i published a zine! get it right here.

Print is back, baby!

Queering the Burbs is a regularly-published distillation of pop culture, politics and queerness written by Joe Erbentraut. If you like what you see, please consider subscribing (it’s free!), liking or sharing this piece.

Ever since I was a young baby gay, I dreamed of one day writing a book. Sure, I wrote and illustrated my own fairy tales in my youngest years. I launched and wrote my own (unauthorized) school newspaper in sixth grade. I published my first paid freelance article when I was still in high school. I’ve worked in digital media for over 15 years now and contributed to multiple print projects, but now I feel closer to that childhood dream than ever before.

Last month, I launched the first edition of the Queering the Burbs zine. It is a collection of 16 essays and interviews, including retooled versions of some of my favorite editions of this newsletter and a bunch of new ones as well. The zine made its public debut at Annie Hex’s latest Queer Prom, an event that plays a key role in many of the essays and interviews that are included in the zine. Honestly, without Annie’s encouragement, I’m not totally sure this zine would have ever come to be, so the Queer Prom setting of this premiere was fitting in multiple respects.

Publishing this zine right now felt like an important milestone in multiple ways. I felt like I couldn’t not put it out into the world right now. I moved to the suburbs in 2016, just months before President Trump was elected. The fear and anxiety of the months and years that followed pushed me—and my queerness—back into the shadows. In 2020, at the height of the pandemic and just before another presidential election, I launched this newsletter and began to find my community and reclaim my voice. 

Now, another four years later, I feel like my community and I are at another precipice, and I felt it was important to commit my story—and our stories—to pen and paper. The cover of the zine says it all. Its bright pink hue is in memory of the queer and trans people forced by the Nazis to wear a pink triangle in their concentration camps and in recognition of the queer activists who reclaimed the triangle in their fight against AIDS in the 1980s. The title’s font is in reference to Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, a novel that is renowned for its brashness and vulnerability (and was dear to me as a gayby in high school). And the Canadian goose armed with a knife, illustrated brilliantly by Jaime Toraco (a.k.a. @kittensofindustry?) Well, that’s just some goofy fun in the vein of Samantha Irby, whose writing (and book covers) I also adore. 

I hope that these essays help the queer, trans, and marginalized people who read them feel less alone. I hope they make you feel hope. I hope they make you laugh. I hope they make you feel inspired to make your own art, to share your own stories, and publish your own zines. I hope they make you feel seen as the baddies you are. 

The zine is now available for online purchase right here. A portion of the online sales of the Queering the Burbs zine will also benefit Belong: Fox Valley, a phenomenal local nonprofit here that’s truly doing the work of queering these ‘burbs.

If you’re local, you can also purchase the zine in person at New Moon Vegan, Annie Hex’s famous Pink Room, or Hearth & Hammer in Batavia; Hoof & Horn in Aurora; or DeKalb Tattoo Company in DeKalb. It is not available for sale at any local Chili’s locations (yet). Follow me on Instagram for future updates on additional IRL vendors.

I’m so proud of this work. Thank you for the support of this newsletter and zine. I wrote this zine in anticipation that November 5 would go very differently than it actually did. But regardless of what horrors unfold as this new, fascist presidential administration ascends to power, nobody can take away our queer stories, our queer history, and our queer joy. It’s more important than ever before to share our stories, remember our history, and spread our joy.

Keep it queer out there, and stay tuned for more queer storytelling coming soon to this newsletter. We’re certainly going to have a lot of unpacking to do in the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Purchase the zine Queering the Burbs #01.

Need an audio respite from the chaos? Give a listen to Sade’s new song “Young Lion,” Sade Adu’s tribute to her trans son. The song is part of the incredible upcoming TRAИƧA compilation.