see you later in the cyberspace
Perzine, Jesseca Buizon, 72 pgs, jayymadethis.com, @jayymadethis, $12
This zine captures the distress and anxiety of the past year, and does so with intimate pizazz.
Jesseca Buizon takes you directly into her diary as she documents the highs and lows of life during quarantine amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s real, raw, and personal, and for so many people who watched the world around them change, it’s exactly what you’ve been feeling too, pressed neatly into one zine package.
Buizon’s diary begins on April 11, 2020, and spans until Oct. 1, as the first wave of the pandemic came and went from Ontario. The second wave begins to hit right as the zine ends, and I’m curious to see how her emotional state might shift as she goes through another set of restrictions and lockdowns.
“I am reminded that this time is transitional and temporary,” writes Buizon. “I’m reminded to pull the foliage from my ankles and not nest here.” With a frank and lyrical voice, this writer captures all of the anxieties and pains I’ve felt over the past year, and I know we’re not the only ones. And she also highlights the social issues we are all grappling with, spending considerable time processing George Floyd’s death in late May. “The pandemic can stop lots of things, but not racism,” writes Buizon.
Having also gone through devastating changes in my personal and professional life over the course of the pandemic, I relate to nearly every page of this diary, which also features occasional doodles printed in colour beside Buizon’s handwritten reflections. She shares how flowers bring her joy, sunny days invigorate her, and the temporary relief that comes from seeing friends again as the first wave passes. She even takes the time to highlight the good things that emerged during the pandemic, reminding us all that better days will come again.