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Sam Carbaugh (he/they)

@thisamericanself.bsky.social
225 followers 121 following 634 posts

Midwestern indie low-fi cartoonist. Graduate of the center for cartoon studies ('09). For the last five years I've been drawing journal comics - trying to bridge the gap between experience and expression, knowing I'll fail I keep going. 🌈🏳️‍⚧️

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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
#webcomic my 40s are a grind and I don't see a light at the end of this tunnel, just more darkness until I physically can't keep going. Like most millennials, I expect to die at my job. But I'll endure as long as I can. That's all I can do.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
#poem #poetry Can We Talk? To stand unclothed before judgmental eyes Bright lights on a sterile stage My flaws lit up - hairs, folds, and skin tags Humiliated; but not like this, After what I said, And what you didn't do.
Can We Talk?


To stand unclothed before judgmental eyes
Bright lights on a sterile stage
My flaws lit up - hairs, folds, and skin tags - 
Humiliated; but not like this, 

After what I said,
And what you didn't do.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
#poetry #poem
21st Century Loneliness Epidemic Blues


I keep my distance these days
From friendship and vulnerable connection.

I know it's harmful to be this way . . .
It's an addictive feeling; 

imploding into myself.

Romantically speaking,
I'm finding a way out via Wordsworth.

Daffodils below; a cloud detached and drifting,
Wanting to evaporate.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
#webcomic two of nine.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
#webcomic part one of nine.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
#poetry rough draft today. I think I'll try polishing this one up for a submission somewhere. Seems like it could be alright.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
#webcomic about reading PEANUTS and finding joy.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
#webcomic about living in the light.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
#webcomic about being a queer cartoonist who doesn't talk about being queer that much.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
#webcomic about growing up with a very huge (and largely fictitious) idea of "America."
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
#webcomic about feeling like a ghost sometimes.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
#webcomic about needing to look away from my phone.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
#webcomic about being a naturally lonely person.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
#webcomic about how people think I look like Jack Black...and feel the uncontrollable urge to tell me. It happens all the time.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
#webcomic about working through depression.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
#webcomic about grief and losing sight of caring for myself.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 14/03/2026
#webcomic #poem war is a waste. Old men once again send the young to die.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
#webcomic about AI anxiety. Like seriously, can it be stopped? It feels both like a scam with fake urgency and the BORG with their resistance is futile marketing. I'm so tired.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
#webcomic about feeling forever out of step with any community I engage with.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
#webcomic about living in the aftermath of religious trauma.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
#webcomic about being overloaded with emotions and therefore drawing nothing.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
#webcomic about daily life as a dictatorial police state ramps up.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
#webcomic about finally being able to draw a full comic again...oh, and how ICE will fail.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
#webcomic about how we need to resist ICE and MAGA. We are stronger than we know.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
#webcomic about what I'm going to be creating to protest this anti-American government. Hint, I'm going to be making a lot of comics critiquing Christian Nationalism ... I used to be caught up in that and now I'm not. I hope many more leave in the coming years.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
#webcomic about being distracted by the fall of the Republic.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
#webcomic about the dangers of ice.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
Rough #poem for your consideration.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
#webcomic about wanting to draw but not being able to do much because of my broken hand.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
Proof of life. Love y'all.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 14/12/2025
#webcomic about thinking too much.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
#webcomic about how difficult it is for me to just get things done these days.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
#webcomic read more poetry! Also, this also might be a #poem.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
#creativity reminder: if you feel like an impostor, it means you actually aren't.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
#webcomic about how my phone is a device of destruction on an individual level. Haha. Just kidding. Everything is fine.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
#webcomic about longing for community.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
#webcomic about some work finally coming to maturity.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
#webcomic sketch comic about cicadas. Love those loud critters.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
#webcomic about feeling better mentally.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
#zine cover art for my new collections.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
#webcomic drawn in the sun.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
#webcomic on my Patreon for my Patrons. Here's a panel from the first in a series in gender and being nonbinary.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
#webcomic about depression, again, yay.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
#webcomic about my tree dropping all of its leaves.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
#webcomic about locking people out of my life and assuming the worst.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 09/11/2025
#webcomic about my inner Judge.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 08/11/2025
#webcomic about heavy feelings.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
#webcomic about emotional disability.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
#webcomic about my Patreon. Check it out if you haven't yet.
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Sam Carbaugh (he/they) @thisamericanself.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
#webcomic, beautiful day, dreadful headspace.
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