Working (Zine-ing? Zining?) Away
I walked into my work room this morning and found this sketch on an A5 piece of paper. I couldn’t help but smile, feeling glad that the sketch I’d hovered over before I went to bed last night actually looked good in the light of day.
I’m not very skilled at drawing, so I always hesitate to draw anything. But I’m also not exactly rolling in money, so I can’t justify buying stock images. This set of scales is mental to be a visual joke to go along with one of the letters for Dear Anonymous 3.
(Side note: Biggest issue of DA ever.)
It’s nearly always a pleasant surprise to see what I’ve left on my desk from the night before. I feel like I’m almost two different people. Morning and most of daytime me is much better with doing more buisness-related stuff, data entry, etc. Nighttime me is much more creative. Night is when I sketch, draw, work on the ‘art’ that goes along with the letters. If I know that I’ll have time during the next day to work on something that I’ve been tinkering away with at night, I’ll even leave creative/design notes for myself to read in the morning.
I’m not exactly sure what that makes me (besides a workaholic), but I like it. It makes me feel like I’m in tune with some sort of natural rhythm.
PS. No mail this week!
Call for Submissions: Domination & submission Zine
I’m writing a zine on Dominant / Submissive desires and unpicking abuse. I’m happy to collaborate with anyone, any feedback would be great.
Ever had kinky sex and it’s brought up painful memories of abuse?
Had a partner misunderstand your kinks as you wanting to be demeaned, humiliated, tortured?
Struggle with not being able to find an outlet for your sexuality, been let down by the prospect of getting to let go and felt pushed into not nice territory?
Struggled to align your feminist identity with submissive desires?
Mainly looking for experiences in first person; examples from me and other articles of what I’m looking for below, download this link for more – Abuse and Desire 3 experience (zoom out; meant for skip reading, very muddy stream of consciousness)
Read more: StigmaFreeWorld
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Do you have a call for submissions for your zine? Let me know!
I’m a Coward
I’ll get straight to the point: I’m a coward.
I would like to think I am brave and that I’d be the person to tackle someone else out of the way of a speeding vehicle, but I know that these thoughts are good intentions rather than tested reality. Yelling makes me feel upset. I don’t even like debates between my friends, and I often break them up my turning the subject into a joke.
There are a number of reasons that could be the cause for this, or the reasons together are the cause. That’s not really the point of this post.
I take a ‘consent is cement – do no harm’ view of the world. I am perfectly happen to let people do as they please so long as it doesn’t negatively influence anyone else.
Now, I know this is a grey area in and of itself. What is ‘harm’ to some isn’t harm to others. So I fully admit the limitations of my worldview and the bias that is an inherent part of it.
Recently, with Dear Anonymous submissions and some calls for zine submissions, I have had people express their uncertainty about what they are submitting. Whether it be ‘too dark’ or something that’s ‘too out there’ for DA or for this blog. I didn’t think anything of the submissions at first, and I happily reassured all of them that it was okay.
Note: I do have my limits for what I’ll put in my zines and on this blog, but no one has come close to that line.
The thing is, though, that other people’s lines will be in very different positions. By the very nature of our current society, to take one step in any direction is to move in opposition to someone else. To do nothing is, by its own nature, still an action that causes opposition because you are immediately not doing something that others have.
This tenet of our lives is something I struggle to accept, but it’s existence doesn’t rely on my acceptance. It exists. Therefore, I also need to accept that I can never make everyone happy or bow to everyone’s wishes. I simply must be and do what brings me peace at the end of the day.
Therein lies the struggle of what to post and what to publish. Accepting that someone, somewhere is going to be angry is not something I want to do. At the same time, I know I can’t use huge amounts of my energy trying to keep everyone happy.
I’m not asking anyone permission to post what I want here. This is my blog, so there is no call for that.
What I am asking is that this blog continue to have the positive energy that I put into it. Openness. Acceptance. Plus some understanding at the times when I can’t be open and accepting because of the things that have shaped the person I am today.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. Whether you agree or disagree, I appreciate that you’ve given me your time.
“The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.” – Thomas Paine
TL;DR
I’m doing my own thing and walking my own path here at SGZ. Some things might offend you. Please don’t take that out on me or anyone else here. It is your choice to be offended or to close the page and walk away.
Call for Submissions: Falling Apart
This is a call for submissions about a zine dealing with Grief & Death called: “Falling Apart”
Looking for contributors. Submissions can be written pieces (500 to 700 words), art, drawings, poetry, cartoons, comic strips, etc.
Submissions should be about someone you know who has died: parent, sibling, significant other, child, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandparent, mentor, close friend, etc.
Can be queer focused or not, atheist, deal with religion,spirituality, disability, mental illness, oppression, isolation, grief groups, abandonment, community, therapy, solitude…..
How are you dealing with your grief over their death? Who were they? How did they die?
Am accepting submissions until January 15th, 2015 and as compensation, each contributor will receive a free copy of the zine upon completion.
If interested, you can send your submissions to:
sandra_reiki_@hotmail.com
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Do you have a call for submissions for your zine? Let me know!
Zine Review: Crafty Collage
Crafty Collage
Kelly Zarb
A5
https://www.etsy.com/shop/kellyzarb
I bought this zine on Etsy a couple years ago not only because I’m a crafty artist-type person but because it’s a zine that helped crack open this stubborn mind of mine to show that zines could be even more than I thought they were at the time.
While this zine holds to the ‘traditional’ zine idea in many ways – A4 folded in half, copied, staples for binding – it also came with a little extra that I hadn’t seen before at the time: extra stuff! This zine came with a small bag filled with various bits and bobs to get you started on your way to making your first collage. While that might not seem like much to some people – and it’s a ‘little’ detail to me now – at the time, I thought it was fantastic. Now only were you getting tips on making various collage crafts, but the zine creator helped you to take the first step. Simple but pleasurable to receive.
The zine itself is easy to read while taking advantage of the white space of the pages. There are plenty of drawings, and an artist bunny sort of guides you through the crafts. The bunny and the style of the drawings did make me feel a little like handing this off to someone younger – but that’s not a bad thing! This zine could be an amazing way to get an artsy young person into zines.
Crafty Collage is a ‘cute’ zine, through and through. There’s no getting around that, so it’s not going to appeal to some people. But the less you appeal to some of the crowd, the more you appeal to the rest who are still looking. It all balances out.
It does look a bit like she’s taken to only art on her Etsy shop, but that doesn’t stop you from sending a message to see if she has more zines…
Watch Cartoonists Show Charlie Hebdo Solidarity
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnoAEbZgJeg&w=425&h=315]
“The online reaction to the attack of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has been significant, with many going on to Twitter and other sites to declare “Je Suis Charlie”. Many cartoonists have been using that slogan in drawings they have done in commemoration and solidarity.” – BBC News
It’s a bit hard to engage the brain with this… Words are never enough.
Getting My Zine On – Hot & Toasty Style
It is a hot and heavy 38C/101F in my local patch of Oz today, and my office is mighty toasty. But a fan on my desk and a bottle of cold water are suiting me just fine as I work on Dear Anonymous 3.
I love making zines, but DA has a little bit of extra special. I ‘let the muse take me’ when it comes to how I present the letters that are sent to me. The weird thing is that, with nearly every letter, an idea instantly pops into my head. Then it’s simply up to me to figure out how to put that image into the zine.
Happy Mail!
Happy Mail posts can go up on Tuesday… I live wildly like that. 
One little letter to show you today, but it’s so lovely that I couldn’t resist posting a couple pictures.
A while back, when I was still looking around for examples of zine reviews and such, I came across One Minute Zine Reviews. I found it merely days after the blog owner (DJ) had put up the post about closing up shop there.
I was a bit disappointed. Even so, I dug through his archives with pleasure and figured that I’d send him a letter of thanks for letting his archive of zine reviews remain ‘alive’ on the net.
This letter is his reply.
A close up (with better lighting) of the front of the card. It’s absolutely gorgeous, and I loved receiving it.
He also gets added to the list of people who have much better handwriting than I do.
On another note, I received some lovely happy online mail as well. No pictures for those. I sent out a bunch of emails last night to anyone who had submitted to DA3 more than two months ago. I wanted to let them all know that DA3 is still happening, and that I am now shooting for the end of January (as I’ve had over half a dozen letters come in over the past couple of weeks).
I didn’t expect any emails back, so it was pretty awesome checking my email this morning.
Until the next post!
Stop! Questionaire time!
Yes, I’m one of those people who likes filling out surveys and such.