🖤 You did it. You made it this far.

I think I would be preaching to the choir and being performative if I went off in this newsletter with the outrage I have about racially motivated violence. If you’re affected by the things that have been happening this week (this year, this lifetime) I hope you know that I want this space to be a welcoming and safer one - that’s an intention, not a fact, and I know that. But just so we’re clear, my feelings and politics have been and continue to be the following:

• white supremacy, racism, and misogyny are unacceptable and should be confronted in all forms
• sex work should be decriminalized and normalized
• more policing is not and never will be the answer
• the US needs less guns and more gun control laws

I can always do better and welcome all comments on all posts. I found the following two infographics to be very useful this week.

gra1c312

A post shared by @gra1c312kimsaira

A post shared by @kimsaira

Some new things for you:

Many of my friends are simply trying to maintain right now. If keeping your head above water wasn’t already a full-time job, it certainly has been during the past year. Creating anything has been difficult, and honestly, our covers EP came out of accepting invitations that would give me an assignment to work on that didn’t make my brain work especially hard. This week I thought I would share a few things that other folks have been making during quarantine that you might not already know about.

Object of Sound - new radio show by Hanif Abdurraqib

I’ve mentioned his work before, but writer/poet/critic Hanif Abdurraqib kept popping up on KCRW when I was driving around, as the host of the audio essay series Lost Notes. I find his work really comforting so it was a nice respite from standard NPR talk-radio. He recently premiered a new radio show called Object of Sound, mixing freeform radio, storytelling and interviews. It’s essentially the perfect format for me, a person who loves music and personal essays but doesn’t have enough time to read as much as I’d like. He also has a book coming out later this year and I’m baffled by how he made all of these things in 2020 but I am very much here for it.

Hellen Jo - 2021 monthly planner

I just purchased a monster of a day planner that starts in April, so I thought it still worth sharing that Hellen Jo made this rad monthly planner for 2021. It currently says “coming soon” so I’m assuming that means she’s reprinting them? If not the planner, her zines and prints are also great work to pick up.

Vivat Virtute - scarves by John K Samson, collages by Christine Fellows

I recently found out that during quarantine, John K Samson has been weaving scarves and they’re amazing. So amazing that they’re currently all sold out but just go look at this quarantine hobby turned amazing, please. Christine Fellows is a talented artist, in addition to being a great songwriter, and I’m determined to purchase one of her collages sometime soon.

And now, two questions:

1. Are you in an underrepresented community with a project or event coming up? Respond to any of these emails with the info, or put it in the comments and I will mention it in the next newsletter.
2. Is there someone you’d like me to interview or otherwise feature here? Taking suggestions! I also just enjoy finding new things.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and see you next week!