✷ greetings! ✷

hi hello! i’m back from my trip and slowly getting back into the swing of things (and by that i mean i’m totally overwhelmed lol) (and listening to unmasking autism by dr. devon price and going “hmmmmm” a lot).

image description: a brick row home in lancaster painted white with a pale pink door, there is ivy climbing the exterior.

in case you haven’t thought about palestine today, here’s a lil info about a cool thing shay mirk is collaborating on:

This website, Cartoonists for Palestine, launched this week. It collects comics published in various places so they can be read and shared—now and for the future. We are also putting together a print anthology of comics about Palestine that will be a fundraiser for Palestinian medical aid groups.

✷ craft or diy ✷

i had the pleasure of being on maira’s podcast long arm stapler recently. listen to the episode here! i also loved mo tart’s episode! its so neat to hear my zine friends talk to my other zine friends :)

i’m trudging through two wholesales right now while also trying to make inventory for olympia’s teeny tiny zine fair and oly punk rock flea market. basically “busy” is my entire personality right now. i can't wait for that to not be the case! i’m stuck in a weird place where i have too much work for one person but can’t super afford to hire help. also still unsure how/what to delegate!!

✷ clean air oly ✷

i recently purchased a carbon filter for the smart air blast mini! this additional filter will be helpful for people with chemical sensitivities. the carbon filter will catch anything too tiny for the HEPA filter.

i’m excited to share that oly queer figure drawing will be using the purifier this month, as well as both upcoming second home gigs. it’ll be at olympia zine fest and oly punk rock flea market next month, too! check out the calendar on the site! i’m still trying to get the word out about it. cleanairoly.org.

smarter hepa started an affiliate program for clean air clubs, and tbh i don’t fully get how it works but this is my affiliate link. oh yea, i also made stickers! the plan is to slap them up around town to raise awareness (hmu if you wanna help!)

image description: a pile of cloud shaped stickers with a silver, glittery border. the inside of the clouds are white with a black drop shadow and black text reads, “oly fans: cleaner air is waiting… clean air oly dot org.”

✷ second home ✷

we are officially incorporated, baby! now we have a bunch of time sensitive paperwork to complete and i am very overwhelmed!!! we had two excellent shows in march, here’s some photos.

image description: some second home organizers, friends & family & our guest, who brought opie. everyone is sitting on the practice space floor at josh’s place, all but one person is masked. there’s a handmade fabric banner on the wall in the background that reads, “special moves.”

✷ do diy dot org ✷

spring cleaning is coming along, i got a lot done in march. i’m always looking for volunteers if you wanna toil in the spreadsheets with me :) everyone loves sending emails, right? right??

✷ upcoming stuff! ✷

every single one of these events will feature air purification :)

april 19: The Pond, Generifus, Guidon Bear at ABC House - 7pm, $10 NOTAFLOF, all ages, mask up (down a short, steep flight of stairs).

april 23: Box Elder, Wavers, Stink Animal & the Bad Smells at Swamp House - 7pm, $10 NOTAFLOF, all ages, masks required (uphill bumpy driveway walk required).

[more info for both gigs at secondhomegigs.org - i won’t be at either of these cuz kyle and i are gonna go look at the tulips in skagit, as is tradition.]

april 24: oly punk rock flea market applications close .

april 27: oly prfm vendor selection (all applicants will be contacted to let ya know your status).

some may events!

may 19th: teeny tiny olympia zine fest at the olympia library, 11-4pm, free, all ages, mask up, ADA accessible.

may 26th: oly punk rock flea market at friendship hall, 12-4pm, free, all ages, masks required, ADA accessible.

✷ lancaster stuff / gender stuff ✷

i barely had a moment’s rest on my trip! here’s a little recap and reflection.

image description: 4 images, top left is a view from the plane of clouds that look like popcorn, top right is my pal danica setting up the flyer art show. bottom left is lancaster zine fest chaos, bottom right is my bff nick cuddling his cat, penelope.

i took my nibling (bro’s kid) to not one, but two gigs! they’re 14 and have excellent taste in music. i got tickets way in advance to see mannequin pussy and soul glo at phantom power, and then found out there was a house show happening across the street on the same night. so i picked up my nibling and linked up with buds, watched one set at papa’s palace before getting pizza and heading to phantom power. the show was fantastic and my nibling had a great time. i’m probably the coolest uncle ever.

get to the gig: a retrospective of lancaster diy show flyers 2012-2024 was really great! danica and i set up the show on thursday before the gig(s) and it was nice to just post up on friday and let the friends come to me. it was awesome to see so many friendly faces!! it’s up at levengoods for the whole month of april if you happen to be reading this from lancaster, pa.

lancaster zine fest was absolutely wild! if you encountered me, you’ve probably heard me say this 100 times already but when i was living in lancaster 10 years ago, i knew like 4 people who made zines. it was so fucking cool to see so many local folks slinging zines and the fest was SO BUSY! ALL DAY! also, so queer??? it was amazing to see so many visibly queer people, where were y’all when i lived there? i had the pleasure of sitting next to my friend and inspiration erin dorney the whole time and we traded zines (10/10, would recommend). shout out to the 3 people who made day trips to check out zine fest and say hi to me! <33333 my zine haul is currently on it’s way to me with all my table display stuff via ups but maybe i’ll share some of my favs in next month’s newsletter. i would love to table lancaster zine fest again :)

unfortunately my rental car broke down on the way home from zine fest and i had the absolute displeasure of scrapping the rest of my plans, being burned out/unable to get the alone time i needed post-fest, and subsequently having a big blowout fight with a family friend about misgendering me. visiting family is always fraught re: trans stuff and i haven’t been so disregulated since the last time i was in PA when the same fight happened (but with my mom). i was pleasantly surprised that my younger brother understands how to they/them me now, and one of my mom’s friends shocked me by letting out a ‘they’ or two, but the general consensus seems to be, “it’s too hard, i’m too old, you’re never here, how am i supposed to remember?” (i wrote you a book) or “i’m trying!! you’re lucky we love you!!” (if “trying” means making no effort to change your language at all while loudly proclaiming otherwise).

i keep finding myself wanting to ask, “do you love me? or do you love the carefully constructed image of me that only exists in your mind? because if loved me and wanted to have an authentic relationship, i feel like you would expend the time and effort to make these changes i’ve asked of you.” the current situation says to me, “but we love you! why should we also respect you??” 1,000 years therapy for all of them, please.

in the wake of my trip i have been thinking a lot about how i’d like to be more visibly trans. would it help family reconceptualize my gender and start actually using they/them? probably not, but it would make me feel better lol. unfortunately planned parenthood isn’t taking new patients for HRT and i have too much medical trauma and too little money to pursue top surgery at this time (and binding is sensory hell for me). when will tits be rebranded as gender neutral???

image description: a meme of pearl from steven universe. pearl is looking crushed and betrayed while being stabbed in the back by a kind of shadow pearl. text above pearl reads, “me visiting my family.” text above shadow pearl reads, “‘she.’”

i hate to end on a bummer note! the reality is that family is complicated, and mine is pretty fucked up, even though they spend a lot of time trying to appear otherwise. i’m glad that i’ve learned to see my sensitivity as a strength, and that i’ve surrounded myself with people who share my values and come through for me when i need them. i won’t give the bad parts of the visit the satisfaction of fucking me up! lol.

✷ fucking hurray ✷

• i did a solo flight again and it turns out i’m just not that anxious about flying!

• i got to see lots of friends and acquaintances and do cool art/music/zine stuff

• i got to come home to my chosen family and my bed and my bidet

• my favorite kind of cherry blossom is starting to happen!

• flowers!!!!

• i have built a beautiful life for myself that i am always relieved to return to <3

take care til next time <3