/ Purgatory: AI 2026

We are living through a gold rush decade, on the precipice of a changing world order. You and I are writing, working, living from the beating heart of it. Purgatory, a one-volume, one-issue zine, dreams of being a love letter to San Francisco and a simultaneous act of catharticism against / embrace of AI.

Most of all, it is meant to be an act of radical community; of vulnerability with near-strangers; of humanness when the world threatens us with less.

(TL;DR: just text me if you are confused)

submit your interest

first things first, wtf is a zine?

Per Wikipedia, a “zine (/ziːn/ ZEEN; short for magazine or fanzine) is a small-circulation self-published work of original or appropriated texts and images, usually reproduced via a copy machine.” See this one we made in Boston at the end of 2024.

Fear not (or be excited), back then I was a total amateur, and now I am mildly less of one, armed with lots of talented friends who will help us make something great.

and what is this zine about?

It’s meant to be somewhat amorphous, but generally following variations on these themes:

1. AI doom vs. boom: Broadly, two schools of thought around AI are loud at this moment — that it will free us from work, and that it will create a permanent underclass. AI is magical and terrifying. How do we hold the two in tension? What school of thought do you follow? And, as SF techies, are we Frankenstein?
2. Originality, creation, humanness: Share your most human experiences. Give us the good, the bad, the ugly; the joy, the hope, the despair. What is the value of being human?
3. The means as the end: Utilize the process of making and celebrating a zine as a means to create community amongst a mixed group of strangers, acquaintances, and friends

There are no hard lines. This is really just a zine meant to capture the very beautiful, very human experience of being a Gen Z in SF right now, this year!

what i’m looking for

1. ½ to 4-page submissions per the below content guidelines
2. Broader editorial inspo - looking for ideas/images (including cover art) OR photographers AND/OR models who would be interested in bringing others’ ideas to life

submit your interest

content guidelines

Pieces can live orthogonally, parallel, intermeshed, or totally on the nose with the themes. Your wildest dreams + creativity are welcome! However, here are some ideas:

• Reflection on how AI has changed your life - your dreams, your city of choice, your job
• Prediction for how AI or tech will change the world or San Francisco
• Observation or reflection for how AI has changed San Francisco, your peers, broader society, etc.
• Reflection on identity / sense of self
• Profile of a person or group of people in San Francisco who has meant a lot to you (e.g., an interview)
• Recap of a memory / event / moment that was important to you this year or since you’ve moved to San Francisco
• Reflection on something you thought a lot about in 2026
• Overview of your favorite place in San Francisco and why
• Reflection on your hopes / fears / dreams for your 20s, for San Francisco, for this community
• Philosophical / sociological / historical / cultural ideas including but not limited to:
  • Cultural omnivorism (Richard Peterson)
  • SF as a gold rush city
  • Absurdism + nostalgia (Albert Camus)
  • “-Maxxing” culture
  • Narrative economics
  • The death of the em dash

Mediums that would make sense for a physical zine:

• Short or long form essays
• Interviews
• Poems
• Short stories
• Music (which we include as a QR code or more actively in a digital form)
• Digital art
• Physical art, scanned
• Photography
• Some combination of the above

the one hard rule

You are welcome to use AI in your work, but everyone will be asked to include an author’s note as part of their submission.

Example, from me, here: Shockingly, I did not use any AI in the process of writing this info page, though Claude Code did help me ship the page to my janky little site.

timeline

1. July - early August: submit your interest here! send your friends!
2. Late August - September: make your art! together, if you want
3. October - early November: editing + workshopping
4. Late November - early December: zine release party! we will print the zine + celebrate with friends

submit your interest