“As a woman it’s hard to find the line of what is bragging and what’s being happy about my accomplishments. That is the hardest part is advocating for ourselves and legitimizing it to everyone else.”
Today I sat down with student leader Bergen Flom. Bergen is a Thalian, works for OEI and most notably is a co-founder of popular zine “Trash Mag”. I wanted to discuss with her where this idea came from and how she and the co-founder were able to make this such a success. Bergen is looked at as a woman leader in many regards both on and off campus, and has big plans for the future.
Bella: Hello
Bergen: Hello
Bella: Can I get you to introduce yourself first?
Bergen: ummm yes! My name is Bergen Flom um I am a junior at Whittier College. So on campus I am a member of the Thalian Society, I work at the Office of Equity and inclusion, I’m there Poet Intern, so basically I help with professionally developing the student staff there which is awesome because they are all amazing people and they are passionate and they are all activists and they are amazing. I’ve been working there since freshman year so that has been my whole ass college experience. What else do I do? Um I am involved in the sustainability club. I want to be more involved with the Women in Leadership association, but I was busy most nights last semester but this semester is different so hopefully I can actually do more stuff with them. So that’s kind of what I’m involved with, and I am from Minneapolis, Minnesota so I am a long way from home.
Bella: You are indeed! Alright so can you tell me a little bit about Trash Mag what is it what do you do and how did it come to be?
Bergen: Ok so wow how do I start. Ok so it started freshman year or technically it was it was a thing before I started working on it with Sara and Sara did used to go here freshman year but then she transferred and now she goes to Pasadena City College. But basically she came to me one day and was like “hey like my friends used to like have this thing called Trash Mag and they used to do like some events with it. They put out one issue but then it like stopped. They stopped doing it everyone went to college and stopped talking to eachother basically.” Not like actually stopped talking to each other but they like obviously stopped contacting it cuz they were not together. She was just like “Do you want to set this up with me? I just asked them what was going on with it and they said you can have it” so we basically took it, rebranded it.. Like remarketed the whole thing kind of started fresh. We basically just kept the name and kind of the concept of it and made it our own.. So we basically put out an issue like about every two months like every 1-2 months. We allowed ourselves to be flexible sometimes because we are students and employees and all that stuff. But so we will put out an issue. It’s basically people submit their art to our email or our instagram. Everything is through instagram these days which is so weird but um we just communicate through there. We kind of switch off who does the graphic design and layout for it but I’ve kind of done more of that side of the magazine. Basically I taught myself how to use inDesign, Photoshop, all that good stuff, and then I actually took a class and I was like “wow ok I didn’t know a lot of this stuff and it’s good to know. But ya we do these issues basically just highlighting like artists from all over so we’re like technically based in LA but like the artists in our magazine are from all over the country and we have gotten quite a few submissions from outside the country too. And we are like cool wow the internet you know. So it’s basically a way for people to put themselves out there. Certain one’s will have prompts like for our upcoming issue it’s basically it’s called “Transitions” that’s the theme of it and it’s just talking about like we ask people to answer some questions about what does the new year mean for you? What is this time of this transitory time, like how are you taking it? How does it affect your art? Kind of stuff like that. And then we will like make cute little Pinterest boards with like whatever vibe we are going for or whatever.
Bella: Is there always a theme or..?
Bergen: No um we have only had three. They are all related basically to identity when it comes down to it I’ve realized they’re all definitely related to that. But I think actually most of our issues have been just like free for all like literally just send us whatever you want and we put it all together.
Bella: Is it super random normally then?
Bergen: Ya! We kind of like that like it’s messy but it’s a beautiful mess. It’s also just like a way to like kind of take ownership of media that is being put out there because we want to support artists that you wouldn’t normally see. So for example people of marginalized identities, people who are younger, maybe it’s their first time ever showing art or whatever. We want to highlight those people and give them a platform, so that’s kind of like the gist on like why we do what we do. Both Sara and I are artists ourselves but we have kind of assumed this role of like being more of a curator for the artists and working for artists in a way, so our kind of art is this publication I would say.
Bella: Do you put in your own stuff or like?
Bergen: You see people ask that a lot. I have never actually put in my own stuff which is like so funny. Sara has put in some of her poetry. I think it just comes down to it and I am so focused on getting the issue out that I like never thinking about putting my own stuff into it but that’s.. I really should, but in a way this has become my art so like to do all the layout. It can be a lot sometimes, but it is worth it. We will have a really good event and it’s like this is why we do what we do; like meeting people in person and they say really amazing things and it’s like oh wow I can’t believe the world is so amazing!
Bella: Exactly! And on that note can you tell me more about like your events and stuff that you put on?
Bergen: Ya so that’s kind of like the other side. We have the publication side and then we will have the event side cuz we want to make sure in this digital world we are actually like interacting with people cuz the internet is just kind of a weird place sometimes. The algorithm gets in the way. We really try to focus on getting people in the community with each other. We want people that are featured in the magazine to meet each other and collaborate. Like every issue we will make a group chat and be like “hey you’ve all been featured in this issue like follow each other, reach out to each other, use each other for working on projects and stuff” Cuz it’s just a way to bring people together even if they don’t live in the same state. So that’s the beauty of the internet, but the other side is we really want to get people together in person.
Bella: Has that happened? Have people come from elsewhere here for the events?
Bergen: We did have one person drive from San Diego once to Los Angeles which was like pretty crazy and we were like oh wow that’s amazing! But we have done events in LA, one in Texas, one in Santa Cruz and a couple in Minneapolis which is my hometown as well.
Bella: Wow that is kind of all over the place
Bergen: So ya we did have a time where we had some interns involved and their internship was basically to make an event in their hometown that is sensitive to their home town’s art community and put it on with our help and with Trash Mag as a way to make the event happen so that is how we got some in different areas. We will have a zine release event so every time we release a new issue we will have some kind of big event. So the last time we had one was at a gallery and we did like a gallery event type situation where it was just people talking, eating, hanging out looking at art on the walls.Then the next night we had a music show at The Smell so it was kind of like a back to back night thing to just like celebrate the new issue coming out. So we will do those types of stuff, and then in between all of that we do an event series at Junior High Los Angeles, which we actually have one tomorrow night wooo! It is called “A Night of Queer Expression” and it’s actually our sixth one which is really weird.
Bella: Are they all always at Junior High?
Bergen: Ya so it’s something where we work with them and we work with SleezeHog which is another production… show promoter. But our friend Natalie runs that so we work with Natalie and then with Junior High to make this event series happen and it is basically a way to highlight queer art. At the begining it was very music focused but then we were like well there are a lot of forms of queer art so we’ve had spoken word, a drag queen and kind of all different sorts of performative art and those are always fun because everyone brings the good vibes to them.
We also always have vendors too
Bella: Are the vendors typically the featured artists in that issue?
Bergen: It can be anyone. If certain people that were in the magazine are interested then of course but also we open it up to anyone or we will reach out to certain vendors who we really like and ask if they would like to vend at this show and they can make some money.
Bella: Ok last question. How does gender play into what you are doing?
Bergen: Well I would say like the magazine and the events and everything we do is through a feminist lense. I think that really sets us apart from other organizations that are more male dominated. We have our own twist on it and we make sure everything is as inclusive as possible coming from a really good place. I have heard from other people talking to me that like “oh we love Trash Mag because it is run by women ” and because your perspective is in this and is ingrained in everything. They may compare us to other zines that are more male dominated and have said there has been more problematic stuff happening with those, but they are just thankful for the community that they see as welcoming and feminist.
Bella: So nothing you would say has been limiting due to gender?
Bergen: Just the normal society stuff in the world. In some ways it has played to our strengths, we can find and create a community. Our identities have helped us create what we have now. I notice me and Sara face imposters syndrome and tend to downplay the work we do when in reality it is our EVERYTHING and there is no way this is just a little thing we do. As a woman it’s hard to find the line of what is bragging and what’s being happy about my accomplishments. That is the hardest part is advocating for ourselves and legitimizing it to everyone else.
Bella: Well you definitely put in so much work and that deserves to be acknowledged
Bergen: Thank you ya that definitely plays into it a lot I think as a woman being like this is real business and treating it like that finding the confidence to take ownership.
Bella: Well I think that’s about all I’ve got! Thank you so much for your time
After talking with Bergen I now have a better feel for what goes into a growing zine and how much planning goes into their events. I found Trash Mag’s story fascinating and think it is very impressive to see how big it has gotten especially while being run by just two girls who are in school, involved in other activities, and have jobs.
If you are interested in learning more you can follow
@trashmagtrashmag
Or shop at trashmag@bigcartel.com
And her and Sara’s personal accounts are:
@berg_ilicious
@saraghassemzadeh
