Join us for the launch of The Politics of Lonely: Why Is Friendship So Hard?, and a conversation about friendship and community-building!
Widespread loneliness reflects a world of crappy jobs and unaffordable housing that makes it almost impossible to have close, interwoven friendships. A dwindling social safety net takes a toll on us and on our relationships. Particularly for queer people, friendships can be crucial relations of equality, constancy, and care. Still, we disappoint each other and fall into irreparable conflict.
A less lonely world is possible. Through interviews, research, and personal narrative, The Politics of Lonely shows how people build tight connections despite living in the austere conditions of colonial capitalism — boldly weaving a new social fabric as this one unravels.
Lee Arden is originally from Algonquin land in the Ottawa Valley, and now calls Montréal/Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang home. They are the author of many zines, including PALS: The Radical Possibilities of Friendship, Surprisingly OK: What Healing Trauma Feels Like, and the novella Summer Shade. Lee founded and runs Sheer Spite Press, a small press and zine distributor focused on beautiful, affordable work by creators who face barriers such as transphobia, ableism, and poverty in their practice. They’re also a member of the organizing collective for Dick’s Lending Library, a community-run library in Montréal that specializes in the literary, political, and artistic work of trans, non-binary, and Two Spirit authors, and a past intern and forever collective member for the Queer Zine Archive Project. Lee is white, trans, an anarchist, a Quaker, and a deeply imperfect friend, but they try.
Andi Vicente (they/them) is a queer filipinx artist whose curiosities and practice is radicalized by relationship building and reimagining. Through storytelling, installation, writing and collage work, they’ve written and created pieces about precarious livelihoods, diasporic yearnings and the juxtaposition of movements. Andi enjoys soaking in a good anthology, sharing a pot of soup and discovering desire paths in parks.
Wai-Yant Li is a potter who's been making pots since 2003. Born and raised in small town Alma, Quebec, they are a second generation kid to Cantonese parents born in Guangdong and Hong Kong. They have now lived in Montreal/Tiohtià:ke for 30 years and have spent 20 of those years running their business of making ceramic critters, Créations Li, with one of their best buds Chris! Their love for ceramics and collective liberation runs deep, and they hope to continue fostering this as the founder of Studio 3 Tables.
access info: there is one small step at the entrance to n'etait-ce-pas l'ete, the store has a portable ramp which we will ensure is in place. there is a washroom on the same level as the store, but it is unfortunately not wheelchair-accessible due to a narrow entrance. mask-wearing will be encouraged but not required. ASL/LSQ interpretation is not planned for this event.