New Year New Gear
NEW YEAR, NEW GEAR
How do we take the wheel in turbulent times with a system adamant on driving us into the dark? It's not coming from eating less, exercising more, partying responsibly, the empty new years promises of a higher self. Especially when these promises are pushing you into more liberal isolated independence. For the systems are crumbling, empires are falling and staying at home eating a salad is not gonna work. By reading this, you are breathing.
Take a deep breath with me.
We have witnessed a genocide livestreamed into our telephones. Supported by the governments we pay tax into. We are struggling to pay rent. We shall all die one day.
Exhale longer than your inhale.
Use this breath, this energy, this life on things that serve you and your community. Do not be drained by the trapped versions of reality presented to us. Breathe into the joys that you know. Prioritise practise over theory. Doing is the only real measure of reality. For the worst of times can be the best of times.
Since the dawn of big tech infiltrating our daily lives, we have given part of our doing over to convenience. Handing over the accelerator that makes city life magical. Late night restaurants are exchanged for delivered food. Cinemas are exchanged for scrolling options. The gay bar is exchanged for a quick dick fix app. Collective political organizing is exchanged for group messages. The journey has been decided by big tech, driving us into the dark and taking a monthly subscription for it. This new year it's time to punch that driver in the face and shift our lives around.
I am a drag queen who has spent the last months making a new monthly printed zine on late night culture- SPAT! Sitting around a table with friends collageing interviews collected with legends, sticking columns to photos taken, eating together before scanning and printing it. The head lights have turned on. Documenting ourselves is powerful. Archiving ourselves is powerful. It is queer culture. Self empowerment.
We must look to our past and the powers we erupted. Ignite our imagination with the power of queers in dark times. Recognise the systematic obstacles they place in front of us to divert our attention. See them draining our culture. Delete your Instagram. Boycott Amazon. Leave your phone outside the room. Not because it's going to 'change the world' but because it will change your life.
It's not in disappearing posts on the internet. It's not in group messages eroding our social interactions. Take the driver's seat and shift gear. Drive your energy into the collective experience. Open the doors and fill up the back seats. Drive into real life together.
Written 12th December 2025 Printed January 2026
