Rough Draft #20 Maira McDermott

This week we talk with East Bay, CA-based artist Maira McDermott, who in 2017 founded both the Long Arm Stapler Podcast and the Bay Area Queer Zine Fest. Maira's work focuses primarily on mental health, gender/queerness, and how those lenses color their world, especially their favorite topics: karaoke and King of the Hill.

We talk about zines verses diaries, the push and pull of extroverted-introversion necessary for communal art, hosting podcasts as a way to get advice, time management strategies that involve reliance on cheap light-roast coffee...and how "Video Killed the Radio Star" as a karaoke choice is harder than you think it is.

Upcoming events and Links for Maira:
Bay Area Queer Zine Fest 9/27 http://bayareaqueerzinefest.com
Behind the Zines https://www.ilovezines.com/search?q=Behind+the+Zines&options%5Bprefix%5D=last
Want to talk about your zines on Maira's podcast? Fill out the form at: tinyurl.com/letschatlas
http://instagram.com/maiiira.png
http://longarmstapler.neocities.org
http://ko-fi.com/LNGRMSTPLR
http://linktr.ee/LNGRMSTPLR

Upcoming events and Links for Keidra:
Wild Ramp Review of Books https://wildramppublishing.bigcartel.com/product/wild-ramp-review-of-books
Calls for submissions: Chicago Civic Mini-Zine Microgrants: https://tinyurl.com/chiciviczine & Act Your Age #4 Toxic Fandom https://tinyurl.com/ActYrAge4
@keidrachaney + @wildramppublishing + bsky.app/profile/kdc.bsky.social + bsky.app/profile/wildramppublishing.bsky.social + wildramppublishing.com + keidradchaney.net

Upcoming events and Links for Liz:
Zine Workshop at the U of Chicago's Library Community Day 8/29 https://lizmasonisawesome.com/upcoming-appearances/2026/8/29/zine-workshop-at-the-university-of-chicago
Well Now We're Both Awake with Liz Mason radio show on CHIRP radio 107.1fm Chicago, Wednesdays 6-9am CT, chirpradio.org or the CHIRP Radio app https://chirpradio.org/
@caboosezine + @sugarhijinx + lizmasonisawesome.com + linktr.ee/caboosezine

 

What's on draft? Got somethin' you wanna tell us? E-mail us at roughdraftchicagopodcast@gmail.com