September: Audrey resides in Clermont-Ferrand, France. She makes comics, crafts, and patches with slogans, paints bloody watercolours, and was a member of The Hand Clapping Girls, a group booking local DIY shows. She likes the work of Sylvia Plath, Patti Smith, Nan Goldin, and Maranda Elizabeth. During her stay, she’ll be making a comic zine about her diagnosis with borderline and the depression that followed. Audrey réside à Clermont-Ferrand, France. Elle fait des bandes-déssinées, des crafts, et des patches à slogans, peint des aquarelles sanglantes, et elle a été une membre de The Hand Clapping Girls, un groupe qui organisait des shows locaux dans un squat auto-géré. Elle aime les oeuvres de Sylvia Plath, Patti Smith, Nan Goldin, et Maranda Elizabeth. Pendant sa résidence, elle fera une bande-déssinée au sujet de son diagnostique de borderline et la dépression qui l’a suivi.

October: Jami Sailor resides in Chicago, Illinois and is a teen librarian who has been self-publishing and reading zines since the mid-90s. Her current titles include Your Secretary and Hex Key. She co-authored Archiving the Underground (with Jenna Brager) about zines in libraries, archives, and academia. During her residency, Jami hopes to complete the final issue of her long running zine, No Better Voice, which will center on the concepts of home and place. This will be Jami’s first visit to Montreal.

To keep up to date on launch parties for each of these zines, as well as general news about Fight Boredom Distro, you can subscribe to this blog via the form at the top of the menu to your right, or you can like my Facebook page.

Wanna know how we chose each zine resident? Well, Stefanie and I sat down at our kitchen table and read through all of the applications together a few days after the deadline. While reading, we were looking for projects that fit within the Ste-Émilie Skillshare’s mandate and Fight Boredom Distro’s submission guidelines, as well as projects that interested us personally and were on a diversity of topics, and applicants who seemed like they understood what Fight Boredom is all about, and are people that we’d love to have hangin’ out at our house. Then we each made a list of our favourites for each month (since applicants were asked about their availability in the months of June, September, and October), and went from there. Our choices were very close, sometimes with my first pick being her second pick and vice versa. We worked it out, and I sent emails to each of the first-choices to check in about availability. Once they were confirmed, I began sending emails to second-choices to ask if they’d like to be put on a list of backups in case of inevitable cancellations (indeed there were multiple cancellations last year, and another one this year). Et voilà, another year of zine residencies at the Tulip Farm!

On that note, Lily Pepper recently wrote some sweet reviews of a couple of Dave’s zines, which you can read over at Ravenswing Zines, a blog that you should probably already be following.

Working backwards in time now, Brianna Dearest also came to stay at the Tulip Farm for a bit… five or six weeks, actually! I don’t write a lot of things on the internet anymore – it all goes into letters, and my journal. Thing is, sometimes really fun things happen and I wanna share it with everyone. And sometimes I just plain forget to write about distro updates. So here goes…

WINTER SURVIVAL – WE DID IT! Somebody asked me the other day, “How was your winter?” and I had to wonder at how I made it through, yet again. Do you wanna know how I did it? Karaoke. I know it sounds like I’m joking, and it probably started as a joke, but I have a pretty serious love for karaoke, like I would probably put it right near the top of the list, with zines and everything, of things that I love and that keep me going. I think of bike-riding as a major anti-depression strategy, but I can’t do that when the roads are snowy and icy. So I replaced it with karaoke et voilà, I had something to look forward to every week. Wanna know what made it even better? Photobooths! While Bri was here, we had a Thursday night tradition of stopping by one of the photobooths at Berri-UQAM, then going to karaoke together. And you know what? She has a couple of new zines out, too! You can get issues #20 and #21 of Motor City Kitty under Zines J-R.

Amber Dearest, five Thursdays in a row.

Brianna Dearest, five Thursdays in a row.

We also spent a day in Cleveland, Ohio together, and then we were off to the Chicago Zine Fest and we got matching tattoos AGAIN. I’m so excited about zinefests and faraway friends that I’ve already booked my table at the Portland Zine Symposium, too.

At the Chicago Zine Fest, photo by Meredith Wallace.

Even more photobooths!!! With Liz Mills, Alex Wrekk, and Brianna Dearest.

Fight Boredom Distro Updates: I’ve just added Broke Ass #2, Truckface #16, Télégramme #24, Motor City Kitty #20-#21, and Zine Crush #1-#2 to the catalogue (I have a comic in Zine Crush #2!), and you can read a more detailed news update here. Most importantly, the deadline for the Fight Boredom Zine Residency is only three days away! Fill out the application and get it in by April 5th, 2013. Bonne chance!

Nicole J. Georges is an award-winning educator, illustrator and pet portrait artist from Portland, Oregon. Nicole has been publishing the autobiographical comic Invincible Summer since 2000, and has toured the country extensively, including two month-long appearances on Michelle Tea’s Sister Spit the Next Generation. Her work has been featured in Tin House, Bitch Magazine, The Rock n Roll Camp for Girls book, and more. In her spare time, Nicole gives advice at Ask Nicole Georges and volunteers with senior citizens. Calling Dr. Laura is her first full-length graphic memoir.

Cassie J. Sneider is the author of the life-changingly hilarious memoir Fine Fine Music, a memoir about growing up on Long Island, getting into rockandroll, and having many minimum-wage jobs along the way. She has been touring and performing around the country with comics and zines since 2008, including a nation-wide Sister Spit tour with Michelle Tea and Dorothy Allison in 2012. Cassie is a highly-acclaimed story teller, and hosts a monthly storytelling series called THE WORST! in Brooklyn and San Francisco.

This is a really great week for FUN FUN FUN in Montréal: the aforementioned reading and live advice-giving is taking place tomorrow evening, Thursday afternoon will see the Midnight Kitchen Library & Calendar Launch (where I’ll be tabling with the distro), and this weekend, we’ll finally be showing off our winter projects at the Fun-A-Day 5 à 7 and Show & Tell at the Ste-Émilie Skillshare. If you’re in the city, please come out to these fantastic events!

Winter is almost over – it’s time to come out of hibernation and show each other what we’ve been working on during these endless cold days.

Saturday, March 2nd: 5 à 7 and Show & Tell
Sunday, March 3rd: Gallery Hours 12-6pm

Do you have a project you’d like to display? Send an email to amber.norreanATgmail.com.

What is Fun-A-Day? The premise is simple: pick a project, do it every day in January, then show your work in a big group show. More info at: www.artclash.com

Facebook event here.

As usual, just click How To Order, send your payment, then check your mailbox in a week or two. By the way, this’ll be your last chance to order from Fight Boredom before the springtime, as I’ll be going on hiatus while I travel and work on other projects – I’ll have all kindsa new zines listed when I’m back.

Every year, I make a winter survival to-do list, something to keep me going through this season of chilly weather and early sunsets. But this year, I haven’t needed it! Just like I trained myself to become a Morning Person, I seem to have made myself into a Winter Person, too. People complain to me about the cold and I’m just like, “Huh?” I’ve been walking all over the city; eating lunch at the People’s Potato, going to shows, singing at karaoke… Still, there are many times when I’m just curled up in bed reading a book or a zine (I’ve already read six books this year!), and I’ll bet y’all are doing some winter reading too. Just to make sure you’ve got enough to keep occupied ’til springtime, I’M HAVING A DISTRO SALE YAY! Maybe you can get zines for your valentine and read ‘em together!

At the end of the day, I realized that it was the Perfect Sunday. And I wanted it to happen again. So I started inviting friends over – Hey, I’m having a Quiet Party today. Bring letters, patches, crafts, whatever. People are welcome to show up throughout the day. Things usually get going around noon and then people are out by dinnertime. Generally, there are three or four of us workin’ on stuff at the kitchen table together, though I think we’ve managed to cram fifteen people into our little apartment on a couple of Sundays in the past. I set up a box full of stationery on the kitchen table, brew some tea, sometimes I’ll bake something. The thing about Quiet Parties is that for the most part, they really do remain quiet, and that’s what I like about ‘em. Often, when I’m reading a book or writing letters alone, I wish there was someone next to me doing the same thing. So when I have a Quiet Party, I have the company I’ve been wishing for, but without the pressure of being fun and entertaining and on. We’ll talk and catch up a little bit, we’ll listen to cassette tapes, but we’ve got our own projects to focus on.

The reason I’m writing about our Quiet Parties is because people often ask me what the deal is, and if they can start their own. Well, here it is: Invite a few people over, share your stationery, and you’re set.

When: Sunday January 13th, 2-5pm.
Where: Ste-Émilie Skillshare, 3942 rue Ste-Émilie (métro St-Henri).
Who: Maranda Elizabeth, Hayden Slays, Kit A. and Fight Boredom Distro.
What: Readings, conversation, inspiration. Probably snacks.
$: The event is free. Copies of the book will be available for $25 and zines will be available for $1-$5.00.

From the back of the book: “In Telegram: A Collection of 27 Issues, Maranda tells tales of daily adventures, friendship, gender identity, falling in love with bicycles, getting tattoos, moving out, going crazy, and their experiences with inpatient hospitalizations. They also write about their relationship with their twin sister, and learning how to take care of their mental health within and without conventional institutions, identifying as genderqueer, getting sober, living a creative and meaningful daily life, and finding reasons to keep on going.”

“Telegram is the kind of zine that made me want to start writing zines in the first place. They write about their personal experiences with enough distance and care that they become not purging, but rather small maps that can help us to look at our own lives and the beauty of how we survive and become more fully the people we want to become.” – Cindy Crabb, Doris

Yelle lance aussi Télégramme #24, la traduction française de Telegram #24 qui inclut les articles Yelle Yelle Yelle Bla Bla Bla et Comment Être un.e Bon.ne Ami.e d’une Personne Cinglée. Le zine serait disponible via le Etsy de Maranda et Mad Pride Montréal.

Don’t forget to check out their launch at The Spill in Peterborough, Ontario with one of the funniest people we know – Dave Cave of Everybody Moon Jump (Facebook event here) – and keep up with their tour online. The book will also be available via Fight Boredom Distro in the coming days – keep up with the news here.

My friends Frankie, Morgan, and myself, are organizing a Fun-A-Day event here in Montréal (Facebook event here). The perfect way to fight boredom and keep on goin’ through the winter. I thought I’d write here about what I’m working on, and also include suggestions for others – after all, January is only two days a way!

I’m gonna call my project Food-A-Day. One of my winter goals has been to cook more often and be less anxious about being in kitchens (seriously, I swear I live off of toast and cereal most days), so I’ll be documenting some of my meals and writing daily journal entries on various food-y memories, pizza dates, riots-not-diets… Food is a pretty broad topic that can take me on all kindsa tangents and I’m looking forward to it. In the end, it’ll probably turn into a zine (as I’m sure you may have already guessed).

Christmas Eve breakfast: Tofu scramble with sriracha, toast with avocado and alfalfa sprouts, banana smoothie.

When I was hangin’ with Dave Cave in the fall, he gave me a jar with alfalfa seeds, and told me how to sprout ‘em: put a couple tablespoons of seeds into a mason jar, seal it with cheesecloth, rinse it in the morning and at night et voilà – in a few days, you will have yourself some sprouts! So yummy, and fun to grow in the kitchen during the winter.

It may be too cold to grow things on the balcony, but it’s not too cold to grow things in a jar!

Here are some ideas for things-to-do-a-day: Read a zine; create a self-portrait; make a comic; give something away; try a new tea; write a letter; call a friend; write a haiku; try a new recipe; say hello to a stranger; write down a secret; learn something new about yr neighbourhood; bake something and share it; mend an item of clothing; make a postcard; take a picture; draw something; write about a childhood memory; write a review; learn a new word in a second, third, fourth language; make a diorama; write a song; write down a fear, a hope, and a goal; tell your friends what you love about them; learn a dance move; play a game; pet a cat; make a poster; listen to an album you’ve never heard before… and document your daily efforts!

So, who else is participating in Fun-A-Day? And what are you gonna do?

Let’s talk about wintertime and fresh starts and the New Year. Every autumn, when the leaves turn gold and the nights get colder, I prepare my winter survival strategy: a to-do list to keep me goin’ through the months of snow, freezing temperatures, and early sunsets. This time around, I’ve been saying eat well, read lots, stay cozy, like it’s some kinda slogan. Simple goals. Over the past few months, I’ve been training myself to be a morning person and I’ve been doing pretty well at it. I figure if I can do that, I can train myself to be a winter person, too. Not like a let’s-hit-the-slopes winter person, more like a let’s-not-be-a-melancholic-hermit winter person. So far, so good! I’ve been keeping myself busy with a few writing projects as usual, and mostly just hanging out at the Tulip Farm, surrounded by papers and cats and bowls of rice and soup. I repainted and redecorated my bedroom, and made a comic for Zine Crush. I’ve even been going for walks in the snow just for fun, and that’s saying something – a few days ago, we had a record-breaking snowfall here in Montréal, levels that haven’t been seen since 1971. Lookit this charming video of it!

This is the first year ever that I didn’t visit my family for the holidaze. Really just because I saw them in November and I was tired of bus-ing it all over the place. I wrote letters instead, and my grandparents sent me a pair of slippers in the mail, which is super cute. It’s been very quiet around here, with my roommate gone, and my neighbour left for a few days, too. I’ve had a houseful of cats though – Sebastian, Thunder, and Marie – and it’s been so lovely. On Christmas Eve, I took the day to myself. I wrote lots, listened to tapes, went for a walk, picked up a copy of Putain by Nelly Arcan at a nearby used bookstore, worked on recording some audio zine-y stuff…

My silly face. In the background: A freshly-painted pink bedroom wall and a rainbow of zines.

The best part about staying in Montréal for the holidaze: catsitting! This is Marie, my cousin’s sweetheart of a cat.

Now there are only two days left in the year. For me, it’s a time of self-reflection. On Christmas night, I gathered around a kitchen table with friends (some I’d only met that night) and we talked about the things we’d learned over the past year. It was strange – I usually get shy and anxious in groups of people – but I felt so comfortable. The next day, I wrote a few pages in my journal about lessons learned: “I learned about the difference between loneliness and being alone. I learned about taking care of myself, even if I’m not always very good at it. I learned about the kinds of interactions I wanna have with people, and that it’s okay if I don’t wanna go to parties and do all the “fun” stuff. I learned more about communication and what I want/need from friendships and romantic relationships.” There is so much more, but nothing I wanna share online. It’ll stay in my journal, in letters, in conversations.

Fight Boredom with Fashion: Dyeing a denim vest in my kitchen sink.

Looking back in an old notebook, my resolutions for 2012 were to learn how to approach people and be more sociable; to write reviews of every book I read; to stay sober; to travel lots; to make things happen. I feel like I’ve been successful and I can keep it up (except for the whole book review thing, but I’ll try again). In 2013, I’d like to learn how see the big picture – like, to able to work on bigger projects even if I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much, if anything, by the end of the day. I’d like to build up my self-confidence and I’d like to quit a couple of pesky habits. Oh, and start a savings account, and publish my damn book.

I also want to be more mindful of my sobriety. I’ve been sober for fourteen months now, by the way. Back in November, I picked up a copy of Each Day A New Beginning: Daily Meditations for Women (I know I know, it sounds totally cheesy and unpunk, but hey, the book is stolen; I’m still cool, right?) and I’m looking forward to starting it on New Year’s Day. Each page features a quote from various women in history – Virginia Woolf, Billie Holiday, Carole King, George Sand… – with additional notes. It comes back to the Twelve Steps, but it doesn’t look too God-y. I tried to think about who I might replace God’s name with while reading, and fuck it, my inspirational people are Anaïs Nin and Kurt Cobain. They’ll have to be my version of God for now. (I am half-serious). (I just picked up the book to flip through it, and Anaïs Nin is actually quoted on the January 17th entry).

Writing a letter to Kate in NYC.

Aaaand now it’s five in the morning. I guess I’m in it for the long haul.

How is the winter treating you so far? Any plans for the New Year?

I was at a house show in Verdun last night, tabling with Fight Boredom Distro and doing a zine reading alongside a couple of bands (Critical Convictions from Ottawa and Facials from Montréal). I had been really nervous beforehand, the kind of nervous that makes my guts all queasy and I kept making jokes about vomiting on everyone and then, no, if I vomit anywhere it’ll be on the windows of the yuppie bar on Wellington! A friend had asked if there was anything they could do to help calm my nerves, and I thought about the past, how I would’ve asked for a beer (and then had another and another), and really there was nothing. All I can do now is push myself through it, experience it fully. We had pizza and soda instead. The house slowly filled up with people, many of them friends of mine, and I set up my distro on the kitchen table. Maxx read first, from a zine called The Reverse Cougar Years, a piece about being a sound technician in a field typically dominated by men, then Steve read a hilarious story from Broke Ass #4 documenting his adventures cleaning up and dressing nice and seeing what he could get away with when people were no longer paying attention to the weirdo punk. I read two pieces – an excerpt from The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes #1, and something that I’d started writing last summer called This Is A Punk Show, Not A War, which will surely make its way into one of my zines in the future. There is something scary about these things, about standing alone in front of a group of people, any group of people, but especially a crowd who came to drink and party and see a bunch of bands. But everyone sat on the floor quietly and listened to our stories, and of course my tummyache faded away, because I am always nervous for nothing. When the reading is over, suddenly I want more. I walked away from the stage (I use this term loosely, it was someone’s living room) thinking of all sorts of things I could’ve added. Well, next time.

It wasn’t until later in the night that an acquaintance approached me and asked if I’d like to trade zines. I said yes enthusiastically without even looking at it, and you can imagine how happy I then was to see that it was a compilation on relationships with alcohol and drugs. I read the first couple of pages of Spirits at the show, then finished it today. Numerous contributors had noted this new world of mornings, this time and place that doesn’t really exist when one has gotten wasted the night before. Sleeping in ’til noon and waking up with a hangover was the usual, but now it’s tea and writing and bike rides and sunshine, and it felt so good to be reading this as soon as I’d gotten out of bed, to be nodding along in agreement.

The dreamy Saturday continues, because as I’m writing this, Stefanie has just prepared fresh juice with the Champion juicer that now lives in our kitchen, and I’m about to make a nice breakfast of toast with avocado and hotsauce, and alfalfa sprouts that I grew myself in a mason jar (thanks for showin’ me the ropes, Dave Cave). Then I’ll put on my hoodie and my scarf and ride my bike up to the Mile-End to see a friend’s art installation, and back downhill to Verdun to hang with my bestie. It’s the first of December and we agreed to get together on this day to make plans for the season ahead, our winter survival to-do list.

Fight Boredom Distro News: I’ve just added Telegram #26, Everybody Moon Jump #8, Rot #4, Six Ans De Pouce: L’ordinaire & L’extraordinaire, XXV, SCAM #9, and the SCAM anthology of the first four issues to the catalogue. I’ve also got copies of Well Of Loneliness, a cassette tape by Providence, RI-based queercore crust band Groke, but get ‘em while you can ‘coz I sold half of them at the show last night. I also added a Books section to this website, which will hopefully make it a little easier to find your favourite zine anthologies.

Wanna read more about people’s experiences and struggles with addiction and sobriety? Check out Alex #3-#4, Breakfast For Dinner #1, Filling The Void: Interviews About Quitting Drinking & Using, Sub Rosa #7, and The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes #1, all available via Fight Boredom Distro. And if you’ve written on the topic, please send a copy of your zine for distro consideration, I’d love to read it.