Youth Pride Zine Workshop
Creativity, art, and connection. Those were the pillars behind Maddi Ranieri’s Youth Pride Zine Workshop at the Charlotte & William Bloomberg Medford Public Library this past June. Maddi, Youth Services Librarian, is a 2021 Medford Arts Council grant recipient. The idea for the project formed in two ways. The first was through Chameleon, the queer youth group she champions at the library. Maddi wanted more programming for queer youth to learn about LGBTQ+ history and foster an inclusive, collaborative space for like-minded individuals to discuss, connect, and create.
The second way was through art fairs in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Maddi met Abby Neale at a few different JP art fairs and the two started chatting about art and youth education. Abby is both an artist and a youth educator and they empower youth to imagine a more hopeful and inclusive world through art. Abby has taught zine workshops at other Boston libraries and upon meeting Maddi, the two of them decided to bring the idea to light at the Medford library.
all the identities
A lot of teens might not know about zines, Maddi explained as we sat in her office on the 2nd floor of the library, but Abby and I thought zines were a great medium for teens to share their unique queer experiences and merge that with the history of pride. Teens are outspoken and they are passionate about a lot of things, Maddi noted, they all know so much and have interesting points of view and important things to say. One queer teen wrote about sexism and dress codes, another created a zine on being transgender and all the identities within the transgender spectrum. Someone else focused on queer relationships in ancient Greece and Rome.
creative but simple
Maddi said the project was creative but simple. Each teen received a single 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and folded it into a mini zine (a small booklet) with 6 pages. The workshop lasted 2 hours, which is longer than a typical teen program at the library, but it transformed into more than just an art project. The Youth Pride Zine Workshop allowed teens to connect with one another outside of school. After being isolated for so long, Maddi said, it’s so important for teens to meet new people, find others with similar interests, and make new friends.
Folks sometimes test things out, they want to see how comfortable they are with different names or pronouns.
More and more teens come to these programs because I’m creating a safe, inclusive, space for them, Maddi added as she glanced at a student’s zine. Folks sometimes test things out, they want to see how comfortable they are with different names or pronouns.
open and inclusive space
Maddi creates an open and inclusive space for queer youth at the Medford Library. She understands that queer youth experience a heightened level of mental health issues and allows them to be open and vulnerable with each other, to speak about the challenges in their lives. There are book bans all over the country, Maddi said, there are frequent attacks on queer youth and trans youth books. There’s legislation that affecting queer youth, trans youth, people of color. Maddi hopes to run the Youth Pride Zine Workshop next year as well. In addition to the June event, the Youth Services Librarian also runs many STEAM programs. She hopes to bring more queer-led and queer-inclusive programming to the Medford Library and the community at large.