In this episode, Charlie talks with Em Krall — a multimedia print artist, writer, archivist, disability advocate, and founder of Sandwich Press, a Portland-based zine distribution network dedicated to DIY art that speaks to identity, experimentation, and silliness. Together, they explore why physical and analog media matter so much for sick and disabled people, and what it means to put a story into someone's hands. Em shares how growing up in rural Montana without reliable internet shaped their relationship to letters, records, and physical objects — and how those early practices became the foundation for a deep archival and artistic practice. They discuss the stakes of preserving other people's stories, the magic of letter writing as a form of uncensored correspondence, and what it looks like to build community for people who are homebound, bed-bound, or otherwise unable to reach the world in normative ways. They also get into Em's experience being diagnosed with EDS, MCAS, POTS, and osteoporosis at 21, navigating dismissive rheumatologists, finding care that actually works, and the profound satisfaction of filing 400 letters from your grandmother. The conversation moves through Sandwich Press, the Body Journals and Sick Writes workshops, and masking and mobility aids as moments of disabled kinship. Topics we discuss: Archiving, preservation, and the stakes of telling other people's stories Letter writing as radical, uncensored correspondence for sick and disabled people Physical and analog media vs. the capitalist internet Growing up in rural Montana and chronic illness from childhood EDS, MCAS, POTS, and navigating dismissive medical systems PRP, PRF, and stem cell therapy as under-recognized treatment options Sandwich Press and the lore of the zine distribution network The Body Journals and Sick Writes workshops with Sick Futures Collective Masking and mobility aids as crip kinship Music, disability, and the body Liberatory sick and disabled futures Find the full episode transcript on our website: www.sickfuturescollective.org/podcast The Future is Sick is a podcast by Sick Futures Collective — made by and for sick and disabled people, and for anyone imagining more supportive, creative, and liberatory futures. Learn more about Sick Futures Collective: www.sickfuturescollective.org To share your art, writing, or creative work with the Crip Commons Hub, visit the Sick Futures website or email stories@sickfuturescollective.org The future is sick.
