hello comrades i am back again with some more upcoming art happenings for your consideration. number 1 on my list is the party for the SECOND ISSUE OF INITIAL MAGAZINE, this friday may 1 from 7-9pm at Nationale! [party horn emoji x100]

i am very excited about this issue, which features all new writers and artists (except for me and Jaydra), and some new formats we’re trying out (experimental interview, gallery-hopping scene report, WIRED vs TIRED, and an advice column!!). plus, thanks to my improved indesign skills, it’s got way fewer errors than issue 1 had—i’m learning as we go, friends.

new writers in issue 2 include: Justin Duyao, Joy Ulienne Alice, Ryan-Ashley Anderson with Ben Skiba, Bennett Reeves, Leslie Hickey, and Brandi Kruse. artists in this issue are: Midori Hirose, Gus Cannon, and Samantha Yun Wall.

thank you to all our wonderfully supportive issue 2 advertisers: False Front, Bardo Tea, and Nationale! special thanks to May at Nationale, who has generously offered to host our party in her legendary gallery and bookshop off E 22nd and burnside. plus you'll get to witness the rough and tender beauty of Amy Bay’s floral paintings (and monotypes!) in oh deeear mee, which is on view until may 10. <3<3<3 and yes we scheduled our magazine event on a major labor organizing holiday once again! maybe this will become a tradition…

there will not be any scheduled readings at the event, but we will have magazines for sale, light refreshments, and an exclusive opportunity to contribute your nominations for the next HOT or NOT/WIRED v TIRED/IN and OUT column! come prepared with your own hot takes [fire emoji!!!] (i didn’t feel like figuring out how to insert emojis but we all know what they look like)

still not convinced? scroll down a bit to check out what my esteemed co-editor Jaydra said about this exciting and sure to be star-studded art event in her newsletter just a few days ago.

NEXT UP: on may 20th, i will have work in the GLEAN show (yes, this is my art residency at the city dump!), in a “pop up” space in inner southeast portland. then, a mere 4 days later, i’ll be screening a video as part of the final event of this year’s outer voice arts alliance on may 24 at dekum street theater. and after that i will be sleeping in for a while i hope! more soon, stay tuned for details : ) i love you all, thank you for reading

(below, a message from Jaydra Johnson, co-editor of INITIAL):

Hello! It’s been a long time since I last wrote you because I have been busy working on lots of irl projects and finding myself increasingly unable to open the computer or look at my phone. By night, I dream of Luddites and their rage-flung clogs. By day, I bother colleagues in their classrooms vs sending another email and print long articles on the teacher’s lounge copier. I get lost driving because I can’t bear to give more of my data to Maps.

Initial Magazine, a project I started with spritely chaos demon + smart gal Martha Daghlian last year, represents another insistent return to the analog world. We use a printer in town, we don’t sell issues online, and we don’t use pre-made templates. We stock at local spots: Lost Avenue Books, Mother Foucault’s, Word Virus, Powell’s, and Nationale, who will host our next launch party.

Come hang out, pick up an issue, check out Amy Bay’s work in the gallery, meet the contributors, and make a new pal. This party won’t have a formal reading because we don’t want people to have to do more stuff!! We do enough!! Hope to see you there.

xo

Jaydra

PS. Initial won’t have a website, but we are starting a Ghost so that writers can have accessible online evidence of their work. I’ll be importing my list from Substack over there, so watch out for that email. Of course, feel free to unsubscribe if you aren’t interested in getting those emails