QQ and I bought tickets. We will be in DC from March 13th–18th, then in the San Francisco Bay area from March 18th–27th. I would love to see you — please remind me if you live in those environs.

Separating art from health and work seems rather artificial to me. I draw throughout all of these experiences. In fact, now that the refugee resettlement work is ending, I hope to have the time to collect and publish my drawings of health experiences and of refugee resettlement. This week, for instance, I have a few meetings with International Rescue Committee (IRC) people about publishing my drawings. GGIC just received an art grant from the county that we will be utilizing to showcase these drawings in local exhibitions. We’re planning to tell the story of resettlement through exhibits of my drawings at (tentatively) the Matheson History Museum, Gainesville Fine Arts Association, Harn Museum, and SL8 Gallery.

When reading through many seminal graphic novel works prior to Saila and my graphic novel module in Oman with THINK Global School, I came across many moving drawn stories of refugees. But what I noticed then, and still, is that the very vast majority of these stories take place entirely abroad. They happen in refugee camps in Lebanon, Greece, Sudan — they (likely unintentionally) exoticize the stories, highlighting the suffering in a way that seems almost voyeuristic. Perhaps that’s because the banality of life wouldn’t seem to appeal to a wider audience. Perhaps I’m about to find out as I contact publishers. I do believe, however, that my drawings and narratives of the process once in the destination country (in this case the USA) could still be powerful. The IRC recently published some of my drawings when they highlighted Gainesville as an exemplar of new refugee resettlement. I dream that these 160+ drawings of mine could humanize (a term I hate for its necessity) the people involved and the process. Or, if nothing else, instill empathy in the way that my predecessors have done. In recent months, I’ve read a few that spoke to me:

• Drawn Across Borders by George Butler
• The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown
• 3rd World Trip by Sandy Huffacre

Over nearly the last two years, many of you wrote lovely responses to my health update emails. I hope that my writing and drawing style lend themselves well to longer form narrative for doctors, patients, and others involved with healthcare (everyone, I suppose!). What do you think? My email from last Monday was a bit of an experiment with this narrative format. Elephants & Tea, a non profit for young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers, published another attempt at graphic novelization of my story in their magazine One Herd a few months ago (my story is on pages 26-29). They also honored me as a panel speaker on creative coping for their annual “Gabfest”. Anyways, which format do you prefer? More writing with drawings as the supporting cast? Or a full on graphic novelization? I will try to tackle another zero neutrophil event in a future email. Or perhaps I should join the substack wave. If I made one, would you join it?

I’m buoyed by the relative success of my first book. I sold out of my stock of books in December and ordered a reprint with Alta as a result. 373 copies have sold in total. I’m particularly proud of being featured by our local NPR station, WUFT, with my book as a pledge drive gift. In terms of individual pieces, my drawing of Chun Ching market featured in a Kundiman South Zine. Some other drawings were published in the community anthology “On Prayer” at the Seventh Wave. As a result of all the press I’ve been contacted for some commissions which were really enjoyable to complete. I even built out a store on my website! I offered five of my original drawings for an auction to benefit the skate park, SkateQilya, in our sister city in Palestine, Qalqilya, but unfortunately none of these sold.

Many, especially my students, are curious about the financials of all of this. I keep track of all of the hours related to the project logistics, and my average wage (supplies, printing, transportation, etc. included) across all my artistic endeavours this past year amounts to $12.72/hour. This figure unfortunately does not include the time spent creating the works, as I do not mark that time separately in my calendar/spreadsheet — I draw as I go. I do know that I’ve created 3,016 drawings since coming home to Gainesville. Assuming I spend ten minutes per drawing, that would be approximately 503 additional hours, halving that effective wage above. So tldr: I’d caution against making art your primary income source if you put the emphasis on the art making, as I have. On the other hand, I met many financially successful artists at the events I’ve attended, whose practice prioritizes business much more. I simply don’t have that interest or acumen.

Do you know any organizations, publishers, or authors I could work with or contact? To consume for inspiration and know-how? Everything seems to hinge upon connections.