In July 2019, I asked for submissions on Facebook and Twitter in response to the following question:

“When you’ve felt at your lowest, was there a piece of advice, a quote, a poem, an excerpt from a book that someone shared with you that was a lifeline? What was it?”

I also requested contributions from incarcerated people as part of a letter writing event hosted by Survived and Punished NY in August. In all, I received 130 contributions. They were all wonderful and so very moving. I reached out to my friend Hana for help. Hana read through everything and selected some submissions to include in the zine.

I also asked some friends if they would create visual art in response to the contributions. They responded with beautiful pieces of art.

This version of the “Lifeline Zine” was designed by Jett Bachman and a copy will be mailed to all contributors. In addition, other incarcerated people beyond those who contributed can request a copy from Survived and Punished NY and it will be mailed to them.

You can read the digital version of the zine here.
The print version is here. Feel free to print and share the zine with your communities.

I am incredibly grateful to all of the contributors to this zine, to Jett and Max for designing two different versions, and to Hana for pulling it all together.