Aye! It’s in a store! Massive thanks to the wonderful folks at @fountainbookstore for being the first to carry Marlot and Zed. Super grateful for all y’all and everyone else that has made this process so special. Massive thank you to everyone who has picked up a copy and for those that haven’t, I hope you will at Fountain Books! If you have the funds, and you’re in Richmond, go pick up a copy of Marlot and Zed at 1312 E Cary Street at one of the oldest independent bookstores in Richmond
It’s available to order! - the book is about a lot of stuff, but mostly it’s a story. There’s love and friendship, tragedy and light, and all of it comes in this tight little package! You can buy it at the link in my bio, and it will be more widely available shortly - it is the greatest honour of my life to have worked with Akshay Sonthalia from @poetschoice to bring this book to print. It feels utterly insane to have a book. I am grateful for my life and the people in it. The process has been lonely and intense, but it has also been beautiful in the sharing of the drafts. If you have read a version of this book already, thank you, your help meant more than you know. If you haven’t read it, I am hopeful you will. All of my thoughts are disjointed today. I don’t know what to say. Thank you all for being in my life. You are the people that populate my stories, and without you, I don’t know what I’d do.
Cover Art: @boywhosweats@razzinaro
Publisher: @freespiritpublisher
So much love to Richmond, Toronto, and New York
Lol, anyway, 2022 was stressful but definitely one of the best years of my life. I kinda messed my fingers and wrist up so I couldn’t climb for awhile, and felt super disengaged from the community. Still, despite that I made friends during rehab, one of whom was my saving grace for life in the city. When I was defrauded in April, I thought I’d have to move to Utah for work, but ended up sticking it out in the hopes that I would find better work. Ultimately started doing something I never thought I’d do and left the magazine. Managed to meet some people who will always matter to me, and learned that climbing is always gonna be there. You don’t have to push all the time, even though it’s hard not to. Invested more in my creative writing this year and found some success. You can see my work in a few books from @poetschoice and @winglessdreamerlit . I wrote a couple books that will probably never see the light of day, but to those that have read them, thank you. Anyway, still trying to figure out how to do pretty much everything, but it’s made easier by people like @jacobiarussi , my family, the Canadians, and all the folks I’ve failed to mention.
Feeling lucky to be living down here, lots of love to the friends I’ve made and to @sarahsalo_nyc for making such cool, sustainable and affordable clothes!
PC: @gray_berg
PC: @gray_berg
Squamish was beautiful. I am hopeful that soon the future will hold opportunity for connection between friends and family members long unseen for the pandemic.
PC: @ilyasarossy
Definitely felt fortunate to get outside for the first time in a semester. Loved welcoming home @itsrichb and seeing @zoe.beau@stephen.salvador and @antonio.gross rip it up in the local crag. Missing days without distancing, but feeling lucky to be so privileged. Hopeful for more beautiful winter nights
PC:@ilyasarossy
I have loved climbing for over five years. In that time I have worked at multiple gyms, climbed in numerous crags and have met some of my most important friends of my 22 years. This last year I became an editor at a climbing magazine. As a lover of books and climbing, this was a dream come true. I spent these last nine months learning as much as I could about what it means to write about climbing. As I worked around the office, it became an irrefutable truth that a majority of the voices in climbing media are white, men, or both. As I reflected on my experiences in climbing throughout the United States and Canada, these were the demographics I was most familiar with. As a white man, I have had a lot to learn in regard to representing marginalized voices in climbing and otherwise. I have had to come to terms with the fact that though I love rock climbing, it frequently takes place on stolen lands. I have had to come to terms with the fact that I have racist and sexist prejudices that I did not want to look at. I have a lot of work to do still, but I feel like I am beginning to understand the severity of underrepresentation in the BIPOC community and womxn climbers in climbing media. I want, through my work, to create change without tokenizing my subjects. I want to create without it being about me.
People are in trouble. White people are frequently the cause of that oppression. It is not up to black voices to change white people, but for white people to change other white people and themselves, all while listening to what progressive change is supposed to look like from those that have been oppressed. Racism and prejudice are wrong. Remaining silent is the same as taking a side.
