Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Chronic Pain zine - call for submissions

(this is a call out for a zine that is going to be really great. It's not me who's putting it together, but I'm trying to write something for it.)

Please take part in my yet-to-be named Chronic Pain Zine project. I am looking for anyone interested in submitting writing or easy-to-reproduce visual art/comics on the subject and experience of Chronic Pain.

Personally, I'm not as interested in pain management (drugs, therapies, treatments) as in the social and emotional aspects of living with chronic pain. I want to hear about the way persistent pain impacts people's lives, relationships, and the way that they inhabit their bodies and communities. How has the pain experience informed how you identify yourself, how you feel about your body, and how you ask for help? In what way has pain pushed you toward change? Ideally this zine will be about support, sharing, and respecting what we've been through with pain. Below are some ideas I've brainstormed for pieces¦ anyone want to run with any of these topics?

- Asking for help in a Do-It-Yourself community
- Body Image / Identity and Chronic Pain
- Sex and Chronic Pain
- Chronic Pain and Introspection / Change
- Relationships and Chronic Pain
- Creativity and Chronic Pain
- Mental Health / Depression and the Pain Experience
- The Invisibility of Pain
- Upbringing / How were you raised to approach pain?
- Book Reviews / Chronic Pain Reading Guide
- Your ideas go here¦.

Additionally: are you a punk rock health care practitioner - or - a partner to a person in pain? What ideas and stories about care giving and support do you have to share?

This project and its time line are just taking shape but my goal is to have a finished first issue by the end Aug. in time for the Portland Zine Symposium. I love to hear from interested participants ASAP, and have extended the submission deadline to July 1st. Please repost, tell your friends, and pass this far and wide. You can contact me with comments, questions, or submissions: nevertwice@yahoo.com