Left on the Bench (Mini-Zine Making Workshop)

Imagine leaving (or finding) a mini-zine on a bench. What would you love it to say?

This is the prompt for our next mini-zine-making workshop.

Maybe you would share something you currently feel unable to express but long to be fully known by others.

Perhaps you would express your hopes and fears about how things are right now, and what you long for people to know, believe, and change about themselves and the world.

Or maybe you would love to provide a map featuring anecdotes, images, and fun facts to guide people around a particular place.

Alternatively, you could reverse the perspective, imagining that you are the one who finds a small, folded book left on a bench by someone else…

You could put yourself in their shoes. Who are they? What is their story? What hopes, dreams and fears occupy their minds right now? How does reality look and feel from their perspective? What would they love you to know?

There are no rules. It’s just an opportunity to use your imagination and get creative in your own way, among other gentle rebels.

What to Expect

This is a 90-minute online session on Zoom.

• Arrival: I welcome everyone, introduce the session and help everyone get settled and started
• Creating: We spend the time making our zines – conversation tends to rise, fall, bubble, and settle throughout the session. Expect a chilled atmosphere with plenty of comfortable silence and time to chat as you play
• Departure: As we wrap up, there is space for people to voluntarily share what they’re taking with them from the session

What to Bring

• Essentials: Paper (A4, US Letter, or equivalent) and something to write with. And something to cut paper with. I will show you how to do it at the start.
• Optional extras: Materials to use for collaging, paints, pens, or anything else you want to work with.