Lower Mills Civic Association

I chose to attend the Lower Mills Civic Association Meeting on October 15th. Although I do not live in Lower Mills, it is adjacent to my neighborhood and I spend a fair amount of time there! My primary reasons for choosing this meeting were its location, close to my home, and the timing of the meeting in the month.

Zine cover, Lower Mills Civic Association Meeting

I decided that I wanted to create a zine after learning more about them in class. In creating my zine I took inspiration from Ashley Strazzinski, who offered some truly fascinating insight into her experience creating the North Adams City Council zine. I liked that she distributes her zine in easily accessible spaces in North Adams and I imagine if my zine were copied and printed that it would be distributed in a similar way. Zines, because of their informality, seem like an extremely approachable and accessible form of media. I can imagine the zine I made being available at places like the Lower Mills Public Library or at doctor’s offices at Carney Hospital, or perhaps even at the Dorchester House nursing home that serves people with multiple sclerosis, who might not be physically able to come to the meetings.

Events notes that I took during the meeting.

Finished Events and Announcements pages of the zine.

The civic association meeting is led by the executive board, and I think usually the president is the facilitator, but this meeting was led by Richard O’Mara, vice president. The goal of the meeting was to inform the attendees about upcoming events, hear their feedback on happenings, and give them an opportunity to ask questions or share information.

Wikipedia description of Lower Mills with a drawn map of the area. I added this for additional context, for people who might not know where or what Lower Mills is. 

I created this zine with the purpose of conveying the information shared in the meeting to the general public. Although this meeting was convenient for me to attend, there were only about 30 attendees, and I imagine many people having conflicts or commitments that prevent them from attending. Additionally, although this meeting was held in a school, I did need to walk up a staircase to access the auditorium/gym space, which may also limit the number of people who can physically access the space.

Malloy development heading lettering detail created from recycled business cards. Working in lead generation is truly a dream for collage fanatics.

My goal was to create a visually appealing, handmade representation of the events of the meeting. As was the case with several of the meetings my classmates attended, the attendees of this meeting were mostly older white people. This meeting did have more racial and age diversity than previous civic association meetings I have attended in other locations, but I do not think that the population of this meeting was representative of Lower Mills in terms of demographics.

Nonetheless, the attendees of the meeting were extremely welcoming and entertaining. I observed a strong sense of community and the leader of the meeting, Richard O’Mara, had excellent rapport with the attendees. I was floored that the association had raised over $21,000 for the seven families displaced by a fire in their neighborhood; that fact alone proved that this civic association actually mobilizes and supports its residents. Attendees often also shouted out jokes that I tried to hastily scribble down. After I interviewed Natasha Hunte, the merchant spotlight of the month, she offered me a ride home. This generally positive attitude might have been dampered if the meeting covered heavier topics, but I think the community is generally just a nice group of people.

Initial rough page layout

In my design, I used bright, enticing colors with the goal of attracting a wider audience to the meetings. I hand-cut letters for headings out of recycled business cards. As many of my classmates noted, the information in these meetings can be somewhat dry, so representing it in a visually appealing way is important. I liked that the lettering created a graphic and somewhat tactile surface on my zine pages, but I am unsure if this zine were copied and printed for circulation that I would be able to replicate that effect. Similarly, as we saw in class, if this zine were to be handled I would need to use some stronger glue!

Police reports lettering detail.

I think that having a physical component to a civic association meeting is important; the meetings cover a lot of information and it is impossible to hear everything that everyone says. If I were to publish and distribute this zine I would want to put more care into making sure that the elements would translate well into a mass-produced object. While the handmade aesthetic of the zine makes it accessible, I would want to make sure it is still legible. Additionally, if this were to become a series of zines where I cover this civic association meeting over the course of the months, I would want to create some visually connectivity between the issues.

I genuinely enjoyed this assignment. I love Dorchester and I love being civically involved there, but I know that not everyone has the ability to partake in community meetings. I think there is a strong need for media promoting citywide transparency and making the information shared at these meetings more accessible.