Unite & Urinate

Dark Horse Comics Unionizes

Listen, this just rules. Every time unionization comes into the Comics space, my heart grows three sizes. Unions protect people who work in creative industries and we need them now and forever. Follow Dark Horse Workers United wherever you can, and support them however they ask. 

Pee to Melt ICE

Effie Seiberg and Josh Dillon have teamed up to create PEE TO MELT ICE: a fun, low-stakes way to invite your neighbors into the practice of disrespecting the regime. The below is taken from their FAQ, with some modifications since this is appearing in my newsletter and not on their website:

What is this? 
We’ve made anti-ICE urinal stickers for people to pee on. Anyone can request a sheet for free, if they promise to ask permission to put these up in urinals in their local restaurants and businesses. Learn more at PeeToMeltICE.com 

Why urinal stickers? 
There’s a lot of people who are doing literally nothing to resist the current US government, and ICE in particular. Generally, the barrier to taking a first action is higher than the barrier to taking the next action. Aiming to pee on an anti-ICE sticker is pretty easy, so if some politically inactive people do this they’ll be more likely to take action when ICE tries to kidnap their neighbors. 

Plus, if an ICE agent sees this in the wild, it’s demoralizing. It’s even more humiliating for them to have to reach in and take the sticker off. 

Who are the creators of this project? 
Josh Dillon is one of the co-creators of Cards Against Humanity, which has done many political stunts in the past. Effie Seiberg is a Hugo- and Nebula-Award-nominated satirist and activist who is the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. They’re married and decided that they needed to use their specific skillsets to do something about ICE before we hit full Nazi. 

Who are the artists who drew the stickers? 
Matthew Inman is an Eisner-Award-winning artist, and is the creator of the popular webcomic “The Oatmeal”. You can learn more at https://theoatmeal.com 

Shing Yin Khor is a National Book Award finalist and Eisner and Ignatz winning comic artist/writer, and is the creator of “The Legend of Auntie Po”. You can learn more at https://shingkhor.com 

Brian “Box” Brown is an Eisner-Award and Ignatz-Award-winning cartoonist, illustrator, and designer, and is the creator of “Legalization Nation”. You can learn more here.

Plus one artist who wished to stay anonymous. 

How many stickers have you made? 
40,000 to start.

What happens if you run out of stickers? 
If there’s much more demand than we can supply, we’ll work with Cards Against Humanity to sell more stickers so the effort is self-funding, with any leftover profits going to an immigration legal aid charity or similar.

Who’s getting the stickers? 
Anyone in the US over the age of 18 can sign up and get a free sheet of 8 stickers mailed to them, if they promise to 1) put them up in urinals in their community, and 2) ask permission from the urinal owners to do so.

Do the stickers melt?
No, they’re made of vinyl so that more people can pee on them. 

How do I contact you?
PeeToMeltICE@gmail.com

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In the meantime, remember: Do what you can. Care for yourself and the people around you. Believe that the world can be better than it is now. Never give up.

-gailey