v4/i2/S19 normal noise magic issue 2 NORMALnoise volume 4 issue 2 // S19 the magic issue 3 the magic issue 3 Area Codes 7 Aryanna Chutkan FICTION Start of Nothing 8 Nicole Enriquez Dark Magic: 14 Cindy Reynolds The Modern Writer’s Melancholy Stretch Tryptich 18 Evan Underbrink POETRY The Cut 20 Elizabeth Rowe Independentisme Mágic: 24 Martín Hans Eslava Magic, Magicians and Catalan Separatism Notes on Opportunity, 28 Chandler Arndt POETRY from a snowy hotel room Señora Lopez’s Taste of the Border 30 Alyssa Lindsey FICTION Clandestine: 35 Carolina Marques de Mesquita Or, Why the Jonas Brothers Reunion Means Everything Not Every Sunrise 37 Ariella Nardizzi Now You See Me, 42 Chandler Fritz Now You Don’t Magic.java 44 sage POETRY Artist Spotlight 45 4 NORMALnoise Dear reader, As the editors of Normal Noise pondered the theme of “magic,” we entertained thoughts of mythos, make- believe and our mysterious gravitation towards themes starting with the letter “m.” What could be more charming than 45 pages of musings on all things mystical? You may be surprised to find that the reality of this issue is less paranormal, more political commentary. Fewer fairytales, and more first loves. This issue is for skeptics and believers alike. Whether you believe that unicorns exist or not, we ask that you consider the magic that can be found in the most mundane places. In this issue, dear reader, you’ll find reflections on the romanticization of mental illness, the reconciliation of overlapping cultural identities and the strange magic of living in the spaces in between. We’re spellbound by the ordinary and seek to understand the unexplained. All the while, we know that the truth might evade us – still, we believe that the pursuit of knowledge comprises its own kind of magic. As both of us wrap up our final issue with Normal Noise, we remain most enchanted by the incredible minds that make up our community. For eight issues we’ve watched our contributors conjure stories, artwork, and critical thought engaging the matters of greatest cultural, political, and social importance to ASU and Phoenix more broadly. We know that Normal Noise will continue to be a space where students shed light on the mysterious, the forgotten and the misunderstood. On behalf of Normal Noise, we thank Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University; our faculty advisor, Dr. Mina Suk; Vice Provost and Dean Dr. Mark Jacobs; Associate Dean Dr. Kristen Hermann; Vice Dean Dr. Nicola Foote; and Ellyse Crow for their continued support and guidance. We thank our contributors, whose dedication to this publication inspires us and pushes us to continue producing high-quality critical content every semester. Lastly, we thank you, the reader, for engaging with us as we attempt to create an environment of collaboration, reflection, and community at Barrett. Sincerely, Carolina Marques de Mesquita & Kaylie Volpe Editors-in-chief, Normal Noise Normal Noise is a semesterly magazine supported by Barrett, the Honors coeditors-in-chief Carolina Marques de Mesquita College at ASU. Each issue provokes conversation about the complexities Kaylie Volpe of everyday life through long-form journalism and art. features editors Leilani Jimenez Alyssa Lindsey Normal Noise is student-run. Views expressed in the magazine do not reflect those of the administration. Contact the editors at copy editor Michelle Ailport [email protected]. literary editor Chandler Fritz Like Normal Noise on Facebook, check out our website at normalnoise. design & arts editor Zac Stone wordpress.com and follow us on Instagram @normalnoisemag. faculty advisor Mina Suk, Ph.D. the magic issue 5 6 NORMALnoise Area Codes Aryanna Chutkan Parvati kneels in front of plates of fruit and candles. She coats the jagged seams of her body with spiraling flowers. She puts her finger on the map, and mouths the words to a song in a language she doesn’t speak. She stares at the idol on the wall, and when she doesn’t feel it stare back she scorches her fingertips snuffing out her candles. As she walks away, her family looks down and down and down on the half-burnt scrawled out prayers she leaves in her wake. Parvati can see the water out the window; she counts the miles from her ancestors’ coasts like minutes until the storm rolls in. She thinks about the way the sky promises rain that never comes as she wraps her dreams up in threadbare American flags. She goes out at night and lets the waves wash over her bare feet. She waits with her face tilted up towards the moon like there's something she needs to hear. She stays like that, eyes closed face bathed in moonlight, until her candles burn out and she can't stand the silence. She’s got a nasty kind of craving for Americana, so she stays up late and sucks someone else’s cigarette smoke through her teeth. She worships in empty grocery stores at 3 a.m. with boys and girls who never asked her name, and while they’re busy ripping at the seams of her stitched up life, she sings a prayer, knowing full well that there won't be an answer. Parvati is a patchwork quilt of a person, looking for something to fix her ripped seams, and, in the washed out greys of her town, this is not unusual. Parvati swears up and down that she is not that kind of girl, but when that perfect American girl from three doors down offers her a ride to the beach she does not refuse. She forgets to pray when the bonfire is lit. Instead she screams along to love songs in red, white, and blue like a call and response hymnal that she never learned the words to. She dances with girls that are too perfect to ask too many questions, and imagines that she fits here. She ignores the hollow feeling in her chest that comes with every song about blue-eyed girls. Parvati fills her empty spaces with a shiny U.S.A. She wears the word in the hollow of her throat, and tucked behind her collarbones. It tastes cold and sickly-sweet like the red, white, and blue popsicles handed out on the Fourth of July. Parvati whispers the word like a prayer as she bleaches her hair, and slips on new blue eyes. She smacks her lips and looks at her brand-new American self. She buries her gods' idols in the cold sand at the beach, and doesn’t meet the shining eyes of her great-grandfather’s portrait. They do not belong in this area code. Aryanna Chutkan is a political science and French major interested in Francophone Africa, linguistics and colonialism. Her writing deals with themes of adulthood, relationships, identity and self-identification. the magic issue 7 Start of Nothing Start of Nothing Start of Nothing Start of Nothing Start of Nothing Nicole Enriquez 8 NORMALnoise One of my favorite lyrics of all time is growth. When a romantic relationship from Frank Ocean’s song “Ivy.” The song ends, how you recover from such in- begins powerfully with “I thought that I tense emotions and what you take from I thought was dreaming when you said you loved that relationship are monumental steps me/The start of nothing, I had no chance to finding the right one. It’s very easy to that I was to prepare/I couldn’t see you coming.” use your first love as the benchmark by Ocean describes that surreal experience which you judge future relationships. of someone telling you they love you for But not all love is experienced equal- dreaming the first time. It’s a dreamy and euphor- ly: anthropologist Helen Fisher argues ic — even hallucinatory — experience. there are three types of love that all oc- when you In some instances romance comes out cur independently from each other in of nowhere, surprising you and taking different parts of the brain. Fisher stud- you on a whirlwind adventure. Other ied the cognitive and neurobiological said you times romance blossoms out of friend- processes underlying love and attrac- ship and evolves into something more. tion to develop the Three Loves Theory loved me/ Relationships grow mysteriously, and to explain the different components of they’re complex and unpredictable. Or each love experience. so I thought. In order to truly understand this theo- The start First loves are powerful, but ry, I decided to interview a fellow Arizo- they’re so much more than a collection na State University student, Noah Har- of nothing, of a few magical moments. A first love ris, a current junior studying elementary is different from a relationship with any education. She and her boyfriend met other person because of the significance when they were 14 years old and have I had no of experiencing such intense emotions been together for six years. I was in- with someone for the first time. One spired by Harris and how her relation- chance to reason for the intensity of these emo- ship has endured from adolescence into tions can be explained from a biochem- adulthood, during periods where rapid ical perspective. The startling changes emotional, psychological and physiolog- prepare/I you notice within yourself resemble ical change transform who we are. That going through puberty, a time when ev- her relationship withstood so many of couldn’t see erything is new and unexplainable. A these changes is remarkable. surplus of unfamiliar hormones in your Their story begins in an ordinary body lends to the intensity of first love. freshman history class.