Every market is a gamble with my health and the health of my family. And every event that doesn’t require masks is not truly accessible. Masking is community care. Mask the fuck up. (2/2)

8) Seeing familiar faces stop by my booth just to say hi or see what’s new
9) Chairs being provided lol
10) connecting with new, talented artists and makers and doing art trades

5) Folks insisting on paying cash because cash is queen
6) People having a deeper appreciation of all my shiba stickers when I explain that they’re modeled after my dog
7) People skipping discounts to pay full price for mutual aid fundraiser designs ❤️‍🔥

3) watching folks in the know introduce their friends to haw flakes with joy and nostalgia is joyous
4) Folks stopping by my booth to show me photos of my artwork in their home. 🥹😭
5) folks wearing masks, picking up masks, complimenting me on my mask. 😷 We love a mask at Moonymade.

12) Meeting SO many Chicago transplants and just talking about Chicago, their moves, things we all miss, neighborhoods that still feel like home to us ❤️❤️

10) Meeting folks who’ve been following me online for a while
11) People getting genuinely excited to sign up for my newsletter. This is a big one for me since I live in the deepest, darkest shadows of meh-ta and I love having the space to say and share all the things with y’all.

7) Getting to connect with rad makers and artists with shared values
8) Folks getting excited about the little solidarity station at my booth and calling their friends over to snag free masks and stickers.
9) Dancing to amazing AANHPI music all weekend long while at my booth

4) Connecting with anti-imperial, anti-colonial AANHPI folks ❤️‍🔥 That part NEVER gets old. Never.
5) Folks wanting to pay the full amount for mutual aid fundraiser stickers.
6) Folks asking for transparency about mutual aid distributions! I’m also happy to answer—grifting is disgusting.

3) Kids really love the “book bans are dog shit” sticker with an illustration of my dog pooping. Must make a word-free version for the kiddos because everyone deserves to laugh at my clown of a dog.
4) Folks of all ages getting excited about my bookmarks because they love reading (especially kids)

Not all artists and small businesses are invested in collective liberation. So when shopping small and local, make sure you’re doing it with folks and businesses who *are* invested in building a better future for all of us and are trying to move differently.

If you want to support artists who are committed to collective liberation & community, join their email lists, follow them outside of meta/Twitter, share their work on-/offline. These things make a huge difference as principled artists navigate censorship and events with lack of covid precautions.

There’s so much I love about in person markets, but this disregard for health and safety taxing. Please, I beg, wear a mask. It’s literally the least we can all do.

And to be clear, this is a risk many non-disabled makers take. Not having any Covid precautions or masks required makes market inaccessible for disabled makers and customers and nyone who is a caretaker or sharing space with high risk people.

If these markets are going to use the word “community” in every other sentence, then they should take precautions to protect their communities. Otherwise stop abusing that word.

If an artist or maker gets long covid, which isn’t like, out of the realm of possibility, they’re fucked. It’s usually just a one person show. Every market is a gamble with their health—on top of the measles resurgence and avian flu.