Essay by Audrey Castillo Art by Aiza Bragg Close to the Knives by David Wojnarowicz is an example of “AIDS literature” (Bradway 256) that traverses the queer consciousness during the American AIDS epidemic. It contains the disembodied voices of a population neglected by its government and murdered through the “internaliz[ation of] society’s hate” (Wojnarowicz 179).
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In Variation
Poem by Dax Avery Hamouth Art by Amy Ng in twists and knotsthe willow treebirthsa sighstretched out into eternity: biological processesmimicked overandover,named Miracle,dressed in red twine bindings, and cell tide mindings; fingers crossingcaught boundin incorrection to one letter wrong skin stretches overmuscle and fat:canvas over easel wood– am Ipainted wrong? details of my geometryclashing with tastesof different
at the bus stop, a tired boy speaks to death
Poem by Kayla Wilford Art by Karen Zhang the boy is barely a man, black clothes veiling frail bonesand a victorian disposition under moonlight and mist.he sits on a sad corner street under neon lightand butchers meat and wonders where to go. but the concrete is cold, frozen feet tucked underthe dim gold of bus
Bittersweet Corners
Prose by Samhita Shanker Art by Luiza Ortiz “Are you ready? We can’t be late for our anniversary!” “Two minutes!” Dilip calls, pushing through loose coins and memories in his closet searching for his cufflinks. His fingers brush aside some dust and instead, find gold glittering in the corner. He reaches in, clasping an errant
When her “skin dissolved under that gaze”: Reclaiming a Remedial Look in Beloved
Essay by Cicely Williams Art by Miranda Yee As bell hooks notes in her scholarship on the Black gaze, “The politics of slavery, of racialized power relations, were such that the slaves were denied their right to gaze” (115). Quite literally, enslaved persons were often “punished … for looking,” and accordingly, she believes that this
“How vain, without the merit, is the name”: Proper Name Usage Invoking Asian Diaspora in Souvankham Thammavongsa’s How To Pronounce Knife
Essay by Aimee Koristka Art by Amy Ng Proper name usage—both in literature and in real life—creates a clear sense of identity for an individual, allowing for distinct separation from one person and another. They are the manner by which an individual is known. Hence, “[p]roper names can be considered as an interface between individuals
Collage
by Elise Juncker Artist Statement Parts of this piece are strangely menacing to me. The man in the bunny costume invokes an almost forgotten childhood horror. But what we once found strange or menacing, may now just be a part of life. This collage is scrapped together from both the actual content, but also the
The Persistence of Renaissance Tropes in Literary Representations of Africa and Africans throughout the Eighteenth-Century: An Analysis of Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and Mungo Park’s Travels in the Interior of Africa
Essay by Dan Miller Art by Luiza Ortiz Africa and Africans have long been the recipients of the West’s (1) collective imaginings. In literature, the geography and the populus of Africa have served as provocative Others constructed by the West to better help the West define itself. In this sense, Africa and Africans have functioned
Dear Anyone
Prose by Katrina Von Salzen Art by Karen Zhang Dear Anyone, I want us to be friends, you and I. Because friends tell each other secrets. I have a secret- but no one to tell. Will you hold my secret? Will you keep it with you, hold it close to your heart, let it flutter
Invisible Gorillas
Screenplay by Valentina Sierra Art by Miranda Yee Content Warning: Child neglect, drug manufacturing/pushing, and depicted violence.
Aerodynamics
No town looked less aerodynamic than Des Moines, Iowa, when the Earharts moved there in the autumn of 1907. It was all a special kind of coal-dust black, from the blocky Fourth Street high-rises towering some six-seven stories over the little blackened alleys; […]
Light Gremlin
This series, which has garnered the name Light Gremlin, attempts to recreate the contradictory and confusing feelings of depression, while simultaneously suggesting that beauty can be found anywhere, even in dark moments. […]
“Rated PG-13 for Language and Mild Sexual Situations”: The Complicated Question of Sexuality in M.T. Anderson’s Feed
In a society where approximately seventy-three percent of people have essentially unlimited and uninterrupted access to a colossal version of the internet through “the feed” (Anderson 112), one would expect pornography downloads and other interactions with sexually explicit material or services to skyrocket. But M.T. Anderson’s young adult novel Feed lacks direct representations of sex and sexuality altogether, instead only hinting at pleasure-driven sexual relationships rather than demonstrating them outright. […]