By Bianca Velasquez

Gross! A zine written by only girls and non-binaries that empower them to break social barriers and strive for progression in their community? Pee-ew! Elaine Sayer and Chloe Monson, what are you thinking? You think this is going to work, that people will listen? Hell yeah you do.

A brain baby from The Creative Collective, SLC Pink, (originally known as Girl Germs) has sprouted and is growing wild. Zines usually cover music, art, and other “cool” features. Which is great, but I think we are hungry for something else. Something that summons whispered opinions. Something that reads the writing on the wall. This is why SLC Pink is just that. They explain “Truth is, girls suck at being supportive. It’s about time that changed, and we hope to help do it.” Yes, this quote is great but are you wondering how a zine will do that? The purpose of SLC Pink is to bring girls and non-binary (someone who is not exclusively male or female) together in a celebration of their work, whatever it is. Now your questions should be, why hasn’t anyone done this sooner?

The two bad asses spearheading this are the previously mentioned Elaine Sayer and Chloe Monson. Their main project The Creative Collective was admired and promoted on City Weekly a couple months ago. This article talks about them as individuals but also highlights their campaign “I support you” which is the base for SLC Pink. This I love. Someone is stepping up and calling us out, calling us out as artists and as human beings. SLC Pink is exclaiming the unspoken truth that we need to have each other’s backs. This is an overdue movement but it is in fact moving, and moving fast.

I’ve been following Elaine Sayer’s work ever since my Kilby Court days. Back when I would hang out in that stupid burnt red booth selling tickets trying to refrain from frostbite on cold winter nights. I would poke out my phone from the bottom of my huge overzealous jacket and scroll through her page. What I would find are strong, empowering quotes about every day struggles that riddle our youth. These aren’t the big whiney tumblr quotes about unrequited love, no, I was drawn to hers because these were glowing with honesty. At that age (18/19) honesty is unfortunately rare. You are so consumed by discovering your identity that honesty is your last option. Honesty sneaks out at night like a hungry rat on your forever regrettable drunken nights. You don’t display it on social media for everyone to see. Elaine did that. I will forever admire her for it.

I love Elaine’s little side project called Poems On Places. Where she writes a poem, then nestles it into an envelope with a note saying “Take this poem: If you’re, just barely, getting over a tough heartache.” She embeds these in locations around town for soft hearts who need them. After a seemingly educational time in LA, Elaine came back to SLC and her creativity, combined with the talents of Chloe Monson, exploded into The Creative Collective. This led to SLC Pink.

I have admired Chloe from afar, but I never took the time to really check her out until I started participating in SLC Pink. Though I have seen her artwork circulating the internet prior to knowing she was the creator. Chloe is a very talented embroiderer, stitching expressive female faces onto a canvas like a story teller with a needle. She also tells stories through her illustrations, both very concentrated in feminine energy.
Edition 1 of SLC Pink is called “Girl Power”. It will be released this spring on May 1^st. They will be hosting this release at Kilby Court. An all ages venue that I had previously mentioned hating. I don’t hate it, I just have spent way too many cold nights there accompanied by a broken heater. Anyway, there will be all girl bands playing like Ana Hardy, Sally Yoo, and Big Baby. I had the chance to include my cartoons and an article for this one, so I am extra excited. Can’t wait to see what the other talented ladies bring to the community, pink, warm table.