HOW TO BUILD A WORLD: a zine about how P🍉lest!ne is freeing me
You're the very first people to see it 🙇🏻♀️
The past few months, we’ve been experiencing massive change. If you’ve been tuned into what’s happening in Gaza, maybe you’ve been changed too.
I’ve cried more than I knew was physically possible. Deep, child’s pose head to the ground wailing. I’ve been documenting my process of change on Instagram, putting together resource guides, affirmations, reflection prompts in hopes of channeling all this horror, rage, and grief into something generative.
Healing is a process of freeing. When we free ourselves from the grasp of white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and capitalist ableism, we heal ourselves from the lies we’ve been told about our worth, value, and potential.
Imagination is one of the most important tools for liberation. Imagining different worlds helps us design a different way of living, which has a ripple impact on everything we touch. This is our power, and this strength is what systems of oppression are constantly trying to suppress within us.
So, from October to December of 2023, I collected some of these Instagram posts along with journal entries, new poems, charts, meditations, and designed them into a zine. And because I love a resource share, I’ve also included a new resource guide at the end.
THE ZINE IS CALLED “HOW TO BUILD A WORLD: AN IMPERFECT GUIDE” AND YOU CAN READ IT HERE! (best on desktop in full screen)
HOW TO BUILD A WORLD is also the title of the very first poem in my book, This Way to Change: a gentle guide to personal transformation and collective liberation.
I went back and forth for months on how to release and share this. At some point, I may make physical copies and sell them but the thought of setting up an online shop and packing mail orders feels so overwhelming to me, as I’m working on book promo and about to jump into a 6-week run with the New York Neo-Futurists. So for now, I’ve made it available as a contribution-based offering. I want this to be accessible without a paywall, as times are hard right now.
If you like what you read and want to support me, you can preorder my book. I’m learning a lot about the publishing industry and if you order from an indie bookstore (you can also call or email any bookstore in your area and ask them “can you stock This Way to Change by Jezz Chung?”) it helps me greatly and contributes to buzz and momentum that helps sustain me as an author and self-employed artist.
You can look at my pinned post on Instagram @jezzchung if you want to read about other support asks I have. Please reach out if you’d like to partner for a book launch event in March and April!
Lastly— I have a special offer with a platform for book lovers called Tertulia, where you can get 50% off my book if you sign up for a membership. Without a membership, you can get 20% off my book using code JEZZ at checkout. Preorder here, as it helps me greatly as a debut author! If I had to summarize the 224-page book in a single sentence, I’d say this is a race, gender, trauma, disability, and neurodivergent-informed self-care book. It’s for people who want to change themselves to change the world. And it is very ADHD friendly, with 1-4 page excerpts so you can read a little at a time. After 3 years of working on it, I’m so honored to share my debut book with you.
Thank you for reading and I hope you’re treating yourself gently today. If you do nothing else, I hope you allow yourself to feel. I think that’s one of the most important things we can let ourselves do in this time of collective despair and deeply rooted grief.
With love,
Jezz