WEIRD GAY EATS is a new, free internet zine about neuroqueer people’s relationship to food, edited by Jyotsna Ramesh (@jojorambles, she/her) and Julie Setele (@jujubeees.zines, they/them).

Link to this document: https://tinyurl.com/WeirdGayEats 

Link to sign up for an optional Work-In-Progress session: https://forms.gle/nnkz9CC7Z3gDT2iw8 

Link to submit: https://forms.gle/RUJiQUeRKZ4ASzDS6 (see deadline at bottom of document)

NEUROQUEERNESS:

Being neuroqueer means that you are neurodivergent & queer & conscious about both those things, especially in relationship to each other (it’s OK if that’s a newly emerging awareness). If you’re interested, you can read Nick Walker’s “Neuroqueer: An Introduction.”  

What finally clicked for Julie in thinking about neuroqueerness was that it was (at least in part) about embracing & actively seeking & expanding one’s own weirdness, and they are HERE for that!

INSPIRATION:

This zine is directly inspired by a workshop that Jyotsna led for Queer Zest Zine Fest on Neuroqueer Narratives about food & nourishment. There are so many interesting projects by Neuroqueer individuals looking at food through this lens – Depression Cooking and a lot of zines that deal with the idea of ‘struggle meals’ for example. 

To spark your thinking and creating, here are some prompts:

1. What is your favorite story about food that’s always resonated with you? Why?
2. What is your relationship with food? What role does it play in your life? 
3. What’s a food process or practice that you’re very comfortable with / experimenting with now / curious about? Is it influenced by / affirmative of your Neuroqueerness in some way? How? 
4. How do your Neuroqueer food practices adapt / intersect with your cultural food lineage / seasonal & geographical food practices / festivity based practices? 

FORMAT:

You are welcome to send in narratives that are self-contained in any medium (e.g., essay, poetry, comics, illustrations, collage, any other image-based narrative). We welcome narratives that are specific to your intersectional backgrounds and contexts. We would like to emphasise that neuroqueering can look very different for people, even at different points of time in their lives and there is no one way to do! 

• Text-based submissions should be a maximum of 750 words and in docx format.
• Image-based submissions should be high-resolution (using your phone camera should work well!) and in jpeg or png format.

The zine will be released as a free digital download and also available for anyone to print and distribute.

WORK-IN-PROGRESS SUPPORT:

You are welcome to message us on Instagram with questions or editorial help for your submission. 

We will hold four virtual Work-In-Progress (WIP) sessions where we can possibly meet each other as contributors / body-double / share ideas and virtually collaborate & convene before the submission. 🙂 You are invited – but not required – to participate in the WIP sessions.

These WIP sessions will be held on:

• Saturday, Nov. 1 from 9AM to 10:30AM EST / 7:30PM to 9PM IST
• Wednesday, Nov. 5 from 11AM to 12:30PM EST / 9:30PM to 11PM IST
• Saturday, Nov. 8 from 9AM to 10:30AM EST / 7:30PM to 9PM IST
• Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 7PM to 8:30PM EST / Thursday, Nov. 13 from 5:30AM to 7AM IST

Link to join our WIP sessions

Sign up to attend one or more (optional) WIP sessions.

DEADLINE:

Your submissions are welcome until Saturday, November 15 at 11:59PM EST / Sunday, November 16 at 10:29AM IST.

Submit your work.