Hello, zine friends, and welcome to the latter half of the month. In today’s prompt, we have a bit of sharing is caring in the form of a review!
Sharing is Caring: Review a Zine
It’s pretty easy to see my bias in regards to reviewing zines, but I still stand by my opinion that reviews are an incredibly important way to share the word about zines you love, zinemakers you admire, and all the things between. So read below for my offering for this day…
The Common Cold: A Zine About Mental Illness Presentation and Priorities
Kirsty
https://twitter.com/MsKirstyFace
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/ForeverIncomplete
The Common Cold is a full-colour A6 perzine about the beginnings of and growing up with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the complexities of dealing with more than one mental illness, and finding peace with how you prioritise things in your own treatment.
The Common Cold starts off with an introduction to Kirsty that had me smiling. (Why does pizza taste so good? Hm.) From there, Kirsty writes about having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder since the age of twelve and the paths of medications, therapy, and finding peace in how you want to prioritise things with your own mental health treatment.
A big part of this zine is Kristy using the metaphor of having a cold – dealing with OCD on a regular basis as a constant but manageable condition – versus being punched in the face – struggling with things like depression and anxiety. I think this is a great way to make things clear to people whether they are people who don’t deal with mental illness or people who also deal with multiple mental illnesses.
The aesthetic of this zine feels open and calming to me with clearly printed text pasted onto patterned paper backgrounds. The topics discussed are difficult ones, and the small touches to make the reader feel more at ease are appreciated. (By this reader, anyway.)
I identified with a lot with this zine, and I’m very grateful to Kirsty for the metaphor to use in my own life and way of thinking. The funny thing is the timing as well considering that I have been struggling a bit with my own therapy with the idea that I’ve been getting “off track”. Reading Kirsty’s words has helped me to see a way of being kinder to myself.
I didn’t know what to expect with The Common Cold, but I am so glad I read it – and have read it at this particular time in my life. I think it’s a great read whether you also have OCD and/or are dealing with multiple diagnoses.
Other Participants:
https://www.instagram.com/violett_komplett/
https://www.instagram.com/bydhiyanah/
https://www.instagram.com/dungeon_maven/
https://hadass420.wordpress.com/
https://echopublishing.wordpress.com/
https://www.instagram.com/gothcupcake/
https://www.instagram.com/14thframe/
Novice Zinester
Herinza Syadza