Public Health Zine relaunched at Tulane
An old favorite has made a comeback, as the Public Health Zine (PHZ) was officially relaunched at a reception at Caroline Richardson on Thursday, Nov. 30. Students, deans, faculty, and staff were in attendance.
The PHZ, originally launched in 2018, is an undergraduate student-run publication dedicated to creating a campus-wide conversation about student health and wellness.
The Undergraduate Public Health office put the call out to students this semester to see if there was an interest in reviving the zine. About a dozen students answered the call and joined the staff of the PHZ.
Students lead everything - selecting the topic, recruiting contributions, editing, and layout design. All content is created by the students. The intention for now is to release a new edition of the zine each semester.
Undergraduate students Amelia Nugent (senior, public health and political science majors, Spanish minor) and Ethan Moran (junior, public health major, psychology minor) are serving as the publication’s editors-in-chief.
Each came to the project a little differently. Nugent was looking for a public health extracurricular to be a part of and found out about the potential for a zine relaunch via email. Moran, on the other hand, found out about the zine through an advisor after mentioning he’d like to feed his passion for writing.
Both, however, are deeply appreciative of the people they’ve been blessed to work with thus far.
“Our staff is a group of some of the most motivated and intelligent individuals I have ever met, and they did an amazing job on the issue this semester,” Nugent said. “While we didn’t always know exactly what we were doing 100% of the time, I think we all worked together really well and supported each other which was what made us successful!”
After hearing about the zine, Moran immediately became interested and sent his name in for consideration, “And the rest is history,” he said. “The zine’s managers, editors, and layout team worked tirelessly on their contributions, and we are incredibly grateful for their hard work.”
The fall issue of the zine, celebrated at the launch event and entitled “Brave New World,” focuses on growing post-pandemic public health concerns. The PHZ Team worked together this semester to create a comprehensive and well-researched edition that covers topics from vaping to Medicaid.
Interested readers can find physical copies in the Public Health lobby in Caroline Richardson, along with various other locations around the uptown and downtown campuses. In addition, participation in creation of the zine is open to students of all majors, not just public health.
The first issue of the Public Health Zine was originally created as a response to the results of the Campus Climate Survey released in January 2018. Topics of previous issues included sexual & reproductive health education, environmental health, and non-Western perspectives on mental health.
“Hypervisibility of Race in the Covid Era” was released in the fall of 2020. After that, the PHZ was lost to COVID-19.
That history provides that much more meaning to its return.
“I’m ecstatic to bring back the Public Health Zine! The response we have gotten has been extremely positive so far,” Moran said. “I was not a student when the first iteration of the zine came out, but I’m super excited to see how much it meant to people in the first place.”
“We are so proud of the zine and are really excited that everyone is enjoying it!” Nugent added.
