Winter 2024
Men and Women
Olivia Mofus My mother, despite her public classiness, often makes the same joke about giving us breast milk. Whenever we’d say something about the past, or act childishly affectionate towards her, she’d say, “Aww… do you want breast milk?” pushing a boob, heavy with age, towards our now-annoyed faces in the same raunchy manner –… Read More Men and Women
Wilting Meadows
Eric Pak Mama, take me back to the time when your hair still rooted from your scalp. Before pain dug its teeth into your chest and your groans filled midnight. Remember our hikes Mama by the rolling meadows in Skagit where you would finger the soft glow of the lilacs, letting pollen trickle down your… Read More Wilting Meadows
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Emily Gordon Emily Gordon is a senior studying Mechanical Engineering and Design. She enjoys bridging the gap between technical realism and creative freedom.
Patron Saint
Maeren Quirke When I was 14, I determined two things about my future: I was going to be a ballerina, and I was going to marry a Protestant. Both resolutions came about because of my parents. My father had a reliable job working in insurance, and my mother was a housewife. Neither of them encouraged… Read More Patron Saint
Enoch Sees the Light in His Final Testimony
Elijah Elvin Dear Son, Elijah Jordan will be your name, It symbolizes the divine strength that I hope never leaves you. Boy, your heart won’t ever grow dark when it comes to feeling love ‘cuz Lucy’s gonna always spoil you with a nourishing light. She’s a good woman, so follow her words closely, even when… Read More Enoch Sees the Light in His Final Testimony
Bargaining
Maelea Tan Maelea Tan (they/them) is a senior at Northwestern University studying theatre, entrepreneurship, and art theory and practice. More can be found at maeleatan.com/design
A Civilised People
Olivia Mofus A Civilised People “For Obukpa people, God is everywhere and in everything. You can talk to him through the sun, or through a star, through the moon or through an iroko tree or even through a mound of clay.” *** In those elementary school days, my mother made sure to bring us to… Read More A Civilised People
and on that day
Atarah Israel inspired by Mary Ruefle’s Kiss of the Sun and on that day/when the blood orange envelopes those milky clouds/and we all turn our heads in shame/remembering our unravelings/ancestors’ toes steeped in midnight soil/soil almost as dark as them/we will unremember and become/that is to say/unfurl our suns into themselves/until they become something else… Read More and on that day
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Elsie Hayduk Elsie Hayduk is a freshman in the McCormick School of Engineering, studying Manufacturing and Design Engineering.
wrestling wind
Kaitlyn Hung The prickle of outdoor air dances through my nostrils, its unfamiliar temperature and humidity filling my lungs. I inhale—diaphragm, chest, stomach—in in in. I exhale—whoooosh–pushing the air out out out that same path with a powerful contraction of my diaphragm muscles. A heavy sense of calm coats my body and mind. I breath… Read More wrestling wind
