I love Bettie.

I have mentioned in my previous post about Bettie Walkers zine 'Anatomical Heart' which deals with mental health issues.

I received a suprise and glorious package this morning from Bettie containing her back issues (excluding 4 and 6) and two cute buttons as I seem to have misplaced my one she sent me , in my move.

I took my zine package with me to town as I was going to the bank, and read them as i waited for the bank to open.

Despite them being mini zines (half a5) they pack more emotion, content and feeling in than most of the zines I own.

As someone who suffers from mental illness, and having friends, family battle with it and also having friends and family who attempted to/have taken their own lives, the subject of mental illness is something that is terribly important to me.

I love Betties honesty, and simplicity, she doesnt sugar coat her illness, there is no softly softly approach, and I admire her for this.

It also made me realise (although I was aware) that there are so many different sorts of mental illness. Looking over all the zines, and looking at what I 'deal' with makes me think I shouldn't moan so much. This is the arse of mental illness, there are so many different levels and it is how we cope with it, how we are treated etc etc.

I am thankful for people like Bettie who are out there and putting their feelings on papers for other people to discuss and think about.

This is why I love zines, the people, the process, the product.

We need to educate more people, of all ages about Mental Illness, it effects more people than you think.


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