Zine Review: Trust the Knife: Think About the Bubbles #8 and My Anxiety is My Lover: Think About the Bubbles #11

ZINES_Trust-the-Knife

 

Joyce Hatton, [email protected], $4 and $2.25 USD

 

Trust the Knife is Joyce’s illustrated journal recounting her tribulations with breast cancer, mental illness, addiction, homelessness, and shitty boyfriends. She gets into the nitty-gritty of cancer treatment and trying to navigate the patchwork of programs available to the uninsured in the American health care system. It’s all so daunting and she can feel proud that she was able to come out the other side.

As the title suggests, in My Anxiety is My Lover Joyce talks about her anxiety as the only constant presence in her life. It first arrived when she was three just as her father left and has been with her ever since. She knows indulging anxiety is not good for her, but it’s hard to break away from the familiarity it provides her. I felt voyeuristic reading both of these zines, especially because the text is handwritten in various shades of coloured ink, so it really does feel like I’m invading someone’s private diary. But the more I read, the more I thought about how brave Joyce is for sharing these intimate details of her life. (Mary Green)