Words by Maya Raphael PZ ’27 Graphic by Thea Riley PZ ’28 To me, selfhood is not the intentional curation of an identity but the natural cumulation of experiences within this body. I contain multitudes. Every step I take is imbued with every step I have ever taken. Every breath I breathe whirls endlessly in the space of my being. The culmination of all pain … Continue reading Actuality
Words by Vivian Simon SC ’28 Graphic by Ginny O’Marah SC ’28 Today I sat on the phone trying to talk my way through. I counted the popcorn on the ceiling. I kept as much of a distance as I could and still I felt everything sinking away. At dinner they told me they all have sex. I didn’t believe them for an hour. Then … Continue reading Funny Valentine
Words by Willa Umansky PZ ’27 Everything was so normal, not homey or cozy or anything too good or warm, but normal. Starkly so, in a way that I’m not particularly used to. Pleasantries were upheld and honored, I’d laughed politely about twelve times in a thirty minute period. I think my slight discomfort, inability to relax wholly, was bred from the strict adherence to … Continue reading The Bounds of Propriety
Words by Lucy Kaplan PZ ’28Graphic By Eli Heart PZ ’26 The bed. The bed is surprisingly comfortable, or rather, it is considerably less painful than standing up. If I lie still and screw up my eyes, I can make out the illusion of normalcy. It is seven o’clock. It might be morning. The room is unwavering in its sterility. I am six years old, … Continue reading The Bed
By Willa Umansky PZ ’27 Graphic by Ben Connolly PZ ’26 It’s fall and I’m happy. In the sun, my chest bakes to a berry stained pink. When my children’s literature lecture lets out at 5:30pm, I’m cripplingly cold if I make the mistake of wearing short socks. Fall in Claremont is something that I will surely miss in the way I miss fall in … Continue reading happy fall 2024
By Willa Umansky PZ ’27 The linens pooled around me, begging me to sleep just a bit longer. Nina, dad’s ex, bought me the quilt that ached for its better days. It was beautiful, even in the infancy of its haggard state. One side sported light blue pin stripes on the white fabric, while the other displayed petals dancing in a pattern that could be … Continue reading Joe Biden Day As I Recall It
Words by Vivian Simon SC ’28 Graphic by Genevieve O’Marah SC ’28 I’ve been here not even a week. It’s all slipping away. I forget what to do When this happens constantly, all the time, around the clock, my heart is thumping. I can’t stop it but I can’t show it and I can only relieve it by making it louder. Sex is loud. I … Continue reading Shaking, Signing
By Tye Iverson PZ ’26, Pixie Klam PZ ’27, Willa Umansky PZ ’27, Oscar Ponteri CMC ’27 “Do you think they’re actually all fucking?” I whispered to my friend Margot while nodding at my cousin Leonard, his wife, and his wife’s best friend. They were both quite beautiful, one looked like every Rabbi’s attractive daughter who kissed a few too many boys in middle school. … Continue reading Creative Fragments
By Willa Umansky PZ ’27 I’m in some room nowhere, the room is the world and nothing exists beyond its walls. Like I said, some room nowhere. The room has wooden walls and a muddy-colored carpet, and there is a grain on my vision that makes it feel like 1997, even though I only know what the 90s looked like from pictures. Maybe that’s the … Continue reading Death and Such
By Edie Vigushin SC ’24, Willa Umansky PZ ’27, Zoe Lusk PZ ’25 entangled in the clear bowl atop my mother’s bureau. Like little metallic fish. z I kneel before the moon praying to feel small, hoping to see that moon which casts wonder and renders me speechless, instead I see only my bleeding skin reflected back at me. My mind is bloated and salted, … Continue reading Fragments
