WAT Is Zine? Issue 16: Pastimes

COVER

ISSUE 16 — Pastimes Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Meldrum

TEAM LEADS

Submissions/Editing Anoushka Gupta Layout Design Rebecca Kempe Art Katie Plant Marketing Joely Wu In-House Content Writer Tom Johnston

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Christina Giuggio Cindy Cai D.B. Tom Johnston

Cover art Yuan Liu @watiszine | watiszine@gmail.com 2

Hi everybody!

Can I still say “Happy Fall term” if we’ve hit midterm season already? This semester is going by way faster than I expected. With in-person classes ramping back up and all sorts of events being put on by clubs and societies, life is getting pretty full again!

As our calendars fill up, the days get colder, and the nights get longer, it’s always a good idea to take a step back and enjoy the little things. I think the things that help us pass the time are especially worthy of consideration, and this issue is a wonderful way to put them in the spotlight. Pastimes can be avenues of emotional, physical, and spiritual healing, keeping us grounded or lifting us up when times are tough. I know for me, cooking and rock climbing have become that solace. Right now my pastimes are multi-functional because that’s what I can make time for: they keep me fed, keep me active, and keep me in touch with others while still making me happy.

I love to share my pastimes with others, and I’ve been overjoyed to see so many lovely contributors share their pastimes with us through art and writing. We have contained in this issue reflections on food and physics, musings about usefulness and fulfilment, thoughts on art as an outlet for loneliness, and an ode to slowing down. Each piece has such depth, yet is focused on studying an extremely particular feeling that the artist is attracted to.

Examining the small, the mundane, the regular, is a practice found in many disciplines of art, and I have to say I think it’s where the best ideas come from. I implore you to create a still life of a water bottle to practice your sketching, or look at the way the light hits your bedroom floor just so - maybe it will inspire your next makeup look.

Listen to the rain and hear how it could make the song lyrics you’re writing soar.

Touch the spine of an old book or the buttons on your mother’s coat. Feel the springiness of damp earth under your boots. Really look at the colours in a pigeon’s feathers.

Our contributors this issue have reminded us all to stay connected to our inner joy by doing what we love. I hope it isn’t too cliche to say this, but I think a lesson for all of us is to truly take in the age old saying that one of our contributors invokes: Stop and smell the roses.

Jacqueline Meldrum Editor-In-Chief 3

Table of Contents!

05 Pastel Girl by Cindy Cai

06 Doing Nothing by Christina Giuggio 08 City by Cindy Cai

09 Wavelength by D.B. 10 Morocco by D.B.

12 The Dissection of Idleness, and Recommendations for its Replacement

by Tom Johnston 15 Contributors

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Wavelength

By D.B.

I look up and see a sea Of electrons floating above me I am bound to my state Lonely valency reminding me of my vacancy I see you traveling from afar A bright light radiating like a star You take my hand and lift me up We explore the sea Our conduction is like a spark But without you the whole world is dark We tumble down the gap Lest I lock you in my state I release you from my grasp Gifting you a new lambda So when they see your shine All will recognize I am yours and you are mine

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Morocco

By D.B.

Carrots, onions, celery, potatoes, chickpeas, tomatoes, and you What do they have in common?

They taste great and are good for me too I'd chop them all up and stick ‘em in a stew But of course I'd leave you out For they are so many and you are so few Some salt and pepper, oh so nice Not for you just yet, perhaps when your age is thrice Spices go in as fiery as us Boil and bubble I'd let it rise and fall While we toil our time away locked in a fairy-tale ball Time's almost up, dinner is to be served I finish the dish with some fresh kale I watch it swirl and soften Not unlike my heart before you, which had gone stale We feast and feast! One-a gremlin two-a gremlin Your burp and I burp We play a symphony, louder than cannons in the Kremlin Although fat and happy, I betray my greed Searching the kitchen fruitlessly for something sweet Finally my eyes land on what we both knew I guess you'll just have to do 10

Art by Katie Plant

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The Dissection of Idleness, and Recommendations for its Replacement

By Tom Johnston If the past year and a half has taught me anything, it’s that I can always be making better use of my time. After such a long suspension of responsibility it’s only fair that I should come away with something to show for it, right? Why haven’t I learned a new skill, or volunteered more, or finally gotten around to all those home improvements I had planned?

Sometimes, I like to imagine that I had a more productive year in quarantine. I picture a very distant (and very loaded) relative, previously unheard of, who leaves me a small fortune that I can do what I like with. Not an unrealistic inheritance—just enough to bribe the threat of serious illness or death into keeping its distance.

I imagine what it might be like if I took up sailing in the warm summer months, the wind in the air and sting of saltwater on my cheek. Think of how useful that would be when they ground all the flights and I need to cross the Atlantic. Learning the ropes, I would form such a strong bond with whichever ten Matthews frequented the same marina as I did. I wouldn’t be stuck in my own house, learning to appreciate the unrelenting string of calm mornings. I could continue to avoid my older sister even after she came home to live with us again, dodging the Saturday’s when we would waste our time making lattes and breakfast and participating in each other’s lives. Those things would disintegrate. The pointless connection I might’ve made with another person would vanish, yielding itself to the grandeur of my admiral’s career.

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And that’s not the only thing I’d have my fortune teach me.

I’ve lost track of how many nights I spent this year with my real friends. In those days when you had to make an effort to stay in someone else’s life, how many evenings did I waste staying up late and talking to the same people I’ve been talking to for years now, the people that I’ve already learned? What if, instead, I could have focused some sum of money and all those hours learning something valuable, like fencing. I can picture it, the dance of the back-and-forth as I swing at a wire mesh man. It’s hard to treasure the excitement of finally seeing the people you love again when I know now that I should have been doing more with my time, that I should have been doing something useful. If I could afford the white canvas armour which would keep me safe from foils and viruses, maybe it might protect me from all those pseudo-long-distance relationships, too. Most fencers that I know say that they use what they’ve learned every day. I can’t imagine it would be nearly as fulfilling to spend time with other people so frequently.

But at least that was me wasting my time on others, so that maybe they got something out of it. I have no defense for all the time and ink that I drained away putting pen to paper. I spent a year discovering and nurturing a passion for words, of all things—and what good does it do to fill so many notebooks and PDFs with silly poems and stories that will never touch anyone? Imagine how much more fulfilled I might feel if I had spent that time learning a real art. I can see myself memorizing the two step and the waltz (prerequisite skills for attending any of those fabulous galas or balls which raise so much money for the already-wealthy, which have of course continued to run even while the rest of the world is cooped up in their cages).

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A noble pursuit it would’ve been, to have participated in the ancient dances which have remained unchanged for centuries.

At the very least, it would’ve been much more worthwhile than trying to grow some new art out of the landscape of my own mind. No one will ever care for that, and all it’s done is leave me with a clearer picture of my own self.

Really, I’m ashamed to admit how much I’ve completely squandered this block of free time. My lack of money and motivation have kept me from doing anything that might’ve actually helped me—underwater cotillion, white-tie falconry, polo tennis, high stakes political lobbying, or any number of other marketable résumé bullet points. Instead, all I was left to do was pick myself a bouquet of flowers and set them up in a thrift store vase in my room. What am I ever going to do with the memory of summer colours lining a walking trail down the road from my house? With the knowledge that a few stems are all it takes to make me happy for a moment?

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Contributors!

Christina Giuggio

Christina is a second-year student in the School of Public Health Sciences who is loving the little things right now. She is good with plants and likes to cook and play music in her spare time.

Follow Christina on Instagram: @christina.giuggio

Cindy Cai

Cindy is a 4th year engineering student and artist. She’s inspired by a plethora of things: nature, folktales, Victorian era art, increasingly talented first year CalArts students, and her life. To Cindy, art is all about mood and story. You can find her on Instagram @cindycai.art, and some prints are available on Etsy: artmadebycindy.etsy.com.

Cindy’s Etsy store: http://artmadebycindy.etsy.com/ Follow Cindy on Instagram: @cindycai.art

D.B.

I am a Nanotechnology Engineering student at UW who loves food and science. Much of my free time is spent thinking of new recipes to try or attempting to engage my friends in discussions about technology – as much as they may try to resist.

Tom Johnston

Tom Johnston is a 2nd year English Literature and Rhetoric student. He has 2 dogs, spends his free time reading or writing, and loves lattes.

Follow Tom on Instagram: @tom_johnston584

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Issue 16 September 2021