Recently I celebrated my 42nd birthday which feels so weird but also, so awesome. To be here, at this age & living this life is a gift. I have over 10 years of sobriety which I am so grateful for. Last year I published issue 9 of my zine, Lady Teeth after publicly saying I was finished making zines, four years ago. I think I did that because zines were my entire life for so long & I hadn't made one in over three years. Zines were all I cared about ever since I read my first issue of Cometbus after a girl down the shore lent it to me. I was 16 years old. That means, for more than half my life I have been making zines.
What's a zine you ask? Other than Lady Teeth, I wrote Girl Swirl & Sub Rosa as well as a handful of one-offs. In October 2015 I spoke on a panel at Boston Zine Fest called "Zines as Radical Resistance" where I discussed how zines are a part of my recovery and sobriety. In April 2016 I was part of a reading for Chicago Zine Fest where I shared a piece from the new issue of Lady Teeth called "Getting Sober & Staying Sober". But when I started dating my boyfriend I also started riding bikes. It was my way of spending more time with him at first, then it was something I loved more than anything. Suddenly all I wanted to do was be in the woods & riding bikes. I wasn't hyper focused on zines the way I used to be, my energy was spent on BMX. I was digging & riding & last year I built a new line at Posh Woods. For a long time being sober meant just not drinking. A big part of my recovery has been to DO THINGS other than drink and that means riding bikes. I started documenting my miles here & sharing my experiences on this website. In September 2018 I rode my first century ride, the City to Shore BikeMS ride from Philadelphia to Ocean City New Jersey. In 2019, I did it again. Without my sobriety, I wouldn't have this opportunity. I love talking about my sobriety. You can hear an interview I did with The Rooms Project here. I wrote a review piece for Bitch Media on zines about sobriety. I love to read. I am attempting to read 25 books in 2020. In 2019 I read 23 books (my goals was 10). You can see my Goodreads challenge progress here.
You can also find me on instagram. You can see my personal zine collection here. |