📚 If Books Could Kill 📚
How do you write a book? You just keep going.
A year ago this month, I signed a contract to write an oral history of Guantanamo Bay, told through comics. The first draft was due in June 2019, which seemed extraordinarily far off. The first thing I did was go to the library and check out every book on Guantanamo Bay. The second thing I did was procrastinate for six months. When I pitched the book, it was just an idea. I felt like the publisher called my bluff. Did I want to write this book? When I signed the contract, I wasn’t sure if I actually could. It seemed impossible in so many ways. What if no one wanted to talk to me? What if I didn’t know what to ask? Why did everyone else believe I could do this? There were so many things that could do wrong that I was scared to even get started.
Finally, after several months of anxiety, I had to face that choice again: Did I want to write this book? If so, I had to get started. Now.
I got to work. I read that hip-high stack of books, I figured out who I wanted to talk to, I sent way too many emails, I interviewed a dozen subjects, I went to Guantanamo, I spent every evening and weekend in front of my computer. And then June 2019, the impossible far-away date, arrived. And the week before the first draft was due, I crashed on my bike. One of my hands split open on the asphalt. The other wrist throbbed in pain. After a nurse put six stitches in my left hand and put a brace on my right wrist, I was faced with that choice again: Did I want to write this book? Did I want to write it so badly that I would type the damn thing with one hand? Yes. I spent the next 10 days gingerly hunting-and-pecking each line with my left hand, until I got the stitches out and could graduate to typing two-handed with a pillow awkwardly under each wrist. Over the long July 4th weekend, I went to the office every morning and didn’t leave until my eyes burned. When I closed my eyes to fall asleep, I saw a computer screen. Did I want to write this book? Then I had to keep going. At 11pm on Sunday, July 7th, I finished the first draft. I printed it out. I went home. I took a shower. And I thought about what to change in the second draft, because I still want to write this book.
This Week’s Comic
I attended a zine-making night at Outlet here in Portland and mentioned that I only experience horror movies by reading the Wikipedia plot-summaries. Someone I didn’t know piped up that they ALSO love reading the Wikipedia summaries of horror movies, so together we made this zine!
Stuff I Made
Queer History Comics - I edited a bunch of comics for Pride month, including this cool piece by Hazel Newlevant about queer uprisings in the United States before Stonewall.
Media Thinkpiece - This is a bummer, but Soraya Roberts at Longreads interviewed me about how The Nib’s funding was cut out-of-the-blue this month. As she writes: "Political cartoons don’t make a huge chunk of change, but they do change the culture.” Feel free to sign up for a membership to support the newly independent Nib!
Stuff I Love
Pen15 - The coming-of-age comedy from writers and stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle made me gasp with recognition several times, as the 31-year-old women play the junior high school versions of themselves circa 2000. It’s on Hulu and involves a botched Spice Girls routine. Watch it!
Booksmart - Finishing the first draft of my book means I finally have time to watch movies! Directed by Olivia Wilde, Booksmart is the first movie I’ve seen not-on-a-plane in maybe six months and it was wonderful. I keep thinking back to scenes in it. Like Pen15, it’s *also* a coming-of-age comedy about two girls who are best friends and feels joyous even in its most awkward moments. Both Pen15 and Booksmart are written by women and it shows in their spot-on humor.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet - Numerous people recommended this sci-fi book by the geeky daughter of two scientists to me over the last year and I can see why. It’s just a dang good time. Sure, sure, the fate of the universe is somewhat at stake, but it focuses much more on the relationships between characters and building an interesting world.
“Throughline” and “White Lies” - When the news came out this month that The Nib had our funding cut and is therefore going independent, 1,500 people signed up to be supporting members in just two weeks. That means I am now spending hour after hour mailing out stickers, tote bags, and magazines to those many new members! :D While I pack up way too many envelopes, I’ve been binging on these two great history podcasts: Throughline reexamines big events in American history through a new lens and White Lies investigates the unsolved murder of civil rights activist Rev. James Reeb in Selma. They’re both thought-provoking, relevant, and very accessible!
Chub Rub shorts - Summer means sweaty thighs. And for those of us who are blessed in the thunder thighs department, that means chafing chub rub. I just bought these new chub-rub prevention shorts from Torrid and have been singing their praises even though no one wants to talk to me about what bike shorts I'm wearing.
Umi ramen noodles - Basically all I eat during the summer is a cold noodle salad with miso dressing. My favorite noodles right now are these Portland-made ramen noodles from Umi organics. If you can’t make it to Portland to buy them, at least try the chef’s miso dressing recipe. It will never fail you.
Someone to Know
Archie Bongiovanni
I’ve admired Archie Bongiovanni’s comics for years, so it was a delight to work as their editor for a Nib history comic about the dream of starting a gay separatist town. Sometimes I look around a Portland bar and imagine myself in one of Archie’s comics, where everyone is cute and queer and having relatable emotional breakdowns. Archie is a champion selfie-taker and also the co-author of the essential book A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns. They have a new book of original comics coming out THIS WEEK called Grease Bats and you should preorder it or pick it up from the library! Also this week, Archie and my friend Sabine are doing a reading right before the Portland Zine Symposium. They are a dream team—make it to this reading if you can.
Something to Do
Donate to bail immigrants out of detention centers. Reading the news about immigration policies tearing families apart has made me feel so hopeless. I did some late-night Googling and came across this article detailing how a concrete way to help immigrants is to donate to funds that pay their bail—that way they can petition for citizenship outside of detention and keep living with their families while their case works through the system. I made a zine about how to donate which went viral and prompted many other donations! (My friend Andrea even donated her whole paycheck from working on the Mercury’s July 4th issue!) So, pitch in if you can. If you want a PDF of the “Bail Out” zine to print out and distribute, let me know and I’ll email it to you!
I’ll write again next month! In the meantime, you can keep in touch on Instagram or Twitter. Is this your first time receiving this newsletter? You can see the archive here.