Engender Zine September 2018

engender september 2018

a production of the

Visit us in the RMC women.rice.edu facebook.com/RiceWRC

contents

“85º F, Cassis, France ” Juliette Richert “Untitled” Anonymous "Fire Pit" Elena Margolin “Burn the Witch” Suzanne Zeller “Burned Out” Areebah Ahmad “Flaming Hearth” Johannah Palomo "No Gradient" Brianna Garcia "Hallelujah" Katelyn Landry "Untitled" Katie Webber "Short and Stalky" Brianna Garcia "America Was Never Great" Arija Forsyth 'What the Fuck" Brianna Garcia and Suzanne Zeller

Juliette Richert

I open the screen door and step out onto the front porch in my bare feet and a pair of comfy shorts. Lighting illuminates the sky, and I clearly see my uncle and my mom’s cigarettes before the light vanishes and they fade to glowing spots of light. The pungent smell of the smoke mingles with the warm July, thunderstorm air and I breathe in deeply. They both try to hide their cigarettes from me as though I can’t smell it in the air. As though I’m blind to their movements. As though I haven’t known that they smoke since I was five years old. As though I didn’t sneak into my mom’s purse and put a cigarette in my own mouth when I was little. Whatever. I’ll pretend I don’t see.

The sky is pitch black. The wind hurries through the oak trees and whips their branches back and forth. Thunder, loud enough to make the house shake, pelts down with the rain. Envelopes me. Drowns all other noise just as the rain is drowning the plants. I love this thunder.

The rain is warm. It falls through the light of the fluorescent street light. The abandoned house across the street is almost invisible through the wall of water. Rain fills the potholes of the gravel road between our brown porch and the small, blue, empty house across the street.

Rain speckles my feet even though I’m sitting against the wall of the house. My uncle sighs and says, “If dad were here he’d say, ‘This one’s a real toad strangler.’”

It sure is.

Anonymous

Elena Margolin

Suzanne Zeller

Burned Out Areebah Ahmad

Her eyes felt like fire.

She had a feeling that if she relaxed Anyone who looked could snatch it away.

At first, she could not see their eyes.

For the girls had not turned back since she turned away.

But now they’ve noticed a change.

Their eyes made her turn back.

Slowly, unwillingly They held each other In a steady burning look in which there was no evasion nor flinching.

She looked down at herself.

She stayed away.

Burned out From the eyes that felt like fire.

I N F E R N O

centerf

Inferno Gallery is located down in the Sewall Hall sculpture courtyard

Look out for an upcoming collaboration between the RWRC and Inferno this year!

fold

Suzanne Zeller Inferno is Rice’s student run gallery space, formerly known as Matchbox. This year it is being led by director Suzanne Zeller and a large team of awesome, art loving women. Coincidentally, all three exhibitions opening this semester are by female artists! The lineup includes: Violette Bule, a Venezuelan artist with poignant work on Latinx identity and immigration; Lindsey Douglas, a Rice VADA major with an entrancing interactive sculptural show; and Dana Suleymanova and Rachel Wilkins, who are bringing us an innovative take on net.art and mixed media.

Johannah Palomo

No Gradient Brianna Garcia heat my legs the source theirs the sink sweat a drip, stick, slick liquid intimacy skin touching skin sweat the sweet out heat flows from hot to cold me to you but cold skin sheds love too

Katelyn Landry I love the idea of taking back the night to march in the street with friends and say this space is ours! we deserve to be here!

But how can we take back our bedrooms our churches that spot by our college's fountain where I have to walk by every day even though I can still feel his hands where I can taste the pink rosé I vomited up after he left To whom do I proclaim I deserve to be here! when where I feel unsafe is in my own skin ?

Katie Webber

Brianna Garcia

What the Fuck Brianna Garcia and Suzanne Zeller Dear Weather, What the fuck.

Dear Humidity, What the fuck.

Dear Chafing, What the fuck.

Dear Underboob Sweat, What the fuck.

Dear Broken Lovett Elevator, What the fuck.

Dear You-know-how-you-get-in-a-car-during-Houston-summerand-you're-wearing-shorts-because-it's-hot-and-the-seat-burnsyour-thighs-to-a-crisp, What the fuck.

Sincerely, A Sweati Boi™

see you in the next issue of

engender!

We welcome all original content, both visual and written. Anything from commentaries to comics to recycled academic papers. We want your thoughts represented!

Submit to zine@rice.edu

Editors in Chief Ishani Desai Sarah Torresen Editors Suzanne Zeller Tanvi Jadhav Allison Melton Audrey Kuykendall Contributors Juliette Richert Elena Margolin Areebah Ahmad Katie Webber Johannah Palomo Brianna Garcia Arija Forsyth Katelyn Landry Table of contents and credit page artwork by Suzanne Zeller Cover artwork by Allison Melton

want to submit something to the next edition of engender? send your submission to zine@rice.edu!