Thank you to Shary Miranda for interviewing me for feminist blog HerCampus.com about my activism work with The Strange is Beautiful! You can read the whole interview here.
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The Strange is Beautiful ~ will be at ~ SF Zine Fest 2016 !!
Hi SF loves and zinester pals! The Strange is Beautiful will be at SF Zine Fest this year :) I’ll be in town Friday night until Tuesday 5 p.m. so if you want to kick it, email me at strangeisbeauty@gmail.com. Our table will look something like this:
The Strange is Beautiful at L.A. Zine Fest 2016
I had an AMAZING time offering The Strange is Beautiful Alternative Self-Help Guide at L.A. Zine Fest 2016! Besides offering the guide, I was honored to interview three exhibitors of diverse backgrounds, a UCLA zine librarian, a Skylight Books zine lover employee and last year I had the opportunity to interview Daisy Noemi, one of the organizers of L.A. Zine Fest, for a zine community piece <333 I love the zine community, and I hope you fall in love with them too!
Sadcore Sundays: “Here” by Alessia Cara
Lyrics:
I’m sorry if I seem uninterested
Or I’m not listenin’ or I’m indifferent
Truly, I ain’t got no business here
But since my friends are here
I just came to kick it but really
I would rather be at home all by myself not in this room
With people who don’t even care about my well-being
I don’t dance, don’t ask, I don’t need a boyfriend
So you can go back, please enjoy your party
I’ll be here, somewhere in the corner under clouds of marijuana
With this boy who’s hollering I can hardly hear
Over this music I don’t listen to and I don’t wanna get with you
So tell my friends that I’ll be over here
Oh oh oh here oh oh oh here oh oh oh
I ask myself what am I doing here?
Oh oh oh here oh oh oh here
And I can’t wait till we can break up outta here
Excuse me if I seem a little unimpressed with this
An anti-social pessimist but usually I don’t mess with this
And I know you mean only the best and
Your intentions aren’t to bother me
But honestly I’d rather be
Somewhere with my people we can kick it and just listen
To some music with the message (like we usually do)
And we’ll discuss our big dreams
How we plan to take over the planet
So pardon my manners, I hope you’ll understand
That I’ll be here
Not there in the kitchen with the girl
Who’s always gossiping about her friends
So tell them I’ll be here
Right next to the boy who’s throwing up cause
He can’t take what’s in his cup no more
Oh God why am I here?
Oh oh oh here oh oh oh here oh oh oh
I ask myself what am I doing here?
Oh oh oh here oh oh oh here
And I can’t wait till we can break up outta here
Hours later congregating next to the refrigerator
Some girl’s talking bout her haters
She ain’t got none
How did it ever come to this
I shoulda never come to this
So holla at me I’ll be in the car when you’re done
I’m standoffish, don’t want what you’re offering
And I’m done talking
Awfully sad it had to be that way
So tell my people when they’re ready that I’m ready
And I’m standing by the TV with my beanie low
Yo I’ll be over here
Oh oh oh here oh oh oh here oh oh oh
I ask myself what am I doing here?
Oh oh oh here oh oh oh here
And I can’t wait till we can break up outta here
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Open Letter: Why Is Positive Change Traumatic?
Dear those of you making positive changes in your life but feeling super confused because you feel worse,
Change, even good change, is always painful or hard because it is a change in your identity. Habits become character which becomes your identity. So the habits you are changing will also change your identity in a good way.
When I struggled with depression, and was writing sad poems and music, I was releasing things at first, but then it became a static habit. So by changing the habit when it was no longer a needed form of release, I changed my well being too.
Also, we have a relationship with everything we do. We have a relationship with food, with sleeping, with depression etc. So breaking a bad habit and starting a good habit, even though this is a change you consciously and willing decided to make, is essentially similar to a romantic breakup with a partner. It can be traumatic! It can be hard.
So if changing aspects of your life has got you feeling down and you feel you like slipping back into your old habits, acknowledge that it is hard, know that this is normal, and keep going! You’re doing a great job :)
-Shannen Roberts
Founder of The Strange is Beautiful