Zine Review — How to Change the World: Pocket Guide

How to Change the World: Pocket Guide

Zine, Bronwyn Mauldin, 16 pgs, Bronwynmauldin.com, @guerrillareads

It’s almost quaint that a quasi-prophet offering pointers for salvaging the planet does so in print and not online, where it might reach more readers. I suppose if one is serious about staving off certain doom for humanity, it’s probably not a bad concept to make readers work for it a bit (and guard against a Y2K-ish full cyber meltdown).

Bronwyn Mauldin has taken up the cause, and she brings the positivity … SO … HARD! In general, her zine veers towards political or cultural changes, but there’s a universality in play here that is likely squishy enough to be applied to any-thing with a specific outcome.

The model is sequential and stark, focused on absolutes rather than vague platitudes. No spoilers here, but in the abstract, a lot of who, what, where, when, and why type questions are posed as directional signage, steering the process and keeping focus clean. The zine also features a few bonus “pro tips” and a request for the zine to be “remixed, transformed or built upon” in any way by the reader.

So yeah, this is an open source exercise, rooted in realism and some kind words of encouragement. It’s a start, and I can’t see anybody not benefiting from the small mental jolt this zine could well provide. (Cam Gordon)