Online Log
Last Updated 24.10.31
Sweeter Studio
SARAH WONG
Graphic Designer | Zine Maker | Illustrator
sarahewongdesign@gmail.com
LA-area designer, working since 2018. Loves literally every piece of art they see, full of tattoos, always learning and growing.
Contact for resume and PDF portfolio.
Has Worked for
A Noise Within Theater
Vietnamese Film Festival
Laguna Playhouse
Brannan Center
Loves
Matcha Lattes
Tattoos
Colored Foil
Fun Earrings
Dungeons & Dragons
Evil Clowns
CONTACT
7.9.25
The funny thing about living nowadays is that the time has a way of slipping away. No matter how “free” you are, the digital landscape has a way of stealing your attention for half hour chunks at a time. I’m not sure where my time has been going this past week, it’s been falling into liked videos on Tik Tok and various streaming services. I’ve been working for 5 hour days, doing chores, and then wasting my time doing online nonsense.
I like to see myself as a creative, but I didn’t spend much time making any of my own art this past week. I can’t blame myself, because life is hard and sometimes we need a silly little video as a way to swallow a bitter pill. But a zine fest is coming up and I don’t think I’ll be able to finish my new zine on time, unfortunately.
I refuse to feel bad about how I spend my weekends however. I am blessed with amazing friends, busy schedules, and plenty of alcohol. Last weekend, I spent my time dancing, laughing, and screaming out my troubles. Sometimes I was drunk, but more often I was simply living off of adrenaline. I don’t have much in the way of pictures, but I have memories of fireworks lighting up the night sky like glitter, lasers filling the Kia Forum with color and energy, and eating a corndog at 1am while falling over myself with laughter.
When I was a teenager at a Christian summer camp, I remember dancing and singing to contemporary religious music and thinking I would never feel happier and more alive. If only I could tell my young self that there were so many more wonderful, celebratory experiences to live through. Experiences that were not fueled by God, as much as a love for myself and the people in my life.
One way I spent last week is that I finally finished the book Pleasure Activism by the beautiful Adrienne Maree Brown, a compendium on bringing joy to activism and vice versa. I had a bunch of takeaways from the book–lessons on sexual agency, gender euphoria, and redefining familial and friendly love. But what stood out to me the most was Brown’s insistence on finding joy and beauty in one’s community. A capitalistic system filled with -isms often attempts to destroy the joy we take in the moment, the joy we feel for loving our community unconditionally. It’s not a revolutionary idea for me; I’m quite used to jealously guarding the love I have for my friends and family and living in the moment. But it was an affirmation that I was doing the right thing by not forcing myself into an isolated corner, forcing myself to do nothing but emotional labor.
I feel like Pleasure Activism is a good jumping off point for exploring alternative ways of defining love and community. The book often touches on things like communal living, community organizing, and whatnot, but it is up to me to do more of a deep dive on how such structures are actually realized.
After reading the whole book, I think Adrienne Maree Brown would be proud of me for going to a Kesha concert and spending $20 on drinks at a lesbian bar for the 4th of July. Also my insistence on talking to people at said bar and adding them on Instagram in a drunken stupor.
I won’t try to spin this as “building community” but it is living in my truth as a queer person who wants to connect with other queer people. Spending time with my queer friends who encourage me to be myself and bleach my hair and get eyebrow piercings. Also, I got to see the Scissor Sisters as Kesha’s opener. An elderly lady on stage (at least in her late 50’s) pulled up her glittery mumu and revealed a black g-string and garter belt, to everyone’s delight and shock. So there was that. I hope to be that spry when I’m 60-something.