Unschooling Future

Happy New Year, whatever that means in the grand scheme of things! I think it means doing something meaningful with my time, so that maybe it can help me feel that time doesn’t really exist. The drawings in the Chauvet Cave were discovered 30 years ago, in December 1994. An artist (or artists) made them some 37 to 33 thousand years ago. I feel this funny connection to that artist. The whole of known and unknown human history lies between us, but what does it matter?

Inspiring meetup last night at Boston City Hall with and launching the new Mass Book Award for Graphic Novel/ Memoir by Joel Christian Gill has sent me down the rabbit hole reading up on narrative transportation theory as an effective rhetorical strategy - that’s why the conservatives are banning books! We have great power at our (Apple) pencil tips ✏️

my son wrote this on the beach today and watched it being washed away

My first sloppy attempt at 金継ぎ (kintsugi), “gold joinery” or “gold patching,”the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by mending the areas of breakage with natural lacquer (urushi, resin if the lacker tree) dusted or mixed with powdered gold. It’s a very meditative methodology, taking many weeks to complete. As I was engaged in this somewhat therapeutic practice, I was thinking of Ukraine. In kintsugi, the scar is accentuated and adorned with a thin layer of gold, because the scar, the line where the object has survived an attempt to break it, makes it even more unique and present. Defying entropy.

We are the showing off Visual Storytelling and Comic Art program! Come see what all the fuss is about!

Just picked these cute bookmarks up at the printshop! Come say hi at the Boston tomorrow where and I will be showing off the awesome Visual Storytelling and Comic Arts program

I’m really excited I have just published the first 2 episodes of my slice of life webtoon/ comic journalism project called
FREE TO BROWSE! It’s about coming of age online and about how having access to information and friends with similar interests can save lives. Especially if you’re different in some way and haven’t yet figured out why that feels so
uncomfortable.

I’ll be posting new episodes every Friday! If you care about young people's digital freedom, I'll be really grateful if you repost this and subscribe to my webtoon. Hopefully, this will grow into a good book providing first-person accounts about how exploring online has been indispensable for self-discovery, self-education, forging friendship and finding comfort.

I am constantly reminded of how thin the layer of civilization and our safety net really are. In Mordor, where I originally come from, they have just shut down access to YouTube. For everyone. A few months prior, they made it illegal to even mention that you’re q***r. It all started years ago when they banned “LGBT propaganda among minors.”

Our rights to access information are in much better shape in the West, but that can change very quickly. Surveillance always starts under the false pretense of “protecting the kids.” Many young people, especially q***r teens in unsupportive areas, have already had their rights restricted by recent and proposed legislation, such as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). I hope my comic can help give more young people a voice.

Link in the QR code below and in the first comment

Fellow q***r comic artist Sasha Skochilenko was among the hostages freed from Russian prison yesterday. Today, she could finally hug her girlfriend.

Sasha was sentenced to 7 years in prison for having replaced supermarket price tags with facts about the Russian atrocities in Mariupol.

My letter to Senator Elizabeth Warren because, to quote danah boyd, "I’m flabbergasted by how many Democrats shrug their shoulders and say that it’s still worth it to align with hateful politicians because it’ll help more kids. The thing is: it won’t." PLEASE REJECT

The US Senate may pass KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act) this Thursday, the bill explicitly supported by anti-LGBTQ+ organizations. In an article titled "How Big Tech Turns Kids Trans," the Heritage Foundation voiced its support for the legislation. One of the biggest sponsors of the bill, Senator Marsha Blackburn, said the bill will “protect minor children from the transgender [sic] in our culture.”

It is heartbreaking to see this dangerous legislation supported by over 20 Dem senators and President Biden and silently neglected by many LGBTQ+ orgs while it will literally cut the last lifeline and access to critical information for many vulnerable teens. It will also lead to a more siloed, and more censored, internet for everyone, including adults.

Cambridge’s favorite comic book store Million Year Picnic near Harvard Square celebrated its 50th anniversary this weekend with a very special treat: a Robot Dreams screening with .varon, the author of the original Robot Dreams graphic novel that the new animated feature is based on. If you have been brushing this movie away as too childish (what’s wrong with you?) or too niche (again, what’s wrong with you?), let go of those assumptions and go see it. It’s profound stuff and might be exactly what you need in these crucible times. It deals with loss, in a next level delicate and humorous way, and alternative paths that present themselves when every bit of hope seems gone. And it’s a masterful homage to New York City.

the next page!

FREE TO BROWSE is a comics journalism project in progress about coming of age online. It delves into the stories of vulnerable teens, including my transgender son, for whom the internet has served as a crucial lifeline.

On LINE WEBTOON soon!