“Choosing & Losing” is a quarterly zine from John Whitmore, featuring his words and images around some sort of theme: this quarter (Q1 2021) it’s ‘A Long December,’ after the Counting Crows song.
I shared an unboxing of issue #0 some months ago, but didn’t give it a proper review, partly due to a general failure with language, and partly due to the “if you can’t say anything nice” dictum. Apologies for that.
If issue #0 left me a bit flat, seemed a bit overshare-y, well, it did, and it was. I tried to find tactful ways of saying that, and failed, and so didn’t say anything at all beyond “We all need all the encouragement we can get,” which, in hindsight, probably isn’t particularly encouraging. Anyway, Issue #1 is better, in that regard: the text remains a little bit navel-gazing (and there’s nothing wrong with that, but and still), and the photography is more landscape-focused than #0 (if I recall). If I cringed a bit at various points in #0, I sorta just enjoyed #1, and I look forward to seeing how Whitmore’s writing and zine-production change in the coming issues.
Unrated.
“Choosing & Losing” is available as single issues and through a subscription model. If you can, and feel moved to do so, we really all need all the encouragement we can get, really, and £20 really isn’t much for 4 zines and a print. So have a look at Whitmore’s website, and give him some support and encouragement!
