Yapping sessions 10
From Flipping Magazines to Flipping the System
Hey chat,
This is a random yap session about future plans and thoughts.
My creative future plan is to create an NFT-based zine that’s distributed through a Discord channel.
I wanted to do this because it sounds fun. The print media that I enjoyed as a kid were magazines, blogs, and early website design. I guess technically this is print media-ish — I don’t know, I was an internet kid. Flipping through magazines was something I did in waiting rooms, study halls, damn, even when my mom dragged me to get her nails done or hair, I was looking at a magazine.
Even back then, I could tell some magazines just felt better to look at than others. Some covers pulled me in. Some layouts made me want to turn every page. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was already paying attention to design without even realizing it.
I didn’t want to do a full magazine, but something a little more artistic and free-flowing. That led me to dive into the idea of a zine. I got an overwhelming feeling when it came to how do I create a zine and actually get it out to people? Apparently, Etsy is a place where zines are often sold.
I have a technofeudalism article series I still need to finish up, but here’s the quick version: I don't trust Etsy to work me into their algorithm, and I don’t trust that Etsy won’t raise their fees and squeeze creators dry. (This goes for Patreon too.)
After some brainstorming, Discord sounded like the best move to take orders for the zine. Small. Direct. Ours. Not everything needs to be for everybody.
That being said, if you’re a Black creative looking for a community of Black creatives, or if you want to work on The Wake and Think zine, tap into the Discord server.
Honestly, this whole rundown is just me getting overwhelmed at different turns and trying to turn them into something I can actually manage.
The next hurdle? Printing and shipping zines. It felt like a mountain I didn’t even know how to start climbing, and I don’t have the funds to fuck around and find out until something magically works.
I’ve been thinking for a long time about how NFTs could actually serve a purpose for artists. Ownership of art is important. It forces people to value what they consume instead of treating it like disposable content — which is what’s happening to everything digital right now. I can create a zine as an NFT for free. I just have to figure out how to turn a few Canva pages into something real on-chain.
(If you know how, holla at me, because I’m not above asking for help.)
This feels like an idea that needs to grow. If you made it all the way to this point — holy shit, you are dope. I love you. I mean it. Real love.
I’m working on some other things too. I’ll keep everyone posted when the projects are announced down the road.
Also, I’m going to be part of a roundtable discussion talking about Sinners. It’ll be through Discord. Once everything’s finalized, I’ll post the time and location on my Bluesky account.
Until next time STAY WOKE,
Loc
