It’s that time again!
I say again, but this is really my first IZM insofar as actually participating and such. I have no idea what my participation is going to look like, as I’d really like to wrap up the first draft of my fourth novel by the end of the month. Ah, well. I’m a seat-of-my-pants kind of woman anyway. If you’re like me and want some ideas, Stolen Sharpie Revolution has something for you to do every day of the month! Whee!
Woo! Plenty of happy mail to be happy about. I ordered a few bits and pieces for myself that have been sitting on my wishlist for ages (I’m talking years for a couple things).
(If I’ve already talked about any of these – oops! It’s been pretty crazy this month.)
I have some awesome masking stickers, adorable cloud sticky notes as well as little rabbit sticky notes (including a ninja!) from My Paper Shoppe on Etsy. I also received a couple of envelopes from the ol’ USA. One was a card to say hello and one had four mini-zines in it! Zines A Go Go on Facebook recently got a mailing list of sorts going. It was great to receive something so soon!
In the back is a large box that looks like it should have cling wrap in it. It actually contains Tim Holtz tissue paper. I’ve been after this stuff for ages for my mixed media canvases. Yay! Last up comes The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I sampled it on Amazon and found it on Wordery. It’s a strange book in some ways, but it’s certainly a kick in the balls if you’ve been letting self-pity keep you from accomplishing [insert your creative endeavour].
I do love all the bits and bobs, but I find myself craving a fun international swap with lots of stationery, sweets and strange (just to keep with the alliteration) things. Posting to/from Australia is a beast, though, so that’ll have to be something I save up for.
“Now What” is a forward-thinking zine that celebrates the recent triumph in gaining marriage equality by asking the question, “now that marriage is legal, what’s next?” Consider the following questions:
Will the gays queer marriage, or will marriage straighten the gays?
Is this the end of GLB civil rights?
What is next for you after marriage?
How has marriage changed (or NOT changed) your relationship?
Who is being forgotten, left behind, or ignored?
Who is not served by marriage?
Who is marriage actually serving?
What kinds of new discrimination will be faced by queer people despite marriage equality?
Will there be “Queer Crow” laws?
How is marriage not equitable for all?
What will be the next big civil rights fight? What should it be?
Does gay marriage make this a “post-gay” society? What does that even mean?
Do gays still need allies?
What does responses to marriage equality reveal about our society?
Now what?
If you have a rant, essay, poem, story, personal narrative, blurb, academic paper, fiction of any genre, or piece of visual art work that address the “now what” of a post marriage equality world, any of the questions above, or anything I have left out, SEND IT IN! Chosen submission get 2 free copies of the zine. In the unlikely event profit is made off this zine (HA!) it will be donated to a LGBTQ charity.
Submission should be sent to wabisabizinez@gmail.com. And that is zineZ with a Z.
There is no limit on length (long or short), although 2000 words or less is best for most attention spans. Visual art should be scaled to fit in a 5.5 inch wide by 8.5 inch tall page (approx A5 size). The zine will be black and white, possibly with a color cover – so do keep that in mind as you submit visual art. You may submit in any file format. Again, chosen submission get 2 free copies of the zine. In the unlikely event profit is made, it will be donated to a LGBTQ charity.
Please share!
Open call for submissions for a new found photography zine (title coming soon) based in Houston, Texas! “Found photos are generally acquired at flea markets, thrift and other secondhand stores, yard sales, estate and tag sales, in dumpsters and trash cans, between the pages of books, or literally just ‘found’ anywhere.”
Please send in a scanned image (JPEG or TIFF preferred, at least 300 dpi) of your found photograph along with 2-3 sentences of where you found it (or if you are feeling inspired, send in a story!) and basic contact info to foundphotozinetx@gmail.com. If you don’t need the original photograph, you may send it to the following address to be included in the zine:
Found Photography Zine
PO Box 920740
Houston, TX 77292
There is no submission deadline. Release date for zine TBD, but hopefully in time for this year’s Zine Fest Houston in October. Please get in touch with me if you have any questions about submitting. Thank you!
I knew this week was going to be hard thanks to our dogs being kicked off the property for two days (while a new back fence was installed), a rental inspection, and a to-do list long enough to rival super-big toilet paper rolls.
Yet my expectations weren’t quite large enough, and I’m sitting here on a Friday night feeling sorry for myself and grumpy because I didn’t get any reviews up this week. Sigh.
So here’s something funny. It simply won’t do to be self-pitying for long.
Adam Hills on Australian Accents
Back to regular programming tomorrow.
Continue reading “I Hate Renting”
Looking for stories/essays (up to 500 words), poems (250-300 words) and artwork on the subject of ‘Bullying’.
Subject matter may include:
-confronting bullies & the outcome
-friends/peers/teachers who don’t intervene(bystanders)
-dealing with trauma/triggers (coping strategies)
-mental health (depression, anxiety, etc)
-thoughts of self-harm/suicide/revenge
-reaching out for help
-being ostracized (feelings of isolation, worthlessness, shame, grief, guilt, anger)
-what you would like to say to your bullies
-has bullying changed the ways you view peer groups today
-understanding bullies
-forgiveness (making peace)
Did the bullying take place in:
-elementary school
-high school
-college/university
-workplace
-community
*Please let us know if you would like to use your real name, an alias or if you wish to remain anonymous (or if you are writing/sending it on behalf of someone you know).
No fictionalized work, please.
Am accepting submissions until August 31st, 2015.
Email submissions to: sandra_reiki_@hotmail.com
Each contributor will receive a free copy of the zine.
Thank you.*
Fat-tastic 1
Sage
1/2 fold (US)
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/sage
(I have also reviewed Fat-tastic 1 and Fat-tastic 2)
Oh, I do love a series. Even with the wait that usually comes between one book/season/edition/issue and the next. With zines, I like ongoing series (apparently ‘series’ is both a singular and a plural) because it’s closer to getting to watch someone grow and change.
Fat-tastic 3 has what I think is a more serious focus. Not to say that the first two weren’t serious, but they were more broken up by shorter pieces, art, how-tos, etc. FT3 (mind if I abbreviate?) has some larger, hard-hitting pieces that you really need to sit down and ‘be’ with rather than skimming over/through. They are pieces to think about. There are some shorter pieces in here, including some art and an excellent poem. (I don’t often ‘get’ poetry, so take my ‘excellent’ rating as you will.)
But you can’t really hold submissions against the ‘curator’. People can only work with what they are given to work with. The fact that FT3 has a greater number of longer pieces says more about the psyche of the society around the zine than about Sage. But I won’t get too deeply into all that. What I mean to say is that I like it when there is a big mix of a lot of different content, but I can’t hold it against Sage that FT3 doesn’t have as much of the variety that I jumped into in FT2. It is what it is, and a good zine is a good zine.
I especially like that Sage included a piece about being underweight. It’s great to be supportive of the ‘big’ men and women out there, but it’s important to be body-positive for the other side of the spectrum, too. I feel like that group feels rather neglected as a whole, and Sage including this particular piece really lends to the maturity of the series (and likely the longevity because of it).
My only niggle is that I can’t seem to find a Fat-tastic 4. My no-patience conditioning is not working in my favour. 😉
The Terrible Two Flus… The Fortnight Flus… I will think of a name. Anyway, I am alive and – for the most part – recovered. Back to regular programming soon. 
