it’s digital dinnertime…who’s hungry?

hello and welcome to my first compilation of some multimedia tidbits that i gobble up on a regular basis! i hope to make this list an ongoing thing where i can document what i’m cycling through—books, albums, pieces of writing, memes, images, podcasts, anything that’s findable online really—plus include my own anecdotes & takes along the way. think of it like a “what’s in my bag” feature but instead it’s “what’s in my media intake.” yummy!

read at your own risk; my taste and flavors have quite the wide range and some can be nsfw. (don’t say i didn’t tell ya)

1. just watch me by lior torenberg

now THIS book is truly one of modern times. just listen to what’s in here: the protagonist is really good at eating extremely hot peppers, really really good at livestreaming herself, and really really REALLY good at doing both of those things at the same time & making money off of it. she has a sister in a coma and uses her livestreaming platform to raise funds to bring her sister home, and let’s just say…hijinks ensue. read this if you like complex and hard-to-love main characters. i can’t stop thinking about the humor writing & character development in this story!!

2. half his age by jennette mccurdy

i’ll always loved a sexually tense book, and after reading jennette mccurdy’s first book, i needed more of her writing style. this one’s very out there in terms of the relationship dynamic—and the obvious age gap—but so much of the narrator’s perspective brought me back to being a crush-obsessed teenage girl, aching to be wanted and wanting. it was equal parts tender and heartbreaking to read secondhand. phewww! jennette mccurdy, thank you for being my favorite iCarly cast member and thank you for your nonfiction work and please write more.

3. rooty & remedy basement jaxx albums

i dunno why it took me so long to get on the basement jaxx train but wowza, i’m glad i finally caught on. special shoutout to my #1 fav pinkpantheress (always) and her literal perfect summertime sounds mix which got me hooked on basement jaxx (and which i’ve probably played from start to finish like 20+ times). i am endorsing both of these albums from 1999 and 2001 because they each tell their own story through sound, the layers and little hidden gems heard in the production is addicting to uncover, and quite frankly this is the kind of music i hope to make one day. *sigh* they just don’t make albums that take you on a journey like this anymore. at any given time of day, my brain is soundtracked by the earwormy melodies from both of these masterpieces—good sound is timeless!

4. la reina del flow 3

WHERE DO I BEGIN with this show. i’m squealing to talk about it. my god, i think about this telenovela on a daily basis. i don’t know what my life was like before la reina del flow but now i know what it’s like with it. my partner and his exquisite taste is who i have to thank for introducing me to tons of great south american shows like this one, and it is by far our house favorite. the drama, the chisme, the plot…eeee!!! every episode is jam packed with jaw-dropping moments and watching it all unfold is so satisfying. bonus points because it’s helping me get better at my spanish. oh and did i mention there’s like…endless seasons of this? somos la raza FLOW!!!

5. stephanie tyler’s “the quiet thrill of not being for everyone”

read this and immediately felt myself shift into place. the age of my 30s has not been for the weak and this essay on stephanie tyler’s substack really helped solidify & articulate something i’ve been growing into, learning about, and becoming. a quote to give you a taste: “…belonging to yourself feels different than belonging to everyone else. it tastes like morning air before the world wakes up—unfiltered, unperformed, startlingly real.” recovering people pleasers, this one’s a must. the author’s insight has brought me such brutal yet loving comfort and is a nice affirming hand on my back as i nevertheless persist through my own necessary growing pains.

6. cylovesfrogs youtube channel

I! LOVE! CY! i need to start by bragging about the fact that i was lucky enough to travel to Thailand with Cy as part of a TrovaTrip experience a few years back, and we’ve been cross-country friends ever since. i was already a fan of her content long before we traveled together, but her youtube vlogs have become my go-to comfort watches. her voice has always been so soothing to me and i just love following along as Cy and Cass (LOVE YOU TOO CASS!) live their Boston lives, eat delicious foods, share lovely moments with friends & with their trusty companion pup named Chicken. ok i gotta brag again because i’m featured in one of the vlogs when they visited Chicago last year!!! <3 <3 <3

7. maintenance phase’s russell brand episodes

*humongous trigger warnings on both of these episodes.* maintenance phase is such a well done & thoroughly researched podcast and this unexpected two-part Russell Brand deep dive was uhh…really something. i’m sure it was as painful to get these episodes researched and recorded as it was to listen to them, because jesus h. christ this guy’s a real life supervillain monstrosity scum of the earth person (which i knew partially already, but the DETAILS shook me to my core and disturbed me quite frankly). if jumping right into the lore of a disgusting male celebrity isn’t your thing, i highly recommend all other maintenance phase episodes, especially if you’re as jaded and skeptical of the “wellness” industry as i am!

~~unsolicited opinions~~

• i love the stories on the Modern Love podcast, but i just cannot stand the interview style of the host. she interrupts the guests in the middle of their answers, and her questions just aren’t very thoughtful in my opinion (but they always sound like she’s trying to be thoughtful). maybe it’s the weirdly urgent tone i hear in her voice, maybe it’s just my overly critical journalistic ear, but they gotta swap in somebody new PLEASE.

• AI is literally womb envy. think about it. just think about it. you’re welcome.

• i haven’t seen Heated Rivalry and i don’t want to. the end!

before you go…look at this thing

1. this chicago magazine called gab! it’s fab!

2. this miki kim piece. i liiiive for some miki kim. she’s a jaw-dropping south korean artist, i have one of her books in my publication collection. i mean just look at her own website.

3. this profound and much-needed popcorn reminder from my girl @tricia_amillionblessings because duh. 🍿

hiiieee tigerziners!

i have not abandoned you out here in the tigerverse…i promise, i promise! i was moving apartments and then took a weekend trip to Detroit after the move. (btw, i loooved Detroit, i had such amazing food, i went to the best show i’ve seen in a long time—thank you 1tbsp for giving me even more fresh inspiration to make my own music—the people were so sweet & i will be DJing in the D next time i visit!!) my life’s been in boxes during a time of big changes, and there’s a whole bunch of good stuff coming up this month that i’m so eager to share with you.

a couple noteworthy april notables: 1) I’M HAVING A PARTY AT MY FAVORITE SPOT IN CHICAGO THIS MONTH!!!! meet me and my guest DJ Zeetus Lapetus on the dance floor for the debut of genrefluid on saturday, april 25 >:))) more details below~~~

oh and 2) i submitted a pitch for my own radio show, and it was enthusiastically approved!! stay tuned for more on that, i hope to have my first episode up in april. just wait til you hear it!! i’m especially excited to share more of my own voice and commentary while mixing songs i love, it’s another layer to bring to my mixes and i can’t wait to practice my mic work!

okey doke, after that interlude…let’s run through those april DJ gigs now, shall we?

april 5

welcome to babylon

jackhammer | 7pm–1am | $10-$15 tickets

ohhh yes…it’s time for me to not only DJ at the famous jackhammer in chicago, but to DJ DOWNSTAIRS IN THE HOLE! ON EASTER SUNDAY! FOR MY BESTIE HEROIC.VERS’ NEW BABYLON PARTY!! expect iconic queer throwback dance bops and 2000s gay club culture hits all night long 🪩🌟

april 17

black skrippa brigade’s puff&pole

cole’s | 8pm–11:30pm | $22 tickets

back with my favorite BSB babes for a 4/20 weekend kickoff & pole show at cole’s! the music’s gonna be hot, the performers will be even hotter, there’s a sesh bus and merch giveaways…need i say more?! 💜💨

april 25 (!!!)

genrefluid

the whistler | 10pm–2:30am | FREE!

presenting the debut of my new music party: genrefluid. i’m sooo happy to be spinning this first party’s soundtrack at my beloved & favorite spot, the whistler, with my friend & DJ extraordinaire Zeetus Lapetus!! (and shoutout to my babe Lorena on the flyer illustration, thank you for bringing our lava lamp vision to LIFE!! <3)

genrefluid is a night for the the cross-genre lovers, the freeform dancers, the fluid listeners, the sonic explorers, and anybody in a body that moves. the music will be completely open-format, genre-abundant, fully exploratory, and always flowing, and i can’t wait to hear how the music of the night will unfold 🤩🫟

💛 this one’s gonna be a real special one, and it would mean so SO much for my Chicago peeps to come out & support!! it’s free.99, simply how could you not!! 💛

~ l e t ‘ s g e t f l u i d ~

march 13

hay parí en casa fundraiser & drag show

chicago art department | 6pm–9pm

i’m excited & honored to be spinning at the chicago art dept for this incredibly special event (featuring a staaacked lineup of drag performers)! the proceeds from this drag-show-slash-fundraiser will be supporting the midwest immigration bond fund. <3

march 13

babes world JUNGLE RAVE

emporium (wicker park) | 8:30pm–1:30am | RSVP + get tickets!

fiiiinaalllyy! a jungle music party in chicago that i’m DJing!! come dance and get your inner junglist on with the babes only gals + me + all the talented chicago djs & performers on the lineup. 🔥😝🔥

march 21

dj set @ emporium (logan square)

2363 n milwaukee ave | 9:30pm–2am

back on the 1’s and 2’s at emporium logan square! i’ve been having so much fun playing here (and at the wicker park location!!) as part of my monthly residency :-) come for a mix of who knows what…but i can guarantee ya that there’ll be head-bopping & toe-tapping. 💅🐯

for around 20 minutes and a decent monthly membership, i can enjoy a vaporized return to the womb. that’s the best way i can describe the time i spend inside my local YMCA’s women’s steam room.

i say steam room and i know you’re thinking of the slippery tiles, the musty conditions, the wet vulnerability of warm bodies sharing a collective steam in silence like little dumplings inside a bamboo steamer.

never have i ever left a steam room uninspired and unmoved. NEVER!! (a little too well-done? surely. but i’ve never regretted sitting in a steamed up room for any measure of time.)

these humble spaces are rooms of revelations. a steam room is a reprieve that spares no electronic device and i think that’s so beautiful.

(further on that: keep your phone & apple watch screens outta my steam. be present. be here now. afford yourself this time. i beg of you.)

intimate yet public. collective yet personal. introspective yet shared. liquid yet gas.

all of these things, in my opinion, are true of steam rooms and saunas.

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this is one place where everything inside you is steamed out into a cloudy void. where you and the vapor around you become one. where you leave feeling lighter. like air.

i use my steam time to thoughtfully move each part of my body around, letting the hot veil of watery mist soak through my pores and go straight to my bones.

i gently coax the steam, asking it to lift away all the bodily worries, muscle tensions, deep-seeded emotions, and decades of stress stored inside my flesh prison.

i trust that these four dripping-wet walls will heal me. i need them to heal me. and the only way that can happen is if i do my proper duty as a steamer and force myself to sit with myself.

that’s all the steam room asks of me. practically choking it out of me through heat and water and air, the sauna beckons: be in this now.

i emerge and exhale—free, loose, exposed, reborn, dewy, and very very red—then float to my locker.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. 🧖‍♀️

february 10

tease & resist presents…cupid’s kink shame night

cafe mustache | 7pm–10pm | $5 donation

i’ll be DJing before & after this incredibly hilarious show, hosted by the hot babes with hot takes at tease & resist! they’re an online satirical publication and it’s my second time spinning for them :-) donations will be going to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (ICIRR)!

february 13

heartthrob hangout

sleeping village | 7pm–1:30am | FREE!

keeping the party going & DJing in the front bar of sleeping village after this heartthrob hangout lineup. i’ll be spinning from 11pm til last call at 1:30am—and after the show it’ll be free to come by!

february 14

CRUSH&BURN

cole’s | 9pm–2am | $17 tickets

joining the CRUSH&BURN lineup for a dance party at cole’s! masquerade ball themed, on valentine’s day, what more could ya want? i’ll be the 2nd DJ playing, i’m on from 11pm til 12:30am <3

february 20

out & about chicago: valentine’s!

never have i ever | 10pm–4am | $15 tickets

i’m on this legendary lineup for out & about’s chicago stop along their valentine’s tour! returning to the clubbbb to turn sh*t UP! get your tickets now, this one’s going fast fast fast & hot hot hot…

substackians, it’s me. tigermilk. or LT. or Lauren. or Tuss. or Lo. (a deep cut tbh.)

i’d like to introduce you to this new method of self expression that i’m trying out. the algorithms and instagram as a whole are just absolutely not cutting it for me anymore. at this point, my IG is primarily a portfolio piece of my DJ skills & offerings. (and, of course, chosen snapshots of my charming personality and fabulous delicious life, duh.) i’m proud of what’s there, but as a creative person, i need to expand in a bigger, freer place. i need to say more. i need to let my voice stretch its muscles. i need to…PLAY!

and thus was born tigerzine.

my DJing has been the dominant medium of my creativity since 2018. all the while, though, my words, my writing, my voice has gotten sidelined because DJing for me was waaay more marketable, collectively enjoyable, and easily palatable. (and let’s be honest…it’s been fun as fuck. it’s the coolest job ever. i still can’t believe i get to do it.) but i am a woman of multitudes. i’m a people person through and through. i love food, flavors, and frisson. i love eye contact, sensuality, nature, language, rhythm, hands, and laughter for laughter’s sake. i want to live my life in a constant pursuit of honoring every single one of the versions of myself and my curiosities as they unfurl right in front of me.

so, now, i return to my words. i return to myself. i return to regrow.

here, expect anything and everything from me:

• bite-size playlists and noteworthy songs in my rotation

• DJ flyers, gigs, and mixes in more details

• salon-style thinkpieces (btw we’re bringing back salon culture in 2026)

• visual diary posts

• food things, dishes, recipes perhaps

• audio clips

• introspective moments and feeeeelings

• literally whatever i wanna say/write/share

tigerzine is my digital sanctuary. as one of my favorite artists and visionaries wrote on her own substack, “this space is where i not only give myself permission to expand but to be seen trying.”

thanks for being here while i try. <3

🐯