#Yup, time continues to move forward

Well met, friends and enemies!

Making art feels like an awful indulgence right now. Trying to get into a grad school program more so. Whether it’s the military killing people in Iran or ICE killing people at home, things feel so so bleak (/are so bleak? have always been so bleak?).

I think the big advice I hear other artists give in these circumstances is that making art is a form of resistance, or that making protest art can help mitigate the feelings of purposelessness. These strategies have never really worked for me. My art doesn’t feel revolutionary and the protest art I have attempted has always felt… corny or performative even when I believe in the message. Maybe that’s imposter syndrome, or maybe it’s a muscle that I haven’t trained.

I tell myself I have to make art anyway, regardless of how I feel about it, and I have to try and do whatever amount of good is in my power (that also sounds corny as fuck). A lot of times I do have to make art. Whether someone is paying me, or I’ve made a commitment to be at an art market (I have), I have reasons that force me to create, which is kinda nice.

I don’t have anything inspirational to say. I don’t think I have anything more figured out than anyone else in this regard. I’m just going to try to keep going no matter what (and maybe through small interventions good things can happen???).

[this message has been brought to you by world news + seasonal depression + a long long long winter]

To that end, here are somethings that have been keeping me busy:

Association for Writers Programs Conference

Went to AWP in Baltimore through their work exchange program with a friend (hi Fareah!) and met up with the io Literary Journal crew. Alongside attending readings and panels, this was a good reminder that I am part of a broader literary and creative community, even if AWP can skew kind of corporate. I attended a panel that I loved about game design as literary practice that got me excited about digging into making another game.

Grad School Applications

The waiting is killer. Current tally is: 1 acceptance and 5 rejections. Waiting on 4 more decisions,,,

Art Markets

Reza and I are going to be at Zine Jamboree in Ypsilanti on Saturday March 28! Stop by and say hi if you’re there :^)

Also we got wait listed for Detroit Zine Fest (May 16) Fest and LICZ (April 18) so we may or may not be at either of those. I’ll post to socials if we get of the wait list for them.

New Zine & Stickers

Made some new stuff for the upcoming market including a zine version of my short story Twelfth Night retelling. Here’s the cover:

I also designed two new stickers! These along with the zine should all be available on my online shop after the market as long as I still have stock.

Printer #yay

Getting a printer second hand from a friend (thank you!!!) this month so now I can print my zines at home! This will make it way easier to restock them online and also to prep for markets, so I’m very excited. («guy who is pretending not to see the price of printer ink)

Latest Art

Drew some good old fashioned furry art and then turned it into a fake band poster for the ol’ portfolio.

Sometimes it is not enough to just draw winged cat beating up another winged cat with dubiously righteous fury. Sometimes it needs to be art that has a purpose, like advertising a band’s gig. This is because potential employers and collaborators want to know how your art can work for them, so you have to prove your art can do something.

Io Literary Journal

Io Volume 5, which bears my art on its cover, has been printed! I saw it at AWP and when I got home from Baltimore my contributor copies were waiting for me. It’s so cool to see my art printed on a cover and to hold it in my hand!

New Prints

I got a better scan of this gouache painting so I finally added it to my Inprnt store for those interested in a print! There’s also 35% off prints site-wide at the moment (although Inprnt always to seem to be running some kind of sale).

Recent Faves

Some recs from the last couple of months:

• Knitting: I’m bad at it, but I am slowly figuring it out. I found out my library has virtual knitting courses, which is cool.

• One Piece (live action tv show): Bathing in tweenage nostalgia via this show. I love how camp it is.

• The King is Watching: This rogue-lite strategy game about building a castle out of components that only work when you look at them is very addictive.

• Obsidian (software): This is a note taking/organization software like Notion, but it organizes notes by linking them together rather than nesting them under each other. I started using it as a personal wiki and it tickles my brain. I learned about it from Fork My Brain which is a very in-depth public obsidian vault. I’m interested in trying a similar learning-in-public project, so maybe I will eventually make my obsidian notes available to browse through.

Fare well until June and falter not in the face of adversity (and if you should falter, at least do not ṕ̸͎ơ̷͕͂͗͜t̶̛̬s̷͕͖̘̋͂ ̸̯̪̊ṫ̷̼o̷͉̻͙͝ṋ̶̆̏̆ ̴̼̿̔õ̴̞̳͒̅d̴̫̈́)