Call for Submissions: I Don’t Care About Your 33 1/3 Proposal
Call for Submissions: Waste Management
Hi, my name is Fee, I’m 20, white, ablebodied, working class, bisexual, queer, mentally ill, fat and I dropped out of high school in feburary of 2015.
I know a lot of people but I know exactly one who shares this experience. And I have the suspicion that I know why… I’m part of this beautiful social justice community that’s also incredibly centered on university level education. And I don’t even have a levels. (Or the German equivalent.) The people that mean the most to me can’t sympathise with the very real existential fear that comes from not having a high school diploma.
A lot of people drop out of uni. That’s bad. I feel for you guys, I do, but you have so many more options in how to continue. It might not feel like that but it’s true… but being a high school dropout? in this economy? It scares the shit out of you – especially because there is a reason you didn’t stay in school and that reasons stays with you. Bullying (because you are trans or queer or fat or disabled or a person of colour or poor or any other thing people can use to wear you down with every day microagressions), mental illness (like depression, an eating disorder, bpd, etc), money (because you and your family literally can’t afford for you to not work), teachers or social workers not caring about you and not giving you the support, equipment, form of schooling, medication or love you needed because of all the things the other students used to destroy you. Or any other number of other reasons.
And now you are a fucking high school drop out. (Or the pre-university level education equivalent where you are from. This is not supposed to be us centric.)
And I want to hear about it so badly! Whether you dropped out yesterday or 20 years ago, whether you regret it or not, wether you’re back in school or never looked back, whether you want to draw about it or write or make a collage or just paint an entire page black because that’s how it feels, I want to hear from you. And by you I mean literally everyone. (If you want to for example write in a language other than english we can also totally do that.) AND I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE INTERSECTION OF OPPRESSION AND DROPPING OUT! Because I’m 97% sure I would still be in school if I wasn’t, you know, me.
I’m not sure how this is going to work. I’ve never made a zine before but I need to fucking heal from this trauma that was school, so… hit me up, you beautiful failures and disappointments.
Who Can Submit?
Anyone who has ever dropped out of high school. It doesn’t matter if you went back and are now working on your doctorate or if you never looked back. You can submit regardless of your academic status now as long as you left schooling before reaching university level education at some point.
If you have questions wether you are enough of an academic failure to be able to submit, you can talk to me on tumblr, twitter or via email.
Note: Dropping out of university does not count.
What Can You Submit?
Short answer: everything.
Long answer: poetry, diary entries, comics, song lyrics, collages, paintings, drawings, doodles, in-depth analysis of things, top ten lists, hate mail to your teachers, manifestos and because there will be a digital version you can also submit songs, videos and any other digital art.
Go all out. Or go deep inside yourself.
It is really important to me that you get support and love throughout this process. If you need help working on your submission or just want to vent about the emotional build up that creating things can cause, don’t be shy to reach out to me on tumblr, twitter or via mail.
Call for Submissions: Thoughts Of You – A Dennis Wilson Fanzine
Theme: Anything inspired by the life, death and songs/music of Dennis Wilson, and/or his inspiration / contributions / role in The Beach Boys.
*Ongoing/no deadline.*
Looking for poems, fiction, humour, photos, art (illustration / collage /comics / memes, photoshops/edits /whatever) essays / articles / reviews, diary comics / graphic essays, memories / tributes &/or personal fan/fandom stories and tributes or anything else you can create.
Zine format will be colour & b/w pdf / A4 b/w print edition (+ pos a colour edition).
Planning to sell the finished zine grassroots homeless / anti-poverty charities.
Published contributers will recieve a free copy.
Long formal post w/ more info, (needs tweaking) http://denniswilsonzine.tumblr.com/post/152496063727/thoughts-of-you-zine-call-for
About the zine/blog / Basic idea
Interested in submitting or have any questions?
http://denniswilsonzine.tumblr.com/ask
www.facebook.com/dwfanzine/
or dwzine (at) gmail (dot)com
Call for Submissions: Concerning Masculinity
Call for Submissions: Dear Anonymous VI
Deadline: November 27th
Zine Review: It Will Be Okay
It Will Be Okay
MissMuffcake
It Will Be Okay is a mini-zine featuring quotes and drawings to give you a positive boost to your moment, your day… It’s definitely adorable, as you can imagine, but with a quote from Ice Cube tucked in there along with one piece of “adult language”, it’s not quite for the very young. (Unless you’re cool with that.)
I like that things are facing different directions (nothing is upside down, though), so you don’t just flip through this. That might not be another person’s thing, but something that gets me to interact more with a zine that I might otherwise quickly go through is a good thing.
Stickers and drawings definitely add to the fun vibe, but I think this added extra, something to physically ‘take away’ from the zine wraps it up perfectly:
That, my friends, is an itty bitty button/badge that you can take out of the zine and put anywhere you please. I absolutely adore it.
I hate to list any nitpick with a zine that is created with such positivity, but I do have to mention… While Missmuffcake does put a name down on the back, there aren’t any other sorts of contact details or a shop URL… But, a name like Missmuffcake makes the Google search a much easier one than searching by zine title, so it’s practically not a search at all.
Even so, now you have the link above, and I have this lovely mini-zine (with button/badge!) to put in my forever collection.
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Little side note: I’ve hit a point where people have started sending me zines specifically for review. Because of that, I’m creating and trying to maintain a queue so it’s all fair as far as timing goes. That being said, today’s zine, yes, skipped the queue. It’s been a hard week for so many reasons both personal and on larger scales, so I wanted to review a zine that had a message I really needed to hear today. I promise to keep deviations from the queue to a minimum.
Zine Review: Sketchbook 1
Sketchbook 1
Scheree Reeves
http://www.scheree.com/
I’ve always admired people’s ability to draw well. When I was growing up, it seemed like such a magical talent to have. To see things like Sketchbook 1 where some drawings are ‘broken down’ into the individual strokes of linework makes is all the more fascinating…
Sketechbook 1 is just that – a sketchbook of sorts featuring all sorts of Scheree Reeve’s pieces at various stages of completion. There are ‘rougher’ (I say rougher, but they’re gorgeous by their own right) pieces as well as a full colour, completed centrefold. When it comes to what’s drawn, there’s a lovely variety: from humans to animals and creatures between.
Really, though, when it comes down to it, I think I would have enjoyed it just as much with less variety.
This zine is beautifully presented on heavier, glossier paper that suited the completed pieces very, very well. It was a little strange to see the ‘rougher’ sketches on such nice paper, but not to an extent that it took away from the enjoyment of it. For the overall zine, it was a good choice.
An even better choice? The fact that everything is in full colour. From lines to completed pieces, having full colour really breathed life into everything that I think black and white would have fallen short with.
This is the kind of zine that’s easy to flip through or dwell on depending on your mood. I can see myself going back to this and looking through it many more times simply for the pleasure of it.
Carry On Carrying On
Today is an emotional day for millions upon millions. To say the least.
It physically and emotionally hurts to see so many people who are angry, scared, downright terrified… I feel utterly inept at being able to say anything that could provide even the least little bit of comfort.
After waking up to my Paypal account hacked and my bank account (personal – not the one we pay the rent with, thank goodness) empty, I felt unable to even emotionally comfort myself, let alone those who felt the the entire world just took a dark path.
I debated with myself most of the day over what to do. After all, wouldn’t it be understandable just to take a day off, for crying out loud? Of course it would have.
Even so, I’ve come to the conclusion that sometimes all you can do is keep doing. Do what you need to do for self-care, and keep doing what you do whatever that may be.
Here, that means I’ll be putting up a Thursday zine review soon and carrying on with another Friday review tomorrow.
So why even post this up? Because I want you to know that if you’re hurting, if you’re scared… I hear you. I wish you weren’t hurting, and I wish there was something I could do about it. Above all, I hope that knowing my wishes can somehow give you some small comfort in all this.
Your Zine Is Awesome – Stop the Negative Self-Talk
Yep, your zine is awesome.
I know, I haven’t seen it, but I know it’s awesome. It’s not finished? That’s okay! You started, and that’s amazing. You haven’t started yet? That’s okay! You have a creative idea and/or urge. That in and of itself is wonderful.
I’ve said it plenty of times, and I’ll say it again: One of the beautiful things about zines is that they come in so many shapes and sizes, topics and types of materials, colours and cuts. The diversity is amazing, and I continue to be impressed by all the amazing things people think of and create.
Because of this, I feel sad when a creator calls their work ‘shit’ or says their zine isn’t very good. Especially when it’s in comparison to another zine.
Comparison in the zine world (and plenty of other things) is comparison that doesn’t need to happen – and definitely shouldn’t happen if you’re using it to be negative about what you create. Half-fold is no better or worse than a one-page mini. Stapling is no better or worse than sewing.
The only thing a zine needs to be true to is itself. Beer and Longing is gorgeous with its Japanese binding because it tied into the overall Japanese aesthetic and theme.
But that sort of binding, as beautiful as it is, would have been a bit strange on Instructions for surviving the ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: In rhyming couplets because the beauty of that zine lies in its utterly appropriate simplicity.
And if absolutely nothing in your zine relates to the next bit because that’s the way you like it, that’s great, too.
I’m not here to be all fluffy lala about this. I struggle a lot with the concept that neither art nor human can be universally loved.
But I am here to tell you that whether someone likes your zine or not is a matter of opinion, not a matter of fact. Opinion is fluid and flexible – and heavily influenced by the world around us.
What I’m trying to say here is, in part, selfish. I have this strange affection for looking at the creations other people come up with. I want to know what people bring into the world when given the space and freedom to do so.
The last thing I ever want to see, hear, or read is anyone being negative about their own work, because negativity stops creativity. I don’t ever want to hear people talking about what they ‘should’ do with their work rather than what they want to do.
Sure, who am I to say ‘I don’t want to see this’? No one other than a person who wants to see you create whatever you want to create regardless of what anyone else is creating.
Pursue your bliss.