Jen Angel (January 28, 1975February 9, 2023) was an American writer and media activist known for her work on '' Clamor'' and ''

Maximum Rock'n'Roll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...

''.

Early life and education

Angel was born in

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

, to John and Pat Engel and started using the last name Angel in high school. She earned a degree in journalism in 1997 from

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

Activism

Jen Angel began writing and publishing her personal

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

, ''Fucktooth'' (1991–2000), while in high school. She continued her media activism through a variety of publications and organizing efforts. From 1996 to 2004, she was a co-editor of ''Zine Yearbook'', a yearly anthology of writing from zines and underground publications. Angel coordinated the publication of ''

Maximum Rocknroll ''Maximumrocknroll'', often written as ''Maximum Rocknroll'' and usually abbreviated as ''MRR'', is a not-for-profit monthly online zine of punk subculture and radio show of punk music. Based in San Francisco, ''MRR'' focuses on punk rock and ...

'' from 1997 to 1998, which led to her temporary relocation from the Midwest to the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

. She co-founded '' Clamor'' magazine with Jason Kucsma, for which the

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne''; , ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

profiled them in their 2002 article, "Young Visionaries: 30 under 30." Her writing has been featured in magazines including ''Bitch'', ''

Punk Planet ''Punk Planet'' was a 16,000 print run punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen. In addition to covering m ...

'', and ''

In These Times In These Times may refer to: *In These Times (magazine), ''In These Times'' (magazine), an American monthly magazine of news and opinion *In These Times (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), ''In These Times'' (Peter, Paul, and Mary album), a 2004 album b ...

''. In 1999, Angel helped organize the Underground Publishing Conference in

Bowling Green, Ohio Bowling Green is a city in Wood County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. The population was 30,808 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located southwest of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo, it is part of the Toledo metropolitan area and ...

. Initially called the Midwest Zine Conference, it later became the Allied Media Conference, which continues annually in Detroit. She also founded Agency, an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

public relations project, and Aid & Abet, an event management group. She was a core organizer of the Bay Area Anarchist Book Fair, and from 2013 to 2014 she helped organize the Bay Area Radical History Project, which sought to connect newer activists from the

Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist Social movement, socio-political movement that expressed opposition to Social equality, social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of real democracy around the world. It aimed primar ...

with veteran activists from earlier movements.

Baking

Angel moved back to the Bay Area in 2006 and created her company Angel Cakes in 2008. Their retail shop opened in Oakland in March 2016. The shop offered 120 flavors of cupcakes and donated money and provided desserts for social justice efforts such as environmental justice, housing, and criminal justice reform.

Death

Angel was robbed in a bank parking lot on February 6, 2023, and then critically injured as a result. She chased after the getaway car, but got caught in the vehicle's door and was dragged more than 50 feet, smashing her head on the sidewalk. She was put in a medically induced coma and later declared dead on February 9, 2023. In a statement, Angel's family and friends wrote that Angel "...did not believe in state violence, carceral punishment, or incarceration as an effective or just solution to social violence and inequity," and they have expressed a commitment to pursuing

restorative justice Restorative justice is a community-based approach to justice that aims to repair the harm done to victims, offenders and communities. In doing so, restorative justice practitioners work to ensure that offenders take responsibility for their ac ...

approaches in response to her death. A suspect in her murder, Ishmael Jenkins Burch, was arrested in June 2023.

Legacy

In August 2023, the

Institute for Anarchist Studies Contemporary anarchism within the history of anarchism is the period of the anarchist movement continuing from the end of World War II and into the present. Since the last third of the 20th century, anarchists have been involved in anti-globalis ...

and anarchist group ''Agency'' announced the creation of the Jen Angel Anarchist Media Grant.

References

External links

Personal website

Clamor Magazine

Jen Angel Anarchist Media Grant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Angel, Jen 1975 births 2023 deaths 2023 murders in the United States 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century anarchists American anarchist writers American bakers American magazine founders American magazine publishers (people) American magazine writers American women non-fiction writers Ohio State University School of Communication alumni People from Dearborn, Michigan People murdered in California Road incident deaths in California