Interested in our Latest Issue?

If you're looking at this page now, we're hoping you got to read the latest issue of the CitiZine! We thought we could post some links regarding our article topics in case you're interested in further reading (or viewing):

Cover Figure: Noam Chomsky
Watch videos, hear speeches, and learn more about Noam here.

Reverend Billy and Buy Nothing Day
Reverend Billy's website!

War Is Over (If You Want It)
In an awareness "campaign" against the Vietnam War, John Lennon bought out billboards across the world with this slogan. Here's a photo of one of the billboards:


Sodexo's Ethics
We published Sodexo's response concerning their history and social impact as a corporation. We thought we would publish some stories here about some of their shady business:
UMass Opinion Piece about Sodexo (then Sodexho) labor in 2004
Racial Bias Lawsuit with Sodexo
Research on Sodexo concerning anti-unionism, environmental destruction, and the prison industry

Why are we anonymous?
There are some people wondering why the staff writers don't sign their names to their articles (except for guest contributers). I [the editor] recently wrote an email responding to the concern that "good journalists aren't anonymous". Here is a selection from my response that might help clear up some misunderstandings about this zine:

I understand and agree with your views on anonymity concerning journalists, but we, the staff writers, do not really consider ourselves journalists. The staff consists of activists, not journalists. We are using print media to express our explicit opinions instead of objective news, and want to offer a platform for alternative artists and/or writers.

We are not afraid of reactions to our work (as we print any responses to our articles freely), but made the conscious decision not to include our name because we want readers to consider the writing without the framing of their previous opinions of the author. This is not "anonymous journalism", its just anonymous activism. I love formal journalism and its purposes, and hope to be involved with it in the future, but this is not a newspaper and the same principles do not really apply.

With regards to finding an adviser, we do not really think we need one. A group doesn't necessarily have to follow the procedures recommended by Eastern. We work fine without one, and we don't need approval from SGA because a budget is not needed.
We are a "zine", distinctly different from other kinds of publications (What is a Zine?), and having an adviser pretty much defeats the purpose and definition of being "underground".

Also, we are definitely not concerned with the proposed "benefits" of having a byline attached to an article (future pride, etc.). We write this for ourselves, with a faint hope that we might inspire one or two people to think outside the box about issues (or introduce largely ignored issues altogether). There are many publications with anonymous writing (not "journalists", just writers), and we just don't feel the need to attach a name. However, there is one staff member that is actually concerned with mixing his politics and his outside career, which influences his anonymity. If there is a guest writer we include their name in order to make readers aware that the article is not the collective view or writing of the staff.

Again, we are simply activists that use writing and art, not journalists, and we don't feel the need to adhere to certain requirements without good cause.