WAT is Zine? Issue 31: Pride

ISSUE 31 — Pride Co-Editors-in-Chief Chelsea Hettigama & Jessie Jiang

TEAM LEADS

Submissions/Editing Anoushka Gupta & Grace Northrup Layout Design Yuan Liu Art Jessie Jiang Marketing Chelsea Hettigama Events Alyvia Dodsworth

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Anonymous Elsa Sajwani Martina Gasparro Angela W.

LAYOUT DESIGN Chelsea Hettigama Jessie Jiang Yuan Liu

@watiszine | watiszine@gmail.com 2

Cover art Rachel Ni

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Hello Everyone!

Happy Pride!!! It was so nice to see everyone's excitement with this month’s issue theme. I want to thank all our contributors for their hard work and involvement. Pride is a significant part of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, where they can express their own gender and commemorate the years of struggle they endured to gain equal rights.

With the release of the live action Little Mermaid movie, I learned that Hans Christian Anderson was a part of the queer community. His inspiration behind the original fairytale is his feelings towards his close friend Colin. Even though, there is still so much work still needed to better the lives of queer community. It’s important to recognize the strides we have made within the years. My hope with this month’s theme is to be an outlet for people to express themselves!

I hope everyone enjoys the issue as much as I did!

Till next time, Chelsea Hettigama Co-Editor-In-Chief

Happy Pride Month everyone! For those of you who don’t know, Pride month typically occurs in June and is an opportunity to recognize, celebrate, and learn about two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender-diverse identities (2SLGBTQI+) communities.

Although the month is almost over (oh how the time flies)WatIsZine? welcomes you to our Pride Issue!! 󰝲 We have many wonderful submissions from various contributors expressing themselves and their work through poetry, photographs, and art pieces. As Chelsea and I went through each submission, we became more excited for its release and to share the issue with everyone.

We hope you enjoy the issue ^^ Jessie Jiang Co-Editor-In-Chief

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 5

Pride Spotify Playlist

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Rainbow Night by Elsa Sajwani

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photo and playlist by Martina Gasparro

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Queering the Map: A Collection compiled by Martina Gasparro

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red flags by Anonymous

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2023 Pride Parade by Angela W.

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Art Team Project

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Art Team WIPs

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Contributors

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Art team cover - in making

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CONTRIBUTORS Elsa Sajwani Hey! My name is Elsa Sajwani and I'm in my second year of the AFM program. I started writing poetry during lockdown as a way to process my emotions and tell stories of the world. Apart from writing, I love exploring trails, cooking new recipes and travelling!

Instagram: @elsa.sajwani

CREDITS Rainbow gradient background by Maxim Berg https://unsplash.com/photos/ENIaPZytqzE

Pride flags by Teddy O

https://unsplash.com/photos/owiVf9bFKHM

Rainbow fireworks by Sam Matthews

https://unsplash.com/photos/wZjJxOx8FPI

Map by British Library

https://unsplash.com/photos/AxT4iYcoI2M

Paper and textures by TextureLabs https://texturelabs.org/?ct=30&pg=6

Board games on shelf by daniel james

https://unsplash.com/photos/h6BqQeohrPM 25

Issue 31 June 2023