Issue 26: Hope
Hello hello, friends and good folk!
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how to start today’s newsletter. It feels both silly to talk about art and also deeply important to do so, too. So today's format will be a lil different.
I wasn't looking forward to the results of this past "US" election regardless of who was elected. Whoever won would oversee a continuation of genocides, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the worsening of the climate crisis, and a slew of other hateful agendas toward our own population and abroad.
So I did what I do when I start to feel despondent-- I focus on what I can do. I turn to what makes me feel connected with others and with myself. I look for the helpers, and I try to be one of the helpers. I talk with my loved ones; I work on my art; I volunteer my time and labor to a cause I believe in.
I actively remind myself of Mariame Kaba's teaching that hope is a discipline, and her words exploring that idea in this conversation with Kelly Hayes: "Hope, for me, is in the doing of things." This really resonates with me as a maker. In doing things, I express my hopes for the world.
I hope this comic I make will let someone know they're not alone and help them keep going. I hope this spreadsheet I make will help Co-op members save energy and enable them to use that energy for collective actions. I hope this newsletter will bring you solidarity and encouragement. I hope this food I make will bring my loved ones comfort and nourishment. I hope this illustration I make will challenge people's ideas about disability, fatness, transness.
I hope.
One of the things I find comforting in times like this is working with my hands and being able to touch and hold things. I think it reminds me that I still have power. I can create. I have the ability to affect change on the world around me, even if in small ways. And if I have that ability, so do others. And in working together, we can make a lot of small changes together and create a change larger than ourselves.
So this week, I made a micro comic about hope. I thought about what hope means to me, how it encompasses so many emotions: determination, anger, joy. I thought about the symbolism of light in the darkness and how we have to fight to maintain or even just find hope. I thought about hope as an action, a verb-- a thing we do.
I wanted to make it something tangible, too. Something I could hold in my hands, feel the texture of the paper, smell the colors on the page from the pencils, and remind myself that I can do things. I have the power of creation as both an artist and as a human. And this is what I came up with:
So with all of this in mind, I invite you to create with me.
It doesn't have to be art, it can be food for your neighbors who are unhoused, disabled, seniors, busy parents. It can be a warm and inviting space for community to foster supportive relationships with one another. It can be a spreadsheet that helps your local mutual aid group streamline their process.
It can be a connection with others to combat isolation and loneliness. It can be a time for people to come together to work on a project for the community or to address local social and political needs.
The act of creation is deeply human, one that isn't bound to art alone, and connecting with our humanity is one of the many ways we move forward and bring everyone with us.
OFFERINGS
In lieu of a Recent Reads section today, I offer you these things instead:
Haymarket Books is offering ten ebooks for free for about one more week, it looks like, including Let This Radicalize You by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba, a book about organizing and reciprocal care.
If you make comics or just love them, I invite you to join us in the Cartoonist Cooperative. Being part of what is essentially a union working collectively to support one another individually and to improve conditions for comic creators has been a balm to me year-round, and we can always use more hands on deck. Check out our application page to join.
If you find coloring soothing, I also offer you the line art to some of my work if you would like to download them and color them. You can check out the Newsletter Downloads page on my website to download and print the files (password is NewsBuddies). I'll keep them up on the website through January 5, so you have some time to get them.
ARTIST THINGS
Because I do still need to promote my work, here are some other updates!
I made three of these comics; two of them are available in my shop if you'd like a copy for yourself. They're all 9" x 6", made on 100% cotton watercolor paper with artist grade pencil crayons and Caran d'Ache Neocolor II wax pastels.
I'm tabling at Queer Zest Zine Fest through the 17th! There are some free online events planned for the last few days, too, such as Starting a Queer Art Club tonight at 6 PM ET, Anti-Establishment Poetry tomorrow at 12 PM ET, and Zines as Data Collection on Sunday at 1 PM ET. Hope to see you all there!
Check Out Queer Zest Zine Fest —>
RECENT FAVORITES
Here are some of my favorite things from the past couple weeks:
Eating: Keema Curry with homemade Japanese curry roux
Watching: I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
Experiencing: Officially becoming the Chair of the Co-op’s Newsletter Committee!
How about you? What have been some things bringing you comfort or joy recently?
Hope this week is kind to you 💖 Thanks for reading!
