Mochila Zine Corp is written by K.E.B. Gomez, a Chicano/x/@ (pick your favorite) writer, former bike courier and educator, currently working in youth bike advocacy. My writing focuses on personal movement in cities and practicing a critical awareness of the places we share.
I publish a monthly newsletter called the Mochila Monthly. My latest projects are Rethinking Travel, Adventures Close to Home, and How to Ride Like a Bike Messenger (and why nobody should have to). Rethinking Travel is a workbook on reevaluating what we value when moving around our cities and neighborhoods. Adventures Close to Home is a written narrative of a bike ride from the bottom of East Oakland to the top of the East Bay Hills, reflecting on the cultures, build environment, and environmental history of the area. How to Ride Like a Bike Messenger uses the aggressive strategies of urban riding to highlight inaccessibility in the built environment. Past zine projects include the smash hits Zinester’s Guide to San Diego and If You Give a Punk a Coffee (an update of this classic children’s book).
- February 2020: led a teen Anti-Displacement walking tour and zine workshop at the Cesar Chavez Library in Fruitvale, Oakland, in partnership with Self-Help Graphics.
- Summer 2019: taught a week-long youth zine and print camp at Oakland’s Juior Center.
- My old blog is ZGSD, a zinesters’ guide to San Diego (now out of date).
- Attended zine fests include San Diego Zine Fest, San Francisco Zine Fest, Portland Zine Symposium, San Jose Zine Conference, Joshua Tree Zine Fest, East Bay Alternative Book and Zine Fest, Tijuana Zine Fest, Santa Cruz Zine Fest, Orange County Zine Fest, and Long Beach Zine Fest. All of them were my favorite.
Mochila Zine Corporation 