๐ I Am Smart, I Am Good At What I Do ๐
I try to pretend Iโm too tough for pep talks, but last week, I found myself shedding real tears in a stadium while a powerful woman spoke onstage. This was part of the XOXO festival and the woman onstage was Helen Rosner.
Rosner is a food writer at The New Yorker. One day, she tweeted out a legitimately good cooking tip: Before she roasts a chicken, she uses a hairdryer to dry out the chicken skin, which makes it crispier. To her surprise, this tweet exploded. And the reaction was decidedly sexist. Newspapers literally around the world ran stories headlined โWoman uses $400 hairdryer to cook chicken!โ This framing was not only incorrect and made her look crazy, it discounted her knowledge and experience. Sheโs not just a random โwoman.โ Sheโs a food writer. An experienced food writer who knows what sheโs doing. This is one viral-media incident, but itโs the kind of sexism that women experience over and over and over. One of the hardest things for Rosner to do (even as a person talented and successful enough to work at The New Yorker!) ย is to move through the world with confidence in her skills. So she made the whole crowd repeat after her:
โI am smart. I am good at what I do. And you should fucking listen to me.โ
Try saying it once. And then say it again. And then think it over and over and over.
This Weekโs Comic
Shout-out to the renters out there who watches House Hunters and wants to murder everyone on the show.
STUFF I MADE
A Comic About Hysteria - I think my dream job at 16 would have been writing historical comics. I feel proud of having made that an actual real-life job for myself! This comic, illustrated by Alex Beguez, looks at the troubling history of diagnosing women with hysteria.
A Comic About Abortion History - Annnd a second reproductive-rights focused historical comic for the week! In response to politicians who say that banning abortion will make the procedure disappear from the world, I wrote this comic about 4,000 years of abortion history. Abortion has always existed and always will exist. Banning it only makes the procedure more dangerous.
Sexy Book! Open Earth debuts next week!!! I wrote this cute piece of sci-fi erotica just for fun and now it is a real book out in the world. EEP! If you want a copy, please consider buying one from me directly or ordering a copy from your local bookstore.
STUFF I LOVE:
Hanging posters of young activists in schools - The Amplifier Foundation continues to do amazing work connecting art, politics, and activism. Their โWe the Futureโ campaign gives free posters of modern-day activists ranging from age 16 to 29 to any teacher who wants them. Check out the posters and, if youโre an educator, sign up here to get free prints.
Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono - Who explains the Kavanaugh debate like it is: โI just want to say to the men in this country: Just shut up and step up. Do the right thing, for a change.โ
Rethinking fatness - This article โEverything You Know About Obesity is Wrongโ lays out 30 years of research on fatness and how the way our society stigmatizes fatness does terrible harm, not good.
Blair Bravermanโs tweets about dogs - The best mental break from this horrific news cycle is a bunch of photos of ultra-soft huskies.
SOMEONE TO KNOW:
Eva Cabrera and Claudia Aguirre
This Mexican artist duo is the dream team who drew and colored Open Earth, but they also illustrate a bunch of other cool projects. My favorite is the series Kim & Kim, which is basically Broad City meets Cowboy Bebop. They helped introduce me to the world of Mexican comics artists and are top-notch creators to work with. You can follow Claudia and Eva on Instagram.
SOMETHING TO DO
Read Poetry in the Morning
I know everyone else read Maggie Nelsonโs The Argonauts when it came out three years ago, but Iโm just reading it now, okay? Reading her book, which flows like poetry, reframes my whole day. I have more patience because everything seems like an interesting situation to observe. Instead of annoyances and irritations, my day is full of small experiences to document.
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Iโll write to you in a few weeks! In the meantime, keep in touch on Instagram and Twitter, okay? If this is your first time seeing this newsletter, you can subscribe here.