Collecting dust in the drafts (or dump)

Some projects saw a second chance, while others are living on a very sincere prayer that they’ll make it out the drafts. Let’s meet those contestants!

Contestant #1: Heeding the Huxtables: Lessons I Learned From the Cosby Show

Number one because it was the first to go in the dump, and I don’t foresee it resurfacing. I decided to dump it because A) how the world feels about Bill Cosby, B) I wasn’t in love with the design, and C) the lessons I learned felt simple and shallow. While I’ll always love the show, the discussion of it in the media lounge will suffice.

Contestant #2: Lyrical Gangbang

Inspired by Dr. Dre’s song off his album The Chronic. Not meant to be vulgar or violent! Just lyrics from my playlists making love, based on whatever mood they’re in - girl’s night out, lonely hearts club, summertime shawty, etc vibes.

It’s in the drafts for now because A) I really don’t want to color it, but it looks halfway finished if I don’t, B) I’m considering a larger format, and C) as much as I love the doodled images included in the lyrics, I think I’d also like to incorporate backgrounds and designs to further highlight the theme.

Contestant #3: ilyaf!

You can tell this is one of my first zines because of the bleeding borders lol! I do love the design even though it’s slightly childish, but it ended up in the drafts because I couldn’t imagine anyone else sending/gifting the zine besides me. Ideally it would be given to someone you recently met and are becoming very fond of, to say “I love you already for…” various reasons. I think it would make sense to revise this so that each user can fill in the blanks (especially to go along with Snail Mail Social Club, details coming soon!).

Contestant #4: For the White Chicks & Jive Turkeys

When I was younger and much angrier, the preppy kids at my high school were rapidly making me prejudiced. I wanted to write horrible things about them, all reflections of their behavior and privilege, and do so in my ever so clever way - by asking rhetorical questions such as “How do you draw the line between “perfect tan” and “racially ambiguous”? (Or do you??)”.

But once I got to college (and started smoking weed), I started hanging around a different brand of white folks and all was well again. For a little while. Which is why this zine remains in the drafts, and based on our current climate, it’ll likely make it out.

Contestant #5: CCC Checklist

Definitely destined to make it out of the drafts some day! I made this zine in the standard 1-sheet format at first, but wanted to flip the pages like a handy dandy notebook; taking scrap sheets from other projects (pro-tip: save your scraps!!!) I spontaneously created the flipbook. However, I got frustrated with the technical difficulties that arrived when printing and took a break on the physical handout to focus on the cubicle page.

Contestant #6: BLKALTxine

Also destined to make it out of the drafts, though this project will likely remain digital (it’ll be a special occasion if & when I have these printed!). See my discussion of Tweenkle Star to see hear he hold-up (basically, it’s not determined if this will be more like Highlights or Girl’s Life or my own literary magazine)

Contestant #7: Guide to the Galaxy

I have these blank books (like the ones you can find at the educational store) that I turned into “page-flipping previews” of everything you could find in the Galaxy, and I think they may still be useful, though I don’t want to maintain their original function. These will morph into limited edition collections, but still has much to be considered.