Stephens Life | Spring 2022

SL STEPHENS LIFE

Stephens Life / Spring 2022 / Issue No. 20

Shh...Minimalism is Sleeping In your Dreams Eve Poetry - Submerge Butterfly Effect Written Utopia FantasticAL Familiars Celestial Bodies Poetry - Preoccupied Dream Visitation At the Foot of the Bed Poetry - Purgatory

Table Of Contents

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Letter from the Editor I never believed this day would happen when I wrote this letter for the magazine.

I dreamed of being editor-in-chief only once during my first semester on the team. For a single moment, I thought how amazing it would be to be the editor.

Then, fear hit like a wave, knocking me into the horrifying thoughts of extreme responsibility—the constant pressure looming over me of never being good enough. So, doing what every rational person would do, I pushed that dream to the back of my mind and continued with my life.

That dream, hidden from everyone, including myself, was brought back up again. Even though I was utterly terrified, I took hold of that dream and made it my new reality.

Throughout these past three semesters that I have been a part of Stephens Life, it has brought me so much joy (and stress). I have discovered so much about myself and about who I desire to be. I have been challenged yet rewarded in pride with my work on past issues. I have grown to be a better person because of this team and the opportunities provided.

The Dreamer Issue is not all about achieving your own dream. The issue provides new insight on various topics, examines different forms of art and literature, and dives into the world of dreams.

While dreamers are given a bad reputation for having their heads stuck in the clouds, we value the importance of an optimist mindset. Sometimes escaping the reality of your life is the only way to find peace from the crazy world around us.

In this issue, you will experience escapism of many forms. You will learn about your dreams and jump into the dreams of others. There is so much about the world that you do not know and the only thing you can do is allow yourself the chance to embark on these unknown journeys. So please, embrace the unknown. Without it, life would be incredibly dull.

Enjoy, converse, and stay curious.

From one dreamer to another,

Madison Moore

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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SL STEPHENS LIFE

1200 E Broadway Columbia, MO 65215 Stephens Life is the award-winning studentrun magazine of Stephens College.

EDITORS

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Editor-in-Chief Madison Moore Creative Director Savana “SJ” Johnson Copy Editor Nathalia Harris Social Media Director Arika Smith

Staff

Elyse Clayton Jaedyn Colvin Lydia Graves LeeAnn Estill Ryann Jenkins-Leflore Marley Lefler Morgan McCall Ashlynne Sage Gillian Sanchez Alaysia Taylor

Madison Moore

Savana “SJ” Johnson

Editor-in-Chief

Creative Director

Nathalia Harris

Arika Smith

Copy Editor

Social Media Director

CONTRIBUTORS

Ally Ainsleigh Jolene Clayton Hope Daugherty Lauren Dubuque Sydney Marquardt Stella Blue Neeley Maude Vintage

ADMINISTRATION

Staff Advisor: Dr. Bethanie Irons

SPECIAL THANKS

President Dianne Lynch Jen Tolle, The Agency Opinions expressed are not necessarily the views of the college, students, administration, faculty, or staff. Stephens Life strives for accuracy. To report a correction or clarification, please send an email to SL | 3 birons@stephens.edu

Spring 2022 TEAM

THE LINE UP STAFF Jaedyn Colvin

Alaysia Taylor

Lydia Graves

Elyse Clayton

Marley Lefler

Gillian Sanchez

Ryann Jenkins-Leflore

Ashlynne Sage

Morgan McCall

Leeann Estill SL | 4

Story by Lydia Graves SL | 5 Photography by Morgan McCall

I

n a great white room, there was a plant. And a black chair. And a portrait of one single dot. And an Our Place® Perfect Pot. And a monochromatic palette. And two white rabbits.

And a boring overhead light. And some freshly made egg whites. And streamlined shapes.

And a few beige drapes. And an excess of simplicity. And no room for creativity. Goodnight room. Goodnight dot. Goodnight rabbits. And goodnight monochromatic palettes. Goodnight streamlined shapes. And goodnight drapes.

Goodnight egg whites and the light. Goodnight simplicity. Goodnight dresses with plain waists. Goodnight negative space. Goodnight chair. Goodnight minimalism everywhere.

“Just like with the One Room Challenge, being able to get opened up to the whole DIY world.

And, of course, Instagram, Pinterest, all of these things have created this perfect storm of styles.”

Citron agrees, “I think now is the most exciting time to be in fashion because anything goes.

That’s the help of the internet and social media.

It’s a fun time where you can mix and match things or put things together that are unusual.”

Laura Citron grew up playing in her mother’s closet. “She was a pack-rat and kept all of these

Enter maximalism. The phenomenon is the celebration of ‘more is more’ and the sense of being “overcome with emotion” as interior designer Marissa Tago of The Whitley Company describes it. “The days of which every house looks the same and unlivable have gotten an upswing to more color and more texture.” Maximalism embraces the use of color, something held dear to many, including Tago. “For me, color has such a strong emotional energy that—in a world of beige-on-beige-on-beige and natural tones and woven textures—transports you.” There is a unique vibrancy. There is also an ability to use layering and showcase all the various things and “stuff” people have laying around. “Maximalism does all of those things with no limits. There are no boundaries or expectations of what this space should be . . . It’s liberated. It’s exhilarating.”

“I think it’s interesting because, for a long time, things got really minimal,” fashion designer Laura Citron observes. “. . . I just kept hoping maximalism would come back around, and it actually has. I think that Alessandro at Gucci was a huge push in that . . . He brought fun back into fashion. Now, there’s a lot more maximalism than there was ten years ago.” Tago suggests the draw towards maximalism to be due to the age of COVID-19 and the desire to slow down through everyday life. The idea of repurposing items has become appealing during this time.

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awesome cocktail dresses, ball gowns, and sequin jumpsuits from the 70s and 80s.” This closet was a world of its own. Within those walls was an idea Citron would never see as she was out-and-about in her hometown in Louisiana. “I always just dreamt to wear these pieces. And who are these women that live in this world? And I want to be a part of this world.” As she began to develop this passion through the years, her cousin, a producer in Los Angeles, encouraged her to visit for the summer to explore various careers. He was able to help her into a job centered right around fashion: The Tyra Banks Show. Once she worked her way to the wardrobe department, she realized a successful career in fashion is attainable and prosperous. “It was a very serious thing. These people were making a living at it and it was just a huge eye-opener for me.

After that, I could never go back.” As soon as she got home, she researched schools for a fashion program, transferred to Fashion Institute of Technology, and moved to New York.

Ironically, she studied merchandising instead of design to avoid sewing. “I admire anyone who loves it, because I can do the basics, but I’m not good with [sewing].” This led her to carry various jobs: trend forecasting, fashion buyer, and stylist. “My boyfriend at the time had a store in New York, and we decided to leave to move to Nashville. We had a lot of customers and stylists coming from Nashville saying, ‘We don’t have anything like what you guys are doing [here] in Nashville.’” They had a feeling they would be even more successful moving there, “so, we completely closed our eyes and jumped.” They found themselves with an abundance of free time, leading him to start designing and Citron to open a vintage store. He encouraged her to design a few pieces incorporating the ideas of vintage and her mother’s closet that she adored. “I made a 70s inspired collection with lots of bright colors, SL | 7

and lots of shiny things, and it sold really well. It blossomed from there.” She continued to create and sell her collections and fell even more in love with the craft. “It was something, as a little girl, I dreamt of but never knew how to do. I just feel so grateful that somehow I’ve figured out how to do what I love. They say when you do what you love, you don’t work a day in your life. It feels like that. I get so excited that I get to play dress-up every day.”

“I have always admired minimalism, but I’m such a maximalist at heart,” says Citron about her personal style. “I think when I was younger, trying to scale it back or trying to . . . tone it down, it never felt right to me. And you have to do you, right? You have to be true to yourself. And so, the older I got, the more I pushed myself a little bit more, and ‘more’ was my fashion. The more I took risks, the more I felt at home . . . For me, I just can’t be any other way.” She loves colors and sparkles. When she sees others embracing this aesthetic, it never fails to bring her joy.

So much so it became a goal for her, through her label, to bring happiness to people through clothing.

“The most powerful thing about fashion is that it’s a working expression of yourself all throughout the day before you say something.”

Marissa Tago was continually driven with a design-conscious way of thinking, even from her start. “I was always rearranging my room and sketching floor plans or aerial views.” She grew up designing the interiors of homes for her neighbors and friends. It was never a job, but rather something she enjoyed exploring and delving into. She found herself feeling grateful to be accepted into other people’s space. “My mother passed away when I was three, and I was adopted by her sister. I moved to a town where no one looked like I did, and I quickly

realized that I was different. I looked different.

I had elderly neighbors. At the time I was like, ‘They’re really great, but where are the kids I can play with?’ But, as the years went by, it became more and more of a joy for me. I was able to get into their space and make mental notes of things that had changed. I was always inquiring about different things in their home. That was really where my connection was with them. I really became part of their family connecting through their home. It was such a gift that I was given for all those years, to witness a person’s life and to be granted access to their most intimate space.”

Tago’s personal style has always been eclectic.

She has a small obsession with vintage rugs and loves one-of-a-kind light fixtures (or anything one-of-a-kind for that matter). “I really like mixing old and new.” Anything that speaks to her usually finds a home within her space. “I think with that sort of style, there are so many layers that it still feels very cohesive but it’s so visually interesting.” She also expresses a heavy fondness for color, unique shapes, and original artwork or pottery. The maximalist aesthetic has always had a home with her, she tells me. “There is a light-hearted spirit that comes with that space that you just kind of want to enjoy. I think if you can find a space where you honestly don’t know where to look, and your eye doesn’t really know where to land, it’s a pretty cool experience.”

Even amongst a crowd of pieces, maximalism is very intricate and thoughtful. “Every single piece has a story with it,” expresses Tago. This significance behind it has drawn her and many others to the style. The interior designer has an admiration for specifically artisanal pieces to fill her space, many times not concerning herself with what things even look like. “I think so much of what I’m drawn to is the highly personal things.”

She conveys that her sentimental nature pertains heavily when it comes to those she holds close to her heart. “I think losing my mom early in my life and only having photographs of her has really given me a deeper appreciation for

things that someone’s life has given.” She tells me her mother’s college book and old polaroids are some of Tago’s most treasured possessions.

“Things like that are really special, so I try to incorporate those highly personal, meaningful, and sentimental touches to my designs.” Things can be powerful. Maximalism allows for those emotions and nostalgia to surround the space.

“I think if you can find a space where you honestly don’t know where to look, and your eye doesn’t really know where to land, it’s a pretty cool experience.”

-Marissa Tago There are three key points to achieving maximalism that guide Laura Citron every time she creates a garment or collection: color, silhouette, and print.

Color, especially bold choices and jewel tones, create an eye-catching moment within a glance.

Silhouettes are exciting to exaggerate and play with. “I always like to do something dramatic like super wide-leg pants or jumpsuits so wide you think they’re a dress.” Unique patterns can also be fun. “When I started designing, I didn’t know everything about designing, but I knew that my fabrics had to be incredible. I was super super selective with my fabrics. They had to be the most eye-catching, unusual, showstopping fabrics that I could find.” For Marissa Tago, “oversized and varying sources of light” are keys to achieving a successful maximalist space. Stunning, showstopping visual pieces are a must. Paying attention to dimension is also important in this type of space. Texture can also be interesting to play around with and incorporate. Tago also loves to incorporate all the walls “including the ceiling” into maximalist designs. This creates an intimate, cozy, and encompassing feeling. She also swears by having at least one dynamic vintage piece in the room. “You can go above and beyond in a maximalist design because you can take risks. You can

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do pretty atypical designs. There’s really no road map or guidebook to that space, and I think that’s why they’re so cool. When you see it done right, it’s pretty spectacular and stays with you.”

Maximalism is not a difficult look to achieve.

The no-rules-nature of the style leaves endless possibilities. Still, if the creation of eclectic versus clutter daunts you, Marissa Tago advises “elevating the space with varying heights,” mixing and matching, and embracing the opportunity for weird, crazy, & cool. Laura Citron has her own

saying: “Fashion is fantasy.” When discussing styling your outfit, she illustrates, “You get to choose who you want to be every day when you pick out what you’re going to wear…At the end of the day, you can go and grab a dress out of your closet and become a new person and be whoever you want to be. It’s like fashion gives you a superpower.” Citron has great suggestions for those looking to explore maximalism specifically.

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“We have people who come into the store all the time and say, ‘I love this so much. I just don’t know how I would wear it,’ and we always encourage

“I have always admired minimalism, but I’m such a maximalist at heart.”

-Laura Citron mixing something really flashy with something they find comfortable and approachable.” She suggests a pair of boots, jeans, and a t-shirt to pair with a Lamé jacket. “There are ways to dip your toe into maximalism in a way that feels comfortable . . . I find that once people do that, they get the ‘bug.’ They slowly go a little bit further and a little bit further and a little bit further and then I see a picture of them wearing a full sequin [outfit].

Once you start, you’re not going to stop.” As far as filling a space, Tago explains it very simply: “start looking.” Decorating a space can be as straightforward as keeping an eye open. Curbs can have the most beautiful chairs, artwork, and endless possibilities that are treasures awaiting a welcoming home. She also suggests Facebook Marketplace to explore. “It’s a great community . . . I’ve never had a bad experience. Start looking, and when you find something that makes you stop or hesitate or circled back or double-take . . . then you need it. You’ll find a place for it . . . But the thing with maximalism is there are no rules, so if it feels good to you in your space, then it’s great.”

The night is near and the day is done. Hello more than before. I couldn’t stare at blank, white walls anymore. Hello, bold. Hello gold.

Hello contrasting prints and living like I’m at The Ritz. Bonjour eclectic decorations and having no limitations. Hello pursuit of comfort and happiness. Good morning beautifulness. SL

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In Your Dreams:

Her Hustle is Her Reality

W

e all have dreams, but hustlers and go-getters are people who chase after them. Let me introduce you to a couple of bosses. We will see a little of their background, why they decided to go down the path they did, a view of where they are now, and what they want to do next.

My name is Alaysia Taylor and I am a senior at Stephens College studying integrated marketing communications. I am the CEO of Kingdom Chatter and our mission is to prompt gospel conversation through apparel. We want to inform people about Jesus because we recognize that need in the community around us. We have seen how easily the pandemic exposed our brokenness, our desire to be loved, and highlighted that something was missing.

Often, we try to fill this void through success or unhealthy amounts of drug consumption.

However, once the good feeling fades, we are left trying to fill the void again. I believe that God sent his son Jesus to repair our relationship with him, to fill those voids, and give a promise of something better at the end of this thing we call life if we’d just accept Him. I love that story and want to scream it all day, but I can't.

My way of doing that is through apparel.

What’s next? A new business venture is already in the works and I’m sure there are ideas like it, but they aren’t mine. What I mean by this is, although the other entrepreneurs that’ll be mentioned and I have similar dreams, they come with different niches, reach different audiences, and are created for different reasons.

Why is it so cool? Many people stop working

Story by Alaysia Taylor Photography by Marley Lefler + Gillian Sanchez toward their goals because they feel that the industry or business they are interested in is overpopulated. If you find your niche, that special marketing position, or simply something that makes you smile, you should go after it!

The next person we’ll introduce is Tatianna Hawkins, who is also a senior at Stephens College. She is studying integrated marketing communications focusing on entrepreneurship and business management. With that being said, you should know a little more about her hustle.

Tati has always wanted to be an entrepreneur for the simple fact that she doesn't want to work for people or be told what to do. I think most can relate to parts of that. I know I can. Tati wants the freedom to move when she wants to.

She was 16 when her mom passed, but before her passing, they made a game plan. Her mom thought of the name and Tati came up with a mission to “build up the confidence of others.”

As a child she was bullied for being skinny and figured if she could help raise the confidence of other people dealing with insecurities, that was what she wanted to do, so she chose to do it through apparel. Tati’s mom instilled a few things in her, one being to never quit. Once she became serious about it in her sophomore year of college, there was no going back. I asked her thoughts on the t-shirt industry being oversaturated and she believes that it allows people to tell their stories or even give back. Everyone should get to do just that. Tati’s dream is to have her current business, Pretty Unique, become worldwide! She imagines it to be one of those household names, much like SL | 12

Victoria’s Secret’s PINK line. It doesn’t matter your age, gender, or race, you’ve heard of the brand. She hopes to expand on Pretty Unique within five years and then start something new, such as a pole dancing class that also inspires people to love the skin they’re in.

“I don’t really see anyone but myself as competition.”

-Ambria Maddox Last but not least, we are introducing Ambria Maddox, she is a fashion design and product development major with a minor in business.

Her dream is to make a name for herself by starting her own fashion design empire and to be known worldwide for her designs. This has been in her heart for as long as she can remember.

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She’s been into all things design, fashion, and creating. Her interest in fashion design peaked around age 10 when she received her first sewing machine. I asked her who she would consider being her biggest competitor in this market and her answer was inspiring. She said, “I don’t really see anyone but myself as competition. I feel like everyone has their own creative process and perspective, so I don’t really see others as competition. I say I’m my biggest competitor because I strive to always do better than the last thing I created.” Wondering what’s next for Ambria after she reaches that dream? She humbly says that this will forever be her dream.

There was a TikTok sound trending involving a story about a conversation between two friends.

One had a dope idea and then noticed that there was already something like it out in the world. The other friend asked, “Why can’t you

do it?” She responded, “Because it’s already on Instagram, someone already did it.” The friend then replied, “Didn’t Rhianna create Fenty like there wasn’t Mac? Did she not create Savage Fenty like we didn’t have Victoria's Secret and other lingerie stores? How many McDonald’s and Burger Kings are across from each other like they don’t sell the same food? How many beauty supplies are selling the same bundle on the same block? The market is oversaturated but it doesn’t have a YOU. If God gave you the gift, your gift is going to pop differently from theirs, because anything you touch prospers.

So if they did it first, [it] doesn’t matter. Yours is going to be different. It's missing YOU.” I wish I could find the original person behind the voice and give them credit, but every word was true. When chasing your dreams, you have to drown out naysayers, but your biggest

hurdle will be trusting in yourself and believing that you can make that dream come true.

To hustle is to have the courage, confidence, self-belief, and self-determination to go out there and work it out until you find the opportunities you want in life. Let’s celebrate the dreams, the differences, and the dopeness of our individual selves because if we work for it, we can accomplish most anything. SL

“Didn’t Rhianna create Fenty like there wasn’t Mac? Did she not create Savage Fenty like we didn’t have Victoria’s Secret and other lingerie stores?”

-TikTok

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Eve

Story by Jaedyn Colvin Photography by Marley Lefler + Gillian Sanchez

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“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”

T

(Genesis 2:23)

he story of Adam and Eve and the fall of mankind has been told for centuries. The tale is about the creation of mankind and why birds are named birds and women have periods.

Stephen Greenblatt, author of “The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve,” states, “Our existence would in fact be diminished without [Adam and Eve], they remain a powerful, even indispensable, way to think about innocence, temptation and moral choice...

They hold open the dream of a return somehow, someday, to a bliss that has been lost.” Adam and Eve is a story told to help us make sense of the world and the possibility of life after death, but for women, is this story what shaped our fate in society?

The Garden of Eden In the beginning there was Adam, created by God himself, forming him from the earth’s dust and breathing “into his nostrils the breath of life.” He was to tend to the Garden of Eden. Adam named all of the things God created from birds to plants.

God knew Adam needed a companion and the animals just did not suffice. So when Adam was asleep he created Eve. Eve came from Adam’s rib and was named woman. She was created just for Adam and the two of them were now to tend to the Garden. God’s only command was to not eat the fruit of “the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

I was never a big church go-er so I knew very little about the story of Adam and Eve. I just knew what was taught to me as a child in Sunday school, and the opinions of those on the internet. So, sitting down for coffee with Elizabeth Gao, the campus director of Chi Alpha at Stephens College and Columbia College, was something very new and eye-opening for me.

The Bible has a total of 66 books, divided by The Old Testament, which is made up of 39 individual books, and The New Testament, made up of 27 books. The start of it all though is The Book of Genesis. The definition of genesis is “beginning.” “With most religions there is an origin story. [Genesis] is just

an origin story. It is the creation of everything we see and humankind.” Gao breaks down the purpose of Genesis as well as the creation of Adam and then Eve, explaining that because Eve was created after Adam and came from Adam and not dirt, she is often seen by society as lesser than. That is not the case though. Gao quotes Genesis 2:18 saying, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper that is just right for him.” The Hebrew word for helper is “ezer,” the definition is described as a savior, deliverer, and aide. There are many instances in the scripture where God is described as our helper. Gao states, “If you were to take that and twist it to say that woman is subservient or less-than, it does not work in the rest of scripture.”

Society, as a whole, tends to see women as the weaker, fairer sex and they root that problem back to scripture. It is not the actual scripture that says that though. It is the interpretation society has used for centuries that draws us to that conclusion.

The Rise The forbidden fruit rooted in the tree of knowledge of good and evil was the initial fall of mankind.

Revelation 2:7 speaks of eating of the tree of life being granted to those who “overcome” or “conquer.”

From this verse it was as if the fruit of this tree was a feast for Adam and Eve once they passed the test of obedience represented in the forbidden tree.

This never happened, as Satan came to the Garden of Eden disguised as a snake and spoke to Eve. He tried to convince her to eat the fruit, saying that she would become as powerful as God if she did. Eve took a bite and offered a bite to Adam as well. After disobeying God, they felt shame and tried to hide.

The serpent’s words that convinced Eve talk about how the tree will give her knowledge and questioned why God would not want that. The fruit is always seen as an apple. The Bible never specifically says that but the metaphor goes beyond just feasting on fruit. Gao goes to explain a Christian concept that is highly debatable. “The idea [is] that God asks us to be

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“If we don’t

allow ourselves

to walk side by side, we are not modeling the

image that God created in us.”

-Elizabeth Gao

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obedient to maintain a relationship with him, and so the act of disobedience caused separation between them and God.” The tree and the knowledge of life it gave was not the important part. It was the principal that they were told they could have anything in the garden but the fruit and they chose to go against his words.

“God created people to rule over creation, yes, but with him. . . He doesn’t need relationships, but created people for relations with each other and him so if there is any separation in that relationship it destroys the initial intent.”

The great divide comes from who is at fault for the fall. Eve ate the apple first, but Adam followed suit. For centuries this has been debated and, more often than not, the blame is put on women and Eve. “One of the things that has always stuck out to me is that when God confronts the two of them, he goes to Adam first and says, ‘Why are you hiding from me?’” Gao recalls from scripture and sees that it was as if God held Adam to a higher account than Eve. “Adam immediately put blame on the woman, he was like, it was the woman that you gave to me that caused me to eat this fruit.” Which is not surprising in the least. Men to this day continually put blame on women for their own actions. No one forced the fruit on to Adam, and he ate it at free will. From the very first male to now, women have always been the scapegoat.

“I think it’s interesting because I think a lot of times we try to blame the opposite sex for different things,” Gao adds. God proceeds to curse the serpent. Following, he curses both Adam and Eve for the acts they both equally committed. Looking back to the beginning of Genesis, Adam had also been told God’s command before Eve was ever created and still did nothing to stop her. “If God is going to give you all authority over everything that he has just created, he needs to know that [Adam and Eve] are going to be obedient to what is asked.”

The Fall It has been believed that the hardships we face as humans are punishments received after the fall of the Garden of Eden. The pain of pregnancy and childbirth was casted to Eve,

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while Adam’s punishment was being forced to work. In the beginning, God gave Adam complete control and oversight of the earth, for his pleasure.

Now, man had to work for a living. The fall of the Garden of Eden is where western society has doomed Eve, and therefore all women-portraying them as disobedient, naive, disloyal, untrustworthy, deceitful, seductive, and motivated in their thoughts and behavior purely by self-interest. St. Bernard of Clairvaux, a French churchman and founder, monk and abbot of the monastery of Clairvaux in the Middle Ages, would claim in his sermons that Eve was “the original cause of all evil, whose disgrace has come down to all other women.” Genesis 2:3 was not made to be patriarchal, and efforts have been made to recover it from centuries of misogynist reading. Gao even says, “It’s hard to try to figure out, and this is the part I struggle with; taking biblical ideas and transporting them onto a world that doesn’t fully abide by biblical principles.”

Phyllis Trible, professor of sacred literature at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, sees Eve as

the “culmination” of creation. Arguing that, “at the time of their creation, Adam and Eve were equals and that the inequality between them enters only after Genesis 3:16 as a consequence of disobedience.”

In other words, inequality between genders was not the initial part of the divine plan. Feminists today are restoring that equality that was in God’s untouched plan. The story in Genesis, “At creation, the original design was for [men and women] to be side by side and for equality to exist there, in working for what God had given them to work for,” Gao says before she elaborates on the idea of whether Adam and Eve was the doom to women everywhere. “It has probably implemented or helped to fuel arguments against women at times, but I don’t think that it should.” I agree. Society has a vast track record of putting women on a lower pedestal. It is wrong, whether you are Christan, Atheist, or anything in between, it is a problem every woman faces.

The Great Divine As Gao said, “This is one of those topics where you could go down 17,000 different rabbit trials.” Gao and I laugh as we also go down many different tangents sitting upon a roof talking about the start of who we all are today.

“Did Adam and Eve create the first patriarchal society? Did they develop out of this idea?”

When the first layout of Eve came around, the intent was so much different than what it has turned into.

I am grateful for that as I got to learn and explore Eve, the woman who started it all. In the beginning, I saw this story as a way for women to be put at blame, but as I have delved into this world of topics that are messy and hard to understand, I see now, that as men and women, we are similar but we are also different, and that is a good thing. Gao wraps up our conversation perfectly by saying, “There is fluidity between [men and women] and there are things that are complementary, and so if we don’t allow ourselves to walk side by side we are not modeling the image that God created in us.”

Whether you are religious or not, we share this home and in order for it to prosper we must stand together, not one in front or behind the other. SL

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Empathy

Written by LeeAnn Estill Illustrations by Jaedyn Colvin

Empathy pastes her skin to mine Her pale uncertainty takes home in my chest Are you mine?

Or are you only what I wished you to be?

I see you For who you are and everything in-between A dream cast upon my self-doubt A heartbeat I had never expected A passion for you now burns within me I finally see I need you to breathe As if only to survive, I find you As if only to be, I create you Empathy is not empathy Empathy is the dream I had not known I needed Empathy did not paste herself to me She revealed herself as to who I was meant to be SL

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Drowning in Her

Written by Morgan McCall Illustrations by Jaedyn Colvin

She hit me like a wave And all the words I wanted to say Tumbled out of my mouth She washed over me softly Covering every inch of my body Slowly And I watched her engulf my body Her voice flooded my ears A sweet symphony Telling me about the light She saw twinkling in my eyes Her words fell on me like a rainstorm And I didn’t mind getting wet I stood there with my head tilted back Mouth open Trying to get a taste of her SL

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Story + Photography by Savana “SJ” Johnson

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The Butterfly Effect

(in chaos theory) the phenomenon whereby a minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. (in simpler terms) the introspective thoughts of one’s self and minuscule starting actions that have caused a ripple in events to a much larger, and possibly catastrophic, ending scenario.

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ave you ever had the inexplicable curiosity of the “what if?” possibilities when thinking about core events in your life? Have you ever thought of one little thing you could’ve changed to make a better impact on the situation entirely? That phenomenon you’re thinking of is called “the butterfly effect” and it’s a rabbit hole many of us daydreamers find ourselves diving into headfirst. A single spark in a different direction triggers a whole slew of new possibilities in our minds and makes the “what if” phrase something to perplex hours of our waking time.

So why do so many people feel drawn to the butterfly effect? Why waste countless hours of existence on scenarios that have never and will never happen? Well, for some people that’s called anxiety.

For others, it’s simply a way of being able to either make past decisions seem more or less important. It falls under the umbrella of comfort for the dreamer and this phenomenon can help or hinder those who are prone to anxious thoughts. Here’s an example of how the butterfly effect works. You’re on your way to a job interview one morning and you’re running behind. You have to make the choice of either calling for a ride or driving yourself. Ultimately, you end up deciding to drive yourself to save the hassle of waiting on somebody else. Great! You’re on the road but you’re now stuck in traffic. You didn’t get to eat breakfast before you left and your hair is unkempt because you had to rush to get ready.

All these factors add up and, even though you arrive on time for your interview, you ultimately seem ill-prepared to the hiring agent and don’t get the job offer. On the flip side, if you had taken the taxi, you would have had time to

at least appear more put together. The taxi driver ends up striking a conversation with you, and after a brief conversation, you learn that they just so happen to be the partner of the hiring agent conducting your interview!

Although you still arrive late, the driver made a call on your behalf to their partner, placing the blame on themselves so you look better in the interview. The interview goes swimmingly and you end up with your dream job at the end of the day. Although both situations happened within the same timeframe and space, these are two very different outcomes that occurred.

Just like with the butterfly effect, a single, seemingly insignificant choice can have a drastic change on the overall outcome of a situation.

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The concept of the butterfly effect opens the doors to the endless world that most creatives pull from to help create their art. “Life imitates art” as the saying goes. “Until Dawn,” a decision-based horror game released in 2015, opens its world to the player by introducing the butterfly effect, and how a single step in a different direction can cause countless consequences down the road. The story itself follows a band of eight teenagers trapped in a winter resort and they have to survive the night and avoid perilous creatures called “wendigos.” Each character has their own story that the player gets to experience, but choices made in one route drastically affect other characters. All the right choices have to be made by the end of the game in order to have every character survive until dawn, hence the name of the game. The butterfly effect is also used as a heavily visual medium throughout the game. The veins of the butterfly’s wing are used to highlight the many different paths one choice can open up, or even close off.

Another game that utilizes the same choicebased concept is “Life is Strange.” Released in 2015, this narrative-driven game follows the story of Max Caulfield, a high school student who is randomly gifted with time-rewinding powers in class one day. As soon as she is gifted this surreal strength, odd situations start happening at school. Although it is a narrativedriven game, the player gets control over what choices are made by Max, and inevitably follows the butterfly effect as certain characters’ lives are affected while other storylines become nonexistent. When these important decisions

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are finalized, a small butterfly icon will appear in the upper corner of the screen, accompanied by the phrase, “This action will have consequences.”

The butterfly effect isn’t just for video games and reality escapism enthusiasts.

One of the most infamous real-life examples of this phenomenon is the start of World War I. Most recall this scenario as a “snowball effect” because every country that ended up in the war piggybacked off of each other like a bunch of little kids trying to pick teams on the playground.

The butterfly effect comes into play with the origins of WWI when Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated by Gavrilo Princip during his trip to Bosnia. Princip, who was hired with a group of other assassins to kill the Archduke, had gone through a lot of failures that day. Princip had ended up waving the white flag for himself and went to a sandwich shop in town to comfort himself. At that moment, the driver of the Archduke’s car ended up causing the catastrophe of WWI by making a wrong turn.

That wrong turn just so happened to be onto the street of the sandwich shop that Princip had wandered into. Seeing his final chance, Princip carried through with the assassination, and so started the very first World War. Just take a dip into the “what if” scenario, and think about what would have happened if the driver had made the correct turn. Would WWI have even happened? Would tensions between countries have died down or would a different event similar to our timeline occur? In that scenario, would the sides of the war have been the same countries or would there have been a completely new set of alliances formed? Would America still have stepped in or would they not have?

Would they have left the war to their counterparts across the pond? An endless string of possibilities opens up with this simple change of directions and it becomes ever more baffling the longer one sits and thinks about it.

So what do you think of the butterfly effect? Have you become tired of this phenomenon or are you that much more curious about how it works? Do you believe in the concept of these multiple venturing paths or do you think everything happens for a reason and these timelines happen on one continuous path? Be careful with what you decide, it may end up causing a ripple in your future… SL SL | 28

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Written Utopia Story by Ryann Jenkins-LeFlore Photography by Ashlynne Sage + Morgan McCall Illustations by Savana “SJ” Johnson

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here do you go when you need to hide or escape? Do you have a special spot in your house or town? Do you paint, knit, or clean? Where do you go when you need to hide away, escape, and clear your mind? For me and many others, it is into the world of a fictional book.

Growing up, I played with dolls, made outfits out of fashion stencils, and colored inside and out of the lines. But my favorite leisure activity was reading into the wee hours of the night, in the dark living room, under the covers. My iPad and the kitchen stove were my only light source. This was the start of me escaping through fictional books and probably the start of my everdeclining eyesight(sorry mom). The genre didn’t matter. If the story was long and intriguing, I loved it. Like many other readers, as I got older, I fell out of touch with reading.

This was due to my life being consumed with school, extracurriculars, and my social life.

During my senior year of high school, as I was mindlessly walking around my school’s library, I noticed the book “These Witches Don’t Burn” by Isabel Sterling propped up on a wooden display. Captivated by the synopsis, I instantly checked the book out, read it, and instantly fell in love with reading again. At the time, I didn’t know why I loved reading.

It wasn’t because I enjoyed spending money on words printed on a piece of paper. There was something more. I didn’t care to figure out why I loved reading; I just knew I did.

Authors create alternate worlds and realities when writing fictional books. From worlds

with fairies to plots where the United States 2016 presidential victor is a woman. In these worlds, authors also curate unique characters. They are characters you can relate to; some you fall in love with and some you absolutely hate. Despite how annoying one character may be, you cannot put the book down. It doesn’t matter if you’re in an 11 a.m. zoom class, you simply don’t want to stop reading because being immersed in that world, with those characters, is where you’d rather be. This is called escapism.

Chapter One: To Evade

“Escapism is a desire to evade or ignore reality for a while,” professor and psychologist Dr. Eric Marx informed me during our interview.

“The desire to escape from our reality is neither good nor bad. It just is. As a matter of fact, we all feel this need to escape at times.” There are many things we do that we don’t necessarily think of as escapism.

Though it is a minimal form, daydreaming is a great example of this. Binge-watching your favorite TV show for extended hours is another form of temporary escapism, he added. During our interview, Dr. Eric Marx also stated that “Any type of fiction offers us a world that is somewhat different from our own.

That is the very value of literature.”

After two years of living in a pandemic, the need and want to escape has naturally increased. In 2020, adult fiction sales went up 6% and young adult sales went up SL || 30 30 SL

21.4%. When the world was on lockdown, yet again grappling with another variant of COVID-19, the place where I and 25.4% went was into the world of a fictional book. A world where COVID-19 didn’t exist. A world where a hot woman from the 1970s had been stuck on a train for 45 years is a mystery to be solved.

Chapter Two: Jordan›s Escape

After a day packed with fashion and math courses, Jordan Sjomeling (my roommate and best friend), a second-year student at Stephens, changes into her favorite gray Susie’s sweatpants and picks up her book for the evening. To match the scenery of her book, Sjomeling turns on forest cabin ambiance on YouTube. The desire to go somewhere else and learn about the characters’ world and their problems is why Sjomeling reads. “My favorite part about reading would be the characters and seeing how I can relate to the characters I read about.” Being able to see myself on paper is really cool, she adds.

Like me, Sjomeling fell in love with reading in middle school but fell into a reading slump after transitioning to high school.

Back in December of 2020, Sjomeling, our best friend Zo Miller (a second-year student at Stephens), and I started a mini book club between the three of us. The first book we read was, “The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo.” Thanks to Miller, this is what pulled Sjomeling back in. “That book was so amazing, and it made me want to read all of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s books.” This was the start of Sjomeling’s escapism through fictional books. When asked why “The Secret History”

by Donna Tartt is her favorite book, Sjomeling explained, “There’s always something new that I didn’t notice before because of how intricate the book is. Even though it’s such SLSL | | 31 31

a long book, everything is intentional. There is a group of six annoying and pretentious people.

Even though they’re terrible people, you start to like them a lot.”

As told on Sjomeling’s book Instagram @prettygirlbooks, “Her perfect reading atmosphere would be on a random chilly day in October in an empty-old library. It would have open windows that allow for natural light and lightning visibility, and classical music playing softly in the background. Ideally, she would have an iced matcha with oat milk keeping her company in her dark academia utopia.”

Regarding the psychology of creativity, Dr. Eric Marx informed me, “Simply getting away from the situation or the problem you’re facing, and not thinking about it for a while is often the best way for your mind to come up with a solution. When you’re not focusing on it. That’s kind of the nature of creativity.”

Chapter Three: The Intermundane

Lydia Graves is a second-year student at Stephens and a writer. Because escapism is created through the mind of the author, I wanted to get another writer’s perspective on escapism and escapism through fictional books. During middle school, Graves went through a time when she was lost and didn’t know who she was. In addition, she struggled with family, hobbies, and friends. Books aided Graves through the process by allowing her to escape to a new world. “It was almost like I was meeting new people, finding a new home, new friends, and new places.”

When the journey to finding herself first started, Graves didn’t realize she didn’t know who she was.

As time progressed, books became like a friend who was always there and liked her no matter what. “The Hunger Games” trilogy, “The Maze Runner,” “Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock,” and “The Vast Fields of Ordinary” were the first stories that Graves connected to.

The theme of those stories involved teenagers and young adults trying to find themselves, which she easily related to.

To Graves, reading isn’t a complete escape; it’s more of an intermundane because not only are you using everything you learned in your life and everything that you are in your being, but you’re also connecting that to your book. You’re still somewhat on this plane of earth and you’re still you, but you’re able to find another world within pages and words. As Graves has gotten older and found herself, reading has become less of an escape, and more for pleasure and knowledge.

Escapism may look like laying in the grass and zoning off, painting and working, or reading a book. No matter the form, escapism can be beneficial and is often needed to turn your brain off, figure out an issue, or simply relax. As college students, we tend to put our emotional and physical needs last, and doing so can lead to poor performance or be counterproductive.

I encourage you, a college student, a reader, to find your escape. SL

“You’re still somewhat on this plane of earth and you’re still you, but you’re able to find another world within pages and words.”

-Lydia Graves SL | 32

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Story by Nathalia Harris Photography by Elyse Clayton Illustrations by Jolene Clayton

“Fantastic Familiars” is a collection of flash fiction stories written and directly inspired by Stephens College students and their pets on campus.

A Great Dragon Rescue “Lumine!” Zoe panted as she struggled to keep up with the tiny dragon. “Be careful on the branches, please! Some of them are weaker than they look!”

She reached out, but the little dragon escaped from her eyesight. Lumine’s black scales and golden brown accents allowed her to blend with the tree branches naturally. Her small, slim size made her light and agile. She always decided when she would listen and when she would not.

Zoe huffed, feeling defeated. She sat down in the brush under the trees. She broke off branches and weeds near the bottom to make herself enough room to camp out for the night. Lumine had a lovely, vibrant curiosity to her that inspired Zoe, but sometimes her companion SLSL | | 37 37

could get caught up in the experience. Zoe heard a branch snap and a groan. She sprung up and looked around in search of Lumine. She called out her name, but there was no response.

“Lumine? Are you okay?” Zoe waved around frantically looking at the ground. She hadn’t been paying attention, and now her familiar would pay the ultimate price. She began to cry.

“Zoe, I’m here!” There was a low cough that was heard from not too far away. It was too dark for Zoe to see.

“Are you hurt?” She hadn’t started a fire yet, and the cover of the forest made it almost resemble full night time though the sun hadn’t fully set. “Lumine!” She began to pace when something hit her straight in the face. She felt a hot breath on her face and heard a grumble. Goosebumps sprinkled down her arms.

Zoe looked up to face a big dragon about eight times the size of Lumine. Its eyes glowed a sunset gold.

“You’re standing in my way, human.” The dragon grumbled again.

“Bailey! She’s clearly looking for someone!” A girl dropped down from on top of the dragon. “Hi, I’m Lauren.” The girl stuck her hand out.

“Zoe,” Zoe reluctantly shook the girl’s hand. She eyed the dragon next to her.

“This is Bailey. Sorry about her, she can’t be bothered with literally anything. Who are you look–” “–Is this going to take long?” Bailey interrupted.

“My familiar, she’s also a dragon, but smaller. I can’t find her, and I think she’s hurt.”

“Well, we can help you!” Lauren smiled. As much as Zoe was happy to meet people along the way of her adventures, she couldn’t be bothered with these two unless they were going to actually help. The dragon caught her gaze, and Zoe looked away.

“What does Lumine look like?” Lauren dug a hole and began throwing branches and dry leaves into it. Bailey spit onto the pile, and a fire lit. She was able to see Bailey in her entirety. Her tail and claws matched her eyes. Lumine and herself had similar colors.

“She actually has very similar scale colors to Bailey, but she’s much smaller.”

“What are you trying to say?” Bailey interjected.

“Nothing--” Zoe waved her hands back and forth.

“Oh, quiet you!” Lauren picked up two thick branches and stuck them in the fire. She gave one to Zoe and kept one herself.

“It couldn’t have been too far, I heard her earlier.” Zoe waved the makeshift torch. “Lumine! Where are you?”

“Zoe! I’m here!” There was a tiny voice that surfaced from what sounded like the ground.

“Did she dig herself into the ground?” Bailey scoffed.

“I’ll stay here, you all go look for the tiny mole.”

Lauren turned back to Bailey.

“Bai-Bai, what if it was you stuck somewhere?” Lauren placed her hands on her hips. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders.

“I simply wouldn’t get stuck.”

Zoe watched in amazement. This familiar was very reluctant. Bailey groaned once more and got back on her feet. Zoe moved away. They started towards where they heard Lumine call out.

“Look!” Zoe pointed up at the broken branches of the tree. “She must’ve been jumping here when she fell.”

Zoe tried to step forward, but there was no ground in front of her. Bailey’s tail whipped around to catch her by the belt. Zoe was tipped forward over the gaping hole enough to see Lumine’s glowing eyes.

“Zoe!” Lumine yelled out from below. The lightness in her voice relieved the weight on Zoe’s body. “My wings–I can’t use them.”

“Don’t worry little lady. We’ll get you out soon!” Lauren yelled down before turning to Bailey.

“Good catch, Bai Bai. Think you can fly down and get her out of there?”

“Fly?” Bailey retched. “Do you know how much energy it takes a dragon of my size to fly? I haven’t even had dinner yet because of this little side mission!”

“Bailey, be a good sport. Come on!” Lauren took a container out of her pouch. “What about for some chicken bits? I was saving them, but since you’re going to exert SO much energy, I suppose you can have them.” Lauren opened the container, but Bailey groaned.

“You know I like to eat in a relaxed environment.” She rolled her eyes and spread her massive wings. “I expect a visit to some hot springs soon.” She flapped hard, toppling over the two girls. Bailey took a dive down into the large ravine. They heard a roar at the bottom of the ravine. Lauren and Zoe both peered over the edge to see Bailey successfully landed at the bottom.

“Thank you for all of your help!” Zoe engulfed Lauren in a hug. “It would have taken days for me to reach her down there.”

Bailey soared up the cliff and pushed Lauren and Zoe once again with a strong gust of wind. When she landed the ground shook.

“You better come!” Lauren stomped a little, and SL | 38

“Lumine?” Zoe called out. Lumine appeared on Bailey’s back with her wings tucked in.

“Zoe!” She jumped down, and the two embraced each other. Bailey huffed, exhausted and unimpressed. Zoe nodded toward her and caressed her head.

“Thank you.”

The group took a rest by the ravine and Bailey shared a piece of chicken with Lumine as their humans rested.

A Quick Escape Isabel woke to screeching from the barn. She threw the duvet off her legs and jammed her feet into her boots. She knew before she’d gone to bed the night before that Alex wouldn’t settle in the barn with the rest of the horses. Alex ached to be on his lead where he could roam the land at his own will. Mud splashed onto her legs as Isabel ran out of the door and toward the barn. The barn doors were swinging back and forth, remaining closed only by a single plank of wood.

“Woah, boy!” Isabel secured her gloves and lifted the wood plank off of the barn doors. Not a split second went by before Alex shot out. Isabel ducked out of the way of the horn sticking prominently out of his head. His wings spread open as he galloped. At that moment, Isabel was awestruck by the creature. She still couldn’t get over the size and beauty of the alicorn.

It was her dream to tame one growing up. During her childhood, her family’s neighbor Dan owned two beautiful brightly colored alicorns. She loved to visit them often. When they passed a year ago, Dan decided to sell his farm. He gifted Isabel the piece they left behind: Alex, a white feathered alicorn colt. Although she loved Alex, he was rambunctious and destructive.

He was the opposite of his parents.

Isabel snapped out of her head when she realized Alex was preparing to take flight. Her heart sank.

If he flew off he’d never return.

“Alex! Woah!

Hold it!” Isabel flailed her arms to get the alicorn’s attention, but he had other plans. With two big flaps of his wings he lifted his body off the ground. Isabel stopped

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dead in her tracks and began back toward the barn.

She needed rope and binoculars if she wanted to keep track of him. She snatched bananas out of the pantry and the rope tie from where Alex was held. Each time she glanced out of the barn he seemed to get farther away. She took a horse, saddled him as quickly as she could to mount, and began her chase. *** Isabel rode into the nearest village in the direction of Alex’s abrupt descension. There was uproar when she rode through, and it was easy to see why. There were holes poked through baskets full of harvested fruits and vegetables. Isabel could recognize where his wings had knocked pillars over throughout the village.

“Was anyone able to see where the alicorn went?”

She asked every group of people she passed. Most of them ignored her, but her embarrassment of the destruction grew when people yammered and blamed her for the damage.

“Was that your creature? It ate my crops… stepped on my baskets… almost impaled my children!” Everyone spoke to her at once. Isabel shrunk as much as she could from on top of the horse.

“I’m so sorry everyone, we will return to help you all out with the damage! Please point me in the direction it went, so I can prevent any further destruction of properties!”

Another screech ripped through the air before anyone could respond. Isabel spurred her horse forward toward the sound. There was a hope in her heart that she’d be able to wrangle Alex, but the little voice in her head was trying to convince her otherwise.

As she neared the screeching, she saw branches on the ground along with white feathers. She guided the horse around the brush and kept on. They followed the screeching to a louder pounding. Isabel spotted Alex stuck with his horn straight through a tree. His right wing seemed hurt, but not badly.

“Alex,” Isabel jumped down from her horse to calm him. He knocked his hoofs on the tree in frustration.

“I’ll get you out of there big boy.” Isabel wanted to be mad at him, but instead she thanked the universe for her stroke of luck. The tree wasn’t thick at all, but it held Alex with a grip so strong even his worst tantrums wouldn’t let him free. Isabel picked at the tree with her dagger. She whittled away at the edges surrounding Alex’s horn. After it was loose enough, she tied the rope around his neck and gently guided

him backward. At first, Alex resisted the movement, kicking furiously. He shoved Isabel off to the side and huffed.

Isabel laughed and stood under the giant, pushing him backward until he reluctantly stepped back and released his horn from the tree.

Isabel took a banana from her pouch and fed pieces to Alex. For once, Alex looked pleased with her. He looked into her eyes as he ate his banana, and, for once, Isabel felt as though he’d be willing to work with her.

The Misleading Pixie Kate walked through the brush of the forest trying her best to wave the branches out of her face.

“Let’s go this way!” Jack’s wings buzzed in front of her face and he settled on her shoulders.

“Hmm, I don’t think that path is on this map, Jack.”

She walked forward and inspected the trail that Jack asked to take.

“Why does it matter?” He fluttered in front of her face again. She tried to wave him away, but he pressed on.

He pulled her hair and tugged on her clothes.

“Come on, Kate!” He huffed, growing angry. His tiny wings gave off a red-orange aura.

“Hey! That’s not very nice. Look at you, you’re getting all worked up.” Kate scooped the tiny pixie and placed him back on her shoulder. “Sit tight. I have the map.” As Kate dug her face deeper into the map she misstepped and tripped over into a mud puddle. Before hitting the mud, Jack flew up and off her shoulder.

Kate took time to decide what her next move was. Jack was completely gone.

There was no bread crumb trail and she didn’t get to see what direction he went in.

“Jack!” Kate cried out.

“Come back!”

Kate looked up through the branches and took a deep breath. The map was completely stained in mud; it was useless.

She picked a direction and kept walking. Kate had looked at the map multiple times, she knew some of the landmarks to look for. If she didn’t hit them in an amount of time that felt right, she’d change directions.

She wondered where Jack had gone, and what originally caught his eye to take another path. *** She walked until her ankles ached. It seemed she was walking for hours. She was changing direction every mile; at this point it was getting dark. Kate was beyond lost. She looked up through the branches of the tree and sighed. She tripped up, but regained her balance.

She looked down at the mud puddle where her map still laid. It was crusted and dried now.

“Took ya long enough!” She heard Jack’s voice ring above her. She saw his usual yellow aura around his wings.

“Jack!” Kate put her hands on her hips. “Dude, I can’t believe you. I just walked around this whole forest twice.”

“Yeah, I know, I was watching . . . you didn’t think I’d actually leave you, did you?” Jack floated down and sat on Kate’s shoulders.

“Sucker! Should’ve listened to me when I told you where to go!” He laughed and sped off in the opposite direction.

“Oh, and by the way, I found this.” Jack dropped a bag onto Kate’s lap. When she opened it, she found white and purple jagged stones.

Kate tried to regain her balance and wiped the mud from her face.

“Jack! You found the amethyst! We can make the tea for your nightmares!” Kate pushed the stones into her pocket and gathered herself once more. With Jack’s help, they made her way out of the forest. SL

“Jack, get back here!” She trudged out of the mud as fast as she could, but the pixie was gone. “Damnit!”

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Celestial Story by Stella Blue Neeley + Savana “SJ” Johnson Photography by Morgan McCall Illustrations by Madison Moore

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Bodies

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ost mythical tales and tall stories involving fantastical powers stem from the four elements; fire, water, earth, and air. Although every fable differs when it comes to the use and hierarchy of said powers, these elements always carry the same set of personality traits with them. Fire signs are often seen as hotheaded and temperamental, but always carry a lot of warmth in them. Water signs are usually seen as the more emotional side, as they carry themselves with the ebb and flow of the ocean waves and adapt to their environment. Air signs tend to be caught with their head in the clouds and float around to meet as many people as possible. Earth signs are the sturdiest of the bunch, as they reflect the strength and demeanor that mountains hold.

Even with this similarity, the question still remains of how? How did these elements end up with these specific personality traits? Some may point to the world of astrology, specifically the 12 zodiac signs. Each of these symbols reflects a different aspect of their elements, such as Aries showing the hotheaded side, Leo showing the temperamental side, and Saggitarius showing the warmth.

Even with this distinction, we as the audience circle back to the same question of origins.

If you take a closer look at the zodiac signs, most, if not all of them, stem from mythical tales of Greek gods, goddesses, and creatures. Some stem from the exact same story but pull their inspiration from different parts of it. Others differ entirely but they all come from Greek origins.

Aries

The cloud nymph Nephele had two children, Phrixus and Helle. Phrixus’ and Helle’s stepmother Ino tried to have them killed.

However, before their murder, a magical ram flew in to save them and carried them to safety on his back. Zeus placed an image of a Ram in the sky to immortalize their courage.

Taurus

Cerus was a large and powerful bull that no one owned. One day Persephone found him trampling a field of flowers. When she approached the bull she knew he could understand her even though he couldn’t speak. Persephone

calmed the bull and taught it how to manage its anger. In spring, Persephone rides the bull and sets the flowers into bloom. However, when she descends back to the underworld and hades, Cerus returns back to the night sky.

Gemini

The Gemini twins represent the brothers Castor and Pollux. Castor was born a mortal and Pollux immortal. When Castor died, Pollux went to his father Zeus and begged him for help. Zeus allowed Pollux to live the rest of his life with his brother by transforming them into a constellation.

Cancer

Crios was a giant crab who guarded the sea nymph’s of Poesidon’s kingdom. One day when some sea nymphs escaped, Crios sent a giant squid to retrieve them. The squid, instead of saving them, ate them. When the squid returned, Crios fought him to the death.

After their brawl the crab was injured and in terrible pain. To repay him, Poesidon relieved Crios of his pain and placed him in the sky.

Leo

There once was a monster known as Nemean Lion. The lion terrorized the town of Nemea and had an indestructible hide that no mortal weapon could harm. Hercule’s first task out of his twelve was to bring the hide of this lion back to King Eusystheus. When faced with the lion, Hercules used his bare hands and strangled the lion to death. An image of the lion was placed in the sky to remind us of magical power and strength.

Virgo

The goddess Astrea was one of the last Greek gods to leave Earth before the Bronze Age. She is the goddess of innocence and purity, and the caretaker of humanity. Once mankind started acting more immoral, she left Earth. She was placed in the sky to remind us of virtue and to watch until she returns to Earth as the ambassador of a new Golden Age.

Libra

Astrea was the daughter of Themis. Themis is the goddess of divine justice. When Astrea was

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sent to the stars she was holding the scales of justice. The scale sits in the sky to remind us of harmony and fairness until Astrea returns.

Chronos lifted him up to the sky where he could continue to watch his children explore and play.

Scorpio

Ganymede was known to be the most attractive and desirable man in Troy. One day, Zeus saw him and found him overwhelmingly desirable.

He took Ganymede to Olympus as his servant and lover. Ganymede would bring drinks to Zeus upon command. One day, Ganymede revolted and dumped out all of Zeus’ water, wine, and ambrosia which caused a massive flood on Earth. After some reflection, Zeus had realized how unkind he had been to Ganymede and instead of punishing him he decided to make him immortal and place him in the sky.

One day Orion was bragging that he was the greatest hunter who existed. Artemis, the goddess of hunting, didn’t try to defend herself because she was enamored by Orion. This made Apollo, Artemis’ twin, angry. So Artemis began to work with Gaia, the Earth goddess, to create a creature that could kill Orion. The creature was a scorpion and when Orion finally faced the scorpion he met his demise. Zeus then placed the scorpion in the sky on the opposite side of Orion. You can see Orion in the sky during the fall and winter “hunting” but it is said that in the summer, when the scorpion is in the sky, Orion flees to safety.

Sagittarius

Many centaurs lack intelligence and act in a violent manner, except Chiron. Chiron was an archer and a gentle and compassionate centaur.

One day, Hercules was trying to get rid of centaurs that were causing some problems and instead he shot Chiron. When Hercules found Chiron suffering and helpless he felt immediate regret and sadness. Chiron was immortal so he couldn’t die but the pain was tremendous and he wished he could. Prometheus stepped in after watching this and helped lift Chiron to the heavens.

Capricorn

Pricus was an immortal sea-goat, son of Chronos (god of time), and father to a whole race of seagoats. These creatures had the heads of goats and tails of fish. These creatures were known to be intelligent and kind. However, as they explored more, they started to spend more time on land.

They began to lose their tails, intelligence, and ability to speak and live in the sea. This upset Pricus and so he tried to turn back time to warn his children about the effects of going to land.

No matter how many times Pricus warned his sea-goat children, they continued to adventure up to land. Distraught by this, Pricus went to Chronos and begged him to die. Instead,

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Aquarius

Pisces

One day Gaia sent a massive typhoon to attack the gods. None of the gods could attack and so they transformed themselves into animals to flee from the typhoon. Pan tried to warn everyone by turning into a sea-goat and swimming along the Euphrates river. Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, and Eros, the god of love, were bathing in the banks of the river and missed Pan’s warnings. When the typhoon reached them, they turned into fish and swam away.

Pisces was put in the sky to commemorate the day that love and beauty were saved.

Some of these stories may resonate with you more than others and that isn’t an uncommon feeling.

All zodiac charts consist of multiple different signs and elements: It’s the reason human beings are such diverse creatures. Without these elements, life would cease to exist as we know it, so thank the Greek gods for their many adventures. SL

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Wuss Puss, The Submarine, & The Walrus

Written by Lydia Graves Illustrations by Jaedyn Colvin

Who is that?

Or not who but what.

Is the mystical tree home to a cat?

Or does he just reside in a nearby hut?

The cat may be my grandfather guiding me through this distant, but familiar world.

He wears no collar, but he seems so wise, and to the strangeness, unconcerned.

RING, RING, RING >SNOOZE< Or it could be that I watched Coraline before bed and fell asleep wanting to talk to animals.

Hi Ted, that’s a lot of botanicals.

Lucy can be visited without going into the sky, I say.

I’m trying to resupply.

My trip is almost underway.

I’m going to live in a submarine, He says.

RING, RING, RING >SNOOZE<

I am a walrus.

I am the walrus.

RING, RING, RING >SNOOZE< I am not a walrus.

But am I awake?

I’m in your office.

You’re on your break.

Laughing.

Everything is simple, easy.

Nothing is lacking.

Even in reality, you were dreamy.

RING, RING, RING >STOP< White ceiling, cold air.

Groggy.

Sweet dog eyes just stare, Waiting to lick as though it’s a hobby.

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What’d you dream about dear?

‘Cause all of mine have disappeared. SL

Ch4nn3l 21 Written by Savanna “SJ” Johnson Illustrations by Jaedyn Colvin

A stormcloud hovers above my TV Television statics flickers through my eyes A soft haze fills my bedroom A golden twinkle speeds past my window Reminding me of Peter Pan on the screen I raise the remote to change the channel But instead find my fingers replaced with Tiny octopus tentacles Draped in a rich velvet color And a vibrant green slime One of my eyes rolls to the back of my head And I end up intruding on the woodland critters in there And their weekly town hall meeting This week’s topic seems to have the chipmunks pretty heated The static in my eyes scatters to my legs And tiny little ladybugs Squeeze through my skin And swing around the hair on my shins As the gentle insects Dance around and tickle my body More and more bugs join in And the small gathering quickly turns into An all-out rager and cookout Accompanied by the famed raving fireflies My eye floods back to the front of my head And the squiggly dragons Dancing around the vines on my ceiling Have now retreated back To the stormcloud above my TV …

I wonder what’s on channel 22? SL SL | 48

Dream Visitations Story by LeeAnn Estill SL | 49 Photography by Elyse Clayton

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“Death is sad, but there also comes a celebration.”

- Sarah Irvin

F

aded memories will never be as good as your face. Seeing you tonight feels like a wish come true. When I lost you, I thought I would never again get to see the freckles that bridge your nose or hear the way your ridiculous laugh somehow sounds like one of the most beautiful sounds in the world.

I had spent most of my life wishing to be like you; a role model in more ways than one. Now I am only able to aspire to who you used to be. At this moment, you are here again. You are real and telling me that everything will be okay. Then I wake.

could have. Especially since the loss of my aunt was sudden, I archived the dream in my mind, terrified of losing it. I couldn’t tell you how many times I begged to have that dream again, but I can at least tell you how grateful I am to have had it in the first place. Being grateful, however, wasn’t enough for me.

When given the opportunity I was more than happy to explore the phenomenon of dream visitations.

For me, that started with interviewing Eric Marx, an associate professor at Stephens College and the psychology program chair.

My aunt passed away in the summer of 2020. She was one of the liveliest people I have ever met. A sense of humor to battle most comedians and a zest for life I could only admire. The night she visited me in my dream I woke up with tear-filled eyes and sobbed uncontrollably. For a moment she was alive again and everything was okay. Then I remembered she was gone. It was one of the most surreal experiences I have ever had. Naturally, I knew I was not alone. I had heard stories about dream visitations that other people had. An important person in their life passes and then they show up in their dreams telling them they are alright. To me it sounded like a beautiful sentiment. I had not realized the full effect this type of dream could have on a person until I lost someone important to me. Seeing them again in the form of a dream is like the last goodbye you never knew you

“Sleep is well established as a time when we consolidate the events of the day, consolidate memories,” said Marx. “In general, sleep itself is a method of replenishing oneself and solving problems. Some dreams clearly are an extension of the general purpose of sleep to solve problems and deal emotionally with the challenge of things.

Most dreams come from neuronal discharges from the occipital lobe. [The occipital lobe] is the vision center which is highly active during dreaming, but not actually receiving any input from the eyes. [Instead, it receives] input internally from the brain. In almost all of our mental processing, we solve problems when we’re not trying to do so; It’s a necessity. If we try to tend to all these things bubbling and gurgling we wouldn’t be able to cope.”

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These dreams can be extremely therapeutic, even when the person experiencing the dream has become distant with the one who departed. This was true for the case of freshman Sofia Dadkhah, “One of my dad’s old high school friends had a stepson [who] was a couple years older than me.

We were really close as kids until we eventually went to different middle schools and different high schools. Unfortunately, he fell into the wrong crowd, and he ended up getting shot back in 2020.

After I heard the news, I was stunned. I was sad for his family because they were already going through a hard time, and then they lost their son on top of that. I was flooded with all these childhood memories, things I didn’t even know I remembered.

Then, I had a dream shortly after he passed. We didn’t really talk. He was just kind of there.” Dadkhah isn’t the only one in her family who has experienced these dreams. Her mother and grandmother had a few pleasant dream visitations as well.

According to Marx, grief is a very large source of stress.

On a scale of stress, losing a spouse or a child marks the top two of the scale.

While dream visitations could largely be viewed as a blessing, the grief brought on by it could also be very stressful. Marx himself is no stranger to this. “When I was a junior in high school, the closest friend I ever had died,” he explained. “His name was Craig, and it was just one of those things.

He was down in New Orleans where we lived, and he was bitten by a mosquito, and the bite engendered encephalitis in his brain. He went into a coma for three weeks and then died in the hospital. For a long time, about ten years, I used to have dreams on a regular basis in which he was talking to me.

They were always very positive interactions, but I recall on more than one occasion waking up weeping uncontrollably.” Marx’s parents also passed away a

couple of years ago and he has had recurrent dreams of them separately.

Dr. Sarah Irvin, a licensed professional counselor and a counselor educator at Stephens, offered an analytical view of how a counselor could help a distressed person understand these dreams and alleviate some of their stress. “Dreaming about loved ones brings about many emotions for many people,” she said. “When it comes to dream visitation, a mental health practitioner will explore the dream visitation either from a psychoanalytic, Jungian, Gestalt, or other theoretical approach. A psychoanalytic practitioner would allow the client to share the manifest dream material, draw out specific symbols, and utilize free association to bring forth and explore the latent material. If we look at Gestalt therapy, dreams are believed to be existential messages to ourselves. The therapist would explore the dream messages to bring content into a person’s physical life.”

Dr. Irvin herself has experienced dreams of people she cared about and had passed away.

Furthermore, she has gone through the grieving process and can relate to anyone going through the complex phase of grief and the weight it can carry.

“My father is a minister, and I have known about the concept of death since I was a child,” she said. “I have been to many funerals over my life, too many to count if I am honest. I miss those people profoundly, and sometimes I do dream about those people. More recently, my grandmother passed away, and she has been on my mind for three weeks. I reminisce on our time together, and I even attempted to call her twice after her death.

Overall, the grieving process can bring about joyful and melancholy emotions. I will say, if she did visit me in my dreams, I would be both sad and happy.

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When I awoke, I would be delighted to see her in my dreams, but I would be gloomy when I awoke because she was not with me in the physical world.”

Sarah Galeski, an employee at a metaphysical shop and a practitioner of Buddhism, experienced the passing of her great-grandmother before she even knew she was gone. “When I was a very young child, my great-grandmother became very ill and I wasn’t aware of it,” she said. “One night I had a dream where she came to me and gave me a hug and told me she was going to heaven. I hadn’t really experienced death at that point, so I didn’t have that concept.

That morning I told my mom I had a dream that Great-Grandma came to me and hugged me and said goodbye. My mother just started crying and told me that my grandma had passed away. It was a crazy experience. She wrapped her arms around me and told me to have a good life and that was it. I was about four at the time, but I remember it pretty vividly.”

Galeski believes that it was her great-grandmother’s spirit that visited her. She also believes that after the visitation, her grandmother then found peace and is now where is meant to be.

Ideas about the afterlife can be quite extensive. For me personally, after my aunt passed, it felt comforting to think of her as still existing in some form. Even almost two years later I picture her next to me and question what she would say about certain situations and how she would feel about them today. Galeski listened to my experience as she would with anyone and had her own graceful thoughts about it: “You couldn’t tell someone that what they’ve experienced was real or not; the only thing you can do is look on with wonder.”

Throughout my exploration in dream visitations, I’ve soaked in every fact and experience I could. I could

“You couldn’t tell someone that what they’ve experienced was real or not; the only thing you can do is look on with wonder.”

- Sarah Galeski

almost say that this is something we all do with death.

It’s something so heartbreaking yet unstoppable. It’s the way the nature of all life ebbs and flows, and with it so does our curiosity.

“Growing up in Mississippi, you always hear about the afterlife, heaven, and anything else to do with death,” said Irvin. “Death is sad, but there also comes a celebration. Death is simply a natural part of life, but death is only the end of our physical life on earth. On that note, I often talk with the elders in my community, and sometimes they discuss visits from people in their dreams. My father talked about a dream of when his father visited him. In the dream, his father flew him to many locations. My father awoke, sitting straight up on the bed, shivering as if he had been outside. I cannot say if a loved one actually visited my father or anyone else I know, but the human mind and dreams create great mysteries for many [people].”

According to Marx, many psychologists would say they view visitation dreams as a coping mechanism.

I could say that is a possibility for me, but it would be difficult to let go of the idea that she had come to see me, whether I truly believed it was her or not. Whether their experience came from a dream or another experience, many people believe in the possibility of spirits, Galeski among them. “I do believe in spirits,” she concluded. “I don’t know what it is, I wouldn’t claim to, but I definitely think there is more out there than we understand. There’s so much out there that we’re learning in science every day. They don’t have the tools to measure that yet or even understand what it is or where we go.” SL

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At the Foot of the Bed Story by Nathalia Harris Illustrations by Savana “SJ” Johnson, Gillian Sanchez, Ashylnne Sage, + Madison Moore

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S

leep paralysis is described as an episode in between REM sleep (where you experience vivid dreams) and consciousness. This is where muscle movement is unresponsive, but sight, respiratory, and audible senses are functioning normally and sometimes hyperactively. The most common experience of sleep paralysis entails being unable to move or talk in bed, but seeing things* move in the shadows and sometimes manifest in front of the person experiencing the episode.

*There are many descriptions of what people have seen during an episode of sleep paralysis, but the most common are tall and distorted shadows in the doorways or at the foot of the bed.

According to the US National Library of Medicine article on “Lifetime Prevalence Rates of Sleep Paralysis,” episodes of sleep paralysis can be linked to narcolepsy and seizure disorders, but are also associated with lack of sleep, stress, jetlag, student status, and more.

People have also tied their experiences to visits from supernatural or malevolent spirits due to the nature of their sleep paralysis encounters. This article will feature firsthand accounts of sleep paralysis experiences taken from different individuals and their various employment and student statuses.

Ricardo Rivera is a student at University of Illinois at Chicago studying engineering while also spending time dedicated to his photography and editing. Here is his experience with sleep paralysis: “I was at my mother’s house sleeping in my sister’s room. My sister’s room was known to have weird energy and believed to be haunted. It was something I always kept in the back of my head, especially with the experiences we’ve had in this room. The night itself felt pretty normal. I didn’t feel anything like a ‘presence’ in the room, and I was going through my normal routine before bed. I can’t recall if I had been sleeping well throughout the week.

“I fell asleep on my right side with my ear against the pillow. During the night, I abruptly woke up. I remember feeling like *something* woke me up and assumed it had been my mom. I remember feeling panicked initially. I heard a slight rumbling noise, which sounded like it was coming from my pillow. I thought I was dreaming; I was waiting for something to happen. I didn’t realize that I couldn’t move for a while. I could only focus on the rumbling noise growing louder. I heard something mumbling to me. As it continued to grow louder, on the left side of my ear I heard my name being called. I thought it was my mom trying to get my attention. That’s when I realized I couldn’t move. I looked around the room, but from my position I could only see the

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wall and part of the ceiling. I still couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or awake. In my mind, my brain was telling me to run. My gut told me something was going on, and I began to panic. I could feel my heartbeat through my chest. The mumbling persisted and kept growing louder. I could feel myself sweating and I was completely freaking out.

“Eventually the rumbling noise stopped completely. I felt fingers tapping on the left-middle side of my back. It tapped three times and stopped. It was the middle of the summer, but the tap was cold. It was consistently cold. I kept trying to tell myself I was only dreaming, but the adrenaline was rushing. I told myself I needed to figure out how to move because in my mind, someone was in my room. What helped me get through the moment was remembering a moment from ‘Kill Bill’ where she was in a coma and had to relearn to walk. I focussed on moving my toes first and moved on to my whole foot.

When I finally got the hang of that, I think my body started to catch up to my motor functions.

When I tried to move my legs, my body sprung up. I looked to the side and nothing was there.

It got eerily quiet after I fully woke up. I still felt the adrenaline from the episode, but when I fully woke up I felt a wave of relief. I associated it with a nightmare. After calming myself down for a while, I resorted to going back to sleep.”

Anna Rimar is a second year BFA student majoring in musical theater at Stephens College.

She is a resident assistant in Pillsbury Hall.

“My first experience with sleep paralysis was the second semester of my first year here at Stephens.

I woke up and I just couldn’t move. I laid there still.

It felt like I was sleeping. I thought I was dreaming, but something told me I wasn’t. I asked myself what I was doing, what was going on . . . and I realized I couldn’t do anything but be alone with my thoughts.

I heard a woman’s voice that I honestly thought was a ghost. As many know, the dorms on campus have been believed to be haunted, so I didn’t think much of it. She told me to ‘shut up,’ and, again, I didn’t know if it was a ghost or my own brain. I do like to think it’s the ghost that haunts me on the fourth floor of [Pillsbury]. At some point in the night, I just fell

back asleep and later awoke again to realize I was late for class.

“I’ve experienced sleep paralysis more than a couple times, but after the first, I spoke to my therapist about it and she asked me if I had been stressed. She told me I may be experiencing sleep paralysis. I do often feel like it is stress-induced because I’m always working and I have an intensive major. The feeling of being under pressure is constant so I am prone to stress. While it hasn’t happened to me this semester yet, I feel as though it’s looming over me.”

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Rimar encourages those who face sleep paralysis to talk about it. She explains that one never knows whether they face situations alone or in a community of people.

Leslie Douglas is a Stephens College alumna who has worked on past issues of Stephens Life Magazine. “When I was younger, I experienced sleep paralysis often. I don’t remember specifically how often, but I can think of many occurrences. When I was experiencing it the most was when I was trying to cope with the loss of my grandparents. I was about 10 or 11 years old. I

didn’t know how to deal with it. My dad took over their house after they passed and there would be many occurrences when I was sleeping there where I would wake up and not be able to see anything or move. My head was locked into place staring at the corner of the room. In that corner would be my grandma or my grandpa. They would just stand there. I thought it was ghosts, but I really do think it was sleep paralysis now.

It would happen for about a minute maximum, and then I’d be able to scream, move or close my eyes. It was terrifying. Then I didn’t have sleep paralysis for a long time.

“It started back up last semester. I had an occurrence that was unlike any other experience I’ve had. I was sleeping in my new studio apartment. Near the foot of my bed on the right is my bathroom. I woke up and I was laying on my side. My eyes were still closed, but I felt like I was awake. I wanted to coax myself back to sleep, but then I heard my bathroom door opening really slowly. It was a long door creak.

My dog was at the foot of the bed, and I could feel his presence there. He started to growl as whatever was opening the door started walking towards me. My dog left the bed. The footsteps stopped. Then, I felt them with their hands start banging on the foot of the bed super loudly as if they were trying to wake me up. I felt like I was awake, but I could not move. When it stopped, I opened my eyes and immediately was able to get up. I went and turned on all of my lights. It felt way too real. It scared the shit out of me.

“I told my mom about it after and she told me she experiences sleep paralysis often as well. She said she had a few theories on what it might mean. My mom theorizes that when we have these episodes it’s something–whether it be the universe,a guardian angel or even ancestors–trying to shake us a little. I find comfort in that theory. I feel like everytime it happens it’s either someone I know that is not alive anymore or I can’t tell who they are. I fully believe it is a spiritual occurrence.”

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There are many explanations to why sleep paralysis may happen. Is it truly due to malevolent spirits? Maybe it’s just restlessness and stress.

Do our loved ones visit us at night to ease the changes in our life? At the end of the day, there’s still not enough conclusive research to tell us why sleep paralysis happens to people, who is more likely to be subjected to it, and why we see these figures or hear sounds at the foot of the bed. SL

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Void Transactions Written by Savana “SJ” Johnson Illustrations by Madison Moore

To think is to dream And to dream is to think But I only seem to see those dreams When I’m clocked in And zoned out Full of aspirations Teeming with ambitions Bubbling to the brim With every moment I am buzzing awake And dreamily asleep Pressing on for an unknown golden future Fortified only by a single muddled stream of consciousness But by the time my brain sets like the sun overhead And my body has punched out on its timecard I find myself asleep With eyes wide open Searching for those inexplicable Faceless beings Or wondrous fantastic beasts In a far off land But My dreamland simply consists Of the color gray And an endless view of nothingness Followed by the eternal buzzing noise That always manifests Into the colorless sky Of the next conscious morning SL

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Insomniac Dreams Written by Nathalia Harris Illustrations by Madison Moore

breathing we awake in the clouds we count sheep and consciousness wanders across the sky we begin a never ending fall peace waves over our bodies and dips us into a deep daunting ravine we float a cry so quiet it goes unheard a loop of life sunken into meaningless wallow and the love for a fallen soul so out of reach the dark encases our bodies a fire ignites trepidation is the guest of an escapade an elegant dance is made in the pits of oblivion and sleep offers its warm embrace once more SL

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issue credits Cover Photography: Morgan McCall Editing: Morgan McCall Illustrations: Madison Moore Model: Komachi Miyazaki Assistant: Hope Daugherty Styling: Lydia Graves, Sydney Marquardt, Morgan McCall, + Maude Vintage Color Pages (First Page) Illustrations: Savana “SJ” Johnson Letter from the Editor and Table of Contents Copy: Madison Moore Layout: Madison Moore Staff Line Up Photography: Savana “SJ” Johnson + Morgan McCall Editing: Savana “SJ” Johnson Layout: Madison Moore Divider Page Illustrations: Madison Moore Shh...Minimalism is Sleeping Photography: Morgan McCall Editing: Morgan McCall Layout: Morgan McCall Models: Lydia Graves, Komachi Miyazaki, + Lorien Stevens Assistant: Hope Daugherty Styling: Lydia Graves, Sydney Marquardt, Morgan McCall, + Maude Vintage In Your Dreams Photography: Marley Lefler Editing: Gillian Sanchez Layout: Gillian Sanchez Models: Kennedy Brown, Armelia Cox, Mia Dozier, Isabel Florence-Young, Jadyn Graves, Rah’ Jai Henderson, Ambria Maddox, + Alaysia Taylor Assistant: Gillian Sanchez Styling: Ally Ainsleigh + Lauren Dubuque Eve Photography: Marley Lefler Editing: Gillian Sanchez Layout: Jaedyn Colvin Model: Kimberly Sandy Assistant: Gillian Sanchez Styling: Ally Ainsleigh + Marley Lefler

Poetry Collection Illustrations: Jaedyn Colvin + Madison Moore Layout: Jaedyn Colvin + Madison Moore Butterfly Effect Photography: Savana “SJ” Johnson Editing: Savana “SJ” Johnson Layout: Savana “SJ” Johnson Models: Hope Daugherty, Morgan McCall, + Judith Rojas Assistants: Hope Daugherty + Morgan McCall Written Utopia Photography: Ashlynne Sage Editing: Savana “SJ” Johnson + Ashlynne Sage Layout: Ryann Jenkins-Leflore Models: Isabel Florence-Young + Jorden Sjomeling Assistant: Morgan McCall Styling: Ryann Jenkins-Leflore + Zoē Miller Fantastical Familiars Photography: Elyse Clayton Editing: Elyse Clayton Illustrations: Jolene Clayton Layout: Elyse Clayton Models: Alex, Bailey, Jack, + Lumine Celestial Bodies Photography:Morgan McCall Editing: Morgan McCall Illustrations: Madison Moore Layout: Savana “SJ” Johnson Models: Danny Daugherty, Savana “SJ” Johnson, Loren Macon, + Arika Smith Assistant: Hope Daugherty Styling: Morgan McCall + Arika Smith Dream Visitation Photography: Elyse Clayton Editing: Elyse Clayton Layout: Elyse Clayton + LeeAnn Estill Models: Alice Crist + Naya Goodman Assistant: Madison Moore At the Foot of the Bed Illustrations: Savana “SJ” Johnson, Madison Moore, Ashlynne Sage, + Gillian Sanchez Layout: Nathalia Harris, Savana “SJ” Johnson + Madison Moore

Stephens Life / Spring 2022 / Issue No. 20

Dormiveglia [dor-mi-vé-glia] (n.) an Italian word meaning the space that stretches between sleeping and waking; half-asleep, semi-conscious.