Meet the New Everyone

I wrote this post a few months ago about how gender-specific the Hebrew language is. I complained about not knowing how to speak or how to refer to a non-binary person in Hebrew as there is no such thing as a multi-gender singular “they” in Hebrew like there is in English… until now!

Yesterday, I saw this post on my newsfeed and got super fucking excited about it!

This ad reads “Now, everyone can use multi-gender Hebrew” and the caption includes a link to a site where this new font can be downloaded. The ad itself uses the new letters they created. For those of you who don’t read Hebrew, this is basically how this ad works:

The words “everyone” and “can” are always gender-specific in Hebrew. When used in the male format, it’s kulam yecholim. In the female format, it’s kulan yecholot. What they did with this font is merge the M and the N (for kulam/kulan), and merged the I of yecholim with the second O of yecholot, and the M with the T of these words. From what I see so far, these are new Hebrew letters created to make Hebrew more gender-fluid at least in writing. In terms of how to pronounce these letters, I’m not sure, but I assume this phrase would sound something like “Kulanem Yecholotim”.

It’s sheer perfection! Music to my ears! And I mean, seriously, the Hebrew word for “everyone” would finally actually include EVERYONE – men, women and non-binary people!

My favorite new letter so far is the merging of the M and N when put at the end of a word, they call that letter nem sofit. I will go back to that link a few more times and attempt to teach myself the rest of the new letters and finally incorporate them in my Hebrew texts. Not that there are too many of them. I prefer writing in English. But I’m so fucking psyched that I have the possibility of typing in multi-gender Hebrew!

Oh and also, once I actually get the hang of it, maybe I’ll even write a zine about it and include examples like I do in this post! So fucking rad!!

I can finally use the multi-gender singular “they” which is written with nem sofit and is probably pronounced henem. But I think this is the one problem with these new letters is that I’m not sure how to pronounce them. Like for a word like “you”, in Hebrew it’s either at (female) or ata (male). The genderfluid version of the word is spelled A-T-half of A. How would you pronounce half of a letter? Maybe just say both? Like, at’ata? So I think they should add an audio section to this website to show how such half-letters would be pronounced in different words. Even better if they scheduled some sort of online course or uploaded some YouTube tutorials answering questions from the viewers and participants about how to spell and pronounce some more complex words.

Either way, this is groundbreaking and I’m so glad that the change is starting to happen. People are taking notice. It’s definitely a language worth learning.

Peace, love and to all schools, upgrade your curriculum!

IZM 2019 – Days 8 to 14

July 8: Cook using a recipe from a zine

I finally did find a recipe in a zine. It was for a vegan lasagna which looked pretty damn good. I found it in Nina Echozina‘s zine Same Heartbeats number 14 but I had zero ingredients and, even less, the time to do it, so I dropped it and instead organized some more material for my WIP. I might try that recipe later on though (and use real cheese instead of vegan cheese because I’m not vegan anyway). I’m always looking for new food things to try out and see if my daughter likes it. I’m sick of making the same old things all the time. I’ll send my husband out to raid the supermarket.

July 9: Write a letter to a zine penpal/maker

Since I don’t know the difference between a zine penpal and a zine maker, I decided to merge the July 9 and 10 prompts together and just write my zinester friends. I got four I want to write and send zines to, and one who is just a penpal but the size of the letters she writes might as well be a zine. And she’s also an artist so yeah. It’ll take me a while to write and send out the letters anyway, so it’ll be done over the course of tomorrow as well.

July 10: Write a letter to a zine penpal/maker

First off, I’m still in the process of writing the letters. Second, I left my envelopes at home. And finally, I slept only three hours last night, so going to the post office after work will not happen because if I do go, it will only serve to reduce the time I will have left to nap before picking up my daughter. Like I said in my IZM plans post, I need an insane amount of sleep, and three hours sleep in the space of 24 hours just doesn’t cut it. So the letter-writing prompt will have to be continued at another time.
Also, I’m having a total blast with my WIP! I have two more things I want to write and I’m pretty much done with the writing part. The layout part is the one I’m REALLY excited about. This is where paper art really has a chance to shine!

July 11: International Zine Day

As I already wrote in my plans, I always read zines from other countries so the prompt is not really relevant for me. I was thinking maybe doing something on ZineWiki instead but it seems like the website is having technical difficulties. This morning, I worked on my WIP, typing away on my typewriter and now the tips of my fingers are nice and sore. I really had a blast and I didn’t want to stop, but alas, I had to go to my afternoon shift at the office. So yeah, I guess that was my activity for today. Typing away on Rose Madder and feel my fingers going numb and having fun doing it!

July 14: ValenZines Day

I went to Hanan Office Supplies after work today. Treating myself to some zine ammo is a good way to show myself some zine love. Since Moked closed down a few months ago (dreadful day, that was) I think Hanan may be the next best thing. I went to the big branch on Yafo street and nearly got lost in there. I wanted to buy every single notebook, sketchbook, address book, diary, and daily planner I saw! I so love all this cute and silly shit. But I cut my tour short to find what I went there for: dividers I can use for my zine library so I could finally organize my zine collection in a way that looks at least somewhat decent. I bought four of them for now. Organization bug is set to attack soon!
For now, I need to finish up the writing part of my zine. Half this month is already over and if I don’t start the layout soon, I may find myself still struggling to complete the zine in August. I want this to be an IZM zine, so it won’t work if it’s not done during IZM.

Peace, love and anyone know what’s happening with ZineWiki?

 

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Get messy and follow the bleeder: Like my page, PMS Mess!

Decompose It!

The other day I suddenly got inspired to resume journal writing. I’ve been keeping diaries all my life (see this post) but as it is with zine-production, it’s kind of hard to find time to write when you’re a full-time mom. I tried keeping a pregnancy journal, and I have, but all the entries were actually saved as unpublished posts on this blog. At that time, I didn’t really feel like writing by hand. I don’t know why.

But anyway, the diary I’m writing in now is one that my friend from Salem bought for me when I was there for the Boston Zine Fest. It’s a rather large one, with the front and back covers decorated with black-and-white drawings of guitars, microphones, amps, keyboards, and drums. On the front cover, it says “Decomposition Book – 100% post-consumer-waste recycled pages – Printed with Soy Ink”. Whether any of that is true or not is irrelevant. But I LOVE the “decomposition” part. Really jives with the death metalhead within.

I added the title “Fertile Myrtle” with the H logo when I tried to keep it as a pregnancy journal. Some of the first entries were in fact written when I was going through the IVF treatments and when I found out I was pregnant. Then a few entries when I tried to get back to journal writing again and failed. Again.

So the other day, when I got inspired, I wrote yet another entry about trying to get back to keeping a diary, and I really hope it’ll work this time. Keeping with the inspiration, I added a few stickers that I received from zinesters and penpals I traded with. Cool stickers and decorations really do encourage me to keep writing. So far, I only wrote two entries and they’re short. But I had a great time writing them.

I should really practice my handwriting. I’ve been typing shit for too long, and all of it was on the computer. I mean, if I were typing on my manual typewriter (which requires quite a bit of finger strength and may cause broken nails, bruises, and blisters) I wouldn’t be so hard on myself for not doing much writing by hand. But as it stands, the only time I write by hand is when I write letters to penpals (awesome) and notes for clients (meh).

It might be because of my condition that I get kinda lazy and opt for blogging. But fuck it. I’m done making excuses. Myotonic Dystrophy be damned. I love writing by hand. Diaries and letter-writing shall prevail!

Peace, love and wouldn’t it be so cool if my typewriter could accommodate diaries?

Snail Mail Request

My mailbox is tragically empty. If I ever get any mail, it’s only bank statements, credit card statements and coupons from Shufersal. I keep checking it in hopes that one of my penpals may have sent a letter, but alas.

Technically, I have penpals from Germany, Greece, Iceland, UK and Canada. I tried starting a mail correspondence with someone from Estonia as well as Sweden and a couple more from Germany, but have gotten no responses.

Meanwhile, I designed some new stationaries in case I do have a chance to write a letter (and I will be starting a couple of new correspondences this week, thank Goddess). Some of them are designed by hand, but the newer ones (and the ones I can’t wait to use!) are designed on Photoshop. I also designed some totally rad envelopes.

I am trying to get in touch with some more people via Interpals, and managed to start something with a girl from France and just recently wrote to another girl in Israel. Though again, no responses yet.

Basically, my point with this post is as follows:

IF YOU ARE INTO SNAIL MAILING AND LOOKING TO HAVE A PLEASANT EXCHANGE WITH AN ISRAELI CHICK, PLEASE CONTACT ME.

You can comment on this post or write me a message via Interpals – check out my profile here. I am open to letters from anywhere in the world (though unfortunately not from Arab countries as the Israeli Post Office does not deliver mail to and from those countries. Sorry!).

Also, I am looking for penpals who are willing to write often, at least once a month, and who want to commit to a a long-term snail mailing relationship.

I’m looking for people who are very open-minded. I do not accept letters from people who are racist, sexist, homophobic, antisemitic, anti-Zionist, anti-religious or anti-secular. I am not interested in a political debates. I use snail mailing to escape all that bullshit, and instead talk about fun stuff like travels, music, entertainment, books, food, zines, animals, etc.

If you are such a person, then you must rock and I would love to find a letter from you in my mailbox! So don’t be shy and drop me a line 🙂

Peace, love and zombie bunnies.

IZM – Day 18: Post Office Day

The IZM activity for July 18 (last Thursday) was originally to order from a zine distro that I’ve never ordered from before, but I already did that on Zine Distros Appreciation Day on July 3.

While planning out my month, I decided Day 18 would be a day to look for a zinester blog to follow… but I’m still bored from the internet, so fuck that. Besides, I had a few activities to catch up on. So I decided to do the following:

1) Sending a care package to a friend (which I should have done on July 10)
2) Sending a letter to my zine crush (which I should have done on July 14)
3) Sending a zine to a distro for consideration (which I should have done on July 16)
4) Leaving a zine in a public place (which I should have done on July 15)

I’ll also sent out my 24-Hour Zine Thing issue on that day. So Day 18 was primarily a post office day considering all the stuff I sent. I loved spending a pretty penny in shipping costs. Hurray!

After the post office, I went to Nocturno hoping to meet a friend. Meanwhile I had chocolate souffle as I felt period cramps coming on. After about an hour and a half, I was in so much pain I couldn’t even see straight. So I left the place, texting my friend telling her I won’t be able to meet her. Plus, I totally forgot to leave a zine at Nocturno. I simply zombie-walked my way home and curled up in my bed, praying the pain would just stop.

I might consider leaving a copy of my zine at Uganda Bar one day… not sure about that yet.

This week, I may have another post office day to send a letter to a zinester friend (which I should have done on July 9) and hopefully settle some trades and send them out by then (something I should have done on July 13).

See previous posts for as to why I didn’t complete these activities on their respective dates.

Peace, love and anybody up for a split zine?

IZM – Day 15: Leave Zine in Public Place

I was supposed to do that yesterday but I thought that since today I don’t have to be at the office, I’ll catch up on all my activities today. Then I remembered that today is Tisha Be’Av, a fast day, and most of the “public places” I want to leave my zines at are restaurants and coffee shops… which are closed now due to the fast.

Fuck.

Oh well, I guess Thursday is the best day for everything. I got one more of the addresses I needed for the stuff to send. I’m waiting on one more and then I’ll have everything ready for my trip to the post office this Thursday. Yay! And while I’m at it, I think I’ll drop by the coffee shop Nocturno on Bezalel and stick a couple of zines on the tables alongside their sweet sweet menu. Maybe I’ll even order me a milkshake. Anybody wanna join me?

Peace, love and good times, realy really good times 🙂

 

IZM – Day 14: ValenZine’s Day!

I wrote a letter to one of my two zine crushes. Once again, I am stuck not being able to send it until I get a confirmation from said zine crush as to her address.

Hopefully, I’ll get all the required addresses before the post venture I am planning for this Thursday.

Peace, love and short ass post.

IZM – Day 10: Send a Care Package to a Zinester

I didn’t write here since Thursday because I was still neck deep in Under the Dome (damn you, Stephen King! Why are you so awesome?!). But I did do my International Zine Month activities still.

On Wednesday, I made a care package that I intend to send to a zinester. I didn’t have any of the addresses for the letter I wrote the previous day nor for the care package, so although they’re ready to be sent, they weren’t yet. I think that I’ll set a trip to the post later on this week when I have to send out my 24-Hour Zine. More on that soon.

Anyway, the care package has a ton of stuff. Four back issues of Fallopian Falafel, two back issues of PMS (and once I get a copy of the new 24-Hour PMS, I’ll include it in it too), a cat skull patch, a copy of Mistress Distress’s EP, a copy of the small photo booklet I made about my trip to Barcelona, another photo booklet about Diamond, a copy of the End of Words issue 2, and three flyers.

Peace, love and that’s one big fat package!

IZM – Day 9: Write a Letter to a Zinester

More specifically, to a zinester I don’t know. But yesterday, I didn’t really feel like it. Instead, I wrote to a zinester I recently suggested to start snail mailing with me. It wasn’t a very long letter, but I think that as an introductory letter, it was sufficient.

I used my own hand-made stationary and will send it in one of the envelopes I made earlier this week.

Now if you don’t mind, I’ve seriously had it with this computer. I’ll be retreating to my Stephen King book in a minute. But first, I’ll say this:

Peace, love and 24-hour zine thing TOMORROW!

IZM – Day 7: Mail Art

Last night, the IZM activity was to make envelopes and postcards for this snail mail week.

On July 11, the activity is also to make some mail art. Now since I don’t understand the difference between mail art and making envelopes, postcards and stationaries, I decided to declare July 7 as mail art day and July 11 as the day where I will start the 24-Hour Zine Thing (more on that coming up this week).

I finally ended up just making some envelopes which is good enough for me, mainly because I already made a shitload of stationaries during the DIY month in December, and also because I don’t really like postcards that much. There’s never enough space to write on them. I also made some envelopes during the DIY Month but already sent all of them. So last night, I made five more using colorful construction paper and stickers.

It felt really good to finally be doing something that does not involve use of a computer, and  makes a whole lot of mess after the activity is done.

On that note, I am also really excited for tonight. I’ll be making a zine flyer to send out with my mail!

 

Peace, love and I’ve already got a few penpals, but always looking for more. Interested folks may drop me a line.