Tough Cookie Mag

07/08/2022

Catch founder Erin at ***rybtn Q***r Market all day today. Perfect thing to do if you're still in Pride spirit but don't fancy big crowds or straight people screaming KWEEN at you.

You can access The Q***ry by going through Edward Street as St James St is closed.

Hopefully see you there ♥️

21/01/2022

Incoming! Incredible Brighton Based Black Businesses! You know what to do. Spending and contributing to the Black economy and community is a really good use of your money. Swap out Amazon and support someone local who will feel the difference 👍🏽

More Black Business recommendations coming your way soon ✨

Listed:

14/01/2022

If you're wondering why we're posting New Year's content in the middle of Jan the answer is Depression. 😉

31/12/2021

Happy New Year! There's a lot of toxic positivity going round this time of year, so here's a gentle reminder that simply being alive, whatever state you may be in after a difficult year(s), is reason to celebrate! Things have felt harder than usual, but if you're reading this post, take a moment to congratulate yourself for making it this far and take account of your wins. Happy New Year ✨🎉

09/12/2021

Poetry workshop alert!

are hosting this exciting poetry workshop on zoom for only £3. 'Taking Stock: Writing Joy into the New Year' with will take place on 13th Dec 6-7.30PM (GMT).

They've said ' this will be a creative safe space to discuss feelings of Joy and how they show up. We will look at well-known black woman poet and news about what brings us personal enjoy turning those meetings into beautiful poems.'

Don't miss it! ✍️

07/12/2021

Erin here! Tough Cookie Founder. Been gone for a minute but making a sneaky return! Thought I'd share this as its something that really helped me. Thanks to
for the thread)

Due to family members that are no longer alive, general depression and mental health issues and having PTSD I find Christmas a really triggering and difficult time of the year.

There's mad pressure to be happy, to be with family, and to spend loads of money.

Think it's important we remember to be inclusive in Christmas - not only to those who don't celebrate it for personal or religious reasons, but because Christmas looks different for everyone.

Anyway, just some thoughts !

Stay tuned for new content soon.

22/06/2021

Happy Windrush Day. Today was spent making this Tough Cookie Collage, more to come 💖🍪

14/04/2021

A message from founder Erin:

Hi guys! I know I've been quiet for a while on Tough Cookie as a platform. It's been a mixture of adjusting to new routines, balancing my mental health and trying to take time for my own needs. It's been a year since we started Tough Cookie, and we've only ever existed during a pandemic. Times have been hard and due to the nature of the work we do and the difficult subjects we cover, I've felt a little burnt out.

The good news is, I've made some adjustments, and will be making some announcements soon, bit I wanted to make the first post we've done in a while a celebration that we've managed to get Q***ring Spaces out and available to buy. She's thick with 120 pages of content and a celebration of the amazing LGBTQ+ community for LGBTQ+ History Month (yes, I know I'm late!!)

I'm sorry to everyone who's been waiting on orders but I am overwhelmed and grateful for your patience and kindness. Ive taken the time I need to rest and recover from a hard year and I'm ready to make 2021 even better than last year. So keep an eye out! Here's to getting back to the work I love, one step at a time.

Sending love

Erin ♥️

26/03/2021

We're happy to announce we've got an exciting new open call for our next issue: The Force of Fantasy. ⚠️

Details:

The next exhibition titled 'the Force of Fantasy' : this exhibition will invite you to see fantasy as a powerful tool to imagine alternative ways of living by looking beyond convention using realest and speculative modes of storytelling will make you question the current social order.

We are looking for written submissions that incorporate fantasy is a form to reimagine and new social order a new way of thinking / living.

We are admitting any form of writing poetry short stories essays and think pieces submit up to 500 words to us at:

[email protected] 🍪

Any questions feel free to ask!

Deadline: 26rd March. 🖤 but we will still consider entries sent a few days late so don't worry!

14/03/2021

Repost from that we felt we needed to highlight :

''The right to protest is under threat from new laws under the Police , Crime, Sentencing & Court Bill. It grants officers new powers against non-violent protests 'that have a significant disruptive effect on the public or on access to Parliament'.

ACTION: follow and sign petition in their bio or check out our stories for the link.

''.

WE CANNOT STAY SILENT.
WE HAVE TO FIGHT THIS.
WE HAVE TO KEEP PUSHING FORWARD AND NEVER EXCEPT LESS THAN WHAT WE DESERVE.

Share and act.

11/03/2021

SO excited to share this amazing piece of work by which will be featured in our latest issue 'Q***ring Spaces'. Sekinue aka Esme is a local artist, who 'is a q***r, enby, neurospecial artist from Brighton. I love bringing to life the unseen in all its own q***r, gender spinning, kinky way'

This amazing piece 'Non Binary' was part of their 'behind the flag' series which explored painting the people of a gender or sexual identity in the colours of their given flag.'

Please go check out their page and show some support! X

06/03/2021

So excited to announce we'll be hosting our first event next Saturday 13/03 AT 5pm GMT:

TOUGH COOKIE MAG - QUEERING SPACES EVENT LAUNCH

To celebrate the launch of our fourth zine, and second in collaboration with SEAS - Socially Engaged Art Salon 'Q***ring Spaces' - a celebration of all things LGBTQ+ and safe spaces, we'll be hosting an exciting event on zoom featuring:

On 13th March at 5pm, we will be celebrating the SEAS exhibition and accompanying Tough Cookie zine launch. We will have an introduction by Tough Cookie founder herself, Erin, followed by short talks by several of the featured artists and a Q&A. There will also be a spoken word performance as well as the opportunity to toast the exhibition and mingle with other participants.⁠
⁠
You can book tickets to the launch through this link here: ⁠

The event will be celebrating the SEAS exhibition and accompanying Tough Cookie zine entitled 'Q***ring Spaces'. We will have an introduction by Tough Cookie founder herself, Erin, followed by short talks by several of the featured artists and a Q&A. There will also be a spoken word performance as w...