“Hey, I work with college students often. Do you know what brings their attention back to the surface after years of Zoom classes, Generative AI cheating, and smart phone usage?
Zines. Freaking zines. You put a zine in an undergraduate’s hands and say “Someone like you made this. You could make this. All you need is some found images, paper, scissors/glue, and your own imagination. No chatgpt necessary.”
They light up, every single time, without fail. They start to recognize how little Generative AI serves them in the long run. They’ve called zines “Anti-AI” to my face and gleefully showed me their first zines with thought, intention, and inventiveness.
Critical thinking isn’t dead in the land of zines. It’s thriving. Academia has to pivot, as much as I loathe that corporate term.”
“The work of writing a book is not the selection of suitable words,” writes John Higgs. “The work is the task of engaging another mind. It is a constant dance between understanding your subject and understanding how a future reader will react to it – a reader you can never know, but which you still have to intuit.”
via Austin Kleon (in the context of discussing AI)
My creative process is cyclical, but I like to think I am orbiting closer to true north.
I took last month off from blogging and wrote a personal update about mental health for my newsletter instead. I had more replies than ever.
Just another reminder that while I like structure sometimes I create needless work for myself. I need to shift my output to match my capacity. Not the other way around.
Last month I had migraines every other day. They let off when I lessened my computer time. It’s tough because I love blogging and connecting online, but I need to pace myself.
This means I won’t be digitizing the zines any more.
I need to slow down on migrating my archive. Otherwise my website is nearly “done” except for the Cabinet of Curiosities.
Last month’s newsletter also mentioned how well the boundaries I’ve created to protect my mental health are working. Which means I actually have capacity to take action. It’s unfortunate that my Masters degree, which focused on art for social change, is more relevant by the day.
Rather than spiraling into despair I’m focusing on positive actions that can be done.
My next step is to begin migrating my autism educational resources to my website. This is one small step to combat the misinformation and harm being spread by the US government. As well as proofing our picture book How it Feels to Me which is an #ownvoices book by two autistic adults about sensory processing.
But neurodivergence is just one of many groups being targeted right now.
So I’m working with some friends to create an advocacy resource library that spans multiple issues and suggests ways you can make a positive impact.
I hope these resources will help anyone feeling stuck or hopeless.
With collective action we can support each other and bring about positive change. 🌈
My front garden is largely overrun with weeds, but the daisies and bachelor buttons (self seeded into the yard outside the garden bed) are living their best life.
