Whew! That sounds so dry! What we mean is that Tom has put together some of his reflections on the year that was and shared them across our many networks. Please read for yourself below, and accept these good wishes for the end of 2021 and the new year to come! Happy comics making to you all!

This was definitely the year of community.

We had to hunker down for one more year and find each other online. We've gotten pretty good at it, in fact.

And meanwhile, some of us I've become better artists and storytellers which is what we're here to do.

That's called "showing up" these days, it's a bit of a buzzword right now. I think it means bringing something to meetings, to the group, that's real and part of the self that wants to create. The part of yourself that's aligned with the natural, creative forces of the world, which is also a part of yourself.

There were so many at SAW in 2021 who found each other that I couldn't even keep track. There was always a new group or new weekly event happening, and loads of conversations that I couldn't keep track of and no longer had to be in charge of upholding.

In essence we created a bit of sacred ground for people to do important things together.

Create rituals. Create disguises. Share work.

Drawing by Wednesday Night Workshop Facilitator, Michael Aschner.

Go longer and deeper with each other's projects. Raise barns together in the form of anthologies (some of which we spearheaded at SAW and others, that seem to happen naturally). Gift-giving happened naturally - zine exchanges and Christmas cards and all sorts of things were traded around.

I'm SO grateful for all of this.

When I was a kid just starting out in this art form, I think my deepest feeling was, Why didn't anyone get me?

I couldn't put into any form, the person I really was and the person I wanted to be seen as.

I eventually found a group when I was in my young 20s after maybe 13 years of trying! An intense group of six or so, but it also occasionally multiplied into 20 or more.

That group, from Seattle in the 90s, in some ways was the model for this group at SAW.

(So grunge!)

We were taking our work seriously, trying to understand what motivates it.

Trying to understand what we're trying to communicate.

But ultimately, because I'm a little older perhaps and there's a good range of age and wisdom in this group in this larger community, we see some things I didn't see in my youth - especially how to be kind to one another and especially to the place where these stories start. To celebrate sometimes merely the opening of a door or light on a topic or in a corner.

There's a lot to be said for a group.

A spiritual teacher I admire said, nothing can be done without one. (G.I. Gurdjieff, look him up!)

I used to be a little skeptical. I could do it alone, I thought.

And of course I wasn't not going to mention capitalism, but I think because there's so many forces allayed against us, that it's almost impossible to make any progress on who we want to become, or what we want to say, without a group.

To become or celebrate or broadcast our best selves really requires mass effort, group effort, communal strength.

There's a meme going around of Lady Gaga saying if a hundred people in a room if there's a hundred people in a room and 99 don't believe in you, but one does and that's all that matters.

And I think she's right, but imagine what can happen when the percentage is higher.

How good that can feel - who can we become if all the people in the room, believe in us? I'd like to believe that's what we've created at SAW in 2021 and it's a group effort.

And if you're reading this note, then you did it as much as I did. Maybe as much as Emma Jensen did, as much as Karlo Antunes and Michael Aschner and Jess Ruliffson and Beth Trembley and Erin Fitzgerald and Libby Dean and Susan Marks and Barry Sawicki (well, maybe not as much as Barry, no one does as much as Barry!)

We did it all together, and my future only looks bright when you people are still in it.

So I'm looking forward to 2022 with you. I hope you are too.

- Tom @ SAW