rubber ring - seeking suggestions

From my inbox...

Hello,

I need some assistance with a design/illustration project I’m doing.

The project is called:
Rubber Ring: A zine of artful words as a life raft for adolescence. {The title is named after a song by The Smiths about remembering the music and the words that helped you in your youth once you’re grown and ‘laughing and dancing and finally living’}

Basically I’m creating a small self-published magazine that uses the song lyrics of music that is related to various themes such as:

Love / Sex / Death / Beauty / Fear / Alienation / Work / Fashion&Adornments / Bodily Changes&Illness
Anger / Violence / Difference / Creativity / Friendship / Inequality

What I hope to say with this is that in the world there are all of these things, and they exist simultaneously, and despite feeling it no one is alone in fearing isolation and inadequacy. That we are often manipulated and misinformed and that we have value and power and creativity. With these little pocket sized publications I intend to provide something that will do what music often does, offer comfort, recognition and inspiration; but visually. I will be illustrating and designing these words appropriately and including other things such as poems / stories / information / etc. to bolster the rich visuals and link them within a wider context. Basically harnessing popular culture and interpreting it in ways that might reassure someone when in the midst of that most tragicomic of times. I want to mix a blend of humour, mundanity and drama. I want to encourage and challenge, infusing it with the best kind of feminist humanity.

You can help me by:
* Recommending songs that you think are appropriate to one or more of the above themes. OR
* Recommending songs that you think are appropriate to one or more of the above themes that you loved when you were at that age. And a brief description of why that particular song is appropriate, was it helpful / inspiring etc? OR
* Do both of the above and tell me any anecdotes you have about things that were important to you then, embarrassing moments, love, fashion faux pas, fears, sexual encounters. Whatever you feel comfortable sharing with me really that you think might help someone going through something difficult. I won’t use any real names in the zine nor will I share the information about anyone’s identity with anyone else, not a soul.

Contact: jo_eliza_beth@hotmail.com