“The zine has a life of its own, so as the time for it approaches, I start pulling together my own story and the stories of others, and that’s the most rewarding thing — building community, reaching out, making friends.”
That’s how zinester/blogger Tom Moniz describes the uniquely organic process of creating his zines, which cover topics like trans and queer fatherhood and the anarcho-punk lifestyle. His works describe not just the parenting styles of its subjects but their lives and passions.
With parenting, family life, and childcare increasingly being pulled together into one narrow view of what’s “safe” or “healthy,” Moniz reveals new and exciting ways to think about those other families that dare to do things differently.
Moniz’s pet project, Rad Dad, draws together all of these viewpoints. Inspired by the mid-’90s zine Hip Mama and other works about radical parenting, Rad Dad explores issues that affect all families while focusing on the experiences of commonly overlooked groups of people.
One of those groups might as well be parents who write zines. Moniz is used to the surprised reactions that his zines get from many people. He knows that parenting zines aren’t just for parents, though.
“The best parenting zines are as much about parenting as they are about trying to live an authentic life, about trying to love honestly and consciously, about working to create a better world,” Moniz says.
The social possibilities of zines became apparent to Moniz when he began to see them distributed at political rallies.
“As I became more involved, I realized that zines were an excellent way to fill in the gaps, to voice issues not normally addressed,” he says. “So my first zine project was about people of color in the anarchist community. Once I saw how easy it was, nothing could stop me.”
He comments that he’s proud to “continually put out marginalized voices” through his remarkable zines about parenting and living outside the norm, and he wants everyone to hear those voices.
“I’m ready for the next shocked reaction when a person sees my 40-year-old butt sitting behind a table trying to sell zines,” Moniz says. “‘Here,’ I’ll say, ‘read this and let me know what you think. I wrote it just for you.’”
– Mallory Gevaert
Zine Scene is a biweekly column about writers’ and artists’ adventures in the world of independent publishing.