From Cleveland resident and Oberlin alum Lora DiFranco:

This past weekend was probably one of the best of my life. How can you top the combination of music, activism, and community? My friend Matt Scheuermann organized the weekend-long DIT Fest in Kent, Ohio because he wanted to exhibit how the “do-it-yourself” ethic can be a lot more effective and fun when we “do-it-together.”

While I’ve been a fan of punk since my early high school days, it was just last year that I was exposed to the DIY punk scene. The bands I’ve become friends with burn their own CDs and package them using recycled beer boxes. Concerts are held in musty basements where vegan cupcakes are a more widely accepted currency than cash. These bands realize that there’s more to their music than record sales, MTV, and money. In fact, it goes beyond music and into activism.

I learned a lot very quickly from this new community, and decided to try to apply the DIY ethic to my own life. I’m passionate about stopping the unnecessary waste that our civilization creates, so I decided to write about it (trust me, you wouldn’t want me to sing about it) and publish a zine called GreenLight with my friends. We’re currently working on our 4th issue, which is going to be all about food- local food, food desserts, climate impacts of food choices, etc.

We’re also just starting to come up with ideas for a new website. I would like it to be a hub of DIY projects- putting the “reduce, reuse” back in “reduce, reuse, recycle.” Most young people on tight budgets realize that there is more to green living than $200 organic denim jeans, so let’s start brainstorming and do it together!

If you have ideas about DIY projects you’d like to see or a skill you’d like to share (recycled notebooks, patching up the holes in your jeans, alternative menstrual products, etc.), please feel free to check out our MySpace page or send us an email at greenlightzine [at] gmail [dot] com.

And if you’re looking for some great new music, check out No Target Audience, The Sidekicks, Ghost Town Trio, and Delay!

Posted in Act Locally, Music