Since our recording schedule and the Blackwing and Field Notes quarterly release schedule didn’t line up, we’re keeping it short today to talk about fresh points: zines, old city street guides, and an exciting announcement about the 8th issue of Plumbago Magazine.

Let’s get to the point: what good are pencils that aren’t sharp? Tonight, we take another look at sharpeners, the ones we love, the ones we recommend, the ones you might want to avoid.

Sometimes there are pencils that you almost love. Almost. Something holds you back, and you just can’t get these pencils to work out for you. Tonight, we examine the pencils that almost make it to our best-of lists but which we nonetheless loathe.

Tonight’s guest is someone we’ve wanted to have on the podcast since the beginning. Working from home has made the impossible (because of time zones) possible! Luke Sinclair joins us all the way from Australia to talk about his wonderful art and a little about sharpening pencils with a knife.

Happy New Year! It’s been a few weeks, and we’re dipping into 2021 tonight with a non-topical episode featuring updates, zines, and predictions for the New Year.

We’re taking a short break from publishing, but in the meantime, check out a preview of our latest episode of The Indelible Podcast, a Patreon-only podcast where we talk about pens! This episode is all about the ubiquitous Bic Cristal: a history, some variants, and more trivia. Become a Patreon supporter at any level to access this and other episodes of Indelible.

For our first episode of December, we talked with artist and vintage pencil collector Ali Serra about his work, and about how — and why — he finds cool, old pencils and accessories.

In this episode, Johnny, Tim and Andy recorded their episode live on a Zoom call with dozens of Erasable listeners. They discussed things for which they are thankful, and some listeners shared their gratitude as this difficult year winds down.

It’s time for our annual discussion of NaNoWriMo. This year, Johnny is joined by Harry Marks and Less Harper (while Andy and Tim are away) for a good long chat about this annual writing extravaganza.

It’s the time of year that a lot of us enjoy scary stories, spooky films, and morbid poetry. Tune in tonight as Andy, Johnny, and Tim help you to get on your fright.

Pencil Revolution is now a zine! Shop the first few issues on Etsy.

Pencils and zines have both survived blogs, social media, even instant video apps. Tonight, we chat with Ed Kemp of The Word Distribution about his zine, Pencil of the Week.

Journaling is good for us. All of us. Tune in tonight as your three favorite journalers chat with journaling teacher and expert Abraham, writer and illustrator of the blog La Vie Graphite.

It’s a short, just-the-Fresh-Points episode this week and our three intrepid hosts dive into the newest Volumes release from Blackwing.

We’re giving you, our faithful listeners, a special preview of something we’re trying out for our Patreon supporters — an episode of our inky offshoot show, The Indelible Podcast. After our tools of the trade and fresh points, vintage fountain pen restorer Jesi Raine of Vintage Pen Shop will be joining us to talk about the history of Esterbrook pens, and how she rehabs them.

Tonight, we are time traveling: through three times zones and far into the past. Dave T from Pencil Fodder joins us for a discussion of vintage pencils and maybe even how modern pencil manufacturers can learn from what older makers got right.

This episode is sponsored by Notegeist, an online purveyor of fine stationery. Through August 5, use the coupon code ERASABLE146 to save 10% off your order of $30 or more, and to get a free Unemployed Philosopher’s Guild notecard.

Maybe you’ve seen artists walking around your city, sketchbooks in hand, drawing what they see — perhaps even drawing you! Our friend Tina Koyama is a veteran urban sketcher, and she’s here to give us the rundown on this growing movement in contemporary art.

Maybe you’ve heard of the incredibly popular notebook brand Field Notes. Maybe you’ve heard us mention them a few times over the last six years. Tune in as we get to chat with Aaron Draplin, graphic designer extraordinaire, Field Notes inventor, and all-around awesome guy.

Warning: this episode has several R-rated words that we decided not to bleep out, due to the color and richness it lends to the conversation. You may not want to listen to this with kids.

We’re not bringing you an episode about pencils this week, but instead a short message, and some resources for how you can work toward ending systemic racism in your community.

Black lives matter. Period.

• If you’re in the United States, please consider a sustained donation to The Bail Project and other organizations working to bring judicial reform to our government.

• Being non-racist is not enough: we need to learn how to be anti-racist. Author Ibram X. Kendi has an Anti-racist reading list for us as we begin and progress through our journey.

  • And when you do pick up these books, be sure you do it from a Black-owned bookstore nearest to your community. LitHub has a great list.

• After the media event around the protests against police brutality inevitably ends, white people need to find ways to sustain our support. Tatiana Mac is a software engineer, a writer, and an activist, and has a great Twitter thread with practical ways to avoid burnout and keep up momentum.

• Last week, one of our Facebook group members crowd-sourced a list of Black-owned stationery companies or shops that we could support. Here’s what we came up with:

  • GREERChicago

  • Loyalty Bookstore in Silver Springs, MD

  • Frugal Bookstore in Roxbury, MA

  • Page Eleven Paper Goods

  • Keynote Stationery

  • Effie’s Paper

  • Cloth & Paper

  • Drama Mama Bookshop

  • The Quiet Life Los Angeles

  • Semicolon Bookstore

  • Odin Leather Goods

  • The Desiderata Pen Company

  • Methodical Stationery UK

  • Paper Penguin Co

  • We’re sure there are lots more. If you have a Black-owned stationery company or shop, feel free to link them in the comments, and we’ll be sure to add to this list.

It’s been a long time since we updated our Top 5, and tonight’s the night! Tune in to find out what’s the same, what’s off the list, and what’s on.

This episode is sponsored by Kamikokuen, an online stationery shop selling vintage Japanese pencils and fun pencil-themed stickers. Save 20% on your order of 2 items or more, plus a fun sticker, with the coupon code ERASABLE20.