✷unbounded nameless future ✷

hey y'all, greetings from the new year! it's already been a wild ride. i can't resist a list, so here's where my head is in terms of new year goal-setting:

2021 goals and practices

✷ come out to parents again (with zine)
✷ adopt routines that discourage scrolling phone time (crafts before internet)
✷ be gentle with myself
✷ nuture existing close friendships
✷ foster new connections through really good communication (choose folks who choose me)
✷ be direct and ask for what i want
✷ heal that 2020 trauma
✷ learn necessary business stuff (bookkeeping/tax stuff)
✷ meet my monthly income goal more often than not
✷ draw something i'm proud of
✷ write a song
✷ make a zine
✷ garden from seeds i saved and pass seeds off to my community

post-covid goals

✷ hug my friends
✷ go to/play a gig
✷ visit pa for a while
✷ travel alone
✷ visit buds in weird cities
✷ get a haircut
✷ go on some dates
✷ drive on the highway again
✷ table some zine fests
✷ do an artist residency
✷ throw a belated zine release party or some other celebration

it's not on the list specifically, but i hope to put out a 7th issue of my wanderer perzine in 2021. i'm a little uncertain exactly what it'll be since this newletter has been covering a lot of what i'd put in there, but i'm betting it may repurpose some things from here and incorporate new stuff, too.

✷ happy bday craft or diy! ✷

my moniker turns 10 this year! craft or diy started in my friends' yard in west chester, pa at a punk rock flea market. i was 21 and very stoked on diy. i had just put out my first zine (the anxiety & self care zine), i had a whole lot of buttons and some crafty stuff like record bowls. i didn't really play music, so zines were how i hoped to participate in the scene. i picked the name 'craft or diy' because it made me laugh and my own name is hard to spell. time flies! i knew i was gonna be a lifer the moment i discoverd diy.

✷ music news ✷

i am officially part of the bud tapes family :) there's still a few tapes available if you want a physical copy of my new voice memo demo. bud tapes also just released fellow olympia bud jack habegger's new ep, oy vey! ffo: jeffrey lewis, silver jews. even though gigs aren't a thing right now, i'm glad there's diy music stuff to get excited about.

✷ zine news ✷

i closed the preorder for how to support your non-binary family member on the 18th and there are now physical and digitial copies of the zine available through my etsy. i ended up sending out 82 copies! since i've added it to etsy, i've easily sold 10 more. i'm really stoked at the reception of this zine and i hope it does a lot of good out there in the world. i plan on sending one to my parents along with a persuasive letter after my birthday next month. wish me luck.

the next zine i wanna make is tentatively titled, "best show ever!" it'll be a submission-based zine where folks submit writing, photos, flyers, comics, misc art about the best diy show they've ever been to, and why it was so great. i plan to send the call to folks i know personally first, so if you wanna be in the loop, reply to this email to let me know and i'll add ya to my list of folks to contact.

✷ shop updates ✷

it's valentine season! all past valentines are in stock on etsy, plus i added 3 new ones (these snails, plus an elliott smith valentine and adrianne lenker valentine respectively). i love making valentines but my birthday is right near valentine's day which often leaves me feeling existentially lonely when i don't recieve any (fun fact, in my teen years i was dumped on my birthday not once but twice). i know it's just a hallmark holiday, but i love love! platonic and otherwise. it's the perfect let-down for me too, since my love languages are gifts and words of affirmation (y'know, the exact components of a valentine). i digress though, this year i'm asking for friends to send me valentines for my birthday. i turn 31 on the 10th! if you wanna send me a valentine, you can send it to the address at the bottom of this email.

✷ fucking hooray ✷

this month, i'm grateful for jenny slate. the world is a better place because jenny slate is in it. little weirds is the book my heart needed. it's bizarre, warm, goofy, relatable and uplifting. i highly recommend it if you are heartbroken, existentially lonely, or the type of person who breaks their own heart all the time. this book will give you a hug and make you chuckle through the tears. watch her netflix special, stage fright, too! i am deeply in love with her.

my other fucking hooray is friends and small parcels! the other week i found a little package at my front door that contained the new issue of "medium rock n roll," josh hoey's zine (of reflective tapes & josh's restaurant fame, josh also has music on bud tapes under the name left shark). there was also a fake show flyer in there that made me smile. shortly before that, i found a surprise copy of ian vanek's (japanther, howardian) zine 99 millimeter in my mailbox. i also recieved a patch, some stickers and a little comic from laurie (pigtails). basically, i love getting mail/presents! and i've been unable to motivate myself to respond to letters lately (though i hope to once the valentine's day rush is over) so it's been really nice to just get stuff i get to look at and don't need to respond to. i've had the pleasure of some very long phonecalls with good friends this month too. it feels so good to connect. i've been on a surprisingly even keel this january, and i hope i take this energy into february. i hope all of you are feeling a slight weight lifted from your shoulders as well. take care <3

love, alyssa

~ past perzine newsletters ~