Hello also friends. Welcome to the first issue of also archives – a biyearly blog type thing that highlights people’s interests. Sometimes its hard to take time and appreciate the joy in life. Or maybe just the life in life. We hope to do that here. And by collectively enjoying each other’s lives, maybe we can be inspired to find more life. Also archives will release a new volume every solstice celebrating the end to another half-orbit.
FYI, submitters have left contact info in their submissions. If you want to connect further or create a dialogue with them via the noted contacting method, feel free. Otherwise, just enjoy the read!
Sam Asa
sam.asa212@gmail.com
As the person begging all my friends to submit to this concept, I really thought it would be easier to come up with something to submit myself. After my first, second, and third ideas flopped, I realized it was not. My film camera wouldn’t roll correctly (took probably 100 pictures over the same stretch of film), my garden grew much slower than my ideas for it spun in my head, and I ran out of time. Then I realized, passion won’t defeat time or entropy, nor are they at odds in the first place. Suffocating a fire will only put it out quicker and burnt landscpaes can provide ample fields for new growth. So I thought back to my goals for this effort and decided to instead use the effort itself as my submission. Also archives is an idea long in the making. I may not have succeeded at some of my ventures lately, but I can still take time to appreciate that I tried to follow this idea through. At least the beginning of it.
So now’s the time when I write about why I like the thing I am submitting.
Like I said, the also archives concept has been a thought in my head for a long time. After Mama John’s died in that helicopter crash and their final recordings were sent out into the ether, I felt quite empty. Then again after I finished the leave me alone song as asam.
Something that I had been grinding at for months and months was finally done enough for me to cure my sickness of incessantly making micro alternations to my mixes. So what do you do with music or really any project to make it done? Social media. When I did use those channels, I was met with a clouded perception of competition, some level of social expectations/judgement, and a lack of authenticity. Whether or not these perceptions reflected reality doesn’t change the fact that the format was not working for me. I was loosing touch with why I do enjoy making things in the first place – the flow of creation.
So I thought, “Dear sammy boy, what if you just created a platform that removes the noise of being a creator in a society that measures success in terms of traffic” And that is where also archives comes in. A place where we can come to appreciate creation and joy and being alive. Life is much more beautiful with all its colors too. Whether it is something you have been working on for hours to weeks to years, or just a new thing you found to pass the time, also archives is a place where you can share your interests, inspire, and be inspired (at least until I stop paying $4/month for this site).
With a platform like also, I hope all our life’s endeavors will feel worthy. Allowing reflection without evaluation. Inspiration flowing from bud to bud. Thank you for joining me on this journey. 🙂
Cora Pancoast
corapancoast@gmail.com
i am not someone that has ever been able to meditate in the traditional sense. while i’ve had a few moments in my life where a state of total mental and physical stillness has led to serenity, the typical effect is something along the lines of “deep spiral brought on by the fact that i am doing exactly nothing to address any of the things that made me feel the need to meditate”. craft is the closest i have ever been able to get to reaching that state of peace.
photography, particularly film photography, encourages you to be present. you look closer at the world – noting every interesting interaction of color, every juxtaposition, every strange little moment – in order to capture it. you must keep track of light conditions, whether your subject is moving, the distance between you and your subject, and the positioning of your subject in the frame. and, when, inevitably, you take a few blurry photos, or get a light leak, or misalign the film and end up with accidental double exposures, your tools can show you something you never would have seen on your own. it is an exercise both in observing one’s surroundings, and not being afraid of them surprising you.
embroidery encourages you to be slow. puzzling together established stitches into a pattern requires breaking your ideas down into their fundamental components and building them back up – a process that will always be easier if you allow yourself the kindness of time. even so, if you are careful, measure your stitches, and plan your project, you may still run into shapes that look strange or techniques that cause you trouble. this need not be an issue, if there is no hard or self-imposed deadline.
collage encourages you to be creative. you can never really start with more than a general idea – ultimately, you must be in conversation with the medium and process instead of the end product. you only have what’s in front of you, but you can assemble it in any way you choose. like a kid tossing out the instructions to their lego set and building a dinosaur instead, you can let go and adapt, reshaping what you see into what you want to see.
these processes are united in a duality – approach things with a plan, but be willing to let the plan change. in the acceptance of this i find myself able to meditate, to look inward without wearing out my trains of thought. though i still may not be directly solving my problems, it allows me to focus the energy of stress onto something other than myself, which will always be a valuable thing.
Suzanna DePeri
suzanna.deperi@gmail.com
The Pokemon Gold and Silver Bug Catching Contest…what’s not to love? You’re telling me I can compete every Tuesday, Thursday, AND Saturday to win fabulous prizes, all while celebrating a chronically underrated Pokemon type? I’m there. You can find me and the fellas with our nets out traversing the tall grass. Maybe if we had bug catching competitions in the park in the “real world” I’d be less scared when I see them in my house. Anyway, if you need me, I’ll be at Johto National Park.
Mat Shiley
mshiley81@gmail.com
To me, writing poems has always felt like listening to a cocky grandfather describe the internet to his chess club. While he may fall short in capturing the experience, it’s the messy imperfection of it all that makes it so amusing.
xoxo gossip girl
Amanda Caloras
amandacal113@gmail.com
One particular element that draws me towards farming is how you can continuously notice new details about the plants you are growing and the conditions they exist within. This past spring, in the seedling greenhouse of the farm I work at, many more plants than normal (namely chamomile and tomatoes) sent up flowers prematurely. In one of our greenhouses used for in-ground spring planting, many of our leafy greens (lettuce, arugula, and mustard greens) also bolted and flowered much sooner than anticipated. Both of these can be attributed to the toasty temperatures Chicagoland experienced in the spring, which caused the plants to respond as if they were at a later stage of development than they actually were. Delusional little buggers. Yet, relatable. I too, respond to periods of strain, but in a way much less graceful than flowering. This was on my mind a lot as I fiddled with my wire, and ended with a flower inspired by those grown under stress.
{Redacted}
Layton Guyton
lguyton99@gmail.com
Libby Jensen
libby.jensen311@gmail.com
i started sewing because i wanted to learn how to alter or create clothes to fit how i wanted them to. when i first started learning, i would buy sheets or big button up shirts from thrift stores to use as cheap fabric that i could practice on. that was seven years ago, and since then i’ve collected a lot of leftover fabric from my early projects. I decided to use it to make these patchwork pants. they feature a lot of details that i definitely didn’t have the skill to pull off when i first started, but today i can use that cheap fabric that i once practiced with to make something that i wear all the time.
Imogene Asa
imogene.s.asa@gmail.com
I like painting space vagina slugs. Everything yet nothing, empty yet full and plump, slimy and oozing.
Space is vast and unknown, a true mystery and so beautiful in its simultaneous nothingness and everythingness.
I like vaginas. I’m attracted to vaginas, they look like beautiful flowers but also like slugs. Slimy and full, but also a hole? Everything and nothing like space.
Slugs give me gender and sexuality euphoria. They have both female and male parts and when they have sex they intertwine their bodies, then eject penises from their heads and intertwine those too, fertilizing each other. Being a slug is to be woman and man and neither and both.
What is Gender, what is time,
When you’re a space vagina slug covered in slime.
Mary Hardy
marybhardy1@gmail.com
Inside you there are two girlies. One of them wants to nonstop party and the other is just really sweaty…
No but for real, summertime always brings unique challenges for me. I struggle with the transition from the cold (but in some ways peaceful) solitude of winter to the frenetic buzz of summer. When I was younger, I felt like a loser if I wasn’t doing something social every night. As an adult… well I still sometimes feel like a loser, but I’m at least able to be a little more honest with myself about my limitations and therefore can be kinder to myself. Alone time feels like more of a choice now. Still, it’s good for me to do things with other people even when it’s hard. Sometimes you see people you don’t want to see. And sometimes you feel alone in a crowded room. But sometimes you don’t, and those nights leave you with a big, stupid, sunburnt grin and a full heart.
Chaepter
chaepter.music@gmail.com
I wrote this poem a bit ago for a friend’s song. I really love writing poems but it had been a while since I had done one, so it was a nice chance to get back into it. And it’s fun to write something for someone else to use how they wish. It’s a true handoff – I think letting go of what you make is an important step in the creative process.
Emily Fern
emily.fern12@gmail.com
this year has been one of firsts for my hobbies. i moved into my first apartment by myself with the vision that i can spread out craft chaos with reckless abandon. i knitted my first row ever, taught my first guitar lesson, and sewed my first stitch with a little dinky machine. i love bouncing between creative outlets and developing my skill level in each with no timeline or end goal in mind. knitting, embroidering, sewing, playing guitar, etc all remind me that i have sooo much time on the horizon to develop into new priorities and sources of joy. i love slowing down into a hobby rather than diving deep. i’ve knitted rows this year purely for the joy of knitting – i’m not racing to a final product and it feels very free! life is happy and beautiful and i have time 🙂
Thanks for reading!! And a very special thank you to all who contributed and made this idea possible, I am very lucky to know you all. Whether you submitted this time or not, please consider submitting something you enjoy for Volume 2 (to be released around the winter solstice) via alsomessaging@gmail.com, and please subscribe with your email to be notified of future posts! Also, if you have any feedback on formatting, submissions, or general thoughts about this concept, please reach out via the above email. Love to all.
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