Description

Dumb chronicles Georgia Webber’s throat injury, and her rehabilitation through not speaking. Through a well-crafted visual language, Georgia tells the story of how her work, relationships with friends, and day-to-day living is dramatically altered by not being able to talk. Prose essays by writers who think deeply about vocal cords supplement each issue’s theme.

In issue five, Georgia seems to be settling into her new style of communicating with others, but just as she’s getting comfortable in one aspect of her life, a new pain emerges: BUREAUCRACY! Georgia is buried in paperwork for welfare, which she deals with in a Kafkaesque cycle of filing required documents, waiting for a response, which is always a request for more documents. Of course, as she waits for welfare, her pocket becomes shallower, and her debt deeper.

In this issue’s introductory essay, Amy Egerdeen, an Ontario-based feminist community organizer explains how the welfare system in Canada works: poorly.