🪴Mulch love 🪴
I haven’t written recently because I’ve had nothing to say. March in Portland is the worst time, the most miserable monotonous, where the cold, gray days mush into each other until you wake up and entire weeks have passed. On the phone, my mom asked me what I’d done for fun recently. There was a long pause. I couldn’t think of anything. Finally, I said, “I ordered a bunch of mulch.”
Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I did organize something fun over the past few months: a snail mail exchange. I offered to trade anyone a patch for a piece of snail mail. Every time I’ve gone to check my P.O. box during the last two months, it has been crammed with treasures. People sent me letters, postcards, zines, stickers, patches, glitter, even a mask that says, “Tax the rich.” Altogether, I got over 250 pieces of mail. I love mail because it gives me something to look forward to. Each piece of mail that arrives is a little surprise present. And the act of sending mail, of writing out a letter by hand, is meditative. It feels hopeful, somehow, to write thoughts on a scrap of paper, drop it into a metal box, and have it sent around the world.
I’m now out of patches, but I am always happy to exchange postcards or send stickers. My address is: P.O. BOX 14612, Portland, Oregon, 97214. Just don’t send mulch.
Upcoming Events
Comics Journalism talk - My alma mater Grinnell College invited me to give a talk about Guantanamo Voices and making comics journalism. The bad news is I don’t actually get to travel back to campus to give the talk in an impressive room with a table of free cookies in back, but the good news is that since it’s online, anyone can attend. April 7th, 10am PST/1pm EST, here’s the link to join!
Stuff I Made
Documentation of a Portland Stop Asian Hate rally - I spent pretty much all weekend drawing this short comic documenting some moving scenes from a Friday evening community rally.
Comics editing - A couple comics I edited for The Nib have been published recently, including this really interesting dive into the dark world of bird-smugglers and Brazilian cartoonist Laura Athayde’s dispatch on life under COVID her city.
The best cupcakes - I’m really not much of a baker, so I was surprised that these cupcakes I made for a friend’s birthday turned out extremely well! All hail a fool-proof recipe.
Stuff I Love
City of Ghosts - This extremely sweet and innovative new show (seen above) on Netflix follows a group of kids as they interview ghosts around Los Angeles, learning about the history and culture of different neighborhoods. It’s for children, but I watched the whole thing and loved the educational storytelling and all the rich visual details.
The Antifa Super Soldier Cookbook - My friend and Nib colleague Matt Lubchansky published a new book this month about the shadowy whole of anti-fascist super soliders.
Brass Taxes - I’ve recommended tax prep company Brass Taxes so many times, but somehow millions of people are still using H&R Block?? Here are some reasons not to use H&R Block. Brass Taxes focuses on freelancers and artists, so if you have any freelance income and are worried about how to file your taxes, hit them up!
Ponysweat - The only way to exercise is to “fiercely non-competitive dance routine” to a jamming playlist, in my opinion!
Muna - Speaking of jams, my current favorite song is “I Know a Place” by Muna. An ode to going out dancing, which will we hopefully be able to do in the future!
Suave - This really thoughtful and engaging podcast follows the story of a man who was sentenced to life in prison while he was a teenager, and what happens after a legal reform allows him and other “juvenile lifers” to be paroled.
Relative Fiction - Cartoonist Nicole Georges grew up believing her dad had died. But in her 20s, a palm reader told her that was a lie. Nicole has a new podcast with OPB exploring what really happened in her family.
Ordering too many seeds - I love the heirloom seed catalogs are so overwhelmed with orders this year that they’re backordered. I had good luck scoring seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. So far I’ve ordered sunflowers, echinacea, morning glories, black eyed susans, three kinds of poppies, yarrow, milkweed, and zinnias. What are you excited to grow?
Tool libraries - Planting all those seeds requires a shovel and a rake, which I checked out for free from the North Portland tool library. I didn’t realize that tool libraries weren’t in every city! These community-run nonprofit libraries that lend out tools are such a part of the fabric of Portland.
Extremely nice knives - I donated a chunk of my stimulus check to the Oregon Justice Resource Center, then asked Ben what he would be doing with his check. “Buying an ax,” he said. Always prepared! When the ax arrived, I was surprised and jealous—it’s so beautiful! The ax is made by Berkeley-based Hida Tool and now I’m looking longingly at their very cool vegetable knives.
New sweatpants season - A mere one year into the pandemic, 365 days of constant wear finally wore out my favorite sweatpants and slippers. Coziness crisis! I wound up ordering these sweatpants from Uniqlo and they’re cute and comfortable. After much debate, I ordered these Birkenstock slippers. So those are my recs, for anyone else requiring a new pandemic uniform.
What I’m Reading
The Hate U Give - I’d always heard this best-selling YA book is about a Black 16-year-old girl whose friend is killed by a police officer. But it’s about so much more than that, too. Author Angie Thomas does a fantastic job capturing all the feelings of being a teenager who feels like she has to hide her true self in order to fit in.
Memorial Drive - This gorgeous, gutting memoir by poet Natasha Tretheway looks back on trauma she tried to forget—her mother’s fatally violent boyfriend. That horrific act of violence is at the center of her story, around it she weaves an insightful, powerful portrait of the racist cultures where she grew up in Georgia and Mississippi.
Notes from a Young Black Chef - Ben and I have been tearing through Top Chef since the fall, admiring all the risotto disasters and Padma’s outfits through the ages. I really liked chef Kwame Onwuachi from Season 13 and was excited to find out he wrote a memoir. The book is engaging, interesting, and specific. I keep thinking about it.
A Wizard of Earthsea - I read the first book in Ursula K. Le Guin’s beloved wizard series years ago, but never completed the series. Ben has been devouring the books, so I got the audiobook from the library and have been loving it. The perfect epic fantasy background for running mundane errands.
The Sorrow of War - I’m gearing up to read Viet Thanh Nguyen’s new book The Committed. In a talk hosted by Elliott Bay Bookstore, he discussed books that tell stories of the Vietnam War from Vietnamese perspectives, including The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh. I’m reading it now and just cannot recommend it enough. I wish we had read this in high school when we read Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.
Something to Do
Perfect shirt by Pace Taylor.
Support trans kids. Right-wing politicians have chosen trans children to be their biggest wedge issue of the year, drumming up a series of nonsensical, transphobic bills across the country that target trans kids’ access to healthcare and athletics. Here’s a rundown on the laws. Follow ACLU attorney Chase Strangio for updates on the bills and reporters Kate Sosin and Jo Yurcaba for frequent coverage. If you can, consider donating to one of the many national or local organizations that fight to protect trans lives.
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