C AT C H E R
Cover art by Audrey Limb
Bloom by Kelly Erdenebaatar
letter from the editor There’s drought. There’s rising seas. There’s extinction. There’s a garbage patch in the ocean. Even in the haze of contradiction, it is clear that our beloved world, our home, is crumbling. We test it with our fuel emissions, over-harvesting of resources, and indulgent lifestyles. It is failing our test. Though facing waves of climate change denial and blissful ignorance, it is now unavoidable to see the physical manifestation of our damage through environmental retaliation and deterioration. Scientists are working diligently to prevent further damage, but with over seven billion inhabitants relatively unwilling to change their costly behaviors, our future looks like a big, looming question mark.
As artists and creatives, we may not all be the ones calculating sustainable practices or fighting the rising tides with experimental gadgets, but we contribute through our commentary and support for the movement of climate change awareness. In California, wildfires that have raked our fertile lands and persisting droughts have sparked conversations both inside and outside of the classroom on the future of our sunny shores. For our third issue, we sought to provide a platform for these dialogues through artistic mediums, and thus the theme of Mother Nature was born. The terrain personified, our magnanimous matriarch... we have so much to say. Flipping through the pages, the works of Burlingame students are indicative of our period of struggle and the glint of hope a new, motivated generation brings to the table. Enjoy,
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Executive Editor: Lexi Goldstein Associate Editor: Farah Caban Design Editor: Audrey Limb Photography Editor: Kylie Holzman Advisor: Melissa Murphy Staff: Abby Knight Julianna Oliver Jackson Spenner
Nature Babe by Cohlton Mendoza
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it’s the end of the world as we know it
By Finn Lorian
Collage by Farah Caban
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Nature’s Wrath
By Harrison Baytan
It’s poetic, really. Us humans spent all this time trying to control nature, to exploit it. But the world always wins. Even the strongest dam may break under the weight of all our sins. All our transgressions. For that I’m sorry. I know it means nothing to you, but I really do apologize. I don’t hate you for what happened. You killed everyone. My family, my lover, my children, my friends, they’re all dead because of you. Perhaps I’m just numb. Or insane. But, you’re beautiful, in some twisted way. You’re not that motherly figure, carefully tending to crops, or whatever delusion humanity thought up. You are imperfect, cruel, jagged. You are life and death, growth and rot. You are the executioner, here to cleanse the world. And I am one of the last pests. About to be crushed. Attempting to sweet talk a god. But it won’t work. You never stopped for anyone, and you certainly won’t for me. I can see you, from the top of this roof. I’m not sure why I came up here. Maybe a futile attempt to give myself a couple more moments, a little more time. I don’t think I’m scared of dying. No, probably not. I’ve familiarized myself with that idea a long time ago. I’ve been told about that look on your face. Never changing. One of rage, frustration, indignation. But as you draw closer, I see a tinge of sorrow in your eyes. I suppose that’s my own fantasy, one I made to solace my breaking mind, but I really do believe you feel a bit of regret. After all, humans were your children too. 5
Photos by Maddie Gillette
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once, a dandelion seed flew into my hair the little pit suspended by parachute leaves i grabbed the head of the flower and pinched it between my thumbs, pollen staining, leaving golden specks crushed beneath my fingers and wondered how something so small could float through the sky, wondered how something so small could fly past tall barren trees and gangling buckwheats to dig its way through the nest of my head and i wondered if i am the same to you: me, little dandelion seed scattered through dust and wind - i forage through lanky weeds and towering stems, fighting gravity with my small feathered wings until i land on your roadmap body or tuck behind the pockets of your felted jeans i will cling onto you as hard as possible, the whole weight of me light against your papered skin so when you finally find me hidden between your strands of hair - you will pluck me out and crush me beneath your fingers wondering
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By Eva Chen First published by Weight Magazine Graphic by Kylie Holzman
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Survivor
By Charlotte Wong
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the rest of the w This land is known as the world’s officia winter per year, where the tempera resources, expansive fo arctic ice regio kn By Maiia Tomskaia There, my father taught me ways to respect nature: he always fed the local spirits of the place we stayed, never killed endangered animals, never left trash in the wild. To show your appreciation to a spirit, you need to share the food you will be eating later, suggest a drink, be thankful and promise not to hurt it possessions, and in exchange, it will leave you in peace. Siberia has a severe clim It is innocence. It is nature’s power. It is a place of serenity that turns survival in of cold and heat, which comes from the danger of climate change. Nowadays, a increase, we begin to hear more about its effects on the top countries of Europe hear someone talk about Yakutia, which represents one of the greatest environ is one of the world’s largest carbon reservoirs. It stores many plant remains and this vegetation contained only in Yakutia’s permafrost is greater than the curre by David Wallace-Wells, “Permafrost contains up to 1.8 trillion tons of carbon When it thaws, some of it will evaporate as methane, which is, depending on h than carbon dioxide” (62). Consequently, it means that melting permafrost, ca as huge releases of a gas called methane, carbon gas pollution, massive release since the Pleistocene era — and the landscape’s disfigurement. Wallace-Wells s released a hundred billion tons of carbon. That is the equivalent of half of all th produced by humanity since industrialization began” (62). To give the backgro in science, the release of carbon gases leads to the acceleration of the global warming process by trapping heat.
Yakutia ne in my homeland never gave a tho Snow covered all the garbage we had on our streets, hiding the problems o continue to live comfortably. However, the main problem doesn’t change fro we need to live idly and never thought of what needs to be destroyed to get t paying attention to global issues, stop being silent and speak up about have to start considering and admiring our nature. We mus
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Somewhere, in the depths of eastern Siberia, in a place very isolated from world, you can find a small town, where I was born and raised, called Yakutsk. al coldest city; a very remote and challenging place to live with eight months of ature constantly drops to -84°F (-64°C). Yakutia’s territories are rich in natural orests, hundreds of thousands of rivers, rivulets, lakes, harsh mountain ranges, ons, incredible landscapes and unique traditions. Habitants of those places are nown as “sakha” or “yakut” — people who are indigenous to Yakutia’s lands for centuries. Their culture takes its roots down to the 10th century, with their animistic traditions and deepest respect for nature. In general, protecting and admiring nature was instilled in me by my parents as something usual. My family loved riding a boat searching for a wild place, where we eventually ended up staying for a night.
ts mate. It is wildlife. nstincts on. It is a place as the danger of global warming starts to e and America. However, it is extremely rare to nmental dangers for the Earth. Yakutia stands entirely on permafrost, which d fossils of ancient animals (biomass) since the era of Pleistocene. In general, ent planet’s biomass. According to the book The Uninhabitable Earth, written n, considerably more than is currently suspended in the earth’s atmosphere. how you measure, at least several dozen times more powerful a greenhouse gas aused by global warming, would result in such negative consequences of ancient viruses — which were kept in permafrost says, “By 2100 … the Arctic will have he carbon ound
The Sun rises upon a snow desert and brings warmth and joy. I miss the view and freeze that I enjoyed so much in my childhood. The cold in ever reminded us of the upcoming global warming. The variety of biodiversity ought that species die somewhere in the other parts of the world permanently. of pollution. We always try to ignore the problems that surround us in order to om this inaction: nature still dies because we were so selfishly-minded on what that comfortable lifestyle. This is why it is now time for our generation to start t the problems that are present nowadays but somehow remain unnoticed. We st take action to protect our nature and prevent further negative consequences.
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Be
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By Kylie Holzman
“Broken Illusion” By Shareen Ahmad
Up on a pedestal, You look down at me. Asking for a ladder, To step down quietly.
I refuse, I turn away, Until I hear a sound. And there you are: gilded, framed, shattered on the ground.
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Arctic
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By Tess Dakin
Emissions
By Tess Dakin
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Mother
By Julianna Oliver
I am home, here in this grass. In this patch of universe, I call my own. In this sweet smelling air, I can breathe slowly. In this quiet hum of birds chirping against the hills, I can listen to my thoughts. In this view of a green-peaked mountain range, I can see my skin glowing in the afternoon sun. In this feeling of serenity, I know I am thankful for mother nature. It sounds sort of foolish — to be thanking something that isn’t “alive.” That’s the best part, I think. Mother nature is alive. The water that runs through faucets, the trees in front yards, the wind that blows every so often, the fog that touches the ground. It is all connected to this living concept of mother nature. We are connected to this concept of mother nature. It’s sort of similar to one big system. Everyone and everything is interconnected. I think as a species, we lose sight of that. That we use mother nature for our own gain and not return the favor. It’s troubling to see on the news about trash pollution and oil spills. Even radiation spilling into our oceans. The heat of our wrath warming the planet up. Everyday, we continue to do it. I say “we” because I am a culprit too. Not using eco-friendly materials, not recycling, or simply not being mindful of how much I intake of something. It all adds to the endless pain we are putting mother nature through. So every chance I get, I thank mother nature and even the universe. For giving me the opportunity that life is and for allowing me to see its beauty. One day it might be taken all away because of our careless actions. 16
“I
Tiger
By Stella Wettan
Take a second. Close your eyes. Empty your thoughts.
And Whisper, am grateful for you.” 17
Above the Clouds
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By Molly Abramson
Weight of the World
By Cate Cattano
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Waste by Tess Dakin
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