Special Collections Response
Visiting
Special Collections was once again an exciting trip. Last time I had looked at
an older pamphlet and book regarding a civil rights movement in Miami. This
time I glanced through a vegan zine called Yo!
Soy Miami. It was interesting coming to the realization that the zine was
written in 2008 which, only being five years ago, made me readjust the lens
though which I was reading it to a more modern rather than historical.
I
chose to read the zine not because I’m vegan, but because the title of the zine
evoked a punctum within me. The title
Yo! Soy Miami was too similar to the
title of my favorite Algernon Cadwallader song, Yo Soy Milk to not explore what was within the small, unstapled,
postcard sized pieces of computer paper. The sense of adventure and exploration
evoking the punctum, or personal
connection, is exactly what Barthes discusses in Camera Lucida.
The
zine itself was also very interesting. It was literally a free publication that
some woman wrote about being vegan. From personal reflection, to recipes, to a
celebrity vegan page, the author simply wrote whatever she desired. I thought
it was funny when I recognized the similar “language” she used. A few of my
friends back home are vegans and are always meticulous about ingredients and
are quick to use the word “blood-mouths” to describe non-vegans in a light and humorous
yet subtly critical way. I also found the celebrity vegan page interesting:
seeing Weird Al Yankovich on the same page as Cedric and Omar from The Mars
Volta is something I don’t believe I’ll ever see again.
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