This time of year, I feel like I’m always just wasting time, waiting for things to change. I plow through work and don’t go outside much. A friend gifted me Andrea Gibson’s new poetry collection, You Better Be Lightning, and when I read these lines from one of their poems, I thought, “I wish I felt that way.” Sure, all time is quality time. All our seconds are created equal. But it’s hard to appreciate each glorious, quality day when that particular day is gray and cold and I have a ton of deadlines to meet and two Zoom meetings and the vegetable soup I made last week tastes like salty mud. So I’ve been repeating that line over and over to myself, hoping I start to think it’s true. “All time is quality time,” I think to myself, as I pick Twyla’s poop up off the frozen ground at the park. “All time is quality time,” I whisper, as I fill out an Excel spreadsheet for my taxes. “All time is quality time,” I tell Ben, as we’re stuck in traffic on the way to drop him off at his job in the morning. “Okay, that’s enough,” he replies.
Stuff I Made
Shout Your Abortion Zine - The very cool team at abortion advocacy group Shout Your Abortion asked me to illustrate a guide to aiding and abetting abortion. It’s a one-page zine that’s available for free download. I’ve already seen photos from a couple people around the country who have printed this out and distributed it, which is awesome.
Also I did immediately turn around and spend part of the money Shout Your Abortion paid me on one of their rad long-sleeve shirts. 😬
Reveal Union Logo - I work as a behind-the-scenes digital producer at the Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting and over the past year, the entire newsroom has rallied together to unionize. We announced the union about two weeks ago and the Reveal leadership voluntarily recognized us (that’s good news). I’m proud that I got to design the union logo. I’ve never been in a union before!
Upcoming Events
Draw Your Teenage Self workshop - I love the free Friday evening workshops that the Sequential Arts Workshop hosts. They invite a different artist each week to do a one-hour, very chill comics-drawing practice. I’ve attended a bunch and it’s a sweet, supportive community on Zoom. I’m running this week’s! Register here. Feb. 3rd, 4pm PST/7pm EST
Make a Friendship Zine workshop - This is a free, one-hour online workshop where we’ll make a little zine to gift to a friend. A nice alternative to a more traditional, romantic Valentine’s Day present! It’s hosted by Sarabande Writing Labs in Kentucky. Register here. Feb. 10th, 9am PST/12pm EST
Zine Workshop in Longview, WA - I am once again asking if you happen to know anyone in Longview, Washington. I did an in-person upcoming zine workshop for their public library in December and I’m doing another this month. The first one was very cute. These workshops are part of an effort to encourage people to submit to the Washington State Zine Contest, which you should check out if you live in Washington. February 7th, 6pm, Longview Public Library, Free
Zine of the Month Club: Trash Bandit
The zine I’m sending out to my snail-mail zine-of-the-month club in February comes from Solange Aguilar, a zine-maker who lives just over the hill from where I grew up (on Chumash land) in Ojai. I bought a few of Solange’s zines and this perfect sticker a few months ago and am excited to feature them for February!
If you subscribe to the zine-of-the-month club, this zine and sticker will show up in your mailbox in a week or so. Otherwise you can get Solange’s zines here.
About Solange: Solange Aguilar (They/Ze) is a queer Indigenous (Mescalero Apache & Yo'eme) and Filipinx (Kalinga & Kapampangan) multimedia artist and poet based in Qenepstin, Chumash Territory (Santa Barbara, CA.) They are a recipient of the 2021 Artist2Artist fellowship by the Art Matters Foundation, a first place winner in the Santa Barbara Poetry Slam, and the author of various zines including "Alternatives to White Sage, Palo Santo, Cedar, Sweetgrass, and Copal," which discusses non-appropriative usages of herbs and plant medicines and "Skoden: The Ultimate Indigenous Road Trip Guide" which highlights brick and mortar Indigenous businesses across the country.
Stuff I Love
We’re Here - I cry during every damn episode of this show! Drag queens Shangela, Eureka O’Hara, and Bob the Drag Queen stage shows in small towns across the United States, building queer community and confronting hatred in some desperate places. I agree that it’s “like Queer Eye with teeth.” Season three is out now.
If Books Could Kill - The newest podcast from reporter Michael Hobbes tears apart best-selling books that have done real harm and it is truly delicious.
Sweet Cowboy Blues prints - Do I *need* more prints? No. Do I *need* this particular print for my house? Yes.
The Last of Us - I’m definitely deeply into this new HBO series (based on the equally tender video game) that stars everyone’s favorite daddy Pedro Pascal and the young Bella Ramsey trying to survive in a world decimated by mushroom overlords. I think the opening credit sequence is a really cool moment in slime-mold cinema.
Death Project Manager workbook - Speaking of an apocalyptic event that wipes out most of the human race, I filled out this cute workbook with info about all the logistical stuff my loved ones should do if I die. You know, just in case.
What I’m Reading
First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez - Teachers keep mentioning this young adult book when they download my free zine template, so I finally checked it out. It’s a fun multi-media story about a Latinx teenager who loves to make zines and grapples with all the big feelings as she moves to a new city with her mom. Illustrations of her zines break up the chapters.
Outlawed by Anna North - Gender-variant cowpokes roam the plains, provide informed gynecological care, and eke out survival on the margins of society in this engrossing and compelling alternative history set in the Wild West.
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom by Rabia Chaudry - I’ve followed Chaudry’s work as a podcaster and legal advocate—she was one of the main driving forces behind the campaign to free Adnan Syed (of Serial fame). But this new book about her relationship to fatness, food, and family brings her intelligent eye to a totally different story. One of my favorite things about the book is that there’s lovingly detailed descriptions of amazing-sounding Pakistani dishes on pretty much every page.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. Mandel - I loved soft-feelings sci-fi hit Station Eleven so I picked up the author’s new book, a twisting, fractured narrative about time travel and human loss which feels just as poetic and insightful as her other work.
Something to Do
Make a playlist for a friend
Two different friends created playlists for me recently and it made me reflect on how sweet it is to curate your favorite music for someone else. A playlist lacks the tangible charm of a teenage mixtape with all the songs hand-written on an index card, but it’s still an act of love that takes time and no money. Here are the two playlists friends made for me: thanks Nick and Julien!
Bonus photo for making it all the way through the newsletter. This is how Ginsburg drinks water:
Thank you so much for all this good stuff! "Don't abandon your chisel.." ooooof I needed that!
I didn't even realize I had subscribed to your newsletter but I'm so glad it showed up in my inbox and gave me the push to sign up for that SAW comics workshop! I'm not a cartoonist or draw-er, but I've been taking all the free zine Zooms I can find this year. Drawing our teenage selves was SO fun, and I really enjoyed your instructing!