Essay by Sally Elhennawy Art by Haley Cheng While considering the thematic elements that characterize the literary space occupied by HIV/AIDS writing, it is perhaps just as important to take note of the narrative forms utilized by writers in communicating these themes. The HIV/AIDS epidemic was characterized by a pervasive sense of impending mortality; consequently,
Chocolate Almond
Prose by Nina Sky Robertson Art by Amy Ng It is October and Highway 19 is bordered by blackberries and stinging nettle, both past their prime and beginning to decay in the burgeoning winter. We work for Glen, a mill subcontractor, burning slash piles that loggers left last winter. Sometimes the piles are huge, the
Ultra Violet Outlook
Poem by Mark Cameron Art by Haley Cheng We are calling for halfmoon sunburns on the bare backs of teenagers with periods of Magnum bars at sundown. The Entertainer will play on repeat, Serving You Since 2011. Expect an increase in airborne predators. Russian dolls in flight, an iterative dining experience. Darkness will
The Woman’s Voyeur
Poem by Jenna Conradie Art by Amy Ng I am an atheist, yet I find myself Searching for right angles in the clouds Checking to see if that eyelash wish came true Bargaining to popcorn ceilings when I fall short I am an atheist, yet I find myself Preparing to be seen when there’s
Love in Saccharine
Poem by Czarain Laqui Art by Aiza Bragg Feet flat against a dusty floor: a layer of dead skin cells and dog fur — this is Home — but she is empty. Suffocation in all her trinkets whispering maudlin memories; Humid breath, Viscid lips. Kiss her goodbye before brushing your teeth and welcoming morning.
Leftovers
Poetry and art by Cass Minkus 52 percent of kids In the Canadian foster care system Are Indigenous. Personal interest, princesses with pigtails, Trophies collecting dust. He can’t pronounce my name, He refuses to learn, So instead, he just calls me Indian. Prisoners of a system, That had killed our ancestors before. No longer kept
Co-constitutive Crises: Analyzing Rationality and Rhetorical Narratives of Agency in British Columbia’s COVID-19 Pandemic and Opioid Epidemic
Essay by Grace Payne Art by Karen Zhang According to data gathered by the Government of Canada, 3,002 deaths occurred in British Columbia from April 12, 2020 through April 4, 2022, as a result of the COVID-19 virus (bc.thrive.health stats). Meanwhile data released by the BC Coroners Service indicates that at least 2,224 individuals died
the grandmother, the mother, and the future wife
Prose by Samhita Shanker Art by Karen Zhang She holds an empty metal tumbler in one hand and a milk pot in the other, carefully pouring steaming coffee back and forth like a pendulum, pulling higher and higher each time. She knows he likes a thick layer of foam at the top and will complain
Futility and Frustration in Kindred
Essay by Colby Payne Art by Aiza Bragg In Octavia Butler’s 1979 novel Kindred, protagonist Dana is drawn suddenly into the past, where she must repeatedly save her slave-owning ancestor Rufus to ensure her future survival. In a 1997 interview, Butler stated that her inspiration for Kindred was an interaction with a member of the
new endings.
Poem by Saffah Ibrahimi Art by Haley Cheng She’s sitting across from me, making paper planes out of old homework sheets. She tells me to join her, delicate fingers pressing against the ink of her last sociology final. Did you know we make our first impressions within one-tenth of a second? Did you know I
What’s In A Name?: How Shakespeare Dramatizes the Mediatic Dynamic in Romeo and Juliet
Essay by Amelia Brooker Art by Haley Cheng European history is no stranger to periods of cultural shifts, but the Renaissance period brought on a shift of the mediatic kind, where tension between traditional orality and new-world literacy was strong and tangible enough to be dramatized on the stage. The stage play was a very
From the Land Beyond the Forest to the Shores of England: The Merging of Science and Superstition in Stoker’s Dracula
Essay by Corey Morell Art by Amy Ng In his quintessential Gothic novel, Bram Stoker takes the reader on a journey from the land beyond the forest to the land of hope and glory, from the unfamiliar to the known, from the old to the new. For the Victorians of the late 19th century, a
Thomas
Prose by Amaruuk Bose Art by Amy Ng We were 15 and stupid and had skipped French class because we’d just learned about the concept of free will. We scraped together pocket change for drinks from 7/11, laughing giddily to ourselves as we paced the tiled floor unsupervised. We could get anything we wanted. We’d
The Crying of the Locust
Poem by Sally Elhennawy Art by Aiza Bragg the hay stalks whistle ‘neath the dunes a weathered tree stands on a hill silence settles on the desert at noon a heavy quiet, hot and still. it seems no life can flourish here, deep within this hollow land, as rock erodes, year after year, and crumbles
nocuous living
Poem by Gurnoor Powar Art by Keeley Sieban A little girl Flying on her toes Digging them into the soft wet dirt As she spins An anchor So that she doesn’t fall The anklets adorning her feet Singing as they rub against her skin Chafing the delicate bone She allows the sun to shine Through