Hi hello,

New comic! New zine!

I published a new comic essay for February called “Love Improbable”: When we talk about love, we often forefront romantic ones…but what about the love stories of chosen family, of care across generations finding its way? [Content warning: Vietnam War.]

“Love Improbable” is available to read digitally on Patreon. Print copies will also be sent out to patrons who join any ‘snail mail’ tier by March 2nd. I will have zine copies available at upcoming AZN Zine Fest in Portland and Ontario (CA) Art Book Fair.

Will you join my Patreon and help me reach a next goal of $200/month to support heart-writing like this?

Sidetrails: Care

This zine is a continuation of my relationship anarchy quest to expand our conceptions of love and care beyond bio family and beyond heteronormative romance! I've written before about how "I want to be family with more of my friends"; about how fragile our care webs when they rely primarily on romantic partnership; and sharing resources (stories, books, podcasts, worksheets, and frameworks) that have helped me think more expansively about care within community.

Sidetrails: Displacement

I’ve been sitting with this answer from Andrew E. Colarusso to “Where is home?” »

“Home is complicated. These days, I feel it should be complicated. I trust no one who has an immediate and obvious answer to the question of home on stolen land. That said, the incredibly diverse crossroads of Flatbush most resembles the colors of my interior landscape. But, does it feel like home? Absolutely not. Tragically. New York City is not hospitable to the sort of slow wave that does feel like home for me. I feel resentful of New York, what it allows and what it requires. Moreover, there is a connection between our bodies and the land–and to be displaced from land is to be displaced from the body and soul. I am always displaced. But I feel at home in moments ungoverned by juridical borders. I felt at home when I lived in West Texas making art in a quiet studio with Katie. I felt at home discussing art in Diane's Providence apartment. I feel at home rubbing oil into my mother's locks. I feel at home when my sister's dry humor makes me crack up. I feel at home writing poems in the dark, bathed in the atomic light of this terrible and inciting screen.”

“Love Improbable” is a sweet story and focuses on care, but I can’t help but serve it today with a side of discontent: f*ck displacement and all the root causes that lead to family separation.

Wish I had been able to see this traveling DVAN exhibit called Textures of Remembrance featuring Vietnamese writers and artists. Been tiptoeing into this one person’s archival efforts of Vietnam War-era refugee camps including Pulau Bidong featured in my comic essay. “Although this tiny island only had the capacity to accommodate for 4,500 refugees, however during some very ‘peak’ seasons, it once sheltered almost 40,000 people.”

Here’s an ICE Violence & Community Grief Processing Space with the Asian Mental Health Collective on March 3rd.

Take good care,
Stina

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