Munch Planet Vol. 1

Munch

Planet Volume 1

munchplanet.com

Welcome to Munch Planet Volume 1 As the face of modern fascism pummels screens across the country on the regular with a dick-tatorial nature, I think all of us are survivors. We’re looking for a place we can live free and feel safe. So, I’ve made this—part zine, part book, part I-don’treally-know-wtf—meant to inspire creativity and action in myself and others during dark times.

- Kimberly Hickerson Maker

art

culture

food

Art Break p.22

Keeping the Magic Alive p.8

A Kitchen Story p.26

A Cause You Can Affect p.36

Women in HIstory Granny Opal’s Pie Recipe p.30

Sex Educating p.16 The Sauce Review p.32 Last Call Cocktail p. 44

music

film

whatever

Bands to Heart p.34

A Women Under the Influence p.12

Cool Women Doing Cool Shit p.20 Hiking the Grand Canyon p.40

The people that make this possible

Staley Stidham & Jenna Lewis

Madeline Whitehorn

Liz Drew

Staley and Jenna contributed a piece on self-care and will be dolling out advice as well as survival tips to interested parties. They’re a female force and a joy to hang out with, too. Check out their piece on p.8, and submit questions to them through our email.

Madeline Whitehorn contributed the Sex Education piece on p.16. Her partner, Andon Whitehorn, also contributed the cocktail recipe on p 44. Recently, they’ve started a new journey in their lives, leaving their hometown of Oklahoma City, along with their two cats, for greener pastures in Vermont.

Hopefully, we will be hearing more from them.

Liz Drew opens up about her life working on films in a variety of positions, most passionately, about her work as a set lighting technician on p.12. When she has time at home, she spends it with her cats, dogs, and partner in their home in Oklahoma City.

photo: Sarah Donovan

photo: Joseph “Blaise” Nation

Jennifer Denise Lynch

Angela Chase

All these wonderful people

Jennifer received her master’s degree in Museum Studies from UCO. She contributed the story and recipe for Women in History on p. 28, a theme she will continue exploring in further volumes.

She’s also the shop owner of Broad Shoppe and Dottie’s Clothing (p.20). In addition to being generally supportive of this project from the start and helping to edit, she sat down for an interview with Munch Planet.

Angela tells her Kitchen Story on pg. 28 about growing up and working in kitchens, finding her passions in life.

In addition to being an experienced baker, she’s a plant lover whose collection of adorable succulents is available on Instagram @ doubleswordedFLORA

Erika Salinas p. 31 Erin Lofties p. 8 Taylor Hale p. 17 Diana Montgomery p. 40 Lacey Elaine Tackett p. 20 Andrea Lemonds p. 20 Anna Marie p. 20 Aaron Wilder p. 36 Atlee Hickerson p. 32, 34 The Holey Kids p. 22

Keeping the Magic Alive words Staley Stidham and Jenna Lewis illustrations Erin Lofties

THE AUDRE LORDE QUESTIONNAIRE TO ONESELF 1. What are the words you do not have, yet? [Or, “for what do you not yet have words?”]

2. What do you need to say? [List as many things as necessary] 3. What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence? [List as many as necessary today. Then, write a new list tomorrow. And, the day after that. ] 4. If we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own need for language, ask yourself: “What’s the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?” [So, answer this today. And, every day.].]

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) Abundant in uses that range from easing digestion to being an anti-viral. Helps to make you warmer to other people and to lift your spirits. Good for mild depression and anxiety. Use as a tea, or a tincture made from fresh plant material.

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Can you NOT EVEN with this imperialist capitalist, racist, sexist, trans-phobic, queer-hating hegemony machine that is slowly, but surely, draining everybody of their humanity, keeping people in poverty, disregarding all forms of life, and killing those deemed unworthy? Is the world making you tired of the world? Same, but we’ve all got to wake up and be someone. If you want the world to be filled with compassion, free of judgment, and mimic the way an ABBA song makes you feel, you have to begin with the way you treat yourself.

1. Appreciate the present.

Are you able to find some amount of joy? Half the time, when people talk about gratitude, it makes us want to ram our heads into the wall, but it’s necessary. The world is filled with hilarious and sacred moments and, just as it’s important to recognize the bad, it’s important to recognize the good. Acknowledge lightness in the world and that it’s worth fighting for. Living in scarcity will make you feel scared and like there isn’t enough. Pay attention to the small, lovely moments the world provides and use them as padding for the torrential bullshit.

2. Take care of number one (that’s you).

Are your basic needs getting met? Are you eating food that nourishes you? Are you eating anything other than bagels? What you put in your body has a direct link to how you feel. Make a habit of eating something that nourishes you at the same time every day. Are you getting good, quality sleep consistently throughout the week? Sure, you can go without adequate sleep, but it will eventually catch up with you.Your mind and body need time to rest, regenerate, and clear out all the junk from the day. Are you getting at least thirty minutes of sunshine and fresh air a day? What’s the quickest way to feel like you’re in a Beach Boys’ music video? Sunshine, baby. Getting out of the house and into nature on a regular basis is good for every part of you (and, so is realizing you’re cooler than any and all of the Beach Boys. We love the sun and hate the Beach Boys).

3. Unplug.

There isn’t anything wrong with loving technology; we want to be Edward Snowden as much as the next confused libertarian. But, with everything being so fast paced and instant, we need to make the time to slow down. Invest in your real life a little each day by putting away your phone and computer. No taking those gadgets into your sleep den. Find ways to disengage with the world, to relax in a way that doesn’t make you dependent on a distraction.

4. Find your people.

In real life, on the screen, everyone needs to be understood. Being a lone wolf only sounds cool to people who have internalized shame. It’s not shameful to feel things, nor is it shameful to need people. Find and cultivate your pack. Take time to feel understood, laugh, or vent, whether that means interacting with actual humans, dogs, podcasts, or books.

5. Don’t hang out with assholes/don’t take shit.

Social niceties are overrated. I wouldn’t lie to you— it’s bad for your health to be fake nice to those guys who talk over you, say “all lives matter,” or generally excuse ignorant behavior. It doesn’t mean you have to scream “fuck you” every time you see them (I’ll do it for you) but don’t feel obligated to stay in uncomfortable situations in an effort to avoid being labeled a “bitch.”

Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) Motherwort is an excellent ally for people who have anxiety and helps stop panic attacks, especially for people who had to take on too much responsibility too soon. Take a tincture of the fresh flowering tops as needed.

Rose (Rosa spp.)

Rose is helpful for people who are world-weary, hold a lot of fear-based trauma, or need to feel appreciated. Rose helps find the balance between strong boundaries and softness. Best if taken over a long period of time.You can drink a rose tea, rose flower essence, or spray yourself with a rose hydrosol.

Ask-A-Bitch Jenna Lewis and Staley Stidham are Tauruses, friends, witches, and animals who (are thriving and well, if anyone asks) rely heavily on herbs, dogs, and crying in public places. Ask us questions, if you want. Send an email to munchmagazine@gmail.com, subject: ask-a-bitch

A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE of Light and Film

words Liz Drew

My dog’s red fur glows in a halo around his body, and he crouches over a growing dust cloud as he kicks and paws madly into loose dirt. The dust glows too, swirling and sparkling over sparse patches of grass. The dirt is confounded by scratch marks, knobbles silhouettes over the roots between two trees.

Overhead, the trees sway to their own weight, all over springing clusters of flower-structure, petals glowing. It’s only a few hours left now with this sun.

I tell people offhandedly that my home life is in shambles from the work that I do now. I fell in love with making light, and movies, and I lost touch with who I was in the domestic realm. I’m forever trying to understand this shift, and it’s such a weird puzzle. It’s completely engrossing, shooting 12 hour days and using my body to bring the sun or its artifice to life. I’m a set electrician - we roll out a fake sun or moon any given day and roll it up all at the end of the shift. This has been unremittingly damaging and deeply rewarding. It’s never straightforward.

I’d like to feel like a paragon of progress for women in industry. But I wouldn’t like to feel that way, either, ‘cause that singularity seems like bullshit. We badly need women in places they aren’t, and we certainly need men to be okay with that. In any system, diversity is strength. But any time I hear praise, the underlying theme tends to be in a man’s world. And I feel like I’m being lied to, and that they relegate my intentions as a worker to martyrdom. I don’t want to be some damn hero; they die in the end, man. They’re fools for popping their heads up. I just want to enjoy this romance I’m having with the light! I just want to work!

It’s tremendously important to me that I push myself, see if I can meet the challenge. I’ve done a lot of work, but I have yet to run a day of 4/0 (“4 Ott”) cable - the thickest copper we use in the movie business, about an inch in diameter with insulation. That shit is just under 1 pound per foot. Most 4/0 5-wire runs would total at least 1000 feet of cable, about 1000 pounds - half a ton. Some set electricians move twice this amount (one ton!) of cable in a day.

Their backs begin to grind, disks squashing each other in succession, and they develop a hitch in their gait. In theaters, I wait to see the grip and electric (g&e) department roll by in the credits - any sister out there doing the same thing? Has she traveled further, seen greater heights? Can I point to her and say, she can do it, so can I? Where the hell is she?! Am I barking up the wrong tree all this time? Can I even lift that? And am I any goddamn use at all to you boys if I can’t lift that?

A paragon of progress would, I theorize, bring more women in to this field. I try to. In fact, though the person I ultimately hired was more qualified for the job and made the show flow smoothly and peacefully - to my mind, kind of the ultimate in job performance - my first choice on this last show was for a woman who’s

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been indicating her interest in doing g&e work for awhile now without making a lot of headway in that direction. She’s been taken in by other departments, who consume her time. I’m sure I scared her off with the prospect of heaping new information and new duties and new rhythms all at once - and here’s the rub. It scares a lot of women off (it won’t scare her off forever, I think), and three weeks deep into my first show as an electric, I was scared too. Maybe I only stuck it out because they called me back, and I’d never seen that kind of money. Now I love it. But would they love it?

Sometimes I ask out-of-town lighting people about women in their crews. It can be tough to make friends among these guys - they’re all salts, ten years deep or more. One guy rolled his eyes and called out the “prove-it” factor - an attitude he’d experienced from females specifically that came off as snippy and isolating - “I don’t need your help, I can lift that all by myself, thank you very much.” I don’t know what they were feeling, but I know what I’ve felt in those moments: “if I can’t do it this time, you might not call me back on the next one. And then I’m useless, and I don’t get to be this close to what I love anymore. One false move and I’m fucked, aren’t I? No, thank you, I’ve got this. Please. Give me a chance.”

It’s not intended to be uncooperative, but it does stem from fear. The end result could be divisive if neither party understands each other.

I got to speak with this fellow at length on an end-of-day car ride. He had a beer, I drove. He was very straightforward, and reported that he didn’t really like working with women. Troublingly, he said that producers like women too much - that in crews with a woman, they tend to run circles around men, looking for something to do and trying to prove themselves, and the men look like jerks if they don’t put forth more effort than can be wise. Things can get unsafe because they’re in a hurry. People could throw their backs out just to prove a point - and then that person is fucked, too.

He also had a pretty disappointing perspective on women’s sexuality in the workplace - he boiled it down to sluts and saints, basically. It felt a bit like the American military’s insistence that women in combat would be a distraction. He even suggested I wear a sports bra if I wanted to be taken seriously. So I took his advice and ran with it - I wear spandex all over now - screw pants, man. My job is so much easier without physical restraints.

I’m grateful he talked to me so honestly - not only because now I know where I really stand with him and many other men in the field, but because I don’t think it’s all horseshit. What he said needed to be interpreted, weighed against a woman’s reality. I see the producers-love-us stuff in action - I don’t think I’ve

had a poor working relationship with any producer, but I don’t think this has overall been to our detriment. It helps to have that going for me when I step to bat on collective bargaining. I do indeed take greater care now not to suck up all the work or rush - sometimes people stop me to say that I run circles around these boys, and that’s just the kind of shit that makes me feel like I’m doing it all wrong. I want to pull them aside and illustrate the ways in which all the other dudes I work with are essential, and why singling me or any woman out isn’t going to do women or humans any good in the long run, but I haven’t taken this opportunity yet. I just defer to being busy.

Thank goodness, some guys know how essential it is to bring women into the mix, and keep them there. One gaffer - less salty, more lonely - said he’d only met three women who’d stuck it out long enough to make it a career. Before writing this, I re-watched The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter, a documentary that I originally saw before embarking on working life a good 15 years ago.

It regards the women ushered into skilled industries in droves for wartime labor, who thrived, and then found there was no room for them at the end of the day once the soldiers were home. It’s one of the more heartbreaking and encouraging films I can think of, and it’s had a lot to do with the path I take as a wage earner. I also grew up with a mother who graduated from medical school in a class that was approximately 1.5% women, so I’ve had some steely resolve all my life to be a part of making the working world just that - a place for all workers, period.

It’s likely that this perspective in my day-to-day life, though well-intentioned, is misguided. Some say movies are dead - I’m getting work now, but yes, they’re probably dying. Gods come, and gods go. The moving image is still underexplored. And LED technology may change the landscape of set electric work completely. I’ve always harbored notions that this might make the field more inclusive to women. It’s exciting, seeing it change. And its confusing, considering the twists and turns my working life will definitely take.

I think sometimes of going deeper, into the circuitry level. Then I think of how powerfully I’d miss the hustle and flow of set life. It’s taken me over. And it’s all about the light.

I wanna be the one to walk in the sun!

Oh girls, they wanna have fun.

Oh girls! Just wanna have -

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