WAT Is Zine? Issue 17: Nostalgia

COVER

ISSUE 17 — Nostalgia Editor-in-Chief Jacqueline Meldrum

TEAM LEADS

Submissions/Editing Anoushka Gupta Layout Design Rebecca Kempe Art Katie Plant Marketing Joely Wu In-House Content Writer Tom Johnston

FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS Brendan Wong Jacqueline Meldrum Matthew M. Rebecca Kempe S. A. Khan Tom Johnston

LAYOUT DESIGNERS Jacqueline Meldrum Jeanne Xu Katie Plant Rebecca Kempe Vivian Tso Yuan Liu

Cover art Yuan Liu 2

@watiszine | watiszine@gmail.com

Hey everyone!

We’re heading into the holiday season now, and I know that I for one am definitely feeling nostalgic lately. Like many students I live pretty far away from where I grew up.

Because of that it can be easy to miss the people, places, and things I used to experience every day. Whether it’s hearing a song and being transported back to early high school or seeing a recipe that reminds me of my mom, nostalgia is something I’m quite familiar with. That’s probably why this is one of my favourite themes we’ve ever done here at the Zine. I’m quite a sappy person, and I love to reminisce.

So reminisce I did: to send in the poem I contributed to this issue, I took a trip down memory lane through all my high school era notes app poetry. I have to admit that most of it is pretty bad! But it was really nice to get a little montage of my high school experience and see all the things that got me so emotional that I just had to write about them. If you have notes on your phone from years ago, I definitely recommend a nice search through them. It’ll remind you of what you loved and who you used to be. And that’s a pretty cool feeling.

With our 2 year anniversary as a publication having occurred this October, Nostalgia felt like an idea that would resonate with our audience and connect us in a more abstract way to our 17 issues to date. Our 1st anniversary issue last year was a celebration of the club’s favourite contributions, a compilation of particularly compelling works that we were lucky enough to showcase. And it was a wonderful issue. But this year we wanted to reimagine what an homage to the past might be, and give our contributors a chance to look back fondly on their lives and give them a chance to commemorate things that they care(d) about or miss. Whether that’s a hometown, an era in life, a person, a restaurant, or just a feeling that can’t be explained, I think our contributors have done an outstanding job of capturing the uniquely human longing for the past. One of the wonderful things about art in all its forms is the potential for a specific experience to be conveyed in a way that resonates near-universally, and I think that really shines through in this issue. Contained in these pages are such a variety of outlooks on a topic that we all know well, and yet each feels universally poignant.

Good luck with all those exams and final assignments, and don’t forget to cherish what you have right now - someday you might be looking back on it and wishing you had fully lived it.

Jacqueline Meldrum Editor-In-Chief 3

10 Classic Wendy’s Brendan Wong 11 Untitled Jacqueline Meldrum 12 Coffee Cult Matthew M. 16 Nostalgia: An Annotated Playlist Rebecca Kempe 23 Things I Miss About Ottawa: A Photo Essay Rebecca Kempe 32 A Photo of Place and Person Tom Johnston 34 Contributors

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

06 Strangers S. A. Khan

CREDITS

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Red and white picnic blanket https://unsplash.com/photos/tTM1K94ZzhE,

by Dagny Reese Crinkled paper https://unsplash.com/photos/794QUz5-cso,

by Marjan Blan Burger bun https://unsplash.com/photos/q0Lec-bGVgU,

by Ali Shafei Fries - https://unsplash.com/photos/nXjvUlE8418,

by Mockup Graphics

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Carnation https://unsplash.com/photos/nD7eSerMjU0

by Isabella and Zsa Fischer, edited by Jacqueline Meldrum

12, 15 Art by Vivian Tso 16-22 Images by Rebecca Kempe 32

Water https://www.pexels.com/photo/top-view-photo-ofocean-waves-1054391/ Josh Sorenson

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Fire sparks https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-offire-266526/ Pixabay

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CONTRIBUTORS Brendan Wong

Hello, my name is Brendan Wong and I am currently in my 4th and final year of Global Business and Digital Art program. I am a graphic designer by trade, but I like to play with many creative mediums as a way of exploration into new worlds.

Jacqueline Meldrum Jacqueline is a 2nd year Theatre and English student. She’s also currently the Editor-In-Chief of this Zine! She likes rock climbing, costume design, bad reality TV, comfort food, and terribly sappy poetry. Ask her about her latest weird theatre thing at your own risk.

Instagram: @redvelvetcreep

Matthew M. Matt is an xth year Social Development Studies student who likes writing songs and words, avoiding confrontation, and being nostalgic for things. It all lines up, huh?

Instagram: @mattmna

Rebecca Kempe Rebecca makes things: mostly, using words or her camera, but sometimes, with other tools as well. She once combined staples, straws, cotton balls, and coloured water, so she’s really not that picky. In her free time, she exists.

Rebecca is also an Architectural Engineering student. She's not too sure how that happened.

Instagram: @arbeeko 34

S. A. Khan Khan is a 2nd year Science student. In his spare time, he tries to keep his day-night cycle normal and healthy. He has lived in a few different places, and writes when he can, reading when he can’t.

Technology scares him.

Instagram links: main: @kh4._n writing: @karachi.gothic

Tom Johnston Tom Johnston is a 2nd year English Literature and Rhetoric student. He has 2 dogs, spends his free time reading or writing, and loves lattes. You can follow him on Instagram: @tom_johnston584

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Issue 17 October 2021