Back in October, my twin and I made a split zine together! Telegram #38 by Maranda Elizabeth is about their Return of Saturn and turning thirty, learning how to interpret their birth chart, astrology as a method of self-exploration & healing, reconnecting with their past selves and memories of being a teenage witch, practicing Tarot in daily life, lost time, friendship & jealousy, fragmentation, learning how to love themself, and recovery with trauma and chronic pain. My half, Critical Breakfast #1 is about my Saturn return, synchronicity, a bad landlord, working as a lab rat, sobriety, learning to build self-confidence, and an auspicious Tarot reading. It’s available for $3.00 plus postage, and order instructions are posted here.

As well as back issues of Telegram, Maranda is also offering Tarot readings via their Etsy shop.

In other news, Zine Nation recently posted an interview with me – it’s about running a distro, some of my favourite zine fairs, what I’ve been reading lately, and a little bit about money and keeping zines financially accessible.  I also just registered for a table at the Ottawa Zine Fair, which is taking place in late-May of 2016.

The catalogue isn’t entirely up to date (I guess it never really is), but I’ve added a lot of new stock, including perzine La Bola de Cristal,  comp zine Masculinities (compiled by Cindy Crabb of Doris and Filling The Void), and Fashion Zine: Coming Out Of The Closet, a really cool zine whose simple title does not say enough about how absolutely perfect Estelle’s writing is. In short, it’s a zine about femme fashion and about coming out as a trans woman, with writing that is powerful and funny and maybe even sometimes leans into the surreal. I’m going to excerpt from the intro here, because she articulates why fashion is so important:

“Maybe I wanted to try and make some really bad jokes in this introduction as an attempt to point to some of the ways that writing a zine about fashion immediately makes me feel bad, ha. There is this general idea that fashion is vapid and vain, or, at its worst, that it is little more than a leisurely pursuit for rich people. To talk about fashion or dress in a crowd often elicits serious groans as if the subject has no political or cultural implications whatsoever. As if fashion somehow exists in a bubble separate from our social world. As if it is not constructed, valued, and informed by the very same power structures which influence all other aspects of our lives. As if nothing is at stake when we speak about fashion or when we dress ourselves. As if it is not a site of both oppression and resistance. As if fashion has nothing to say about bodies, race, gender, sexuality, disability, desirability, or class. As if it has no personal merit. As if one person’s experience wearing clothes is translatable or universal. As if it is not incredibly important to everyone whether you care about fashion trends or not.”

It may not feel like it, but from tomorrow onward, the days are getting longer again. Happy winter solstice, everyone! Light a candle and set your intentions for the year ahead.