We believe it’s vital for lived experiences to be seen and heard
Paula Carlson
Editorial Director
WITH VALENTINE’S Day just around the corner, love is in the air. You know what we love here at Megaphone? Showcasing the strength, resilience and creativity of our amazing vendors, peers and community members.
Longtime readers and supporters know we do that through our monthly Megaphone magazine, annual literary anthology Voices of the Street, and yearly Hope in Shadows calendar. All three publications spotlight — in different ways — the incredible talents and insights of people who, for various reasons, such as systemic inequity and stigma, are too seldom heard.
Our magazine is chock-full of peer-produced journalism via The Shift newsroom, whose members brainstorm, research and write news stories and features, as well as take pictures. Vendors and community members also see their work published each month.
The literary anthology widens the creativity toolbox, offering a platform for all types of prose: poems, lyrics, haikus and short stories — penned by vendors and folks in the larger Megaphone family, mostly from the Downtown Eastside (DTES). Many amazing submissions come from people in early recovery at Onsite, the detox and residential treatment program located above Insite, where Megaphone provides weekly creative writing workshops.
And Hope in Shadows offers a vantage point to look through the lens of people who live on the margins, capturing moments of struggle, joy, silliness and friendship on film. (Yes, the cameras in the HIS photo contest are one-time use cameras and images have to be developed!).
We believe it’s vital for these perspectives and lived experiences to be seen and heard. So we’re not content to stop there. We’ve added one more genre to the mix: a ’zine!
You’ll find the first volume in this month’s magazine, and it will be a regular addition, showcasing art and writing by people who live and work in the DTES. As such, we’ve decided to position this publication under the Voices of the Street umbrella — which now encompasses the annual literary anthology (published each May) and the monthly ’zine.
Frankly, this is right up our alley. ’Zines — short for “magazines” — have a long history of community building. Their origins stretch back to the 1930s, when handmade “fanzines” typed and photocopied by science fiction nerds became a way to share ideas outside mainstream media. Grassroots DIY publications — powered by people and passion — are at the heart of ’zines.
By the 1970s and ’80s, punk culture had entered the scene, with underground musicians and artists turning their prose and politics into stapled manifestos.
When feminist and queer voices rose in the 1990s, especially in the Riot Grrrl movement, pushback against the patriarchy and promotion of female empowerment took centre stage, with this activism flourishing in the handmade formats of ’zines.
In short, ’zines just didn’t report on movement. They were the movement.
Today, despite the saturation of the internet and digital media (or maybe because of it?), ’zines persist. They don’t chase clicks. They build connections. And they remind us that the most powerful stories often come from the margins — where the ideas are big because the people are brave.
We really love that.
Submissions to Megaphone’s Voices of the Street ’zine are welcome. Email writing, poetry and artwork to editor@megaphonemagazine.com Mail them to: Megaphone, 312 Main St., Vancouver, B.C. V6A 2T2. Or drop them off Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
One other thing: You may have noticed our magazine is slightly smaller. No, we didn’t put it in the dryer by mistake… by trimming its size from 9”x11.75” to 8”x10.5”, we save on printing costs — which is better for our bottom line and helps us stabilize funds for vendor and peer programming. It’s a more convenient “metro”-style paper — easier to flip through on the bus, but still filled with the human interest stories and solutions-based journalism you’re accustomed to. We love it and we hope you do too.
Paula Carlson is the editorial director at Megaphone.
Paula Carlson
Editorial Director
For three decades, Paula Carlson has worked as an editor and reporter at various newspapers throughout the Lower Mainland, contributing stories and stick-handling special projects that have won more than 50 industry awards for news, feature and opinion writing, page layout and design. Her work has appeared across B.C. and Canada. She's fairly certain a good cup of coffee improves almost anything.
Rooted in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, we're committed to amplifying voices that are overlooked by mainstream media. We’re actively growing our team of storytellers and journalists to serve our community.
More about our Peer Newsroom“Why "The Shift?" So the framework of Megaphone magazine can “shift” to being a more inclusive street paper, empowering those with lived and living experience to tell the stories that matter the most to them and their communities.”
Paula Carlson Editorial Director
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