Comics & Coffee in Ojai

Event alert: I’m hosting an open studio gathering right after Christmas with fellow comics-makin’ powerhouse Shay Mirk!

A flyer for Shay and Lucy's Comics and Coffee event.

Join us on Boxing Day (Thursday, December 26th) for an all-ages drawing meetup from 11am-1pm. We’ll provide supplies (pens, paper, zine templates, staplers, and ample table space), plus delicious coffee from Pinhole Coffee, tea fixings, and home-baked treats. I’ll also have books and plush toys on hand if anyone’s flush with Christmas cash and looking to pick up some swag to take home.

Lucy sitting in a sunbeam in her studio.
(Thanks Shay for casually walking in and taking such a lovely photo of me in my new space.)

I’m so excited to bring the community into this corner of my world. Join us if you’re in the Ventura County area!

Sketchnotes: For the People

An illustrated page of portraits and quotes from For The People's informational webinar on library structures.

Notes from a recent informational webinar run by For The People, a fantastic team aiming to get more people actively involved in defending and championing libraries. This was well-timed, since I wanted to check out volunteer opportunities with our local Friends of the Ojai Library organization, but Katie, Mariame, Tara, and their colleagues inspired me to dig deeper. This call was aimed at enrolling people in their incubator project, which offers weekly Zoom calls to help elected or hopeful board members navigate group dynamics, stand up for free speech, and strategize together. It’s an incredibly smart and well-run operation.

How do library boards work? In 2023-2024, For The People: A Leftist Library Project undertook a massive data survey of all 9,000+ public library systems in the United States, and collected - with the help of hundreds of volunteers - information on the governance of more than 7,000 systems, information not available anywhere else. FTP’s research showed that the majority of library board seats in the US - 83% - are appointed positions. Those appointments are usually made by other local elected officials (city councils, county boards of supervisors, etc). The remaining 15% of seats are directly elected by voters.

True to their word, I found the documentation online for the Ventura County Library board to be pretty opaque, but with a little digging I was able to locate the one board member who lives in Ojai. I reached out and she kindly agreed to give an informational interview on Friday, so we’ll be chatting about how things get done in this corner of the world. I’m very curious to see what she has to say about the process.

If you’re a library enthusiast, I can’t recommend For The People enough. Sign up for their newsletter, check out their fantastic resources page (especially the Public Libraries 101 zine), and see if you can get more involved in your own local library community.