Dear reader,
Last summer, I became very interested in collaging. I enjoyed the activity for many reasons. First, it was meditative. As I took a long time to snip around a particular shape in a magazine, it was pleasant as a secondary task to a conversation, television show, or audiobook. While creating something new from a jumbled set of parts, I also got the sense that I was working towards something bigger.
I’m an amateur collagist. I have expanded my materials from forgotten magazines to ephemera of a larger oeuvre, that is remnants from life itself—an incomplete inventory includes plane tickets, labels on candy packages, brochure images, washi tape, paint, receipts. I highly recommend cutting a bunch of things and assembling them at least one time. There’s no one “right” configuration, only some that look slightly better than others. The possibilities are endless (i.e. a cat drinking matcha; ask to see my collage for proof).
The issue in front of you is a collage of dancing bears, cans of herbal tea, and snide notes to a professor. We’ve assembled the irreverent beside the devout; the funny beside the grave. Here you’ll find Will Sussbauer mourning his writerly idol Annie Dillard and Kira Tang on a technofuturist art exhibit she connected with in Switzerland. Chloe Chang gives us the down low on everyone’s favorite summer flick, and Rachel Kreth bemoans Yale’s pervasive G-Cal culture. This issue has it all, and just like in the best collages, the pieces bring out each other’s undertones. So, maybe you’ll end up using our issues for a collage one day—but we hope you read them first!
Most daringly,
Hudson and Angel
