because i wanted to share the texts i wrote for a zine with a friend (quinn), i thought it would be good to include our greetings and disclaimer as well, as it provides some context to the texts and our thought processes. quinn's texts aren't on my website, of course, but i wanted to include hens part of the greeting, so, to give xir proper credit, here's the artist blorb ze wrote for the zine:

Quinn Fuchs (all neopronouns) is a (gender)queer, neurodivergent, white writer based in Cologne. You can find them on instagram @quinn.fuchs.

greetings

Zero: Thanks for picking up this zine. You are about to encounter some heavy stuff, so please take care and listen to the content notes, if that is something you need. I respect that - I never notice when I’m too close to the fire. Some of my texts are very much a result of that: exposing myself to the flame, letting the heat scorch my skin, choking on the smoke. Still, for me this is a way of coping. Vomiting all my fears, worries and nightmares onto a page, seeing them written down and contained this way - they lose some of their power. It’s better than just having them in my head in any way. Plus in the process of making this zine, I got to share and discuss them with Quinn, which was really helpful. We wrote parallel, using one shared document, produced over 80 pages / 30,000 words and were scared together. There is a certain peace when you realize you are not alone and at least my hope is that you feel the same way after reading this.

Quinn: This escalated quickly- isn’t that what you thought watching German election polls distorting into blue? Well, when would you leave, would you leave - with whom? Those are the questions that started this project. As you will notice, there is no such text on the following pages. Because the horror started to spill onto the pages when Zero and I began to imagine what life would be like, what we would feel, how we would survive, if and how much we would compromise our values and identities and cling to every privilege we have. As Zero and I kept writing, we realized that most of the stuff we were imaginaging is already happening. Some of it to us, our friends, or people we know, and if not to them - to queer people across the globe. Is it our place to imagine a dystopia that’s maybe - already - in a similar way, another queer person’s reality? The intention was to ban fear of rising fascism and other systems of oppression as they intertwine onto the page, into one document. Did not work for me. What did work, was realizing that I am not alone with all those fears. What did work, was actually getting into all these vague emotions instead of pushing them away. So why not just get started.

Disclaimer

This is a shortened and much discussed disclaimer. It is not satisfactory to the authors, because we cannot appease every reader with this. We can’t express our apologies for the discrimination we failed to notice, we can’t include our thinking process and discussions about privilege, content notes, inner values, reproduced oppression, appropriation, and plain old ignorance in one page. This is our compromise:

1. Firstly, be warned, the pages are filled with content notes: transmisia, dysphoria, dysmorphia, sexual assaults and violence, state and police violence, systematic discrimination and many more. They are listed in the beginning of each text. Of course it can still happen that something is triggering, that we forgot to point out something, so please take care.
2. Additionally, all the following stories are fiction, fiction by two queer, trans*, neurodivergent, white, trans-masc(ish, genderqueer) authors with German citizenship and enough money per month to buy food, pay rent, and have a little bit left. We do not have personal experiences with everything described in here. We can only speculate and if you are looking for first-person experiences and accounts, this is not it.
3. We are still learning and bound to make mistakes. It is not our intention to be disrespectful, discriminatory, insensitive or to take up space that doesn't belong to us. Of course, it can still happen (“good intent” and discrimination or otherwise hurtful content are not mutually exclusive) and we apologize, take responsibility and accountability for that. Please reach out if you want to, we would appreciate it, but of course it's not your responsibility and you don't have to.
4. The following pieces are all set in a dystopia where a fascist government is ruling Germany (or on the rise). Hence the content notes of fascism, discrimination (especially transmisia in many different forms) and patriarchy apply to every text, even if it’s not explicitly mentioned or reproduced within the piece, they all are implicit part of the general setting. Specific mentions/reproduction will be pointed out in the content notes before each peace.

Well, if you read the disclaimer before diving in - thank you.