Pick Me Up - The Mini Issue

The Mini Issue Volume 15, Issue 2.5, November 2015

the mini issue

Volume 16, Issue 2.5, November 2016

EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief Breanna Kettles editor@blueprintmagazine.ca

The Mini Issue

Production Manager Amanda Scheifele productionmanager@blueprintmagazine.ca

Literary Editor Manreet Lachhar literaryeditor@blueprintmagazine.ca

Art Manager Vacant

artmanager@blueprintmagazine.ca

Promotions Manager Erica Parnis promotionsmanager@blueprintmagazine.ca

Web Editor Carina Rampelt web.editor@blueprintmagazine.ca

Brantford Manager Vacant

brantfordmanager@blueprintmagazine.ca

Brantford Art Vacant

brantfordartintern@blueprintmagazine.ca

Intern Stephanie Silva

ADMINISTRATION President, Publisher & Chair Meghan Roach Executive Director Lakyn Barton HR Manager Taylor Berzins Finance Manager Randy Moore Advertising Manager Care Schummer Vice Chair Abdiasis Issa Treasurer John Pehar Director Maddy Cutts Director Matt Burley Director Mynt Marsellus Community Director Fred Kuntz

Everything about us is kind of tiny. Including this issue!

And so our tiny team would like to thank you for picking up this mini issue. We all know how it feels.

To be so overwhelmed and feel so tiny that the smallest thing, the littlest pick-me-up, will end up having the weight equivalent of gold. Maybe this says something about our world... But maybe, just maybe, not everything that glitters is gold. Small things shine. And they tend to shine brighter when the world becomes greyer. We hope you enjoy this sparkly little issue in your crazy crazy life.

Tiny hearts, The Blueprint Team Cover Art by ERICA PARNIS

Community Director Gary Doyle

CONTACT

Blueprint Magazine 75 University Ave W Waterloo ON N2L 3C5 p 519.884.0710 x3564 blueprintmagazine.ca Advertise care.schummer@wlusp.caom blueprintmagazine.ca/advertise Contribute submissions@blueprintmagazine.ca

COLOPHON Blueprint is the official student magazine of the Wilfrid Laurier University community.

Founded in 2002, Blueprint is an editorially independent magazine published by Wilfrid Laurier University Student Publications, Waterloo, a corporation without share capital. WLUSP is governed by its board of directors.

Content appearing in Blueprint bears the copyright expressly of their creator(s) and may not be used without written consent.

Blueprint reserves the right to re-publish submissions in print or online.

CONTENTS

VOLUME 16 ISSUE 2.5 NOVEMBER 2016

POETRY

Opinions in Blueprint are those of the author and do not nec-

Residential Soul

essarily reflect those of Blueprint’s management, Blueprint, WLUSP, WLU or CanWeb Printing Inc.

Little Doll, Tell Me So

Blueprint is created using Macintosh computers running Mac OS X 10.5 using Adobe Creative Suite 4.

The circulation for a normal issue of Blueprint is 2000.

NEXT ISSUE The Hidden Issue On stands February 2017

Perception

JANE EDMISTON

ELIZA HEENEY

MARIAH JACKLIN

LITERATURE

Little Echoes

An Eraser’s Tale

Atomic

A Small Daily Reminder

MANREET LACHHAR REBECCA ALLISON

STEPHANIE SILVA

MADELINE MCINNIS

Tiny soul Who were you before?

Curled up into half a seed buried in the loose earth

Beneath the trees of your roots.

Small sprout Who were you before they plucked you from the

Warm soil Cut your hair and changed your name Precious seedling Who were you before they pruned you down

To a manageable size Before they pulled the wind from your throat and the river from your veins In the name of their Good God and a book

again

ELIZA HEENEY

But my child O tiny soul Where did your seedling fall In what dirt what earth Where are you now Did you ever find that warm soil The wind and the river

Residential Soul

But I have read that book And their God is not the same as mine and I see you in your tiny suit

With slick hair and Small eyes And my blood is guilt for the paleness of my skin

The sea ships of my past

CARINA RAMPELT

An Eraser’s Tale

The eraser was born in a rubber mine. Years were spent slaving and chiselling and shaving as it created the other rubber babies. And then, the Rubber Revolt. The erasers all bolted: the short and chubby, pink and stubby, and their variously themed friends. But freedom was short lived and it soon was conscripted. They shipped it with a uniform number of comrades to the Great Store. Then with no time for woe it was bought by a poet. With every word the eraser scrubbed off a page its knowledge of poetry grew. True, it could impressively quote sonnets, but things grew contentious when it became pretentious. It worked with a neurosurgeon next and learned how to best perform a lumbar laminectomy. Head of National Security came along after that. The eraser knew some things it rather wished it didn’t. When it grew tiny and shaved and beyond being saved it knew it was time to retire.

The poet performed a eulogy in the form of a song, and although it was long gone, the doctor tried to save the eraser anyways. The head of national security didn’t show, but everyone knows he’s a very busy man. All in all, it was an honourable end among poet and doctor and their little eraser friend.

STEPHANIE SILVA

Itty bitty doll, Sitting beside the wall Why do you stare?

Careless and free Smiling there with glee So cute and tiny.

Little Doll, Tell Me So MARIAH JACKLIN

To find what you search Do not let your ideas perch On any one want.

Mixed emotion Skew all the notions.

Yet, if you wait

What’s it that you see?

What lies beyond me?

“Something more,” you say.

For it to settle, Leave the boiling kettle For once, in peace.

Yet I see nothing Besides darkness crushing, Future, uncertain.

Let the steam clear, You may shed some tears Be it, worth it though.

Be not afraid You say, “The thoughts are strayed Let them become clear to you.

Worry not, child.”

You finished and smiled.

Weight, lifted.

But you must be Willing to look past thee, Beyond the self You must see the truth, Yet how hard with youth…

Seemingly yet, ERICA PARNIS

Known to believe In me. Will let me achieve.

Thank you, little doll.

Small Daily Reminder MADELINE MCINNIS

Be kind to yourself. The future is bright, simply because you are you.

You’ve made it this far, you can make it through this too. Despite what happened, the world goes on. So do you. You’re a fighter.

Giving up has never been an option. Don’t let it be one now. You are more than what you make yourself out to be. You are more than anyone will ever understand. Value does not come from others’ understanding, it comes from your simple existence. You are worth the fight simply because you are. Don’t back yourself into a corner because you feel you have to compete.

Everything will work out just fine. You won’t be mundane like you fear you might be. That’s just not the type of person you are. You’re supposed to say no sometimes. Don’t be afraid to say no. You don’t owe anything to anyone. You don’t need to pay for the space you take up in this world to any other person — not unless you want to. Be kind, but not passive. You can be brave without being reckless. You make your own choices because only you face the consequences. Believe in yourself. You’re going to go far, just trust yourself to take off once you let go.

You are enough. You’ve done enough. You’re allowed to breathe.

Atomic

I am a mass of smalls.

Microscopic cells, forging enough energy to lift a pencil. Neurons, too busy to for pesky food. Adrenaline forcing the syllables out of my throat. Each word minuscule. Insignificant alone. One can infer many.

REBECCA ALLISON

The universe, in but an atom.

SARAH SHEARER

little echoes

SARAH SHEARER

MANREET LACHHAR

So, this is how it ends – a crash of lightning and a thousand echoes.

Atomic REBECCA

ALLISON

Perception JANE EDMISTON

CARINA RAMPELT

Travel with Gulliver and see, A world beyond reproach.

The atom on a needle’s tip, Likened to the sun.

We design the norm.

Relative, To our thoughts, To our eyes, To our past.

To the ant, A giant stands while we ponder, The fridge’s vacuous contents.

A comet considering Pluto a titan.

No view imperfect or flawed, Merely small.