UPDATE!

Yesterday was my second year tabling at the Portland Zine Symposium. Usually, I’m pretty good about networking and going from table to table saying hello, but this year I mostly sat at my table. Probably because it was so fucking hot. It was 92 degrees outside, but inside a building with hundreds of people, no air conditioning and a lot of patchouli, it was closer to 112 degrees. So I spent a lot of time drinking hot water and fanning my armpits with other people’s zines. There were a few water dispensers throughout the building, but they were emptied pretty quickly. About halfway through the symposium there was a permanent line to the potty so that people could fill their water bottles in the sinks.

It was fun, though. Normally I’m shoved into a back corner somewhere and people are free to walk right by. But this year I was in a prime location, right by the door into the main room, so most people were forced to stop and look at my crap. Which was nice. I sold some stuff, traded some stuff. My table mate, Dustin Reese, draws comics about how he got his girlfriend (now wife) preggo and all that his unexpected fatherhood adventures entail. He was pretty awesome.

I also traded with Lisa Rosalie Eisenburg (I Cut My Hair), which I was quite thrilled about. Also traded with my friend Derek Neuland (All Things Ordinary), who recently opened up Portland Button Works. He’s the dude who made all my buttons for me, which you can buy right here.

I also had my friends Jacob and Matt come visit me. I haven’t seen either of them since I moved from Portland in 2009. Even though I go to Portland several times a year, I never seem to meet up with them. Forgot how much I missed them.

It was slightly embarrassing when Kevin’s dad stopped by and picked up my newest zine “Shit Guys Have Said to Me.” Actually, a lot of random guys picked that one up, laughed, looked at me oddly, and walked away, some shaking their heads. But as Matt puts it, “I love that you expose your humiliating moments for the sake of your art.” Thank you, Matthew.

Refuge, 116 SE Yamhill 

Newest Zines 

Truth.

Dustin Reese, Table Mate

My table