you get to know a lot of niche areas in the legal field due to the people you are working with. When you go to the wonderful website, The Wisconsin State Law Library (it saved my life when I was the office manager for the UWM legal clinic). The laws surrounding fair use do not differ in Wisconsin. In the video we watched, this is the standard, which, looking at a legal standpoint, is interesting. We can all agree on fair use copyright laws, but not human rights.... got it. I used quotes throughout my zine, due to its educational purposes, and my use of citing the author is fair use.
As I was working through my multimodal project this week. I wanted to use my hands, so I created a paper zine. I had a lot of fun working on it, and it helped me dive deep into consumption and greed, which I was discussing in my civic engagement video. This is an issue that I believe is extremely important, yet when we talk about fast fashion, it is a privilege to be able to shop elsewhere. These sites are faster and cheaper. For example, if you want to go thrift shopping, it takes a lot of time, and it is not always size-inclusive. I don't support overconsumption of natural resources, though corporations are to blame. As people stand up to these corporations or slowly stop giving them our money. Maybe, just maybe, they will listen. It is not just one person; this is something that affects all of us. The influence of the books on paper made me angrier about this issue. I am angry at the world, and the state it is in, so having an outlet to put it on made me have to sit and rethink what is appropriate to put on this. I was learning more because I wanted to include quotes and more research. I had to go out into the world and find more evidence-based articles to put in my zine. It made me sit down and think about overconsumption and how I want to show that and greed in mini pages. It helped me to engage more with the topic instead of just reading or listening to a podcast on it. I was working with my hands on this topic, which made everything feel more real as I was cutting up packages and old cards. I would have never used this as a form of teaching before this class. Now I love creating them, and even if it isn't perfect, I am engaging with the content and trying to put all of these materials and quotes into a couple of pages. I think this is extremely useful in a classroom since it will switch things around for students. It is not solely just read and write; it is read and create. For me, it was more fun and engaging this way than writing a large essay about it.
I hope you like it. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this. (just blood, apparently, I am not great with scissors)
Everything in the zine was made from things I already had at my house. I also made it green as an homage to fast fashion companies like H&M, who started a line of "greener clothing"; certain pieces of clothing in their store are made ethically. This is called greenwashing, and I wanted to show it as best as I could. On the cover page, around the border is a list of SOME unethical companies. Now I am not saying to shop there, because I have to too. We should be aware of shopping there and limiting our purchases to what we need. In addition, I included quotes from the books I read and other sources I found. The page that angers me the most is the page I included of the world's top ten richest men in 2025. All men. These men have the chance to change the world, yet they are destroying it for more profit. No one should ever have that much money, and yet so many do. These are the people we are up against; money can't stop a brick (I promise I am kidding. I need to laugh or I will spiral thinking about this). Enjoy. If you hate it, please don't tell me. Ignorance is bliss in that case.
If you want to hear about fast fashion more, my favorite podcast made an episode on it. Sounds Like A Cult
Here are the sources I used in addition to the readings I used last week:
- The Wump World
- Fusionopolis
I loved how you created the zine from things you already had in your house!! And the fact that you blended your legal background with your creative process, brings a strong sense of ethical awareness to your use of copyright and fair use, while also raising deeper questions about broader issues like human rights. I thought it was especially powerful how your zine pushed you into meaningful engagement with overconsumption and fast fashion. You didn't just present information, you actively wrestled with it. The frustration and anger you describe are productive because they led you to research more, think more critically, and make intentional choices about how to represent the issue. The hands-on nature of creating the zine like cutting, assembling, and repurposing materials definitely mirrors the themes you're critiquing about, which makes it feel more real and impactful. Again, great zine and blog post!!
ReplyDeleteGayle, you zine captures my spirit, especially in how it looks like all of the materials are repurposed. I am am angry and frustrated but am further motivated and inspired when I see zines and other pieces speaking up like this.
ReplyDeleteHi Gayle, I really enjoyed this project you made. I can tell this is something you're truly passionate about and I did not know about H&M's greener clothing line before this. Using materials that were already in your home that all seem recyclable is also a great touch and is consistent with your feelings you've expressed on overconsumption. As someone who works at Goodwill, I've seen the benefits of thrifting clothes to avoid overconsumption, but I am more annoyed by how many people shop at these thrift places only to resell for even more (some of the thrift sales at UWM have been people reselling from that same Goodwill). I'm a big supporter of wearing the same thing until it can no longer be repaired so I wholeheartedly am with you on this. Excellent work as usual!
ReplyDeleteWOAH!!! Great post!! Great zine!!! amazing!! I’m truly majorly impressed with your work this week, you not only were incredibly passionate but you poured your passion right into your work, it’s incredible!! Your zine work is some of the best I’ve seen, that’s amazing, especially with all the meaning behind it all!! I can feel your anger and frustration with this stupid works we’re part of, and I think people like you, and you yourself, are part of the solution. Thank you for doing all this work!!
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