R2: THE RICE REVIEW 1 R2: The Rice Review is a free student literary journal at Rice University. Copyright © 2020 by R2: The Rice Review No portion of R2: The Rice Review may be reproduced without permission. All rights reserved. Please send all correspondence to R2: The Rice Review Department of English Rice University 6100 Main Street, MS-30 Houston, TX 77005-1892 r2ricereview.com
[email protected] Cover art: POP by Mallory Newbern (Colored Pencil and Acrylic Paint on Paper) Printed by Printing-X-Press. Printed in the USA. 2 3 The Rice Review Staff Acknowledgements Editors-in-Chief Joshua Anil & Sanvitti Sahdev Layout Editor Ginny Jeon This journal is made possible by an endowment given by Bradley V. Husick ’86 and Gail Clayton General Staff Clara Kraebber, Colton Alstatt, Ella Hoyt, Husick ’86. The publication of R2 has also been Hannah Young, Julia Fisher, Katimah made possible by a gift from Sandy ’86 and David Harper, Kierstin Wilkins, Kristie Lynn, Mar- Epstein and Family for the five-year period 2009–14. cus Munshi, Neha Tallapragada, Pamela McInturff, Rebecca Noel, Ryan Chow, R2’s annual Rice writing contests are sponsored Rynd Morgan, Sarah Swackhamer, Selena by the George G. Williams Fund. The contests are Shi, Shucheng Yan, Theresa Vanderventer, juried by professional, non-Rice-affiliated judges. Yumeng Zhao This year’s judge was Mark Haber. Each of the student recipients is awarded a monetary prize as Faculty Advisor Ian Schimmel well as recognition. The entire R2 editorial board wishes to express their gratitude for this generosity. Founding Editor Justin Cronin Cover Artist Mallory Newbern 4 5 Stories give rise to the best parts of being human: to empathy, connection, A Note from the Editors and collective healing.