Ugh, yikes. Here we go again: for the third time this month, I’m sitting down to try and write this blog post. And just like every other time, every failed attempt, I’m ending up here with a major case of writer’s block. The blinking cursor taps like impatient fingers against the WYSIWYG editor box as I delete all the intro sentences I’ve already written.
Why is this so hard? Having writer’s block over this type of post feels extremely fucking silly. Welcome to a blog post that is simply a list of projects I’ve got going on, beyond my usual writing zines + planning KC Zine Con + producing videos. I don’t need to think of anything pithy to say beyond “here is some cool stuff I’m a part of, check it out!” But it’s always those simple posts that get me, because I feel like they’ve gotta be more than just marketing my artwork.
But hey, look at that, now I’ve finally got a good start to this thing. As it always does (see catmothcrow 3 and pocci 4), writing about the writer’s block gets me outta it. So anyways, here’s some cool stuff that I’m a part of. Check it out:
✷ Razorcake ✷
In addition to helping out with some behind-the-scenes website work, I’ve been contributing artwork to the punk fanzine Razorcake, and my first print piece for them (a collage I’m calling “Held by the Warmth of the Sun”) went live in issue no. 153, illustrating Lorde Destroyer’s Dom Mom Diaries column. You can see it up above, at the top of this post. Seeing my own art in a print issue of Razorcake is probably one of the top 5 coolest things that has happened to me this year. I’ve got another piece coming soon in issue no. 154 (illustrating another Dom Mom Diary), as well a collage-photo hybrid for Adam Moore’s next online column (to be posted September 3rd.)
✷ Behind the Zines ✷
Also launching this September is the next issue of Behind the Zines, the wonderful comp about zine culture edited by Billy of the I Love Zines catalog. Issue #22 is all about zine libraries, so I wrote a eulogy for the shuttered Neither-nor Zine Library location and about how everyone should strive to be more like my friend Jaydream, Neither-nor’s founder.
✷ Paper Plains ✷
My zine fest season kicks off next weekend at Paper Plains Zine Fest in good ol’ Larry (that’s Lawrence, Kansas for the readers who aren’t KC locals.) When I participate in Paper Plains, I usually just table their Sunday Vendor Fair, but this year, I’m heading out a day early to enjoy Saturday’s programming, too. The “Super Really Cool Zinester Night” and Cyanotype workshop both have my interest piqued, and I’ll also be speaking on the Zine Club Panel at 1pm inside the Lawrence Public Library auditorium. Being invited to be a part of the panel is what inspired my newest minizine “How to Start a Club IRL”. Issues of that will hit my shop a few days after Paper Plains (unless you’re a zine mail subscriber: your copy should’ve already arrived in your mailbox by now!)
✷ September Zine Club ✷
And speaking of the Kansas City Zine Club, our next meeting is on Tuesday, September 8th at 6:30pm, inside of Stray Cat Film Center. (My friend Nat just wrote this love letter to Stray Cat for her Flyover blog, and she did a perfect job of capturing what makes that space so special. “What they are doing at Stray Cat is The Future in a way I can feel but can’t quite explain.” Yes, yes, 1000% times yes.) If you’re in Kansas City, come on by and make a zine with us! September’s theme is “doodles”; inspired by a convo I had with my friend Adam, we’re gonna be making a mini-compzine full of round-robin passed sketches. Come out and be a part of it.
✷ Peertube ✷
Finally, I’ve started posting my zine videos to Peertube, a free, federated, and independent alternative to Youtube. Are you also sick of Google and Youtube, of how they push gen-AI and scrape our videos for data and all their privacy violations, fed up with the spon-con and the algorithm and the ads? Yea, me too, me too. I’ll still post my work there — I know that’s where my largest audience finds me, and continuing to share my work on that platform feels like the video equivalent of when DIY music labels partner with the majors for distribution, so that folks in the suburbs can find their music at a big box store. (Wait, do they still sell indie artists’ records at big box stores?) Anyways, imperfect metaphor aside, Peertube feels like the nice small record shop to Youtube’s Wal*Mart, and I hope you’ll consider joining me over there. My account is on the WTF instance, and I’m working on getting the whole catmothcrow catalog up, save for the Shorts. If I’m being honest, I couldn’t give a fuck about Shorts. Sure, I watch ’em, but I don’t have any compulsion to make them.
