Going crazy writing papers…

but just wanted to remind y’all to get in those last minute submissions for Femme a Barbe!

<3 j.bee

got a bunch of mail this week! including hella art/perzines

Got these little letters from Ocean Capewell and my fellow Girl Scout Camp counselor Squid. I like little letters because they say “I am really fucking busy but I was thinking of you and took the time to write you this little letter.” Expect some sweet little letters back.

I also received this epic letter from sves. It contains so many goodies that really it should be called a package. In addition to a letter and gorgeous original artwork by one of my favorite artists (sves, obviously), it also contained two great zines:

the everyday moment and

Armful of Too Much to Think About #1

Here is an inside page from Armful of Too Much to Think About:

the everyday moment is about roadtripping to Halifax and features a lot of sweet drawings. sves writes: “This zine is about me remembering things, about a town that I left, only to be reminded of the things while being on vacation.” The typwritten parts of the zine are a little hard to read but all is forgiven. The zine captures the almost surreal quality of leaving home, and the importance of taking risks. It’s 10 pages half-sized black & white photocopy hand-sewn with thread. Armful of Too Much to Think About is a little meatier in terms of page length and variety of content. sves writes: “The zine is a collection of stories and thoughts from the last year, as i moved out of my house and started to find communities and people that i felt comfortable in.” There are a lot of absolutely gorgeous drawings in this zine and writings on identity, love, sex, and how to make ROOT BEER CHOCOLATE CAKE which I really need to try. This zine is 20 pages half-sized black & white photocopy and stapled. To negotiate terms of getting your hands on one of these beauts, e-mail sves at artsves [at] gmail [dot] com (for now).

I also got a whole mess of zines from Chelsea Dirck, which was exciting because I forgot that I had sent her my zine!

Chelsea is a damn good artist, she has a lot of pages from these zines posted on her flickr so I would click that link I attached to her name and check them out. I don’t have time to do them justice since I really need to eat some microwaveable food and then go do massive amounts of work. But I will say that she uses the space of the zine in a way that I never thought to…each page is like a canvas and she uses negative space brilliantly. Each one is $3 or negotiated trade. More info here.

My stomach and my microwave are making a cosmic brain wave connection right now.

Hope everyone is staying warm…I live in a house shaped cube of ice.

<3 j.bee

a new page in the life of the bearded lady.

i never said the bearded lady has a particularly interesting life. although things always heat up after dark.

<3 j.bee

Diamondback cartoon today

I’m excited for more vitriolic comments about me being a terrible artist and apparently an anti-semite. Don’t like my cartoons? Think that everything published on the opinion pages of newspapers should capitulate to your tiny little worldview? Feel free to leave a mean anonymous comment on the internet!

<3 j.bee

a word on ableism…

just a page from my sketchbook, expressing my frustration with the fact that “lame” seems to be fair game to throw around, even in activist/radical circles and/or in spaces where saying that something is “gay” is totally unacceptable.

<3 j.bee

Diamondback Editorial Cartoon of the day.

Today’s editorial cartoon is posted, for context here is the letter to the editor that I am responding to. Basically just trying to point out that “Israel oppresses Palestinians” is not a statement of opinion or allegiance, but rather a statement of fact.

<3 j.bee

just a teaser…

I’m working on my submission for Bound to Struggle Volume 4, but here is just a little teaser image. When the zine comes out y’all should buy it.

<3 j.bee

nsfw motherfuckers! just kidding. nothing inappropriate is happening in this image.

i doodled this partially during spanish class and partially while watching pink flamingos with my darling friends who were shooting peanut m&ms at each other out of their noses.

<3 j.bee

snow day zine day!

I got a couple zines in the mail from ocean capewell just in time to spend a snowy Saturday in bed reading. My room is really cold so it’s hard to motivate myself to get out from under this sweet electric blanket.

High on Burning Photographs #3 deals with grief, losing friends and the process of mourning. the zine also features a list of amazing characters ocean has encountered on the streets and in the laundromats of pittsburgh (also a page distinguishing between philly and pittsburgh, which i admit i have failed to do at least once. FAIL.) , and some amazing victorian clip art. this zine is really great to have around when you’re feeling crazy and missing friends who are gone. It has also sort of inspired me to want to make a zine about my grandmother, who recently passed away. She was really important to me and died from emphysema. We had a memorial service for her but I didn’t really get a chance to talk about the things I really loved about her or the frustrations I had about our relationship. Anyway…High on Burning Photographs #3 is half-sized, 20 pages black & white photocopy and you can get it from ocean (and you should).

High on Burning Photographs #4 is about healing and positivity, “growing up,” loving tough girls, sobriety, “voluntary singlehood” (and approaching relationships in a healthy way), ways in which ACT-UP infiltrated ocean’s adolescence, and major Pittsburgh love. I have never been to Pittsburgh, but I kind of want to go now. Hey ocean, if I come to Pittsburgh, will you entertain me? The zine is half-sized, 23 pages black & white photocopy, and costs $1 (well-concealed by USPS), postage or trade, from ocean.

I also just received a beautiful mix tape from bernard? which makes me sad that my car no longer has a tape deck. I think I have one somewhere at my folks house, but in the meantime I am contenting myself with the materiality of the tape itself, and the amazing i-am-loved feeling that comes with someone taking the time to make something just for you.

Also, Milo just posted Sass!, a mini-zine I made a while back, up on QZAP. It’s kind of embarrassing because I made it while drunk, with a busted pen nib, but that’s okay it’s funny. Also I just read this zine called GenderFuckMe which I really enjoyed, y’all should check it out.

Back to drawing Bearded Ladies…
<3 j.bee

p.s. a sweet blog post on femme (in)visibility.

today’s editorial cartoon…

I was trying to engage with the idea of doing radical scholarship through state universities. And also just being stressed out…

Been working on my epic Bearded Lady paper, but I promise new comics asap. I need to pound out a submission for Bound to Struggle before I get too distracted…

<3 j.bee