deafula #5 interview with my mother
“Kerry interviews her mom on what it’s like to be a hearing parent of a deaf child, growing up in a time when there were a lot less resources for deaf people, and not getting much information or guidence about what to expect or what to do. The interview includes a really sweet story that her mom remembers about when Kerry first got her hearing aids.” – Cindy Crabb
On March of 2013, I went on a week-long zine tour. It was one of the best experiences of my life.
Deafula #6 is TOUR STORIES. In this issue I blissfully recount my experience of my first zine tour, especially presenting on the Chicago Zine Fest 2013 panel on disability and zine writing.
Confessions of nerves, sweet moments, and funny stories, but also: struggling with requesting accommodation, what it’s like to be the lone deaf person traveling with a group of hearing people, and navigating the murky waters of good intentions versus reality.
Quarter-sized, 50ish pages, photocopied, cut and paste.
Deafula #7 is a very special issue, as it was the result of a grant I received in late 2013: the Leeway Art and Change grant.
This issue centers on disability access in our local zine / radical communities and how we can better our approaches. A truly important issue that is very close to my heart.
Half-sized, 50ish pages, photocopied, cut and paste.
Deafula #8: THE RELATIONSHIPS ISSUE.
The issue explores what it is like to be a deaf person married to a hearing person. I look at my past relationships with hearing persons and then trace the journey my hearing husband and I took to come to a place of mutual support and understanding when it came to my deafness.
When only one person has a disability in a relationship, it can complicate things. You both want to retain your independence, but also be able to rely on that person in the way that partners do — except your version of “relying” looks a lot different than an abled bodied person’s does. Where is the line? What is “too much”? When do you move from “this is what partners do for each other territory” and into over-reliance and being a burden?
On all of this and more: ableism, protection, expectations, feelings of burdensomeness, resentment, and the joy of mutual support. Includes a special Q&A with my partner (the light of my goddamn life!).
Quarter-legal-sized, 44 pages pages, photocopied, cut and paste. Cover art by Sara Bear.
Danger Unheard: Deafness and the Police with support from Research and Destroy 2014
Quiet Riot: aka: The Shy Sober Kid Zine by Fabian
i really believe that i was set up to be awkward. being an immigrant brown kid in the u.s. is isolating and i have learned to navigate the tiring hyper-visibility and invisibility that comes with being who i am. i learned early on to code switch on some fronts like school and with my friends parents. but when it came to peers i didn’t get the memo and i was left with my internalization of hyper-visibility and invisibility to fall back on. what this meant that i was either incredibly quiet and hard to get to know or loud and lacking tact. there was little gray area for me growing up…
the thing about getting sober is that it doesn’t solve the problems or issues that we had when we were drinking. getting sober didn’t get rid of racism for instance. i still deal with that shit on the daily but what it did what it gave me time to figure my shit out. i mean think about the hours and hours occupied either drunk or hungover, now that i don’t have that i have time for other shit. but the downside to all that is that it gives me time to think about my past and all the things i could do differently. also being sober means that there is no out of having the hard feelings they come regardless of how much we try to run from them. for me my first two years of sobriety meant confronting my discomfort with my awkwardness.
From ‘thoughts on being an awkward sober brown queer’ in Quiet Riot aka the shy sober kid zine available at Left Bank Books in Seattle and available to read at the zine library in Halifax, Nova Scotia. email riotbrrrlzines@riseup.net if you want a copy
xx fabian
Body Image, fatness and blackness by Jacq Applebee
Thoughts, poems and some body-positive erotic fiction!
16 pages long, A5 half size, typewritten with black and white illustrations.
Over 18s only due to the erotic story
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A blaze of candles on my cake Growing old when you’re BISEXUAL, black and disabled. by Jacq Applebee
Does getting older fill you with dread? For many lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people, this fear may be justified. But our future doesn’t have to be full of fear. I explore some of the realities of being black, bisexual and disabled in a world that can be rough. I hope to spark hope for anyone reading this.
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Hard Femme #1 by Kirsty Winters
it’s a perzine I made about identifying as a hard femme – or basically, being queer, tough, poor, working class, fat and femme. It’s hand written with some bad art and contains writing about histories, embodiment, cooking, fashion, films, and body modification.
Hard Femme #2 by Kirsty Winters
“Hard Femme” is a perzine I made about identifying as a hard femme – or basically, being queer, tough, poor, working class, fat and femme. This issue contains writings/illustrations about non-monogamy/dating, hair, clothes, money, shit jobs, exercise and self care. It also has some super rad submissions from other hard femmes!
Hard Femme #3 by Kirsty Winters
“Hard Femme” is a perzine I made about identifying as a hard femme – or basically, being queer, tough, poor, working class, fat and femme. This issue contains writing and drawing about mental health, introversion, undoing people, poly, punk femmes, self expression and home making.
areolas and eyelashes by Geoff
“areolas and eyelashes” is a 32 page zine, featuring a colour cover, features creative non-fiction pieces and questions that challenge the reader to interrogate their own experiences with substance use. this backgrounds are inspired by scenes from 90s movies that i loved when i was a kid (and still do today) and work to compliment the texts. this zine invites the reader to intimately explore experiences of trauma, disability, accessibility, substance use, addiction, recovery, queerness, femme identity, resentment, spirituality, mixed race identity, genderqueer identity, emotionality and love with the writer.
“i am from a home where silent rules and quietness echoed. you could hear the dishes clang against each other, the buzz of the tv, but never the words “i love you”. you couldn’t hear love, maybe you would see it, but i could never feel it”.
This is a beautiful zine, about trauma, addiction, femme, PTSD, sobriety, being misgendered and misraced, written by a “rad, mixed-race gender queer anarchist that believes in creating communities of love and still dreams of smashing the state…” – Cindy Crabb
“fractured///enigmas” is a 36 page zine that features photography and creative writing pieces. the zine explores and complicates understandings of identity, intimacy, community, queerness, gender, anarchy, mental health experiences, fashion, race, ethnicity, 12-step culture, disability, addiction, recovery, trauma, memory, & spirituality. the artwork for this zine is inspired by pop culture, urban street wear, nature and personal photographs.
nobody cares: pieces to pathways by Geoff
“nobody cares: pieces to pathways” is a 20 page zine that features creative writings, online status updates and academic texts. “nobody cares” is inspired by a saying that my dear friend kyle used to say. this saying has always inspired me because when he used to say “nobody cares”, i still always cared for him no matter what. this zine covers topics ranging from selfie culture, to sober stories, mixed race identity, difficulties and humility. it features a colour cover with images and backgrounds that have been repurposed from old magazines. during the time this zine was written, the following quote from author thomas king was kept in mind, “the truth about stories is that that’s all we are”.to live outside of sexist conditioning and norms.” —Herizons Magazine
Activist Journeys 