The Buzz Spring 2022

Page 72

The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Breaks Down The Winning Submission From The Buzz’s Campus-Wide Fiction Contest, 2022. Written by Yoko Zhu Graphics and Design by Tamar Ponte

She takes her coffee with artificial sweetener and settles on a single boiled egg. The employee cuts it in half, divides the hard yolk, dashes red pepper on it, then hands her back the plate. Mel eats it with her fingers, nibbling at her lunch, making the most out of a tiny thing. She follows the nutritional plan Erica typed up for her. Simply looking at the list with its caveats and mathematical buzzwords like deficit and macronutrients wears her out. Erica, with her woodland deer frame and long limbs, moves through the world with a serpentine ease. It’s Erica who Mel emulates, but always finds herself falling short. Between sips of coffee, Mel writes her self-hatred in an overly bombast poem. It’s not very good, but she doesn’t expect it to be. Once in a while, she allows herself to fall short; it makes herself feel better when she’s accomplished a significantly impressive piece. From her peripheral vision, a stranger sits down across from her. It’s a small table, the kind where you have to be mindful that your knees don’t bump into the other person’s. Mel sneaks glances at him. His hair is onyx ink spilled on a table, aglow in the sun’s light. The stranger’s vacant gaze is drawn to the window, observing for the sake of observing, analyzing nothing in particular. He was the kind of man Erica would’ve devoured instantly, possessing a stark beauty that made everyone else seem flat, dull. She’s certain she’s amalgamated with all the East Asian girls he’s ever seen, fused into one monolith, because that’s how Mel always

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The Winning Submission from the Buzz’s Campus-Wide Fiction Contest, The Manic Pixie Dream Girl Breaks Down

12min
pages 72-75

No One Likes A Mad Woman... Except When They Do

4min
pages 70-71

The Art of Interludes

3min
page 69

Can I Listen To Rap As A Feminist?

6min
pages 66-68

Latinas With Attitude Problems

3min
pages 64-65

"Sex and the..." Advocacy

4min
pages 62-63

Gay Dating in the City

6min
pages 58-60

Mature For Their Age

6min
pages 56-57

From One Non-Reader to Another

3min
page 55

Is Cancel Culture Productive?

9min
pages 52-54

The Art of Getting Ready

2min
pages 34-43

European Exploration

3min
page 51

Jet-Setting Elite

7min
pages 48-50

Stealing Style Tips From BU Alums

2min
page 46

The Future of the Secondhand Industry

4min
pages 44-45

Improving Your Relationship With Food

3min
page 32

Nutrition: Fact vs. Fiction

6min
pages 30-31

Grab A Cart

5min
pages 28-29

New Year, New Me?

7min
pages 24-26

Celebrity Food Brands: Feeding Their Fans Or Their Fortune?

2min
page 27

The Return of Beanpot

4min
pages 22-23

Niche Classes at Boston University

2min
page 21

Loneliness in College

8min
pages 18-20

Surviving in a 21+ City

4min
pages 16-17

Inside Marathon Monday

2min
page 15

How Living Like TV Characters Transformed Our Lives in Boston

7min
pages 12-14

A Letter from the Editor

3min
pages 4-11
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