Alternate Endings

Wholesome film couples
Coveted ever afters
Fan ships sail — “And cut!”

Old classroom photos
Graduate’s keepsake of teen years
Storage full: delete

Incoming new year
Shared excitement for countdowns
Asleep before 12

Louise is a nonfiction and haiku writer from Cebu, Philippines. She holds a B.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from NYU Abu Dhabi. She recently started volunteering as a translator at the Organization for Transformative Works. Her interests include graphic novels and manga as well as, literature, transformative fanworks, and migration narratives. She's fascinated by unsolved crime stories.

Artwork by Julie Lee

In the accompanying screen-print, artist Julie Lee’s main subject is their mother in her youth, when she was envisioning opportunities for prosperity and happiness for her family (her daughters). In "축복받은 아이, 집으로 오세요. (Blessed child, please come home)," the young woman is lying in a pond and holding onto a desire. As she rests in the water with the lotus flowers surrounding her, she gazes into an average and comfortable house, something that her dreams have promised her. Her happy ending, which is filled with promises of comfort, is within her grasp and she will emerge out of the sacred waters to pursue it. 

Julie “Juju” Lee is a Korean-American artist working primarily in photography. She is in her third year, studying Art with a minor in Psychology, at Carnegie Mellon University. Residing between Pittsburgh, PA and Alabama, she is always holding onto old family photographs and found images. Her work explores themes of ancestry, time and care, and the idea of the photograph as existential affirmations.