The Silence of Our Friends

Make/Shift magazine

I just received my very first copy of the feminist magazine Make/Shift!!!!

I'm very very impressed by Make/Shift--as many women of color activists may know, it's extraordinarily difficult to find any type of media where women of color are integrated not just into "the problem" (that is, women of color are victims victims victims), but also into the solution (that is, women of color are organizing, resisting, agitating in profound and amazing ways).

Make/Shift definitly incorporates and integrates women of color organizing into their media message--from the first issue: Spanish sits very comfortably next to English, women of color run blogs are reviewed right next to blogs run by white women, fierce brown women are riddled throughout the advertising, and on the very first page, there are blurbs about Felicia Luna Lemus (who wrote the "Chicana dyke coming of age story Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties") and doing political work as a mother.

from the second issue: the cover reads in nice big bold letters, "INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence" and right underneath it, La Lucha for Environmental Justice. Inside, again, there are lots of ads with fierce looking women of color--my favorite is an ad for "rudechix"--I'm not exactly sure what the ad is for, but there is a totally beautiful Asian looking woman with a fierce mohawk and she's wearing a shirt that says "fuck you and your sides of ranch". And again, right on the first page, is a lovely "scrap" that features a woman of color--Everyday Actions by Teena Apeles. There is also a *fabulous* interview of Andrea Ritchie (somebody I deeply respect and admire). And Raquel Gutierrez has an article about Elia Arce and Nao Bustamante (my heroine).

These are fabulous magazines--and on a side note--I have worked closely with editor Stephanie Abraham, and appreciate the egalitarian editing style, and complete trust and respect she had for the words and experiences of women of color. I highly highly recommend not just reading/subscribing to the magazine--but submitting like crazy to it as well. As one of the few indy media makers that pays it's writers--it's worth the time and effort.

Make/Shift is a beautiful righteous magazine--it's literally one of the only feminist magazines that I feel comfortable recommending to other women of color. Do what you can to check it out/submit to/otherwise support it!!!!

posted by brownfemipower at 5:16 PM |