Zine Review: mEN DO bleed too
mEN DO bleed too – my story as a man with endometriosis
Aubrey Dillion Sinclair
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mEN DO bleed too is a black and blue A7 mini-zine about being a man with endometriosis.
Content warning (from the cover): blood, sex, some gendered terms, graphic content
mEN DO bleed too opens with Aubrey talking about their period experiences growing up and what they had to deal with medically to both find out they have endometriosis as well as dealing with ongoing treatment of it as a trans man.
As someone who deals with an incurable reproductive condition, Aubrey really had me from the start with this one. These conditions are so often dismissed and ignored, and to add on the difficulties of approaching ongoing treatment as a trans man on top of that had me wishing so many things were different about the system. However, there are silver linings to Aubrey’s story, though I will leave you to find out what they are.
I like the feel of this zine. It’s handwritten, hand drawn, and everything about it says it’s the zine of someone who made this to share a story they are passionate about sharing. The drawings – down to the little arrows guiding you from one page to another – add to the story in a pull at your heart strings sort of way. Some of the text is cut off, but most of it is easily sorted and read with a bit of unfolding.
mEN DO bleed too is a mini-zine reminder to not take anything for granted – especially not discussions of health topics that are so often gendered and can leave people feeling alone. One to check out.
Calls for Submissions
Hello, zine friends!
Calls for submissions are usually posted on the weekends here at Sea Green Zines on the weekends, but these three here are zine series that I am working on. (There will be rolling calls going up on the weekends.) They have new deadlines, so there’s plenty of time to get your contributions in. All contributors get a physical copy when it’s done, so be sure to include a mailing address if you’d like your contributor copy.
Until next time, spread a little sunshine.
Happy Mail Monday – Broken Pencil Pack Edition
Hello, zine friends! And welcome to another Happy Mail Monday old school style.
This week we have a pack of awesomeness all the way from Broken Pencil in Canada thanks to the generosity of the amazing True Zine Marin. Broken Pencil have different subscription packs so you can enjoy what they do online, offline, and some have extra goodies to enjoy, as well!
There were hiccups along the way that often come with international subscriptions, but Broken Pencil stuck it out and here we are with the Zine League goodness!
This issue of Broken Pencil is a bit of ‘on top’ of the Zine League package. My completionist heart hopes to get all the back issues of Broken Pencil for my collection. Haha
How cool is this?! I love a notebook, and this one has Zinemaker on it. Love. The book is by Broken Pencil founder and publisher Hal Niedzviecki – the novel The Program!
Pins! The pack also comes with these awesome pins with this fun art style. Paper airplane is definitely my favourite and all five went onto my pin display straight away.
Nothing like showing off your Zine League status (or zine-related apparel appreciation) with a t-shirt. 🙂 This art makes me smile because it appeals to my inner zinemaker as well as my introverted, anxious self as well.
(PS. It’s super, super nice when, in the event of t-shirts being offered, that there are bigger sizes.)
This order also included the beautiful zine goodness of the 2018 Winners of the BP Zine Awards . There’s so much goodness to enjoy – have a good long peek below…
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Thank you so much to Broken Pencil for working out the logistics side of getting this from Canada to Australia, and thank you to True Zine Marin once more for your continued awesomeness.
That’s me for now today. I hope the start of the week brings you good things.
Until next time, spread a little sunshine.
Zine Review: Quarter Life – A Few Weekends
Quarter Life – A Few Weekends
TJ Corless
terry-corless@hotmail.co.uk
https://www.paperandinkzine.co.uk/
Quarter Life – A Few Weekends is a black and white A5 zine with a few chapters from his novel Quarter Life about a man entering adulthood but told through a series of weekends. CW: Drug and alcohol use
Quarter Life opens with a foreword explaining what this zine is about, where it’s from, and how various chapters have been published in magazines, zines, and other spaces. From there we launch into the excerpts, each given its own title – Third Weekend, Fifth Weekend – as well as where the excerpt was first published.
The excerpts are told in the first person present style, which I thought would throw me off because it’s not my favourite perspective or tense. (And it’s often not done so well, but I’ll try to rein in my editor side.) That said, TJ’s writing voice is personal but not intrusive. The ‘told in weekends’ format is an interesting one that adds a slightly different flavour to a story of a life.
The story itself is set in England, so you may not know what Coronation Street is or what a ‘proper little chavvy’ is, but I thin kthose sorts of details make it more fun.
I like the aesthetic of this zine with the recycled paper and riso cover. It’s easy to read, the pages are numbered… It’s an easy-to-tuck-in-your-bag-and-go sort of zine that asks to be well read.
I wasn’t quite sure how pieces of a novel would go in a zine, but this works quite well. The writing is fun, I enjoyed the excerpts in and of themselves, and the story is intriguing enough that I’m now quite curious about the novel. I hope to check out more of TJ’s writing in the future.
Happy Mail Monday – Old School Edition
Hello, dear and wonderful zine friends! Hello, hello, hello.
So here we are… in text… for Happy Mail Monday…
Videos are definitely more fun, but I decided that an ‘old school’ photos and text post was better than a delayed post. This week is a very busy and stressful one for me. Instead of looking at things as purely black and white, can and can’t, I realised that I needed to look at things in terms of to what to degree things are doable.
I hope people aren’t too disappointed by pictures/text posts only!
The first bit of happy mail comes from the awesome Real Tioga!
Real Tioga is a fun ongoing series that collects clippings from a real community newsletter. It’s so much fun, and every issue makes me smile. Read my review of Real Tioga 7 here.
Thank you Real Tioga for sending the mail goodness!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/realtioga/
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Next in mail goodness, some of you would have seen these goodies at Festival of the Photocopier! (I knew she was sending some distro stock, so I opened the lovely package before I left for Melbourne.) Wonderful, lovely goodness from True Zine Marin!
TZM put together these amazing zine packs that come with stickers, a mini-zine, and a poster to colour in and send back to be included in a future zine. (You can send them to me. 🙂 )
There are also these packs about PETA and animal justice with a mini-zine and sticker goodness inside.
I was so, so happy to see the whole Murals of Marin set available for your mini-zine loving hearts, as I really enjoyed Murals of Marin 1 (read my review here) and may or may not have mentioned a few times to TZM that I’d love to see more. Lo and behold, the art series based around murals around Marin County in California are in existence!
Zines! Vol 2! This came from TZM as a belated Christmas present, to which I say, Merry Christmas TZM! Thank you so much. I have volume one, so I’ll have to check to see if there is a volume three for my completionist heart. Haha.
TZM took me by total and complete surprise with this gorgeous tote bag! Letters’ flowers, sparkle hearts – what’s not to love? And PURPLE! My phone is on its way out, so it really doesn’t do the gorgeous colours justice.
And more flowers on the inside! So colourful.
It went along perfectly with my other travel gear! And I really can’t thank TZM enough for the gorgeous happy mail and all of the support she has given to Sea Green Zines as well as me as a person.
https://www.instagram.com/truezinemarin/
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A mini-zine from Anna Gecko! This little mini-zine has been made to celebrate 2019 (what a lovely idea!) according to the note (written on very nice texture paper, by the way). It’s wonderful to hear from you again and see that you’re still making zines! Thank you so much for the happy mail.
https://www.instagram.com/adri.cosmo/
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Next up is zine mail from a new zine friend – Charles Brubaker. Hello new friend! From first blush look Charles makes fun comics. Charles’ Twitter profile says “a cartoonist who draws cats”. Fantastic! A pleasure to meet you through happy mail! Thank you so much for sending me your comics. I’m looking forward to reading them.
https://twitter.com/bakertoons
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Fishspit remains a dear, dear friend who is the king of envelope art! This lovely surprise has some back issues of his series Wiseblood – which has been running longer than I have been alive! The biggest of hugs to this wonderful human and huge thanks for the happy mail.
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From the amazing Hadass comes this absolutely awesome assortment of zine goodness! Hadass is a super cool Riot Grrrrl living in Israel and creating amazing zines. I’m so, so happy to see such zine goodness in my post box. Thank you so much Hadass for all the goodness!
https://hadass420.wordpress.com/
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This happy mail comes from another new zine friend Happy Tree Cult Zine! Hello! At first blush look, the HLTC zine looks like a collab mini-zine with collage, comics and more. I’m looking forward to taking a closer look. Thank you so much for the happy mail.
https://www.instagram.com/hltczine/
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Last but never least comes beautiful happy mail from Iestyn! A glorious package of zine goodness if there ever was one, and a note as well! There is a lot of fun happy mail along with my copies of The Seas anthology! There’s so much to enjoy because Iestyn is always working on or thinking about the next project. It’s fantastic!
Here’s a closer look at The Seas (soon to be listed in the distro). I’m so happy to have been a part of this collaboration all organised by Iestyn and still absolutely amazed that he saw something in my paintings (featured on the cover and inside) that I didn’t see. Keep an eye out for calls for submissions because Iestyn is an absolute pleasure to work with! Thank you so much for the happy mail.
https://zinelove.wordpress.com/
https://www.instagram.com/_zinelove/
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Thank you to all zine friends, new and old, for everything. It’s an honour and a pleasure to meet you and know you.
Best wishes.
Until next time, spread a little sunshine…
Busy, Busy, Busy! o_O
Sea Green Zines, coming soon to a zine fest near you…
