Pavements Preview by TAMU AASI

PAVEMENTS asian american student zine

issue 1: quilted

table of contents 2

Pavements: Quilted

Smiski Everything Everywhere All At Once

Oorath House

delicacies

Suppertime

to share or not

mother's oranges

大白兔 (dà bái tù)

Chai

Dear Rizwan

make a way

When I Was Born

Proud of My Parents

Boy

Ain

for the hyphenated

“That’s not for you.”

a calculated risk with some unaccounted for guilt

she wore red

future self letter

The Indeterminate Dream

mixed jackfruit children

pavements team

about

editors:

Pavements was established in Fall 2022 to pave a way to empower and increase APIDA representation at Texas A&M University through zines. Pavements features APIDA student voices: the paths that they've taken; the obstacles and twists encountered; the spaces and identities discovered and experienced. The zine is a collection of journeys and a reminder that each of us are also charting our own paths.

miriam chen '24 erin feng '24 faryal jabbar '24 shriya patil '24 kaitlyn truong '25 kelly zhou '26

thank you! We are beyond grateful for everyone involved in this project! Pavements would not be possible without the contributions of courageous students that shared their personal stories. As the first-ever edition, we appreciate everyone's willingness to experiment and learn with us. Thank you to our readers who have engaged with this zine and followed us on this new journey. Thank you to the Asian Presidents' Council and the Asian American Studies Initiative for providing funding and support that allowed this project to succeed.

APC's theme for APIDA Heritage Month this year is "unraveling history, weaving a legacy." Through unraveling and reflecting on our history, we learn the importance of our presence and lived experiences in the United States and at Texas A&M. We have the power to bring communities together, celebrate our heritage, and uplift each other to create change. Together, we can weave our stories into a legacy for future generations. "Unraveling history, weaving a legacy" ties into our first issue: Quilted. Quilted stitches together past memories and present moments - a collection of struggles and triumphs woven into texts and artistic pieces that tell stories of each contributor’s unique Asian American identity to form a patchwork ‘quilt’ that will build solidarity and foster belonging within the APIDA community at Texas A&M.

art by Emily Chang '26

nuance is delicious i eat it every day i put a sprinkle on my toast for breakfast i add a pinch to my lunch, and a handful to my dinner and when it’s time for dessert i help myself to three servings and the next day i still crave more nuance thinks i’m delicious it eats me every day it gnaws at my intestines clawing its way from the inside out it starts at breakfast, then moves on to lunch and dinner and when it’s time for dessert i’m just a pile of bones and the next day it still craves more

Chai Tabina '25 At exactly 5:30 P.M every evening, my family gathers around the dinner table to drink chai. It’s one of the few traditions I can trace back to both my parents’ background; my dad comes from a small town in Bangladesh, while my mom comes from a village in Punjab, India. They met in the growing city of Richardson in the fall of 1997, united by geographic location when they were different in language, culture, and religion. Growing up, these disparities were always confusing to me. Some days we would light candles at the Gurudwara (place of worship for those who follow the Sikh faith) while other days I’d accompany my grandmother to the Mosque (place of worship for those who follow the Islamic faith). In a child’s eyes, places of worship are not divided by religion. Perhaps the varying tenets were different, but both were united in that they taught us morals that would guide us to become better versions of ourselves, versions that served others. However, as I got older, the eyes I wore as a child faded, replaced by those of adolescence. As the world asked me for labels, I began to see the differences between my parents’ cultures more clearly. I noticed, in a way I hadn’t before, how different my parents’ cultures were. Where my mother’s culture encouraged bravery, my father’s culture rested on the idea of peace. Where my mother’s culture engages in dancing as a form of expression, my father values the art of song. During the time I was beginning to forge my identity, these conflicting ideas lent themselves to a plethora of confusion, until I realized that I didn’t have to choose just one. I could be brave and peaceful at the same time, I could dance and sing at the same time, I could be both the daughter of my mother and father at the same time. Just because the world around constantly asks for labels doesn’t mean I have to reduce myself to that same singularity. My parents’ cultures may differ, but there is one thing we will always have: chai at 5:30.

for the hyphenated Isabelle Dela Cruz '24

Being the oldest-daughter-Filipina-American-first-generationimmigrant-college-student is a mouthful in itself, but this role I take on is something that I have been trying to come to terms with as soon as I started college. At the beginning of university, my identity felt like an obligation, a role and duty that I was born with. That all I do is for the future of my parents and grandparents because they gave up so much to give me the life they wanted for themselves. While this still rings true, I finally realized I had to put myself first. Always. This artwork is an ode to my resilience and how I can maintain pride in my identity despite many difficult challenges in my life. How, despite moving around 8 times in my childhood, a pandemic, and uncertainty of my passions and goals, I can still remain rooted in my identity and love who I am. Finding my community on campus gave me an amazing support system that validated my struggles as we spoke of shared experiences and solidarity in diversity. I'm proud of my hyphenated identity and I hope this work resonates for the hyphenated everywhere.

Julia A. '26 Native to Asia, yet cultivated internationally. It is sown, buried, and after 4-5 years and sudden remembrance, erupts into a 5' 4'' tree that scarcely resembles the seed. The marrow love that oozes kisses and mittai ossifies into a sheltered,defying trunk who after remaining in the cloud, unknowingly drowns the exaltations of the sunbirds to its tender offshoots below. Who can blame it, plummeting too late 70 ft overseas into kas, ras, and das. Among the expected chakka puzhukku, it only knew how to be an exotic charcuterie spread. Yet, as its shredded manglish matures in turmeric - chakkakuru curry delight. Uses The jackfruit in American cuisine is gaining traction - We accommodate! The market is "hesitant to greet" the fringed chartreuse spikes with uniform repulsion, the pod's ectoplasm adherence to the foreign exterior. Rather than risk choking impressionable children, they instead coerce conformity of sole pallid flesh - the can. Similarly in India, unrivaled jackfruits mature - the rest mangled by dog slurps, or rotted by torrential floods. Yet, jackfruit, through its strength to retain cultures and bolster the fruits of its knowledge, can solve world hunger - only if welcomed. chakka - jackfruit puzhukku - unripe jackfruit dish manglish - malayalam/english mix chakka kuru - jackfruit seed curry mittai - candy kas, ras, das - malayalam letters sunbirds - native birds of Kerala

join us! The Asian Presidents' Council will be hosting a Pavements launch party for our first issue, Quilted, on Thursday, April 27 at 6pm in the Stark Gallery! Come support our talented APIDA student artists, poets, and writers! Free snacks and APIDA Heritage Month merch will be available.

art by Stella Lee '23