Chatting and Ranting About Loss

This is What You Do When You Don’t Know What to Do: Finding Community and Comfort through Grief Zines, Broken Pencil Issue 65, by Carly Lewis (p. 15, October 2014)

A Conversation with Two Zinesters by Elaine Yu at the Nation Institute (2013)

LITERARY ARTIFACTS: You Say You Want a Revolution: Zines at the Brooklyn College Library by Kristopher Jansma (October 2012)

Interviewed by Lauren Denitzio: Grief as a community issue, the politics of cut and paste. (November 2012)

Meet Your Zine Maker, Brooklyn Zine Fest (April 2012)

Good Grief: A Place in the Zine World to Mourn by Anna Codrea-Rado (November 2011)

Press and Past Events

Ten Best Alternative Self Help Books on Dazed and Approved by Josephine Livingstone (2014)

BRAIN WAVES: Some Personal Highlights curated by Kate Wadkins, review by Madeleine Dahl (June 2012)

Shout out from Carly Lewis of Broken Pencil at Brooklyn Zine Fest (2012)

Who’d Ya Lose and How Ya Dealin?  Benefit Show (September 2011)

Reviews

Review by Kate Angell at Somebody’s Autobiography (May 2011)

Review of Issue 3 by Lily Pepper for Stranger Danger Distro (2013)

In the realm of socially-related zines, I think “The Worst #2,” a compilation zine organized by Kathleen McIntyre, is a genuine representation of how the personal can be linked to the larger issues within a society. “The Worst #2″ explores experiences of grief and loss and how we grapple with our encounters with loss, absence, and memory. The writing ranges from explanatory to chillingly relatable to transcendent. While the pieces pertain to grief and loss in a variety of forms and relationships, it is clear this zine acts as a calm space for a meditation on loss and the complex processes of grieving. Definitely worth reading and potentially owning. –Madeleine Dahl (link above)

This is an excellent vehicle for maneuvering through life having to shoulder difficult losses especially as a young person. Included in this zine are great suggestions for those who are mourning and those who care about them. It’s also a catalyst for finding a way to carry on when someone’s death impacts us. It covers a variety of losses, even for people we are ambivalent about because we struggled with them when they were living. –Ann 

This compilation zine serves to reclaim grief and mourning for those who have lost someone or something, particularly in relation to the capitalist system that is “primed to generate loss and trauma.” Contributors write short essays on their own personal traumas, from the loss of a pregnancy to a dying grandfather to the death of a chronically ill friend. The zine includes an Audre Lorde quote screen printed onto a piece of fabric and stapled to the back cover. –Barnard Zine Library (link above)

I was really glad to learn about the existence of this zine (there are currently two issues out), as it’s really difficult to locate radical resources on coping with the loss of a loved one. So much of what is out there is religious in nature, and while that’s comforting for some people, it’s not meant for everyone. In addition to personal accounts of loss, the zine also offers advice for supporting grieving friends and family members. Issue 1 comes with a playlist of songs that readers could check out if they wish. –Kate Angell (link above)

When somebody you care about dies, advice is so completely fucking useless. Kathleen McIntyre’s dad died and then she started a zine about grief and dying, which she aptly called The Worst. The only thing you can maybe do that is helpful when you’re messed up in this particular way is to talk to other people who are also experiencing The Worst thing, and that’s what this zine is for. Writing and communicating with other grievers can make you feel way less like a zombie. I mean, everything’s useless in the face of death, but it could help. –Josephine Livingstone (link above)