Life as a Fish | Niki Taradash ’23

Notes From The Artist

My triptych is about the life of a fish. I was inspired by a past experience in Japan where I went to Tsukiji Market in Tokyo. The first image is an orange fish in an ocean; I used Photoshop and digitally collaged different paintings to create the shape of the fish. The second image is a fish market where orange salmon are displayed for sale. The piece is a paper collage put into Photoshop for some touchups and the background. The last piece is abstract line art of sushi and is the last part of the fish’s timeline. I created this piece in Procreate and played with many different color combinations. In the end, I went with keeping the lines orange to keep the fish color cohesive.

Karina Aronson ’24

Karina Aronson, a junior, is thrilled to be featured in Tabula Rasa . When she’s not throwing pottery or dragging her friends on hikes to take nature photos, you can find her reading, eating dim sum and pho with friends, or baking a frankly concerning amount of pies.

Rachel Aronson ’27

Rachel Aronson, an eighth grader, is an artist and creative writer. When Rachel’s not drawing, you can find her playing soccer, watching Studio Ghibli movies (her favorite is The Se cret World of Arriety ), and reading Webtoons.

James Chang ’25

James is a sophomore. He enjoys drawing stuff. :)

Vincent Chen ’23

Vincent Chen, a senior, is ecstatic to have his works featured in this issue of Tabula Rasa

Instead of writing this biography, he’d rather be composing music, gardening, watching One Piece , or just finding new ways to procrastinate in general.

Rishi Chen ’27

Rishi Chen is an eighth grader who loves writing poetry as a hobby. He is proud to make it into the magazine and is excited to see the finished product. He also enjoys music and climbing.

Sophia Cheng ’24

Sophia Cheng, a junior, is thrilled to have her work published in Tabula Rasa for the third time. When she’s not writing journalism or personal essays, you can find her reading nonfiction, taking exorbitantly long walks, or listening to music.

Skylar Chui ’23

Skylar Chui is a senior artist who is thrilled to have her art featured in Tabula Rasa for the third (probably? She has a bad memory) time. In her free time, one can find Skylar playing basketball, doodling in her notes, or scrolling through Pinterest.

Robert Cui ’23

Robert is a senior writer who is over the moon about being featured in Tabula Rasa for the first time. During the day, Robert likes to gaze at nature and ponder about human existence. At night, he dons a cape of darkenss and a mask of vengeance and and fights crime (spiders) in Gotham’s (his suburban abode’s) shadows.

Annabelle Eaton ’25

Annabelle Eaton is a sophomore who loves to combine her love of storytelling, language, and art in her writing. When she is not at school, she loves to play volleyball and hang out with friends.

Mia Gustavson ’25

Sophomore Mia Gustavson loves theater, songwriting on her ukulele with her cats and rabbit, reading, and baking. She hopes you enjoy her lyrics!

Rye Kianpour ’23

Rye Kianpour is a senior at Pinewood who is a poet. In their free time, they enjoy theater, reading, and painting. They hope you enjoy their work.

Jakob Kleiman ’24

Jakob, a junior, is Jewish and loves sandwiches. He plays football and likes science.

Aeron Lo ’23

Aeron Lo, a senior and artist, is excited to be featured in Tabula Rasa one last time. She likes doodling, daydreaming, and making bad choices.

Ellis Matula ’27

Ellis is an eighth grader who was born at a very young age and aspires to be a grown up when he is older.

Prisha Mohapatra ’25

Prisha Mohapatra, a sophomore, has always used writing as an outlet. She is so excited to be featured in Tabula Rasa for the third year in a row! Whether it’s songs, poems, The Perennial articles, or short stories, she finds that writing is her way to relax. She hopes you enjoy her work in this year’s Tabula Rasa !

Lara Parikh ’26

Lara Parikh is a freshman who recently started submitting poetry and artwork for Tabula Rasa . Lara also enjoys playing tennis, reading, experimenting with different cuisines, and writing for The Perennial . She is thrilled to have her work published in Tabula Rasa for the first time!

Raghav Ramgopal ’24

Raghav Ramgopal is a junior who enjoys politics and music. Raghav sings in his free time, but does not have a favorite song—it changes based on his mood. On Upper Campus you can find Raghav serving on the Students for Sustainable Change Leadership Team, serving as the News Co-Editor for The Perennial , and being part of the Pinewood Model U.N. Club.

Bridget Rees ’24

Bridget is a junior who likes to draw cute and creepy things. When she’s not playing RPGs or rhythm games, she’s probably coding precious (and adorable!) robots, singing much too loudly, or walking around clumsily in absurd platform boots to appear a normal height.

Michael Shtrom ’25

Michael is a sophomore who is incredibly honored to have his work featured in the Tabula Rasa . In his free time, Michael enjoys music, writing, and graphic design.

Christina Tanase ’25

Christina is a sophomore at Pinewood who loves to turn her passion for writing into poetry. When she is not writing for Tabula Rasa , she enjoys writing for The Perennial , playing basketball, and spending time with friends and family. Christina is so excited to have her work published for a second time in Tabula Rasa !

( contributor bios continued on the next page)

Niki Taradash ’23

Niki, a senior and artist, is excited to have her art featured in Tabula Rasa . She is often found in the art studio working with various art mediums, such as charcoal and acrylic paint. With a passion for art, Niki will continue working on branching out her skills through graphic design.

Colin Ternus ’24

Colin, a junior, is passionate about photography, music, and 3D art. He enjoys auto racing, building things, and guitar in his free time. He’s thrilled to have his work published in Tabula Rasa

Davin Ternus ’28

Davin is a seventh grader that is both surprised and ecstatic about having their work featured in Tabula Rasa

Marley Thornson ’25

Marley Thornson is a sophomore who loves expressing her thoughts in poetry form. She is very happy to be able to have her work featured in Tabula Rasa . Outside of writing, Marley enjoys playing tennis, listening to music, and spacing out.

Rose Xu ’25

Rose is a sophomore who started photography this school year. After joining Pinewood’s journalism team as a photographer, she became interested in taking photos during her free time and discovering new techniques to further improve her abilities.

Editor-in-Chief, Samantha Hsiung ’23

Sam Hsiung is a senior, and she is happy that her work will be featured in Tabula Rasa one last time. In her free time, she enjoys writing, reading, fencing, playing the piano, and sleeping. She hopes you enjoy this year’s magazine, which she almost pulled an all-nighter to finish.

Art Director, Emma Hwang ’24

Emma, a junior and new Tabula Rasa editor, is so excited to have her work featured in Tabula Rasa ! A lover of humanities, she enjoys experimenting with writing and the visual arts. When she isn’t painting or writing, you can find her reading or baking for friends.

Assistant Editor, Makena Matula ’24

Makena is a junior and a second-year assistant editor for Tabula Rasa . They enjoy all types of nature activities and photographing organisms on their adventures. They hope you enjoy their photography and writing in this year’s issue.

Assistant Editor, Sophia Yao ’24

Sophia, a junior and Tabula Rasa editor, is excited to have her writing published in Tabula Rasa for the third year in a row. Apart from writing, Sophia enjoys spending time with friends, painting, and listening to music.

Assistant Editor, Violet Negrette ’25

Violet Negrette is a sophomore who loves to play soccer, read books, and write in her free time.

Assistant Editor, Josephine Tu ’25

Josephine is thrilled to be a part of Tabula Rasa again in her sophomore year. In addition to being passionate about writing, music, and photography, she also loves sleeping, overcomplicating life, and laughing with her friends until she can’t breathe.

Assistant Editor, Esha Joshi ’26

Esha Joshi, a freshman and first-time assistant editor, is excited to have her work featured in Tabula Rasa again. While writing is her reason for existence, she also loves crocheting, listening to music, and eating various kinds of fruit.

Publicity Editor, Rachel Farhoudi ’23

Rachel, a senior and Tabula Rasa editor, is thrilled to have her writing published in Tabula Rasa for the second year in a row. In her free time, Rachel loves to go on walks, play soccer and tennis, hang out with friends, and go to concerts/music festivals.

Web Editor, Kathleen Xie ’25

Kathleen, a sophomore and a second-year Tabula Rasa editor, has always been passionate about writing and photography. She is thrilled to have her work featured in this year’s issue and hopes you enjoy it!

Advisors, Holly Coty & David Wells

About Tabula Rasa

Tabula Rasa , established in 2016, is an annual, award-winning publication showcasing literature and art by students of Pinewood School. Tabula Rasa accepts prose, poetry, art, photography, music, and cross-genre submissions from Upper Campus students, who are in grades 7-12. All types of work are accepted during our submission period; we simply ask for the best, most honest creative work that each student has to offer.

Tabula Rasa is advised by Pinewood English teachers Holly Coty and David Wells and edited by a small group of high school students who love the literary and visual arts. Any questions or comments regarding the publication may be directed to the email address tabularasasubmissions@pinewood. edu. Feel free to also check out our website at pwtabularasa.org.

The magazine’s next submission period will open in February 2024. Students may submit through an online portal that will become available at that time. Students may also submit pieces to our quarterly themes, which will become available starting in September 2023.

Thank you for reading the 2023 edition of Tabula Rasa

– Samantha Hsiung ’23, Rachel Farhoudi ’23, Emma Hwang ’24, Makena Matula ’24, Sophia Yao ’24, Violet Negrette ’25, Josephine Tu ’25, Kathleen Xie ’25, Esha Joshi ’26

Editors Emeriti

2021-22

Prithi Srinivasan ’22, Emily Takara ’22

2020-21

Eva Liu ’21, Micaela Rodriguez Steube ’21, Prithi Srinivasan ’22

2017-20

Sarah Feng ’20, Reilly Brady ’20, Katherine Chui ’20

2016-17

Priya Sundaresan ’17, Zarin Mohsenin ’17