SUSIE Issue 2 • B U I L D
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Mikayla Whitmore
letter from the team There is an exhaustion that comes with building from the ground up. It comes with a death, a scare, with denial and an unwillingness. Building something from nothing always looks shiny and glossy in the beginning. But it is usually the middle that gives us a run for our money and a test to our character like no other. It rarely ends in tandem with our beginning vision. When Susie first announced the Issue 2 theme, we were all still very much high off of round one and the community that came with it. We wanted more high-power punch and more strong voices. However, as submissions began rolling in, we noticed that themes of bodies, fear, hopefulness, rebirth -- all ran thick. We noticed the courage of uncertainty and of weakness. We saw folks as young as 13 turn anguish into gut-wrenching prose. We saw artists sprawl raw images to be devoured. And suddenly building Issue 2 became a much heavier, personal task than Issue 1. This year has been a not so gentle reminder that we are all so very delicate. And that at any given moment things are bound to crash and burn while we are tasked with simultaneously creating a new system, a new path to healing for ourselves. This issue we ask you to keep in mind your trials and tribulations as you flip these pages. May it be a carry-on in your journey to rediscovery. May it be tableside during your rebirth. May it give you confidence that anything can be built in a day or a year or a lifetime. And all it takes is a little crumble to build it bigger and better the next time around. With Love, Susie Team
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development olivia jane huffman
art direction / design melanie roven
social media ellie lee
events annaLiisa benston
copy editing angelica florio
copy editing maimoona rahim
layout lizzi chen
social media jaime geter
Susie team
managing editor kristen chiucarello
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“There are opportunities even in the most difficult moments.� -Wangari Maathai
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Karin Quindo Miller
“I hid behind a camera during a period of my life when I felt like I had no control. My work tends to revolve around vulnerability. I’m attracted to this subject because I’m mildly obsessed with the idea of attaining a perfect self. When I was younger, I used to read a lot of self-help books. I would get down on myself for not being a perfect person. Sometimes I’m still this way: If I have an awkward conversation with someone where they insult me, I will stand there laughing nervously or avoiding eye contact. Or when someone makes a mean joke of someone I care about, sometimes I say nothing in their defense. When this happens, I think about it for hours afterwards and imagine the possibilities where I’ve said something witty or acted better in that moment. All these nuances of interaction slowly shape who we are. All those vulnerable moments made me grow. When you learn your weaknesses, you learn yourself and you build yourself from your weaknesses. Something like that.”
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“There is strength, honesty, and vulnerability frozen in this image. Depending on your feelings on today’s current events, your perception of this work will change. Today, I am feeling strong, black and nurturing, and that is exactly what I see. From the smooth ridge made of muscle, her soft charcoal skin, to her stretch-marked tit; everything I see is our kind of beautiful. Or, on a day where Jeronimo Yanez is acquitted for the murder of Philando Castile, I see grief, frustration, and anger. From the slumped heavy head, her BLACK skin, to the flex of her bicep; all I see is our kind of pain. I will celebrate the former and grieve the latter. Our perspectives are what connects us to build.”
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Eva Woolridge
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