Blanket Burrito Brigade Issue 3
This issue’s theme: HOME
Aug—Sept 2019
Poetry. Photos. Art. Writing. + More!
in this issue HOME
p.4
Homesickness
p.8
Cosy tips
p.11
Our lovely home on the internet
p.12
Building homes our of human being p.16
Family Recipes
Beauty tips
Meet the Artist
p.19
p.22
p.27
+ poetry + pictures + more 2
welcome! September is a month full of transitions. For many of us, it’s the symbolic start of a new year thanks to school/university years beginning anew. The trees themselves are shedding their summer coats and putting on their colorful autumn finery, and the world begins to settle down after the chaos and heat and freedom of the long summer months. For this reason, we’ve chosen to focus this issue on the idea of ‘home’. Home is a bit of a tricky concept to be honest — maybe you grew up with a steady sense of what that meant to you, or maybe you’re still figuring it out. Is home a place, or a feeling? Is it built on solid foundations or does it shift from place to place? We (and some of our wonderful contributors!) have mused over some of these questions and more in this issue. As always, we thank you deeply for choosing to read our little creation this month! It is very much a labour of love between the three of us, and we always welcome contributions from our beautiful community. Check page 28/29 for details of how you can be involved in October’s issue! Take care of yourselves and wrap up warm if your slice of the world is cooling down at the moment. Enjoy!
- Natalie, Helen & Gill
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HOM
“Home isn’t where you’re from. I grows dark.” - Pier
“The ache for home lives in all o go as we are and not be questio Children Need T
ME
It’s where you find light when all rce Brown, Golden Son
of us. The safe place where we can oned.” - Maya Angelou, All God’s Travelling Shoes
HOME
By Natalie Cooper A small terraced house with dodgy lights and old sofas where the light is always right and the city is always switched on A too-big apartment a rickety fire-escape clinging on five minutes walk to the sea and a wonky kitchen floor A two-bedroom flat with four inhabitants full of noise full of love and brimming with memories A cramped room with an old sink paper thin walls and the best sunset view of the castle that you ever did see A well-built house a paved garden a cot turned bed and an anxious heart Your arms shoes kicked off on the sofa heartbeat ticking quietly on and a quiet mind
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Homesickness: Why do I feel so terrible? So—you’ve moved away from home for the first time. Congratulations! You’re at the pinnacle of such an exciting journey and it’s all going to be amazing—right? Well, chances are that you’re having some feelings about all of this, and they might not all be positive.
Homesickness is quite a trite name for what can often be quite serious anxiety and stress associated with separation from familiar people and places. In the UK, the National Union of Students reports that it affects between 50% and 75% of students who move away from home to attend university. It can include scary things like feelings of isolation, a lack of appetite and a disturbed sleeping pattern. Clearly, this is something which should be taken seriously, lest it becomes a larger mental health issue further down the line!
It’s important not to blame yourself for these feelings. Transitions are always difficult and everyone processes things at different speeds. Where you may feel fine in a few weeks, others may still have feelings of homesickness for months or even longer. I remember when I first moved to university I felt fine for the first month or so, and was convinced that I’d avoided what seemed to be bringing everyone else down. I’d cracked it! I was amazing! And then four weeks in, I turned on the TV and there was a cooking show set in my hometown on, with a man talking on it who sounded just like my grandad. It hit me like a ton of bricks all of a sudden, and I had to work my way through it then for a good few months afterwards.
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All hope is not lost, however. There are plenty of tried and tested strategies that you can use to help with these feelings. Here’s just a few:
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Establish routines quickly - the sooner you get into new habits such as walking a certain route to school or work, or going to a particular coffee shop for tea when you go to town, the sooner you will feel more stable in your new environment!
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Socialize with other humans— I know this basically seems like the worst thing ever when you’re feeling isolated and anxious, but your brain needs to realise than you can find new people to feel comfortable around sooner rather than later.
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Keep busy! - try to sign up to things and make plans where you’ll be forced to leave the house and not just sit in your room eating peanut butter from the jar. Immerse yourself in your new surroundings in positive activities, and minimize the time you spend dwelling on the differences.
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Stay in touch— although you don’t want to be going back home every other weekend if you can help it, do make sure you don’t just cut off everyone who reminds you of home. It’s all about figuring out how they fit into your new normal.
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Decorate—stick on an episode of Queer Eye and decorate your space with all of your photographs, favourite cushions, stuffed animals, ticket stubs, whatever you need to make it feel homey and safe for you.
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Take care of yourself—Go for a run, put on a face mask, tidy your room, brush your teeth—whatever you need to do to make sure your body and mind are feeling loved and cherished for, keep doing that.
Leaving the familiar is always scary and please, give yourself a moment to adjust. Accept that this might just be the way you feel for a little while, and that’s okay. Hug yourself, talk to those around you and start to enjoy those awesome little freedoms you have now. You’ll be alright soon enough.
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The Art of Hygge The Danish word hygge is used to acknowledge a feeling or moment that is cosy or special. It is about coziness and comfort and contentness. The Danes created the word to get through their long and gloomy winters, but it can be used anytime of year. It's a way to celebrate the simple moments and bring cosy joy into your life. We're going to focus on the at home bit, though this is a feeling that can accompany you anywhere! These are some tips on creating a cosy space and feeling cosy in that space. - Get warm! If you're lucky enough to have a fireplace or a wood burning stove light it up. If not, candles work well too! Gather your favorite scents and let the warmth fill your home. - Turn off or dim the lights. Bright lights can be harsh, and low lights bring in that extra cosy feeling. You can also hang up some string lights and use those for extra ambience. - Surround yourself with soft things. One can never have too many blankets or pillows! Pile them up and create a blanket nest. Pick blankets and throws that feel good and bring you joy. - Enjoy lots of warm beverages. Brew a pot of tea or make a cup of hot coco or coffee. Drink it from your favorite mug. Take time in the store to pick your favorite teas or coffees and have them on hand. - Invite people over! Have a friend over to watch a movie. Host a board game night. Fill your home with the sounds of those you love. - Bake or cook a meal. Take the time to create a meal. This can be as elaborate or simple as you want. A loaf of bread or a package of prebaked cookies. A can of soup heated on the stove or a pot of chili made from scratch. Fill your home with the scents and take time to savor what you have made. - Surround yourself with objects that mean something to you. Be it art or books or dishes or pillows or clothes.... fill your home with the things that mean the most to you and the things that tell a story. This helps create a space you want to be in and a space you find joy in. - Take time to enjoy the simple moments. Snuggle your pets. Dive into a new hobby. Take a long and leisurely bath. Call your mom and talk for an hour. Read that book that has been on your shelf for a year. Remember, hygge is a feeling, so it doesn’t matter what you have in your home or even where your home is. That feeling of content and warmth and security can be found anywhere and everywhere.
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Home is...comfort and safety and feeling good enough to be yourself. It’s where you can kick off your shoes and sit back with your favorite cup of tea and feel at ease with the world. It’s also a place to feel supported and safe. We created BBB because we wanted a space like that on the internet. We promote positivity, but we aren’t naïve. Chronic illness is tough. And being young with chronic illness is extra tough. Your peers are out partying or working 50 hours a week to get that promotion or getting ready to buy a house...and you’re super proud for them but really just need someone to hear how proud you are that your meds are working or you got to class despite fatigue or, despite symptoms you too are working 50 hours a week to get that promotion! We wanted a community where we all get it. Where we can laugh at the stuff chronic illness brings to the table, where we can raise each other up when it gets hard, and where we can cheer each other on when we succeed despite it all. BBB is our little place in a wild world where we can retreat and shrug off our coats and kick off our shoes and get cozy and feel safe and supported and okay. It offers us people to chat with and share struggles with and swap ideas with. We wanted to offer that community, because it’s so very valuable to us.
Grown out of strong roots Blanket Burrito Brigade grew out of a need for a positive-focussed chronic illness group for young people. We used to be a part of The Pillow Fort - Pillow Fighters Club but when the decision was taken to archive it, a group of us Pillow Fighters joined forces to keep the ethos going. There's no end of Facebook groups out there, including those for people with chronic illnesses and disabilities. What we found were groups sucking the energy with negativity, or unrelatable experiences due to age differences. We appreciate being chronically ill isn't all laughs, and can affect anyone of any age. But sometimes you need to relate to people of a similar age, and you need reminding of the small positives.
New beginnings That's where we came in! We created Blanket Burrito Brigade as an exclusive group for positive, young people who just happen to have a chronic illness (physical and/or mental, diagnosed and/or undiagnosed). We know that life isn’t always fantastic, and we certainly don’t want our members to feel that they can only post in the group on ‘good days’. Positive posting means finding the silver lining, giving advice, asking others for positive/helpful feedback and content. We share the things we love and tell others how well they’re doing. We provide memes and other funnies when members are in need of a smile and we look for the small positives in every week.
The concept Choosing a name was a hard task for us! We went through a vast array of names, from the cushion cave to castle a la chronic before settling on BBB. Let's face it, we all at some point grab our favourite blanket and wrap on up in it like a burrito. It's cosy! Our new look was created by the lovely Isobel Taylor, fellow Blanket Burrito (and previous Pillow Fighter). We love sloths and relate to their slow nature - but like sloths, whilst we move slow, we get there eventually. The design is perfect and the sloth looks so cosy in their blanket burrito. You can check out her awesome work at @isssswell.
Our projects Since we formed in August 2018, we've ran two successful swaps and can't wait to get stuck into more. Our first was the Holiday Swap in December 2018, spreading the festive cheer with cards and parcels. It went so well, we decided to run a Summer Swap too, this time just pick-me-up parcels. Everyone has great fun making, creating and finding items that matched their swap partner's interests. We had great take-up on both the swaps and are looking forward to setting up this year's seasonal swap - stay tuned for the sign-up post coming soon! We've also launched our zines! We love sharing the work fellow Blanket Burritos have created and hope to get more contributors as time goes on. We hope you enjoy reading the zines we create. 13
Spoonie Friendly Hacks for Home •
Baskets, baskets everywhere. When you don’t have much energy but want to keep your home tidy, you can pile everything into a basket that doesn’t belong in that room. That way the room is decluttered and you can move the basket to the right rooms when you have a chance.
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Shelves and vertical storage. Multi– use bookcases can be used to store more than books. Use them for DVDs, shoes, records, etc.
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Break cleaning up into tiny chunks. Clean for 20 minutes and then take a 10 minute break. Set a timer, so you know when to start and stop. And play your favorite music to make it more fun!
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Designate certain areas for certain activities, and keep them separate. For example, have a set corner to craft in and keep supplies and materials there and only there.
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Bed risers! Put your bed up on risers and give yourself a couple more inches of underbed storage. Underbed boxes are good for everything from clothes to books to stationary.
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Keep surfaces, including floors clear. A messy surface makes a room look messier. Even by just clearing a table or picking the socks off your floor, the room looks neater.
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Make your bed in the morning. It helps make the room look neater and gives you an inviting place to come home to.
Check out Unfuck Your Habiitat for more tips and tricks! https:// www.unfuckyourhabitat.com/
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Building home out of human beings - Gill F. “you can't make homes out of human beings someone should have already told you that and if he wants to leave then let him leave you are terrifying and strange and beautiful something not everyone knows how to love.” - Warsan Shire People toss this saying around like baseballs. You can’t make homes out of human beings. You can’t make homes out of human beings. You...can’t...make...homes...out...of...human...beings. What they mean is...you can’t trust anyone else. You can’t trust anyone to stay. You can’t trust anyone to be there always and forever and ever and ever. And I get it. Because for three years I called her home. For three years when work was hard or I traveled far or I just felt like it was all too much and I sat with my arms wrapped around my knees and whispered IwannagohomeIwannagohomeIwannagohome, I didn’t mean our tiny basement apartment on the leafy green block down the street from the laundromat and the late night diner and the Dominican hair salon. I didn’t mean the dark apartment with the faded carpeting where we used a bed as a couch and hung Christmas lights around the windows year round. I meant her. I meant the way it felt to wrap my arms around her and lay my head on her shoulder. I meant the way she smelt like tea tree shampoo and toothpaste and lavender laundry soap. I meant the way she looked at me with eyes the color of the ocean at high tide and hair that was always slightly out of control. I meant the way she felt like safety and warmth and comfort. That was home. And I built my home not out of walls and sheetrock and carpet samples, but rather out of her elbows and fingers and earlobes and teeth and that spot that sloped ever so in the small of her back. And then one day...she was gone. And I moved to a new apartment, but I felt lost and scared for a long time, because home was gone. So I get it, You can’t make homes out of human beings. But...maybe you can? Maybe it’s ok to pour that much into another person. And maybe that one will leave, but you try again. And some people, well they don’t leave. You can’t make homes out of human beings...and yet home still isn’t walls and thrifted furniture and chipped mugs and postcards taped to the wall with slivers of Duct tape. Home is my mom’s bad jokes and her slightly off tune singing in the car. It’s her spaghetti dinners and chocolate cream pies and too strong coffees. It’s her constant willingness for adventure. It’s her love of Scrabble and crossword puzzles and game shows. It’s how she lights up at every dog on the street and how she’ll always stop to help someone. It’s her arms and her tangled hair and her feet and her hands.
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Home is my best friend’s British accent, still strong even after a decade in the states. It’s her love of theater and Chinese food and red wine. It’s the way she asks how my day was and waits for an answer. It’s her no bullshit advice and her tough love. It’s her passion and drive and relentless spirit and her protectiveness for those she loves. It’s her lingering hugs and her tiny feet and her hair that’s always so wildly shiny. Home is my sister...3000 miles away...and my niece and nephew who still can’t say my name, but know me by face. It’s how they all cram together on their couch to Skype and fill my tiny apartment with their chatter and giggles and joy. It’s watching her build a home out of people she grew herself. You can’t make homes out of human beings...but those are the only homes I’ve ever truly known. I remember homes from childhood. The yellow walls in my first bedroom and the bunk bed in my dorm room and the sticky plastic table cloth in my grandfather’s apartment, but more so I remember the people. I remember holidays spent with too much family, spilling out of rooms and laughing and shouting to be heard. I remember long car rides with my mom and enjoying the quiet hum of the road. I remember playing make believe with my brother, hours spent building new lives together. I remember sipping whiskey from plastic bottles with my sister and lying in her bed together talking about all the ways family can fuck you up. I remember sleeping over my friend’s house, our bodies so tangled together we became one. I remember the feelings of warmth and goodness and comfort. That’s home...and it’s only ever built out of human beings.
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Things That Remind Us Of Home A soft meow when I wake up, and Bellatrix sitting on the back of the sofa waiting for her kiss
Bridges
Family
Gravy & custard—Good Northern English stock
A cosy sofa and a warm lounge to flop on Sand dunes Fry-ups
Banana bread
Red London bustle and the hustle and bustle in a melting pot of culture
Chocolate cream pie
Harry Potter, endless books, Lush collection, gaming laptop
Queer culture
Pease pudding and stotties
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Family Recipes Gill’s Mom’s Meatloaf This can be done with either real beef or a vegan beef alternative (that’s what we do now). We don’t measure so everything is approximate. What you’ll need: 1 pound of beef or beef alternative (or I bag of alternative)
1 egg or 1 egg alternative (we use 1 tablespoon of flax seed and 3 tablespoons of water) A good long squirt of ketchup A shake of breadcrumbs (use gluten free to make it gluten free) Italian seasoning What you do: Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit Grease a pan of any size Smash it all together and form a loaf shape. Add more water and/or breadcrumbs as needed. Cook for about 45 minutes (test it if you’re using real meat) Eat with mashed potatoes and gravy!
Anna-Leigh’s Irish Stew Gently cook a chopped onion and around 4 chopped carrots in some oil. Add beef chunks and sauté until slightly brown. Add stock (2 cubes and enough water to cover the beef and veg) and simmer for half an hour on low heat.
After half an hour added peeled chopped potatoes (like 7 potatoes). Simmer for an hour, stirring occasionally, and check the potato levels - add more it’s still too watery. Leave to simmer for at least another hour. You’ll know it’s done when there’s no water left and the potatoes have started to dissolve .
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Lily’s Mum’s Jacket Potatoes Cook jacket potatoes in the microwave. Cut in half, scoop potato into a bowl & save the skins. Mix cheese and any other fillings you want (I love cut up bacon and sweetcorn in mine) into the potato.
Scoop potato mix back into the skins & top with more grated cheese. Bake in oven for 10 mins.
Ginger’s Salmon Patties Canned salmon with the bones, egg, crushed saltine crackers (mash all together in a bowl with a fork) Pan fried. Good with white gravy, mashed potatoes and some veggies.
Natalie’s mam’s corned beef pie Pastry - 5 oz butter, 8oz plain flower, 2 tablespoon of water, tiny bit of salt. Mix it together then knead it and roll thin. Lay into a shallow pie dish, leaving some to put over the top. Filling- Boil 4-5 cubed potatoes, when they are ready mash them and add 1 chopped up tin of cornbeef and 1 chopped up onion. Mash it all together then put into the pie dish. Cover with the remaining rolled out pastry and cut two small holes. Bake for 30-40 minutes. Serve hot or cold with pease pudding.
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Mother Any Distance by Simon Armitage
Mother, any distance greater than a single span requires a second pair of hands. You come to help me measure windows, pelmets, doors, the acres of the walls, the prairies of the floors. You at the zero-end, me with the spool of tape, recording length, reporting metres, centimetres back to base, then leaving up the stairs, the line still feeding out, unreeling years between us. Anchor. Kite. I space-walk through the empty bedrooms, climb the ladder to the loft, to breaking point, where something has to give; two floors below your fingertips still pinch the last one-hundredth of an inch...I reach towards a hatch that opens on an endless sky to fall or fly.
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DIY Beauty Tips – Taking care of your body and self at home! It can be a struggle sometimes to find time for taking care of ourselves. Whether that’s booking a hairdresser visit, going to get your nails done, having a massage – sometimes it takes time, money and energy that we frankly don’t necessarily have. That’s why I love to pamper at home as much as possible and make the most of resources and fun things around the house for an easy (and cheap!) relaxing time. The best scrub I’ve ever used: •
Sea salt (1/2 cup)
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Sugar (1/2 cup)
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Olive oil or melted coconut oil (1/2 cup)
Mix these all together and rub it all over your body. If you are someone who shaves their legs, this is particularly amazing to use before you shave and will leave you SO SMOOTH. Seriously, try it once and you won’t ever go back to expensive shop-bought scrubs.
Balmy McBalmerson: •
4tbps shea butter
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2tbps coconut oil
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4tbps olive oil
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1 -3 drops essential oil (optional – lavender is nice!)
Melt the shea butter and coconut oil together in a container in the microwave until both are liquid. Mix in the olive oil and essential oil (if using), then pop it in the fridge to firm up. Once cool, rub a pea-sized amount onto the ends of wet hair after washing to help make it feel really smooth and shiny! You can buy shea butter online or in most hair-care shops.
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Hair Food Mask: •
¼ cup olive oil
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3tbps coconut milk
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1tbps honey
Apply to dampened hair and comb through, then wrap in a towel and leave for twenty minutes, then shampoo out. This is especially great for curly or dry hair!
DIY fake LUSH lip scrub: •
½ tsp granulated sugar (a little more if too wet)
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½ tsp olive oil
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2 drops vanilla extract
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¼ tps cinnamon
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1 drop food colouring (optional)
Mix your sugar and oil together first, then add in everything else. Flavouring can be adjusted by switching out the vanilla extract and cinnamon for things like mint extract or orange oil! The food colouring can be added in if you’d like this scrub to leave a little stain on your lips after use. To use, scrub onto dry lips in a circular motion then lick or wipe off (it’s pretty tasty) and follow with a nice lip balm.
Soothing face mask: •
1 banana, well mashed
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2tbs honey
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2tbs rolled oats
Mix these all together and put onto your face in a thin layer. Leave for about 10 minutes (ideally whilst lying down as it’s quite gloopy!) and then wash off with warm water and follow with your favourite moisturiser. Hint: add some extra oats and an egg to this and it also makes excellent cookies!
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Meet the artist Nathan W Pyle drawing hilarious depiction of weird behaviours in our home planet Crawled out the womb: 1982 Method of gaining money to survive: mocking humanity through ink lines Location on this planet: New York Nathan Pyle is blowing up the internet with his Strange Planet webcomic. The aliens are surprisingly relatable in discussing the banal experiences we humans encounter on a daily basis. Pyle is good at observing society and picking up on the secrets and unwritten rules we follow every day. He holds up a mirror to our lives and uses characters that transcend gender or race so we can all relate. Before rising to fame with his sardonic illustrations, Pyle has worked as a staff writer and illustrator for Buzzfeed. He is a New York Times best-selling author, and his NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette depicts the unique habits and unspoken customs that New Yorkers follow to survive in such a populated city. Pyle studied theology at university, so it’s no surprise he asks questions social norms and is fascinated by everything he sees. Our existence is at the base of any joke he creates, any behaviour he witnesses can be turned into a comic panel. It’s what makes his art so popular across the world—his work went viral and his social media accounts have boomed with followers (us included). We are absolutely loving his commentary on everyday life and can’t wait for the book version of Strange Planet to be released next month. Check out his website nathanpyle.art or follow on Instagram @nathanwpyle
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A sneak peak of next month’s issue!
Next month’s theme will be…
We will chat about STUFF AND THINGS
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With thanks Thank you to the wonderful writers, poets, artists and friends credited throughout who contributed their time, artistry, opinions and skill to this issue. You are all amazing and we’re very grateful indeed. Special thanks also go to you, readers, for supporting this little project! If you enjoyed this issue, please consider sharing these words and pictures with a friend or on your various social media spaces!
Want to contribute? Really? Awesome! You can send your submissions to blanketburritobrigade@mail.com with the subject line ‘Zine Contribution’. Additionally, if you’re working on a cool project, run your own awesome business or generally feel like you’ve got something going on that the world needs to know about, drop us a line and we’ll see how we can help!