✷ greetings ✷

hello from march! it snowed all over the crocuses that were starting to bloom and i find that offensive! i saw my first daffodil in bloom yesterday as i was driving home from physical therapy and my jaw literally dropped. what a welcome sight. i’m so ready for winter to be over (: anyway, let’s get this party started!
 

✷ oly punk rock flea market ✷

is happening! sunday, march 26th at olympia lamplighters. we have more applicants than spots, indoor free BIPOC spots are filled, there's a bunch of outdoor spaces open. naomi and i just have to curate, then email folks to let ‘em know if they have a spot or are on the waitlist. the form is still open rn but basically functioning as a waitlist. shout out to naomi for being the best co-organizer i could ever ask for <3

if you missed registration and you wanna vend next time, the best way to do that is to sign up for the mailing list! we send out an email when applications open and another a week before the event. when will the next one be, you ask??? i have no idea! the next time i maybe have capacity is october, so possibly then.

we don’t have an official event flyer yet cuz naomi and i are collaborating on one, but this application flyer has all the deets, as does our website (where you can also sign up for the mailing list, and which i coded from scratch and am very proud of even tho it is not very mobile responsive sry!), olypunkrockfleamarket.com.

image description: oly punk rock flea market, 3/26/23 from 11-4 at olympia lamplighters (211 fourth ave e). ada accessible, masks required. handmade, secondhand, art, weird, cheap! questions? olypunkrockfleamarket at gmail. not on flyer, but the event is free and open to the public (unfortunately it costs $ to vend, cuz spaces cost $ to inhabit).
 

✷ changes ✷

it was all i could do to not entitle this section ch-ch-changes last time, so i had to type it this time! if you’re following along at home, i implemented a ton of changes to my ~work life balance~ last time i wrote, and things have been going pretty well. here’s a report-back that nobody asked for!

✷ my new work schedule has been going pretty well
✷ i cannot recommend no-phone hours enough
✷ throw your phone into the ocean
✷ okay not really but i’ve been strictly staying away from my phone after dinner and instead reaching for my journal when i get the itch to scroll- i feel so much more present and so much less like i need to buy random shit i don’t actually need all the time?? fucking targeted ads
✷ i still really hate leaving the comfort of my home/room/blanket nest and my social battery doesn’t last much longer than 2 hours but maybe i’m just like that now (is it 30s?? is it year 3 of a pandemic people are pretending is over??)
 

✷ zine news / shop news ✷

some song: my favorite elliott smith deep cuts is now officially available in my shop. i was explicitly trying to do some art without thinking at all about whether or not it was “mArKeTaBle” during my big long break, so i’ll be excited if i sell more than a handful of ‘em.

i decided to get some new stickers made to have at the punk rock flea market, which will be in my shop as soon as they’re in my hands. all the anti trans fuckery in the news lately has been majorly bumming me out, and i wanna remind my fellow QTs that we’re a gift. so, stickers. give some to the precious QTs in yr life.

image description: designs for circle stickers that each feature a vintage illustration of a pansy and say, “trans folks are a gift to the world” and “queer folks are a gift to the world” respectively, around the border of the circle. their backgrounds will be holographic purple, stickers will have a matte finish.

i reopened bulk orders and pretty much immediately had a request for 70 copies (cumulatively) of how to support your non-binary family member. which is pretty frickin cool.

in other how to support your non-binary family member news, i just dropped 5 consignment copies off at orca books cooperative! this is exciting because while these zines are available in various bookstores around the country, this is the first time they’ll be available in downtown olympia (they’re available at gallery boom, but it’s not Downtown or a Bookstore, so it feels different!).
 

✷ save the date ✷

i don’t have much info about it yet and i feel like i’m not allowed to talk about it?? but mark your calendars for april 16th if you happen to be in/around the portland area and wanna see me sweat thru a public, in-person zine reading at a very well-known book store!
 

✷ bday thanks! ✷

IF YOU SENT ME BDAY MAIL I LOVE YOU, THANK YOU!
seriously, i feel very seen by y’all. which is good news because birthdays have always felt dysphoric for me, long before i had the words to describe it. it feels trite to complain about being given gifts, but i grew up with two brothers, and they always got cool, utilitarian shit like fleece lined hoodies. i got scented lotions and other stuff “for girls,” even though i was never really into stuff “for girls” (i was a weird little goblin, stalking the forest for toads and salamanders to capture). so gift-type holidays have always been a reminder that people see me as a woman, which Feels Bad!

this year, my mom sent me a card that prominently displayed the word, “daughter” on it. i’d love to say i didn’t let it get to me. it was a rough start to my bday. but then i sifted through the stack of mail that y’all sent, and i felt a lot better. i always wanna respond to everybody individually, but if i’m being honest with myself, i don’t have the spoons for it. so i hope y’all will accept this blurb of gratitude and know that i appreciate every single piece of mail i received. it’s actually unreal to me how thoughtful y’all are and i feel very loved!!

and also i eventually crossed out “daughter” and wrote “child” on the card my mom sent, and texted her a photo of it politely correcting her. probably wasted energy, but i felt momentarily vindicated.
 

✷ fucking hurray ✷

✷ i fell asleep naturally twice in february and that shouldn’t be noteworthy except insomnia Is Hell!
✷ collective groan shows are basically singlehandedly maintaining my faith in diy music atm, not only are they all ages, well-organized and a lot of fun, they’re also the only place i can see a show and know everyone will be wearing masks (i have a lot more to say about this but i think it’s goin’ in a zine. hugh, if yr reading this, thank you for all yr hard work! i can’t say it enough!)
✷ i picked up a copy of gender queer: a memoir by maia kobabe at books with pictures in portland and wow was it excellent
✷ i’ve been generally feeling an expansiveness lately that i hope is a permanent extension of my new schedule and not just cuz spring is coming, it’s nice having ideas instead of just being busy
✷ i’ve listened to a lot of great music this month, some new, some new-to-me!

✷ dry goods (ffo slaughter beach dog, i’m such a sucker for folk guitar)
✷ life of jonny by jonny g and the music factory (from bud tapes, #1 local tape label in my heart) which i can only describe as a journey
✷ new vista house which i got to see live and have been describing as third eye blind meets country and they’ve been describing as dad rock sans kids (from anything bagel, a label that puts lots of loving attention into their releases)
✷ diiv (kyle’s been alternating between the grateful dead and shoegaze/slowcore lately and this band caught my attention)
✷ new great friends from a distance comp (indie bands i like covering other indie bands i like for a good cause! proceeds go to the national abortion fund)
✷ ther’s new album which heather leaked to me and i can’t wait til it comes out so i can YELL ABOUT HOW GREAT IT IS (WITH LINKS)

thanks if you read this thing lol.
til next time, take care <3