Zine Issue 05: Alt

[amethyst]

Hey everyone! It's time for zine discussion to also take its rightful place on the forum. Our fifth issue was titled Alt and came out a whole day early! Thank you to Sadness for putting it together.

We've got ten wonderful submissions for you, so dive in! Read the zine and share your thoughts here.

[AuzzieJay]

Thank you Amethyst for hosting this discussion! So excited to be able to post in long-form and just talk about these submissions!

This Wasn't Inevitable

It is odd to think of how the web has shaped daily life for people for only being around for about 34 years. My entire life has been shaped by it- as I'm only 30 I don't remember a time before the internet- but I do remember a time when it was less accessible. The internet was difficult to get on to and not many people could. It wasn't focused on being a place for knowledge but a place for community. Overall a great write up- really think Project Xanadu is interesting albeit confusing haha.

Alt-Trite; Or, To Circle-Strafe Around Evil

A great write up on how internet culture has changed. We often think of ALT as being just outsiders- but using ALT in this case to refer to everybody left outside the walled gardens of big tech platforms is pretty interesting. The more people that get left outside the walls- the more people we may have on our side.

oddballz

I'm not quite sure what to make of this one and maybe that's the point. It does have a feeling of otherness that definitely matches the ALT theme- at the same time it reminds me of closing the discord server as I was hesitant when it was first brought up because it seemed we had built a place for people to meet others.

> why did we get into this in the first place?
we wanted to connect to other people, we
were desperate to communicate, to know for sure
weren't alone. let's not pull that ladder up
the moment we found each other

This part specifically reminds me of when I first found the Yesterweb community. I didn't realize I had been desperate to communicate- to talk to people about the things I could relate on. Everybody around me just saw everything on fire and decided not to worry about it or that it wasn't even burning- but to see other people talking about what went wrong and to give a glimmer of hope- that was worth it. In the end we are future-proofing the community.

Non Scrungible Tokens

First of all- sounds like you all have some wild parties haha. I'm glad your friends had such a wonderful time with these gifts. I think it's very telling that the perfect gift to fit your criteria is pretty much just NFTs. Thank you for sharing your story with us and some of these lovely Tokens that I definitely didn't scrunge!

The (Anti-capitalist) Crypto-Anarchist’s Guide to Alternate Safety on the Internet

It is sad to see how the vision of the cypherpunks was co-opted by capitalism. I do find it odd to see anti-capitalist crypto-anarchism because usually crypto-anarchism is tied to capitalism because it allows even less regulated trade to proliferate.

Of course you do mention this:

However, I take issue with the notion that we need to rely on Web3 technology such as cryptocurrency to achieve this.

I know this guide doesn't dive into the anti-capitalist lean except for just not using big tech solutions to privacy online, but I would be curious for more explanation as to why crypto-anarchism should be anti-capitalist- or more explicitly, why it shouldn't be communist at that point.

I had heard a lot about the TOR browser but had never used it- it's a great browser! Of course my connection speeds get throttled but it does seem to be a great privacy tool.

I Fear I Am A Topiary

This one is mine, but I wanted to provide context about the poem. I had originally wrote the poem about 8 years go when I was walking to the bus stop to go to work. I worked North of the big city. The bus I got on was full of people in suits with briefcases. It went directly to the heart of the worst parts of town as if to protect us from it. If you were late for work you'd have to take a bus with normal folks.

I often sat there feeling like an outsider, just looking at all of the people around me- were they oblivious to the conditions of those people outside that bus? On the outside I dressed up and looked the part- but deep inside there was something wrong. I worked on the 18th floor of an 18 floor building and I had just read what would become one of my favorite novels- We by Yevgeny Zamyatin in which similar themes of repressed angst are explored. I had a lot of time to contemplate the lot of humanity on that 18th floor. This poem though is a modified version that I feel encapsulates my feelings more- also I couldn't find the original)

Trilulilu: watch, listen, pass on
Of course as soon as I see this I wanted to go to it but sadly can't haha. An interesting tale of another site that couldn't compete with YouTube.

The Web Outside the Net

A lovely write-up on Gemini, Gopher and the Smolweb! While I haven't spent as much time on Gemini as I would like- finding sites on it gave me that same feeling I had when I first explored the web as a kid. The Gemini capsules just exist for you to explore- they aren't trying to sell you anything. It's a lovely experience and I recommend people try it out if they have not! We even have our own capsule hosting- Yestercities!

Strands

Combining tech with natural imagery this poem feels like traveling through imagination- but with a very focused eye on following the strands. It's a very colorful poem and the art that goes along with it ties it together perfectly.

The Alt Key

Undoubtedly the best write up I have ever read about the history of the alt key- I just can't believe all of the things that lead up to the alt key! All jokes aside- great summary of what many folks on the Yesterweb like about the internet- the ability to be who you are. Unfortunately we can't do that in real life at the moment.

[Sadness]

Yes, I love this idea! Putting our thoughts in the chat was nice but I love having a longer-form, more permanent way to share my feedback Sorry I'm a little late, but I really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts in this issue

This Wasn't Inevitable

This is a great article packed with lots of interesting links! I really enjoyed reading the Wired post linked in the first section.

In late 1994, Time magazine explained why the Internet would never go mainstream: “It was not designed for doing commerce, and it does not gracefully accommodate new arrivals.”

This is especially interesting, and probably true to some extent - the mass adoption of the internet might not have been able to happen (at least not as quickly as it did) without droves of commercialization behind the scenes.

I also loved checking out Project Xanadu, it's so complex and difficult to use, but so interesting to see such a relic from early hyperspace.

Alt-Trite; Or, To Circle-Strafe Around Evil

My world was so dark and abusive, so full of irremediable sorrow and drudgery that I came to inwardly regard the Internet as my real home

This part made me think of my first introduction to World of Warcraft when I was 15 or so. It was like a whole society on its own completely separate from real life. A society where I could talk to other people, or just explore the wilderness, as a method of escaping from my dark, real-life circumstances.

This is a great write up touching on a bunch of the dark realities of the current web and its general direction. I enjoyed reading it!

oddballz

This is such a cute entry. I love the music and graphic, and the abstract sort of conversation going on between two unknown people. It leaves a lot up to the reader's interpretation.

I can understand AuzzieJay's interpretation to some extent. I could see how this would apply to the closing of the server, but I also think it's open-ended enough to be interpreted in a variety of ways. I just love how cozy and intimate this page feels.

Non Scrungible Tokens

This was such a fun entry to read! I loved reading about your holiday tradition with your friends and the hilariously strange and dangerous 'gifts' that were given. LOVE the handmade "NSTs" and the commentary they apply to actual NFTs and that whole culture. Lots of fun reading this one

The (Anti-capitalist) Crypto-Anarchist’s Guide to Alternate Safety on the Internet

I love how up-front this is:

The bottom line is, if you're being marketed some sort of special, exclusive feature that you either don't understand, is too vague, or they didn't explain, someone clever from marketing is probably trying to bullshit you.

I feel like this applies to so much of what we are marketed on the internet. In fact I was just thinking about how having a website, in general, is still touted in many places as the "perfect marketing tool" if you just finagle your SEO in exactly the right way, giving yourself the perfect audience to market toward.

And then we have things like crypto which is touted as something that could help the masses, when in reality it only allows the already-rich to get richer.

I Fear I Am A Topiary

Really enjoyed reading this. I feel like I only know the word "topiary" from various landscaping games, but it refers to trees or shrubs which are trimmed and shaped by man to be 'prettier' or more aesthetically pleasing. It's kind of a universal feeling that we've all been shaped to fit into society (at least for those of us who manage to continually participate in it) in a very deliberate way, sometimes (often) at the risk of losing touch with our own humanity. The tension between being yourself and being "normal" is very real, at least if you haven't completely lost touch with yourself yet.

Trilulilu: watch, listen, pass on

I enjoyed learning about Trilulilu! I think it's interesting that they tried to be 'everything', which as the author pointed out, was probably not the best way to approach things. Still, it looked a lot more robust. I never used or knew about this site, but I watched other, similar sites, slowly change over the years to adapt their UI to a more minimal and featureless one, to match other websites. That is always sad to see


The Web Outside the Net

Very nice overview of the "small web"! It outlines well why so much of the internet is overwhelming and how just about every large site steals our data in some way or another.

I enjoy Gemini and have poked around Gopher a little even. It's definitely smaller, slower, and more peaceful. I still have a lot to learn about these spaces though, and this reminds me that I have abandoned my Gemini capsule which is in dire need of updating ;)

Strands

I absolutely looove the art on this page, it's so web-inspired, abstract and colorful. The poem itself is ripe with beautiful and colorful imagery that mirrors pretty well the experience of browsing (and even creating!) unique and colorful websites.

The Alt Key

Are people putting on a persona online, or are they putting on a persona in real life? For a lot of people, the Internet is the only place where they can really be themselves!

This is exactly the first thing that came to my mind when we decided on the theme of "Alt". The internet, despite its misgivings, is most powerful as a vessel of freedom for people who cannot be themselves in the "usual" spaces. It's exactly what drew me so strongly to the internet.

[PeculiarFelid]

I loooove reading these so much, I can't remember when was the last time I enjoyed reading something online this much.

Thank you so much for this to everyone who contributed.

[abacus]

SHIT! AHaha this is going to the void, but I don't mind! Memento mori! Mono no aware! Wabi-Sabi!

I meant to do this sooner, but irl stuff got in the way. I worked really hard on my "Strands" piece and thought to myself after the zine was posted up, alright lets actually participate and start a discussion. Sorry to be late, but I was working on this write-up for a couple of days, so the sunken-cost fallacy is getting the hold of me and I have determined I should post it regardless of the shutdown.

These articles were incredibly inspiring and gives me a lot of info to research and put into my toolbox of things I can utilize for my own personal life. So thanks to all the participants in this zine who put in the time to make these.

This Wasn't Inevitable


I really appreciated this post. I researched internet history for my senior thesis in college but this one made me feel like a newborn fawn trying to find its footing. One prime example was the Xanadu project. The demo video linked honestly felt like I was taken to an alternate dimension. I feel like the video was superficial in the sense that it only scratched the surface of the painstaking hours put into this project to only be met with passing remarks of "wow cool" or just outright outplayed by the other concepts. He seemed to be boiling under the snide remarks about the paper design concept that has taken hold of how we experience the internet.

He looks like one step away from a villain origin story. I can see him snapping and using his idea for vengeance against the imitating paper internet users and trapping them inside the Xanadu realm for eternity.

This is all in jest, of course, I think the concept is extremely abstract because as humans we are so used to physical things. They probably found that the average person could not understand the complexities of electronic documentation and tried to make it accessible by imitating real-life examples.

I COULD NOT imagine my grandma trying to do her taxes on the Xanadu project, she already has problems doing so on the internet browsers we have today. The interface I can see being used for mapping out certain things like maybe video game walkthroughs or a neat AR experiences. This project may be in fact too ahead of its time.

It looks like instead of imitating real-life examples it looks to visualize the abstract neural mapping of how our memories are created in our noggins. Abstract bubbles of information floating in the abstract void. Only to be connected based on the starting point of one's interaction with the physical world. I come with an inquiry and the abstract parallels begin to shape into something that may give me the results I am looking for. I think it has potential for niche organizational methods, like maps, walkthroughs, virtual experiences, or archiving articles on databases.

When he showed the demo it made me think of The Deleted City, an abstract mapping of GeoCities websites.

Thanks for this article.

Alt-Trite; Or, To Circle-Strafe Around Evil


Wow, this was beautifully written. It perfectly encapsulates the emotions I think a lot of people feel when they try and go looking for something more than the "Walled Garden" of the corporate web. The whole page seems mythological. It makes me think of when Gilgamesh ventures past the walls of Uruk to find the chaos of nature meeting him at his feet. I think what the article covers are as follows:

1. The juxtaposition of the past internet and what it is today

2. How the new corporate web has bastardized and weaponized, as Amethyst described in the previous article, an internet focused on sharing knowledge for the sake of sharing ideas. (This is something I wonder if I romanticize, cus I like thinking this was the reason all along even though the conception of the internet was the result of the rising fear of nuclear armageddon, at least in the US).

3. The complex social influence that has been created in the aftermath of the internet (social media) has broken into reality and influences reality to a degree no one was expecting. This has resulted in corporations banking off of this influence for power, and are in a way becoming powerful entities that bend how we experience our realities.

4. A lot of people have turned a blind eye to how corporations use their power of the internet because they make it so conveniently abstract and ambiguous, and nobody wants to change anything because, well, we are so far down the shithole, what's the point of trying to crawl out?

5. In the sort of fashion this article was written, regard the past, hold on to it dearly and remember the communities that gave you the thrill of self-expression. Even if the internet was the outcome of the Cold War's Mutual Assured Destruction, it became an experiment that evolved into exchanging ideas and knowledge.

I think this ties into the key concept that the Altweb tries to convey. Which is the Internet of the past contained a kernel of something so innately human, the inevitable need for communication. We NEED to share who we are, We NEED to communicate how we feel, and if we don't the consequences can be dire (mass shootings and suicide). I think we all believe that the internet houses this mentality. But it seems humans have screwed it up in a major way.
I don't want to get into tropy cliches but it seems that greed and selfishness once again is the vice that continues to stunt how we progress as a species.

The internet has the potential to help us better understand our growth in our physical worlds, yet a certain C word has decided we should continue down the realm of the artificial.

Great article that made me have a moral quandary and dilemma lol.

oddballz

Well, this article gave me a word I didn't know existed: "sysops". I am gonna have to go down the rabbit hole on this word later ahha.

This is an interesting perspective, and "oddballz" being the title and the creature accompanying the article is oddly anachronistic or lost in time? It seems that oddballz is such a forgotten concept and idea but houses a sort of childlike wonder for the weird and strange. The music helps with the child-like atmosphere. And that's not a critique but a compliment and probably a projection of my interest in conveying the early childhood imagination :d.

This seems to be a one-sided dialogue kind of like overhearing someone on a telephone.

I'm imagining the dreams and aspirations of a child talking to their future self who is in power of a major social media platform. The "real" being discussed in my eyes is "hyperreality" or the artificial recreation of reality. This is definitely an alternative path. And I think thats what this may be kind of getting at. Its the perspective of someone's past self telling themselves that there is a different path one can take.

This reminds me of one of Deh Noh Coil's intro quotes "According to the words of our ancestors, every human is born knowing certain paths they are supposed to take. However, the most important path of all is the one that is the easiest to lose sight of".

In this case, I think the person who is being talked to is purposely losing sight of the path that may be the hardest to face. The path that deep down they know they should follow, but instead chooses to cut ties and "pulls [the] ladder up".

The ambiguity of this article is perfect for different interpretations.

Surreal read, made me think but may come off as a little confusing to others.

Non Scrungible Tokens

[hijinks ensues]
What a fun idea. I always found it hard to find someone something when there's a limit to the present. But in this case, the point is to find the cheapest thing possible, which I find really endearing. Reminds me of Buy Nothing Day. Love the anti-consumerism ideals finding their way in a friendly romp.

The (Anti-capitalist) Crypto-Anarchist’s Guide to Alternate Safety on the Internet

This is a topical article about the fear of spyware, especially with the recent US government action against TikTok. Someone brought it up to me and made a snide remark about how the US Government is trying to stop surveillance from China by creating their own bill to enact surveillance on their own citizens hah!

I think for a lot of people words like IP address and VPN are a bit mystic, as in they know of it but don't fully understand what it means or how it works. With corporations funneling a fear of the "Hacker" I think they use this fear and lack of understanding to their advantage. This type of article sets up a good entry for people who want to go beyond this limitation of being trapped within the walls of the corporate internet.

Also, for me, I find it hard to really delve into the specifics of these recent actions by congress when I have to work day in and day out. Maybe I'm lazy but I find it hard to get the motivation to read up on what the local or state governments are planning next! Hell I barely knew about Biden signing the Willow Project to make remote parts of Alaska open for drilling oil until it was signed! I should thank activists who are actually doing the studying and protesting but I feel a tad bit guilty about not being able to say what I think about these things.

I should add that the Tor Browser I think has a major negative connotation and rumors surrounding it. I would say it has a legend status for many outsiders due to news outlets discussing stuff like the Silk Road or the supposed torture videos that pop up. Content creators absolutely eat that shit up, there are a ton of video essays about what "happens" on Tor. Never used it but it certainly piques my interest. For me though, I certainly only know Tor for its negative connotations, similar to 4Chan. What else is there to browse on Tor other than shady drug websites that sell shrooms traced with poison lol.

But I love learning about this stuff, it breaks the corporate fear fed to us to keep us in the walls. Will definitely visit the links within the article, thanks!


I Fear I Am A Topiary

I resonated with this because, for the last couple of years of my life, I've been constantly thinking about our "direct conflict with the natural world". The conundrum in my head has always been how we as humans create society to deal with the chaos and entropy of Nature. To break down and generalize "society" I always think about the artificial. We create artificial systems of organization to protect our hyperactive minds from things we have no control over.

I also think we as a species are always contradicting ourselves. We exalt the outsiders in our legends and mythologies but at the same time choose to let them die in our realities and in our dreams. Being an outsider and weird may fuck up the survival of the pack I suppose.

I empathize with your notion of feeling the ambiguity of how we as humans claim something to be normal yet that normal is fixated on traditions that have mutated and changed over time.

I also agree with your advice to devour and digest the things we view and absorb. Being critical of these things gives us an opportunity to learn when we need to confront the things that keep up restrained in "normalcy".

"Little boxes made of ticky tacky"

Trilulilu: watch, listen, pass on

Love the artwork for the site. Reminds me of the 2000s Newgrounds Flash Art style. It's so goddamn odd, yet people loved it and used it to store their memories. I always appreciate odd designs but the backbone is the functionality of the site, so people are kind of forced to grow attached to this odd elf thing and a cool crocodile. That was definitely the charm of the early 2000s that may be missed or may not be for some people ahah, random ass design choices like this that lucked out and went on to somewhat success.

I really appreciate the history lesson though, it's such a niche topic yet, it was endearing to hear about how it flourished in the pre-social media arc of the internet. That could be dissected for hours! I love the idea of the users being able to create articles, gives people the choice to really delve into their interests.

What I have to do now after reading this is learn how to responsibly archive my stuff and keep it saved somewhere for future reference.

The Web Outside the Net


You know right off the bat it brought up an issue I've been having for the last couple of years with search engines, I want this shit to search in a sort of synesthesia kind of way. I want it to search on the basis of portmanteaus and refreshing adjectives to describe certain emotions that fall into the in-betweens of memento mori and mono no aware. I guess I want it to be like personal websites with links to resources that scratch the itch. A website that does this for me is Dokodemo's. They did an amazing job with those links, they have helped me tremendously and I don't think google search is going to show me "freebackgrounds.com" as the first search result for when I want the old-school web wallpaper look.

I love the information in this article. I will definitely take a deeper dive into this world of different protocols. Getting "fingered" is an unfortunate name but pretty funny.

"These protocols aren't as advanced or capable as HTTP, but in this case, that's a good thing. Little risk of centralization, or web tracking, or ads."

This paragraph really stood out to me. As an artist, I am always looking for limitations. They're a fun puzzle to work with and entice my brain to work with what I got to create something that may otherwise get lost in the process of having too much to work with. I suppose that's what the charm was with the early internet, you had what you had and did what you did with it. Now people look back at sailor moon fansites and are blown away by how the creator made it their own and made it endearing with what they had (I personally was blown away by that specific one I found).

Thanks for the lesson about SmolNet and how to access it. This is exciting for my art brain as I have a handful of ideas of what I could do while I was just reading through this! The way this is discussed makes it seem like everyone is forced to kind of limit how much one can create and how much one can absorb.

This is important for newer generations I believe, who are constantly thrown through fads, controversies, politics, global conflicts, etc at a breakneck speed.

We are exponentially trying to progress without giving much thought to how or why we are doing so. I believe going blindly forward and leaving so many behind is already having repercussions on the sanity of many people on a global scale. We're still a species who haven't gotten rid of the primal prejudice that leads so many to tribalism. Hell, we're still trying to come to terms with the aftermath of colonial conquest, the cold war, the holocaust, etc. We're still an infantile species trying to create our own artificial world when we have a ton of shit we haven't figured out yet.

What I'm trying to say is that this seems to be a reaction to that, it's a cooldown. It's a "woah holy shit I am not in control and I need to slow down" kind of reaction I think a lot of people we're looking for during 2020, I know I was.

I like the concept of "the long now" which is the realization that we as a species need to be more responsible for future generations. We must understand, prepare, and think long-term and probably slow everything down for the sake of our sanity and for the sake of future generations. Another concept is "deep time" which shows just how long the Earth has existed, and how minuscule we are in this timeline. There's no rush, do what you can and enjoy it while you can. I think we need to integrate some sort of teaching on how to be more selfless, ego-less, and more prone to helping future generations. I think the yesterweb does that to a certain degree. Especially within this zine that pushes for self-expression, critical reasoning, and looking for alternative ways to travel the internet.

The Beatle's song "I'm Only Sleeping" comes to mind:

"Everybody seems to think I'm lazy
I don't mind, I think they're crazy
Runnin' everywhere at such a speed
'Til they find there's no need (there's no need)"

The Web isn't all there is, you are not obligated to be on here, you can access other roads. This article perfectly embodies the theme of this zine.

Strands

Alright, this is mine. "Strands" came about directly trying to brainstorm some sort of "alternative" within the internet. At the time probably around December and January, I would go to the library and peruse the books on sale, and I should say, albeit on a tangent, that libraries have some gold if you go digging through it. I found graphic design books from the 2000s that have so many historical examples of the aesthetics of the time.

The notable finds were an airline design collection that had this swinging airline design from Braniff Airways specifically from the 1960s-1970s. The uniforms by Emilio Pucci and designs by Alexander Girard are very striking and satisfying compared to how it is today.

Another was a graphic design book by Hiebert that went into a surprising in-depth examination of the ancient Chinese Book of Changes and how to reflect its philosophy onto design itself. I found the material enticing but the actual design being made was very of its time (the 1990s-2000s). BUT I was inspired nonetheless by some of the poster designs, especially the asymmetrical balance of it all.

With these now in my arsenal, I saunter on up to take a seat and delve into the frustrating endeavor of trying to make something for this zine. For some reason, I was fascinated by the word "strands". I went on a research rabbit dive and found myself looking at roadmaps and seeing that some roads lead off astray from the main highway. These byways are scenic routes that lead me into thinking of the internet in these abstract strands and highways.

I was brainstorming ideas of how sometimes we need to go off the main highway to refresh the senses, but we can always return to the main highway when we're done. So why not just take the internet scenic route and go the long way around? This of course goes into a lot of the issues and opinions brought up in this very zine.

We need scenic routes to remind us of the beauty that surrounds us. We take these routes day in and day out and fall into repetition, mostly to commute to a job. While it can be exciting to drive through a concrete jungle amassed with junction after junction of mazes that look the same, its important to be reminded that hell we exist in is surrounded by something that is beyond our comprehension, beyond our control. Which in my opinion is so liberating from the constant anthropocentric world.

Take that perspective and bring it into the internet and you'll find that the internet is more than just paid advertisements and search engine blues but small niche communities that bubble up off the beaten paths. It reminds us that there is a better representation of what it is to be human rather than consumeristic dumpsites that claim to understand and cater to the mental hellscape they created for us to be force-fed in.

Anyway, that is what I tried to represent in this piece, the abstracted humanoid body represents the spirit and mind being awakened by the imagination. When we travel online we're mapping ourselves and reflecting on the canvas our thoughts through words, images, and ideas. This is a collective effort of spreading information, which is radical and blurs the lines of past systems of civilizations.

This piece also expresses the joy and the state of being deeply entranced by inspiration and the present. Of falling onto a certain website that scratches the right itch and riding that baby for miles down a rabbit hole.


The Alt Key

"Are people putting on a persona online, or are they putting on a persona in real life?"

"Where they can go by their true gender, their real name, their real sexual orientation, and so on and so on. That’s the magic of the Internet, really. If you can't be the person you want to be in real life, then you may lead an alternate one online."

The ultimate alternative...to be your true self. The profundity of these statements is quite a mental quandary. I can attest firsthand to being a different person online. If anything I used it to experiment. I wouldn't go so far as pretend but as a kid, I would definitely roleplay on MMOs. As I grew up though, I became more of an observer rather than an active user of interactive spaces. Yet as of late its become full circle where I thought to myself "hey I miss the way I used to be online". This snowballed into this post here! Honestly, I am way more open on here than I am IRL. I feel I can clearly type out my opinions with ease rather than being on the spot in discussions. I don't know if that's a good sign but it's just how my brain functions.

I think it is a testing ground for a lot of people into discovering themselves, I wonder if its a way of therapy. I can see someone trying out different ways of acting to possibly add it to their arsenal IRL. I personally do put on a sort of persona through my art account and can be quite audacious when I feel like I need to exert some pent energy, I just empty it all online.

The article is great, it made me put into question how I act online. Thank you!

[amethyst]

SHIT! AHaha this is going to the void, but I don't mind! Memento mori! Mono no aware! Wabi-Sabi!

I meant to do this sooner, but irl stuff got in the way. I worked really hard on my "Strands" piece and thought to myself after the zine was posted up, alright lets actually participate and start a discussion. Sorry to be late, but I was working on this write-up for a couple of days, so the sunken-cost fallacy is getting the hold of me and I have determined I should post it regardless of the shutdown.

I am very glad that you posted it!! The void is actually very cozy; thanks for dropping by with your thoughts.

I appreciated your perspectives on everyone's pieces, and I enjoyed having another look at this issue of the zine. Thanks again for contributing, everyone!