Issue 2.1: About Our Contributors Stephanie Airth is a third year English Honours student. Allison Birt is a fourth year student at UBC pursuing a double major in Art History and English Literature. She divides her time between her studies and teaching Pilates and the Franklin Method at the Vancouver Pilates Centre. Allison is interested
“Complicity” by Michael Prior
This work is now accessible only in the print edition, as per the author’s request. You can buy the print edition at our launch parties and ESA events, or send us a quick e-mail request.
“Without Words” fiction by Michael Warne
Without Words fiction by Michael Warne . The steady rumble of the bus engine. Sitting in the back, he touches her knee with his fingertips, lightly traces half-circles up her leg, a swirling line, barely touching, an endless S, skin so much more sensitive between the ghostly touches. . She sweeps his hand away
“On Fishing” poem by Stephanie Airth
On Fishing poem by Stephanie Airth The trout is a sliver of silver birch bark With gills like beet-stained paper snowflakes And a heart black as cherry jelly. It lays congealed on the gutting table; One solar eclipse eye wilts as it stares Up at heaven and sees . nothing. It knows It is the
“The Idiot Imposter” fiction by Luke Fraser
The Idiot Imposter fiction by Luke Fraser . Of all the possible things that Daniel Briton could have imagined doing today, murdering a stranger would have been nowhere on his imaginary list. Yet, when he pushes aside the swinging door to his kitchen after returning home from work, he finds the end of a pistol
“Open Letter to Yogi Tea” Garden Statutory by Madeline Gorman
Open Letter to Yogi Tea Garden Statutory by Madeline Gorman To Whom It May Concern: . I am writing to express my concern with your “Yogi Inspirations”—the “inspirational” quotations printed on each Yogi tea bag label. While I understand that the intention of these mantras is to “inspire” people, I would like to gently remind
“The Contours of Nature” poem by Alex Winstanley
The Contours of Nature poem by Alex Winstanley Adam named the contours of nature to chisel a line between night and day, snake and lion. He walked naked in the midday sun, letting language linger in the sway of the light like a dryad clothed in the translucent tears of the willow. He let the
“What the Dead Know” essay by Chelsea Pratt
What the Dead Know: Political and Personal Corpses in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four essay by Chelsea Pratt . Seeping ulcers, naked bodies, tortured forms: as intellectual as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four might seem, it also draws heavily on the corporeal aspects of human existence. In fact, the individual body often serves to emblematize Oceania itself: the
“An Island Locked In Time” photos by Kenneth Chong
“An Island Locked In Time” photo series by Kenneth Chong . Hong Kong used to represent the magic of the Orient mixed in with the aristocratic stamp of the British Empire. Nowadays, the city is known more for its frenzied pace and expansive skyline than its exotic history. However, fragments of the Orient’s past magic
“The Book of Shells and Stones” essay by Javier Ibanez
The Book of Shells and Stones: A Reading of Wordsworth’s Dream of the Arab essay by Javier Ibáñez . Book V of William Wordsworth’s The Prelude opens with a lament over the fact that the mind does not have “[s]ome element to stamp her image on / In nature somewhat nearer to her own,” but
“Oh, the humanities” Garden Statutory by Kyle Robertson
Oh, the humanities. Garden Statutory by Kyle Robertson In contemporary academia, tumblr posts suffice for paper proposals. Avoid inane in-class discussion. Distract yourself with self-mutilation. When discussing masturbation in literature, be sure to throw in something about body-as-text to sublimate accompanying academic anxieties for paper cuts. If called upon unexpectedly, speak metaphorically by borrowing
“Later Days” poem by Katie Coopersmith
Later Days poem by Katie Coopersmith Valencia oranges had gotten crushed in my bag and soaked all the lace doilies, so Jake and I had coffee instead of high tea. It was an awkward forty-seven minutes. He began by clearing his throat, considering me with a few angular, darting glances, and commenting that he’d never
“The Geography of Pain” essay by Genevieve Barrons
The Geography of Pain Exploring the relationship between places and people in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. essay by Genevieve Barrons . The phrase “lost generation”—as used by Ernest Hemingway in the epigraph to The Sun Also Rises—refers to a state of political and spiritual crisis. However, at
“1+1=1” and “My Mom’s Interest” photos by Dalaina Heiberg
“1 + 1 = 1” photo by Dalaina Heiberg Commentary My friend Sally Buttervalley and I saw and followed these two ladies walking the streets of Trujillo, Spain. I want to be one like them when we grow up. “My Mom’s Interest” Commentary I took this photo for my Mom because of her liking