by Suzane Jlelati, Staff Writer
If you had walked into the classes of David Theriault and Sean Ziebarth last week, you would have seen students drawing, doodling, cutting pictures out of magazines and pasting them into little booklets called zines. You might think you were in a couple of art classes, but Theriault and Ziebarth are Advanced Placement English 3 teachers and they are the first teachers (in English at least) to assign zines on campus.
Theriault has thought about creating zines for years, but he never had the chance to sit down and figure out a stable plan for his students. But with help from Ziebarth, his dream assignment came true; if it goes well this year, he plans on continuing the assignment in the future.
“Our students are reading The Grapes of Wrath and our English classes are not just a place where students read a book and take a test on it, that’s not its primary function. Our students are ultimately writers and writer respond to things, so they’re going to find a social issue that they care about and create a piece of writing that will help other people care about it as well,” said Theriault.
Although it is a long process, multiple students have reacted positively to this assignment and think it’s a wonderful way to express their thoughts into a medium other than writing.
“I think this project is one of the coolest I’ve ever had. I perceive them as beneficial because zines are freeing and powerful. If someone has an obsession about a subject so bizarre, niche, or just a burning desire to share that passionate energy, zines are a perfect way to communicate [that] to the world,” said Lily Vu (‘18).
Referencing the Gutenberg Bible, Theriault explained that art and writing coming together has been around for centuries and that schools have separated the two art forms as being completely different. But he believes that writing and drawing are one in the same, with English being storytelling and storytelling being an art form.
Although this assignment may seem like something that belongs in an art class, Theriault and Ziebarth are showing their students that writing and art can become one and students can express themselves in both mediums.
“I think English class is about having a voice. We read novels, poems and articles to try to understand various perspectives and events, then we discuss and write how we feel about it; I don’t think a zine is much different from that. Also, the fact that Mr. Ziebarth always encourages us to voice our opinion or take action if we find something unjust, makes sense as to why we’re doing this project in English rather than in an art class,” said Vu.
