Author: Nyx

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Zine Review: Doris 15 DIY Anti-depression Guide

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Doris 15 DIY Anti-depression Guide
Cindy (except for the piss article by my sister)
http://www.dorisdorisdoris.com/

When you put the words ‘Doris’ and ‘anti-depression guide’ together, you know I’m there.

Doris 15 DIY Antidepression Guide gets off to (what I think is) the best possible start: with a comic and an acknowledgement in the very first panel that a little bit of depression is a natural part of living in this world. No, constant happiness is not a realistic expectation. It’s a small thing, but it’s nice to see that aspect of living acknowledged before we get into the nitty gritty of addressing depression.

It’s also nice to see that I’m not the only person whose handwriting wanders a bit…

Cindy has a truly unique writing style in that I always think I’ve settled down with her writing voice and where I think she’s going with things. Then, all the sudden, COFFEE! (or the like). It’s not always sudden, but this zine (and Doris zines in general) is less of a guide and more of a conversation. It wanders into all sorts of useful spaces, but if you want a 100% serious, step-by-step guide, then this might not be the zine for you.

That being said, it all comes back around to this feeling that Cindy wants you, the reader, to get more/the most out of life and living it.

I really appreciate that Doris got into the physical stuff. (Namely, UTIs and other kidney stuff that can kill you.) Yes, depression needs to be addressed through mental self-care, but being physically unwell can have a huge impact on our mental health as well. I’ve seen a lot of care guides that seem to forget that part.

I haven’t read much of Doris, but I think it’s the kind of zine you have to at least try one of. They do my head in sometimes, but I quite enjoy them.

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Zine Review: Why I Love Nic Cage (And You Should Too) Activity & Fun Book

why-i-love-nic-cage-and-you-should-too-activity-and-fun-book-zine

Why I Love Nic Cage (And You Should Too) Activity & Fun Book
K. Sheldon & Kendra K.
http://goteamkk.tumblr.com/

This is a zine that makes me smile every time I look at it. It’s one of those zines that reminds me that “if you can dream it, you can zine it”. I think it’s pretty easy to see why.

Yes, this zine really is an activity and fun book. And don’t think that just because it’s a zine that it’s not up to standard. This is a proper activity book with colouring, drawing, a maze, a word search and more!

This might not be something you want to just hand off to a kid, though. (Being an adult does not prohibit you from enjoying activity books!) Just in case you thought this was for kids. I mean, you could, but that centrefold… Oh, man, that centrefold… I have had this zine for quite a while now, and I still can’t stop myself from chuckling a little when I think about that.

(Spoiler hint: You can see a version of the centrefold if you go to the Tumblr page. You can’t miss it.)

The thing that really gets me smiling is the little ‘seal’ on the back that says this activity book is ‘unauthorize’. Love it!

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I almost want another copy of this so I can play in one but have the other for keeps. Haha.

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Happy November! Get Your Zine On

How is it November already?! I know people say that all the time about whichever month, but maaaaan was October a blur.

As many know, November is the month of NaNoWriMo in which people from around the world pen 50,000 words in one month and get their novel on in a big way.

BUT a novel might not be your thing, or 50k words may not be your thing, or maybe you really want to get your zine on (for the first time or another dance. Well, thanks to Kat, there is now a November answer!

Welcome to ZineWriMo!

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ZineWriMo combines the creative rush of NaNoWriMo with the zine world to create a space where you choose your zine goal for the month an go for it!

At the time I’m writing this, there are already nearly 100 group members, and everyone there is being super awesome about everyone’s zine goals.

Definitely check it out!

As you can imagine…

zinewrimo-participant

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Happy Mail, Shiny Mail, & Mystery Mail?!

This past week has been a very, very happy week (and some) for my post box, which made the less than great aspects of the week easier to bear.

It’s also brought to light that my mail tracking system is less than ideal. Idle Emma mentioned in passing how she tracks mail in one of her videos, and that’s really inspired me to shape up. Always room to improve!

On to the happy mail awesomeness.

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Back before my dear Asimov had his medical emergency, I decided that I was finally in a good enough space to get something I’ve been after for ages… a Sticky Institute dog tag! Lo and behold, they sent it along with some zine-y goodness! <3

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How cool is this? And it was only $3 AUD at their Big Cartel if you’d like to get one of your own.

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Say hello to the mystery mail portion of this week’s happy mail! This Zine-O-Matic slice of absolute awesomeness arrived completely unexpectedly, and I have been dancing on sunshine since. Especially because I had no idea who’d sent it.

Zine-O-Matic is a zine subscription service that gives zines to your mailbox every month. It’s like Lootcrate for zine enthusiasts, and I absolutely adore the concept. So you can imagine the top level of fangirling I went to when I opened this envelope up.

Okay, so in the time between when I started this post and now, it’s come to light who sent this along. However, for a few days, I had the excited pleasure of having absolutely no idea who sent along this zines-and-stuff-filled envelope of delight. Made even more special by the fact that I’ve wanted to get Shit Talk and Slowquest in my hands for what feels like months now.

Squee!

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This lovely is another piece of completely unexpected happy mail from Elizabeth at Tenderly Surrender. I totally felt like a toddler with something shiny when I took this out of the envelope because the aesthetics of it got me straight away. This isn’t the place to review, zines, though, so you’ll have to wait for my review to find out what I’m on about.

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More zine awesomeness from the UK (now officially on my ‘places I really need to go’ list)! People who make zines like this, you have to tell me how you’re doing it. These look so amazing and clean cut! You all know I love all the zines, but I can certainly appreciate some to-the-edge printing and nice, nice paper. Wowza. And yay for mail art! I love it. I apologise for – because it is at a level I need to apologise for – not taking a picture of the art Misha did on the back of the envelope. So much fun.

Big Tight is just getting going with a site, so be sure to head over there and check it out.

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Shiny! How could I not smile when seeing a shiny, reflective silver envelope in my post box? Billy certainly knows how to liven up a post box. Hahaha.

This beauty snuck in today, so I grabbed a shot outside to include in today’s post. Please excuse my fingers, but I had to hold the zine shut! Billy sends his zines bound but not folded to help save on postage (#protip), so this chunky little zine kept wanting to spring open. Woohoo! So much reading ahead.

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I am so utterly, utterly gobsmacked by the pure joy people have sent me in the post. Truly. I am so happy when I see things in the post, when I open them up, and even later on when I’m posting about them. This post has me all kinds of happy all over again, and I can’t stop smiling. Thank you, thank you, thank you, and have a beautiful week!

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Asimov

Well, it’s 5.45pm at the time I’m starting to write this, and it occurs to me that I haven’t posted my happy mail post today. Or even polished the photos I took this morning for the happy mail post… Yep!

post-op-asimov

First off, happy Halloween to those who are celebrating. It’s not a real big thing in Australia – nary a costume to be seen this weekend.

So this ^ is a picture of my cat, Asimov. A disappearing act last week, refusing food when he came back, and a call to the vet on Sunday led this little guy to needing a little surgery on Sunday. (Or procedure. I’m not entirely sure where the line is drawn.) The vet suspected he had a small bone lodged in his throat, and he needed some sleep juice so the vet could scope it out and get rid of the bone.

As it turned out, he decided to be like Wanderer. There was no bone, but there was an abscess in there. Though completely unexpected, the vet handled it very well (shout out to vets that work on Sundays) and is confident he’ll be just fine barring any complications.

I put a little shout out on social media about the situation and how any/all orders would greatly help at this time, as the vet bill was… a bit of a kick in the wallet. Getting mail ready to go is part of the reason I’m running so late with everything today. It’s a most excellent sort of work to have, and I wholeheartedly thank everyone who has ordered zines, cards, and/or copies of my novel. It really helps take the sting out of the sizable unexpected vet bill.

I know this doesn’t have much of anything to do with zines, or with the usual happy mail Monday post, but I do like being able to share at least snippets of my life with you. Especially when it impacts my ability to post. I promise I’m getting more organised with everything ‘Sea Green Zines’, so this sort of thing will happen less in the future.

Phew. Coffee break and then back to it. I hope you all are having an excellent Monday!

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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.

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Zine Review: I F#cking Love This Album

i-fcking-love-this-album-zine

I F#cking Love This Album
Various – Put Together by Chops
http://www.theworddistribution.com/

I F#cking Love This Album is Fishspit’s first foray into teaching me all about a lot of music that I’ve barely or never heard of.

As far as a first step goes, this one is a good one.

I F#cking Love This Album is a multi-contributor zine that takes you not through individual songs that the contributors love but the albums that they love. As Chops puts in the intro:

You didn’t have to pick your “favorite” album, or the first album you fell in love with, or the album you most like right now, just an album you love.

When it comes to zines like this that explore favourites or loves, I’m glad to see that there are multiple contributors. That way you can get all sorts of recommendations that are inspired by different backgrounds and influences. Where I expected a zine of text where everyone shared their favourite and that was it, I was impressed to find different takes on the prompt.

One person responded in comic format, and another person focused on the often-overlooked movie soundtrack album. All this made for a more engaging read and even more different varieties of things to look up.

You’ll still get what you expect with this zine, though: a scavenger-hunt-esque zine that may introduce you to music you’ve never heard of before or that reminds you to go back and listen to those old loves.