Jen Angel
What: Becoming the Media
Who: Jen Angel
Where: Anywhere
Website: Jen Angel
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Clamor Magazine was a movement publication that existed between 2000 and 2006, covering radical politics, culture, and activism. Clamor published 38 issues and featured over 1,000 different writers and artists. The mission statement was:
Clamor is a quarterly print magazine and online community of radical thought, art, and action. An iconoclast among its peers, Clamor is an unabashed celebration of self-determination, creativity, and shit-stirring. Clamor publishes content of, by, for, and with marginalized communities. From the kitchen table to shop floor, the barrio to the playground, the barbershop to the student center, it’s old school meets new school in a battle for a better tomorrow. Clamor is a do-it-yourself guide to everyday revolution.
This analysis is presented as a case study on how movement projects and organizations deal with vital but rarely discussed issues such as management, sustainability, ownership, structure, finance, decision making, power, diversity, and vision.
Jen is available to talk about & facilitate workshops on:
- “Becoming the Media: A Critical History of Clamor Magazine”
- The Future of Independent Media / Current Trends in the Independent Media Movement
- Getting the Word Out: A How-to Workshop on Media, Publicity, and Events for individuals, organizations, or groups
- Building Institutions within the Radical Left: Power, Money, and Vision
- Creating Effective Visuals: Making signs and banners (hands-on)
- Pitching Your Writing to Magazines and Websites (for Writers and Journalists)
Jen offers one-on-one consulting and workshops on media strategy for individuals, projects, campaigns, and organizations.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jen Angel has been a writer and media activist for over 15 years. She has been called a “visionary” by Utne Reader and a “pioneering media activist” by Bitch Magazine. Her publishing history includes Clamor, publishing the Zine Yearbook, and editing MaximumRockNRoll. Since leaving Clamor, she has worked as a producer for KPFA Radio, and a publicist and tour manager through the cooperative booking agency, Aid & Abet. She blogs on media and activism at jenangel.wordpress.com. Her complete bio is
here.
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INTERVIEWS
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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
“Anyone who is involved in any sort of independent, radical, progressive, or otherwise non-mainstream project (be it media, a crafting cooperative, social change org, anything) needs to read this pamphlet.”
Syndicate Consumption (blog)
“Becoming the Media: A critical History of Clamor Magazine–a carefully considered retrospective written a year after the magazine’s collapse… Becoming the Media is a case study on how movement organizers negotiate the complex and often painful issues of power relations, diversity, fundraising, and romantic relationships in collective spaces, but it’s also a celebration of social movement publications and their commitment to idealism in both their end product and their process.”
Bitch Magazine
“[Jen] effortlessly braves what is essentially a self-criticism, sketching a blueprint for those interested or simply showing the bones of a project that worked.”
Profane Existence
“Jen’s piece is just the sort of thoughtful self-criticism that we on the left so desperately need and so seldom see. It’s not always easy to admit mistakes, even to yourself, and it often takes actual courage to confess them publicly. But the benefits of doing so can be enormous. Not only can each of us learn from our own experiences, we can learn from each other’s experiences as well. We all become wiser as a result.”
Kristian Williams, author, American Methods
“Its an extremely valuable resource, and very well done. Very powerful and important.”
Jordan Flaherty, Left Turn Magazine
“An excellent piece. I learned a great deal from reading it. I think it’s a great contribution that lots of folks will find very useful in future projects, and not just media projects.”
Max Elbaum, author, Revolution in the Air
“Thank you so much for writing this down. we so rarely take the time to reflect on or pass on the lessons from our organizations and projects–and so we regularly make the same mistakes.”
Dan Berger, author, Outlaws in America
“An excellent analysis and reflection on her experience.”
Paul Riismandel, Media Geek
“It’s quite thorough, sobering, and very useful.”
Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, author of Outlaw Woman
“[This is] incredibly helpful. It also speaks to your commitment and care that you took the time to do this reflective work. It’s a shame, I think, that more radical organizations and projects don’t do this sort of self-assessment.”
Chris Dixon
“The piece will be a valuable history for others who take up like-minded projects in the future and for other alternative media activists working right now.”
Alan Makinen
“[Jen’s] thoughts go a long way in addressing how clamor and like-minded mags have attempted to compete in a Conde Nast world, and some suggestions on how things might change.”
Eric Zassenhaus
“Jen Angel offers up a seriously in-depth analysis of her time at the helm of Clamor Magazine… you may very well find it to be important insight into independent media and movement building.”
Anna Clark
“[This is] a thoughtful, comprehensive, critical piece. [Jen’s] insights, wisdom, and honesty are invaluable to the rest of us.”
Debbie Rasmussen, publisher, Bitch Magazine
“A very good article, and good modeling for the kind of history I wish more of us took the time to do. Congratulations for detailing a lot of sad history without coming across as bitter or defensive, and for conveying the sense of collective heartbreak without self-indulgence.”
Jonathan Lawson, Reclaim the Media
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LINKS
Buy the pamphlet through AK Press
CLICK HERE FOR UPCOMING EVENTS