My partner and I decided to take a spontaneous trip to the Gulf of Mexico this past week. No agenda other than seeing more of Florida while we are here. Remember those bicoastal dreams I had shared with you in the past? Well the pandemic has put an interesting spin on that and knowing myself, I could never be quite sure on where I want to land my feet and root myself. NY and CA are forever home but I’m staying open to what life brings in the future, perhaps that’s the millennial in me, or the pandemic, but having had the ability to work from home for 8yrs and live anywhere, we figured why not take advantage of it and see more of the world? In a measured way, of course, nothing is quite back to normal for us too.
During my holiday I’ve been reading more than usual and finishing books that I had to put aside during months into editing zines. I’m still working on ‘We Were Feminist Once’. Being the Bitch magazine enthusiasts, I was flipping through the latest issue of ‘Wild” where I was surprised and excited to see Jolie Valera of Indigenous Women Hike sharing words on making the outdoors more accessible. There was also a great piece by about Indigenous and POC Western American Literature and who is included in the Western American literary canon.
Cyclista Zine just had it’s 3 year anniversary on Saturday since publishing the first issue, ‘Our Bikes, Our Stories’. I’m not very good at celebrating birthdays or anniversaries so of course I had to be reminded by IG memories. I am very proud of what’s been accomplished thus far with five zines so far. Although I have some plans changing the course of the zine in the next few months, I think we have done something incredible in cycling that has made a real impact in this time.
Over the last year I had been a part of Machines For Freedom’s content crew. I have loved and enjoyed being able to share with my followers their new products and new line of trail wear. All of which I love. I hope to be able to share with you all a deeper experience into those items with reviews here.
This short break has given me a lot to think about since my last post. There is so much invisible work that goes into the zine and why I often take breaks from it and have boundaries for being on social media. I have to remind myself as a creative that finding inspiration, recharging, and getting away from outlets that demand more content requires those boundaries. Otherwise, that creative energy becomes a job and nothing kills passion like tasks.