and here you are living, despite it all
???

and here you are living, despite it all is a full-colour A7 mini zine of images and short poems.

I’ve mentioned two things before in my reviews:

1. I know very little about poetry other than what I like
2. Sometimes I have a zine for quite a while and end up reading it when I need to read it

This zine touches on both… but it also inspires some confusion as well.

and here you are launches right into short poems, each one taking one or two pages. Each poem is accompanies by handdrawn swirls of colour and cut and paste elements. I must admit that I didn’t even think about pems until I saw the “All Poems by Rupi Kaur” on the back of the zine. Yet the classification became less important when I thought about the words. Each one speaks to me of finding strength in survival and self. Every piece became its own bit of art to me – to be thought about as little or as much as I desired. In my case, I thought about each a lot.

What’s clear to me is that this is definitely what you make of it – like most forms of art. What I’m not clear about is whether this is a zine by Rupi, in honour of Rupi… There’s no social link or other name to look up. Admittedly, I wasn’t familiar with Rupi (or the controversies) until I looked it up thinking that the person who made the zine was Rupi.

Now I have no idea.

Alas, I’m reviewing it anyway. Because, for me, the words are important. They gave me some quiet contemplation time in my own mind, for which I am grateful. So whether Rupi made this or someone made it in honour of those words, thank you.

Full Disclosure 1-3
Hadass Bar Lev
https://hadass420.wordpress.com/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/pmsmess/

Full Disclosure 1-3 is a full-colour set of three A7 mini-zines, each of which is based on a prompt from a friend. These minis were mad as part of ZineWriMo 2019 (the prompts list set by yours truly).

Full Disclosure 1 takes on the topic of being Jewish and living in Israel, 2 takes on motherhood, and 3 takes on Hadass’ zine origins. Each zine is a short read but an interesting one, and I am grateful to know more about someone I consider to be a friend.

I love the ‘prompted by friends’ type of zine because you never know what people would like to know about you, and you never know what you have yet to learn about people you know. Hadass’ layout for these zines is simple and easy to read – each like a mini-perzine.

I found all three minis equally interesting on different levels. I enjoyed learning more about Hadass and also enjoyed Hadass writing voice, which is full of metal and strength. Each mini left me more interested to read the next – the set making me eager to dive into her other zines.

Hadass is always great about including ‘loud and clear’ socials, which is very much appreciated.

I can see this set of zines being a great first step to people not only being introduced to Hadass as a person but to her fun, badass style. I quite enjoyed them all and hope to see an extension of this set into a series come ZineWriMo 2020.