T Scale
Zine, Rasiqra Revulva, [email protected], $5
T Scale is a perzine with a paint-splattered cover that deals with revelations in identity (in this case, sexual orientation) and the first reactions one might receive from other people. In other words, this zine beautifully depicts what happens when you tell people in your life something personal, and their responses are deeply wounding and entirely selfish. Each page features a black-and-white image of a face – chopped up, pixelated, and superimposed on itself – with comments from friends and loved ones added in text. One example shares a painful response to a confession about queerness: “My twin said: “I thought you were just saying that so guys would like you.’” This zine is a study in stereotypes, alienation and ignorance; it examines how we use other people to unlearn our own shit. For folks in the queer community, T Scale will feel uncomfortably familiar and hopefully for many, it will be freeing; freeing because these painful barbs can also feel like a part of the story of you coming home to yourself. Ideally we (and our loved ones) can recognize the importance of working out our embedded heterosexism, our ableism, our racism, our shit, on our own time, and we can appreciate the importance of being generous with one another. This zine reminds us just how very easy and how important it is to be tender. (CJ Blennerhassett)