You started Greenzine pretty early on in your life. What inspired you to write and speak out?
Basically, being involved in a subculture where people were publishing and performing independent projects enabled me to be involved. For a while before I turned sixteen, I wrote often about music, my favorite bands, punk rock politics, i did a lot of interviews and a lot of humor-based art and record/band rhetoric. I used to drop the F-bomb and talk smack about my high school like a mad-woman. Ultimately, It was my method of contribution. Although as time went by, I came to realize that the punk subculture wasn’t the only aspect of my life that introduced me to my personal belief system—All in all, our subculture doesn’t make us entirely who we are. So I started writing a lot about things that mattered to me in a loose and informal context, although being part of a subculture always made its way into my dialogue—for inevitable reasons. So ultimately—a lot has effected my motivation to create my zine. Right now, it’s all short stories with undertones touching on social politics, human emotions, and sometimes I try to be funny.
How has Greenzine changed as you’ve grown over the years?
It’s been a reflection of myself, and a 15 year old girl is very different from a 23 year old woman. I think I was a funnier adolescent, and I sometimes envy my past—My stories have developed into more serious contexts, which goes along with how I see the world. I think humor is definitely intact in how I am as a person, socially—but in my art and writing, I try to reflect on human emotion and how it relates to surroundings (joy, oppression, transition). I think I try kind of hard to accent my stories with the humor that I bombarded Greenzine with in its early stages—in order to result in an honest package. Also—I don’t write about bands anymore. I actually don’t even mention their names anymore, unless if it’s to intentionally plug them in. I’m kind of an asshole about it, its really funny.
What’s your reaction to Bush’s policies on reproductive rights? In general, how are women being discriminated against by this administration?
I’m hella passionate about choice—I think that question can be answered in both broad and miniscule terms and still convey the same response—Bush is totally fucked. The administration is covering their institutionalized misogyny with a thin sheet of patriotism. That patriotism is allowing many naive americans to feel safe, and its disgusting how many people can’t see through it. I never really thought I would live to see the day that I, as a woman, would be rallying against the chance of having to succumb to illegal life-threatening abortions. People validate their anti-choice sentiments by identifying an unborn fetus as a human life-form, as well as identifying abortion as an easyily accessible contraceptive for “irresponsible women”—And people can’t get much worse. It’s evident that an unborn fetus is often the product of rape or abuse, and often can provide a woman with dramatic health risks. And the struggle to attain accessible class-conscious abortions is something I’m daily willing to fight for—that’s why Bush totally has to go. And for the record, the stupid fucking babies on the goddamn pro-life trucks are 3rd trimester abortion babies. If they would stop using false advertising and photograph the most common abortions, the stupid trucks would have a picture on them that kind of resembles a menstrual blood clot. For real.
Homosexuals are another popular Bush target. Are you in favor of gay marriage?
Yeah, totally. I don’t think relationships need the approval of church and state to be valid—but it’s definitely true that some homosexuals find civil unions substandard. And also—the Amendments are supposed to give rights, not take them away. Seriously, he’s such a monster.
You occasionally make reference to your Cuban heritage. What are your feelings on US-Cuba relations? Is that consistent with the majority of los Cubanos en Miami?
The subject is triggering, and I for one don’t even think much about the US-Cuba relations because I’m too busy thinking about how Castro is the ultimate counter-revolutionary douche-bag. I don’t share this sentiment with many radicals (due to Castro’s obvious dissent of capitalism and things like globalization), and that lack of humanity often sickens me. The US’s previous dealings with enabling Castro to get into power, and their current ban on enabling US residents to support Cuban civilians is hella busted. But as a Cuban, I often surrender at the plight of the US vs. Cuba—I’d much rather engage myself in the radical Castro resistance. Miami is endowed with the Cuban capitalist elite, and a capitalist Castro resistance— although this is very true, neither my family nor I ever identified with that movement. If my family was welcomed by the US among their arrival, they wouldn’t have had to stash 4,908,593 people in a tiny house, would they? Castro hates homos, hates radicals, has built over 150 prisons on his fine island, has engaged in some free-range shooting and incarcerating of Cuba’s proletariat, and as some might wonder—no, my family never lost land when Castro came into power. They never owned land and they never catered to the Cuban elite. They actually came to the states because they kept dying. There is NO SUCH THING as a collective dictatorship—seriously. I hope that’s valid enough.
Have you entertained the notion of a bilingual Greenzine?
I have—I’ve interacted with many independent publishers through South America, and I’ve done a lot of work with latino-dominant worker movements. Writing literature in Spanish to cater to those communities is definitely something I want to take part in someday.
Your illustrations are wonderful. [Greenzine’s layout is also very well done and true to the medium.] Do you do any freelance illustration work? Political posters? Etc?
I mostly do freelance work for bands, artists, and publishers who are my friends. I want to broaden my work at some point, though. (So if you’re some really nice publisher or band of any genre and want me to draw things for you, go ahead and ask me.) I do a lot of political posters—lately for the Coalition of Immokalee workers (A group that’s working towards impoverished farm-worker justice and facilitating the Taco Bell boycott—visit www.ciw-online.org for more information) and a lot of pro-choice imagery too. I also like drawing tattoos for people. Seeing my work in public is still really shocking to me... let’s stop talking about this.
How can people get in touch with you and how can they get a copy of Greenzine?
They can get it from Microcosm Publishing, or from me—you can find my info on my webpage [croadcore.org]. So right now, over caffeine pills and lots of mashed potatoes—I’m working on the new issue, which Microcosm are so kindly going to publish. It’s mostly about moving from FL to PA with a lot of commentary on things like Cuba, class, sexual assault in my FL and PA communities, and generally focusing on adulthood, learning, and transition. After people read it, I hope they can share my sentiments that growing up isn’t really miserable—for sure.
