HEDY MAG ISSUE 1

CULTURE INTERVIEWS HISTORY OPINION ART 

1

EDITOR IN CHIEF 

Mar Ibanez 

MAGAZINE DESIGN 

Elle Miller / Mina Bach 

CORPORATE DESIGN 

Mina Bach 

ISSUE I TEAM 

MORE INFO ON the TEAM: HEDYMAG.COM 

for advertising or inquiries, 

contact: hello@hedymag.com 

The opinions expressed in the ARTICLES are the responsibility of the 

authors and do not reflect the opinion of HEDY MAGAZINE.. THE 

MAGAZINE should not be held accountable for the AUTHORS’ opinion. 

copyright is reserved. images and texts rights belong to their authors. 

WRITERS 

Cara Dumont 

Eva Melgarejo 

Kate Anderson 

Susana Meza 

Gloria Estevan 

Celia Borrull 

Lana Dena 

Leonie Vermeer 

Emilio Lanzas 

Carla Auden 

Ulrike Uelzen 

Laura Gomez 

2 

HEDY

ILLUSTRATIONS 

Chus Lopez 

Laura Gomez 


Kat Kon 

TRANSLATIONS 


John Slatex 

Ulrike Uelzen 

PHOTOS 

Angel Salguero 

Oscar Xarrie 

Angels Alcaide 

illustration BY KAT KON 

HEDY 3

Inside 

Issue I 

14 

PENDLE WITCHES 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

“Choose Your Poison 

Info Pills / page 6 

8 

Un Jour À Paris / page 22 

Video Games / page 30 

Travelling Europe / page 34 

Let’s Talk About Hair/ page 42 

Books We Are Reading/ page 44 

A Call For Rev-O-Lution / page 46 

Hedy Lamarr 

Greyish Tones / page 48 

Paradise City / page 50 

Short Fiction: Little girl / page 52 

4 


26 

DUTCH 

PAINTERS 

MARTHA RICH 

36 

WINTER IS JUST A COLD SUMMER 

EDITORIAL 

Welcome to our first issue! 

This magazine is a work 

of love by writers, illustrators 

and photographers from 

around the world. We aim to 

create a magazine for women, 

assuming that we all have 

brains and care about more 

(things) than just our looks. We 

love talking about art, books, 

politics, history... 

And giving exposure to many 

inspirational women that sadly 

don’t always get the attention 

they deserve. There are many 

articles and interesting bits for 

you to read and get involved 

in. If you finish reading the 

magazine and want more, we 

are taking the discussion to our 

blog until the next issue. Come 

and say hello. If you like this 

issue feedback is welcome! We 

are very proud this number is 

out. Everyone has worked a 

lot to make it happen. Half of 

our writers, photographers, 

designers and illustrators are 

open to freelance work, you 

can contact any of them via our 

website. We’ve already started 

working in the next issue. 

Drop us a line if you want to 

collaborate with us. See you in 

the blog! 


Info 

Pills 

Poltergeist 

A remake of the 80s horror classic is in the making 

and is expected to hit the big screen in July. 

The new film is a collaboration between filmmaker 

Sam Raimi and director Gil Kenan. 

Secret Society Of Paper 

Arts & crafts has never been this funny. This society 

releases travelling journals full of paper tutorials. 

Funny adventures and eye candy, all on paper 

or as a pdf version. Download a copy to join. 

Cocoppa 

Easy to use app to change the look of your phone 

icons. It works with both iPhone and Android 

devices. It also features backgrounds, all designed 

by its users. Thousands of icon designs available. 

You can even design and upload your own. 

Serial season two 

The succesful podcast will have a second season. 

But the featured story will be a new one. If you 

haven’t yet listened to this mysterious real-life 

case you can do so for free on the official site. 

Twin Peaks to return in 

David Lynch’s masterpiece will be back next 

year. When Laura said “I will see you again 

in 25 years” she wasn’t lying. Laura will be 

back on the show, with agent Cooper, Bobby 

and Leland among other names in the cast. 

6 


BA BA DUM 

Want to gain vocabulary in any language? Then 

you will love this! Pick a language and start playing 

Ba Ba Dum. A super addictive learning 

game. All you have to do is point and click. 

Manic Street Preachers US 

Manic Street Preachers will be touring the US and 

Canada in April and early May. It will be a small 

tour that will take them to a few cities: Chicago, 

New York, Washington, Boston, Los Angeles, San 

Francisco and Toronto. The gigs will conmemorate 

the 20th anniversary of their masterpiece album 

The Holy Bible. This year also marks a sad 

anniversary for the band. Twenty years ago, on 

February 1st 1995, Richey Edwards a member of 

the band (lyricist and second guitar), went missing 

hours before a promotional trip to the US. 

His whereabouts are still a mystery. 

Neila Rey 

On this website we can find lots of free workouts 

inspired by tv shows and films (from Sherlock to 

The Hunger Games) as well as motivational quotes 

and nutrition advice. If being healthier is one of 

your 2015 resolutions this will be a good help. 

Alice In Wonderland 

This year is the 150th anniversary of the publication 

of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by 

Lewis Carroll! 


Hedy Lemarr 

AN ARTICLE ABOUT THE MUSE BEHIND OUR NAME IS SOMETHING 

WE CAN’T SKIP. GLORIA TELLS US EVERYTHING ABOUT THE 

HOLLYWOOD BEAUTY WHO INVENTED WI-FI 

Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler, who’d later go 

by the name Hedy Lamarr, was born 

on November 9 1914 in Vienna, the then capital 

of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now merely 

capital of Austria). Born to be wild, she shocked 

European audiences when, in 1933 and at just 19 

years of age, she appeared nude—whilst faking 

an orgasm in a close-up 

shot, among others—in a 

Czech film called Ecstasy. 

The movie was rather 

scandalous, so in order to 

subdue the whole affair a 

bit, she went and married 

a stinking rich Austrian 

arms dealer, as you do. 

Fritz Mandl was a half Jew who was good pals 

with Hitler and Mussolini—they never failed 

to purchase the odd tonne of munition or two. 

It was during the many opulent dinner parties 

“SHE SHOCKED EUROPEAN 

AUDIENCES WHEN, IN 1933 

AND AT JUST 19 YEARS OF AGE, 

SHE APPEARED NUDE—WHILST 

FAKING AN ORGASM IN A 

CLOSE-UP SHOT” 

the fascist jet set enjoyed at the Mandl’s castle in 

Austria, as well as the many business conferences 

she attended as her hubby’s plus one, that Hedy 

(still Hedwig, then) was first introduced to the 

fascinating world of military technology. But 

Fritz wasn’t at all into her wife being an actress, 

or into her leaving the house very much at all 

really, and she was thus 

living life as a proverbial 

Rapunzel imprisoned 

in Schloß Schwarzenau, 

Austria. Hedwig had had 

just about enough, so 

she —again, as you do— 

slipped the maid a roofie 

(or several), put on her 

clothes to impersonate her, fled her husband 

and took off to Paris.The story doesn’t end there, 

of course. In Paris, Hedwig met Louis B. Mayer 

(a.k.a. cofounder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) 

8 



who thought she was fab, suggested she drop 

the name and change it to “Hedy Lamarr” and 

took her to Hollywood where he advertised her 

as “the world’s most beautiful woman”. Hedy 

soon became an established box-office belle 

(“Any girl can look glamorous — just stand still 

and look stupid!”) in the 1940s, being invariably 

cast as a continental sultry temptress. With 

World War II raging overseas, she’d grown bored 

of Hollywood and felt restless and eager to 

do something. Hedy knew some things about 

military engineering. She’d spent four years 

apparently playing arm candy to an arms dealer 

who supplied Nazi Germany and had regularly 

met up with various fascist leaders and scientists, 

but as it so happens, she had been paying 

attention to what was being said too. Hedy 

knew about torpedoes. They could be either 

controlled by wire or by radio control. Radio 

control would have been ideal if it wasn’t for 

the fact that a signal broadcast on one frequency 

was absolutely unreliable, as it could easily 

get intercepted or would without fail catch 

interferences which would then disrupt the 

course of the torpedo. So she came up with the 

idea of a signal that would hop intermittently 

between frequencies, with both the transmitter 

and the receiver synchronised so that they’d be 

sharing the entire signal while third parties listening 

in on a certain frequency would only get 

the odd blip out of many. Hedy, however, didn’t 

know how to actually put her idea into practi- 

10 


ce. In comes George Antheil, a multifaceted 

genius avant-garde futurist pianist and also 

Hedy’s neighbour in California. Antheil was a 

sort of Brian Eno of his time and had come up 

with all sorts of innovative gizmos in order to 

Make Music Differently—among which was a 

little invention that had allowed him to come 

up with a way of getting a piano to play automatically. 

It basically consisted of a paper roll 

with slots on 88 different places (corresponding 

to the number of keys in a piano) that’d 

prompt the different keys to play during a certain 

number of beats. If the transmitter and the 

receiver were equipped with the same sequence 

of ‘jumps’ and triggered off at the same time, 

they’d stay in sync during broadcast. And so 

frequency hopping was born. Hedy and George 

Antheil got a patent in 1942. And… that’s 

it. The U.S. Navy decided, so to speak, to pass 

(because, honestly, how was taking seriously 

an invention penned by an eccentric bohemian 

pianist and a Hollywood starlet not a stretch, 

gentlemen!) To add insult to injury, when Hedy 

requested to join the National Inventors Council, 

she was told she should sell War Bonds if she 

wanted to help. Frequency-hopping technology 

to keep torpedoes on course wasn’t used until 

1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when 

the patent had already expired. Hedy’s career in 

Hollywood progressively declined until it became 

practically non-existent in the 1960s, a fact 

exacerbated by a spell of shoplifting or two that 


12 


got through to the tabloids and an autobiography gone 

that went slightly wrong (do avoid ghost writers if the 

situation ever arises, ladies). She became increasingly 

secluded, and as her health started to fail, she moved 

to Florida, where she died aged 85 in 2000. Frequency 

hopping, however, went on to become the basis of many 

of today’s wireless technologies, and Hedy Lamarr and 

George Antheil were finally included in the Inventor’s 

Hall of Fame in 2014. 

So thank you, Hedy, for being so fucking remarkable 

and clever, for having contributed to the existence of 

wireless internet and for letting us borrow your Hollywood 

epithet for our magazine. 

WORDS BY GLORIA Estevan. PHOTOS PUBLIC DOMAIN 


The Pendle 

witches 

THE PENDLE WITCH TRIALS, ARE PART OF THE DARK HISTORY 

OF ENGLAND AND ONE OF THE WORST CASES OF 

WITCH HUNTS IN EUROPE 

WORDS BY ULRIKE UELZEN. illustrations public domain. pendle photo by dr greg 

14 


“ PENDLE BECAME THE SITE OF ONE 

OF THE WORST WITCH HUNTS IN THE 

HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS 

The summer of 2012 saw strange goingson 

in the usually quiet Lancashire countryside 

around Pendle Hill: the unveiling of a 

life-sized statue of a woman called Alice Nutter, 

a procession of 482 people dressed up as witches 

going up the hill (a world record, actually), and 

the display of the date “1612” on the hillside, visible 

throughout the valley. This last event even 

managed to upset the Bishop of Burnley, Rev. 

John Goddard. Witches taking over a quiet English 

village, a mysterious woman with a strange 

name, and the church being concerned about it 

all – no, this is not a lost Neil-Gamain-novelplot, 

this all happened three years ago while we 

weren’t watching (wish Neil made it a novel, 

though!). So what lies behind it all? Where does 

it all begin? Well, the question is rather: when, 

and that takes us straight back to 1612. In 1612 

Lancashire and the Forest of Pendle had a sinister 

reputation: poor, sparsely populated and remote, 

the area was thought to be inhabited by 

rough, near-enough lawless people. Most people 

were poor and had no education at all. They 

clung to the old traditions handed down for generations 

when it came to running their villages 

and religious matters. Official law did exist, but 

very often it was abused to settle old feuds, and 

frequently it was by-passed for mob justice. Official 

religion as decreed by King James I was the 

protestant Anglican church, which people had to 

attend by law, but often people secretly attended 

Catholic mass. Superstition and belief in ghosts 

and witchcraft was deeply ingrained in village 

life, and it is before this background that in 1612 

the parish of Whalley in Pendle became the site 

of one of the worst witch hunts in the history of 

the British Islands. John Law was a pedlar, a medieval 

door-to-door tradesman, and March 18th 

1612 turned out to be the day disaster struck 

him down: as he was walking just outside Colne 


in Pendle Forest he came across 

Alizon Device, who asked him 

for a few pins. Law refused the 

request, which enraged Alizon 

so much that she cursed him. 

Within minutes John Law suffered 

a stroke from 

which he was never 

to recover. His 

family filed a complaint 

about John 

having been harmed 

by witchcraft 

with the local Justice of the 

Peace (JP) and in the atmosphere 

of persecuting religious 

heretics that was gripping Lancashire 

the accusations were 

being taken serious. The hunt 

was on. One thing that makes 

this case special is the ease with 

which JP Roger Nowell obtained 

confessions – Alizon herself 

confessed straight away to 

having cursed Law, and also 

“ALIZON HERSELF CONFESSED 

STRAIGHT AWAY TO HAVING 

CURSED LAW, AND ALSO 

ADMITTED TO HAVING SOLD HER 

SOUL TO THE DEVIL” 

admitted to having sold her 

soul to the devil, and she accused 

various other members 

of her family of similar acts of 

harmful magic, carrying out 

disturbing rituals, and having 

pacts with the devil. She also 

accused Anne Whittle, known 

as Old Chattox, the more than 

80-year-old matriarch of a rival 

family. Both families, the 

Chattoxes as well as Alizon’s, 

which was led by 

grandmo- 

Elizabeth 

her 

ther 

Southerns, also in 

her eighties and 

known as Old Demdike 

(“demonic 

crone”) had much in common: 

even the younger members 

were extremely poor and excluded 

from village society and 

made their living from a mix 

of small-time (respectable) 

16 


work, begging, and cunningwork 

or “white” witchcraft. 

This mostly consisted of herbal 

medicine and spells to ward 

off evil or attract good things, 

such as love, prosperity, fertility. 

However, such cunning 

folk were often feared as much 

as respected and with the rise 

of Protestantism the official 

church turned against them 

even more fiercely than before, 

on a mission to weed out 

superstition. And there is no 

doubt that the Chattox and 

Demdike clans were not very 

popular in Pendle Forest, even 

if needed at times. Misogyny, 

fear of their supposed powers, 

FICTION 

Most fictional treatments of the case 

seem to get hideous reviews – just do a 

quick search for The Daylight Gate to get a 

taste – but two works that seem to stand 

up to scrutiny are the novella Malkin Child 

by Livi Michael and the novel Daughters 

of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt. In 

fact, they are on my reading list, now. For 

a proper, long-winded classic from a writer 

once thought to be on par with Charles 

Dickens, try The Lancashire Witches 

by William Harrison Ainsworth. 

and changing times all partly 

account for why those two families 

were so readily condemned 

by their communities. But 

there is more to it yet, and that 

is shown in the belligerent and 

malicious ways in which they 

accused one another – family 

against family, brother against 

sister, daughter against mother. 

Some of the accounts are 

certainly dismissable, despite 

being made freely, as being 

made by feeble-minded witnesses: 

Alizon Device’s brother 

James was mentally disabled 

by today’s standards, Anne 

Whittle and Elizabeth Southern 

would probably count as suffering 

from dementia. Jennet 

Device, whose evidence was 

crucial in sending her family 

to the gallows, was only 9 years 

old. And still – Alizon at least 

believed in her confession, and 

she seems to have deliberately 

brought others down with her. 

The accusations and counteraccusations 

of the families 

soon led to the arrest to be put 

on trial for Alizon Device herself, 

her grandmother Elizabeth 

Southerns, as well as Anne 

Whittle and her daughter Elizabeth 

Redferne – all of which 

now stood accused of causing 

death by witchcraft, a crime 

punishable by hanging. At 

this point something caught 

JP Nowell’s interest that was to 

transform a local tragedy sparked 

off by a pedlar suffering a 

stroke at just the wrong moment 

into the witch trial which 

alone accounts for 2 percent 

of all executions for witchcraft 

in England: On Good Friday 

1612 the Demdike family 

hosted a supper for a group of 

family and supporters at their 

family home called Malkin 

Tower. Well, at least it has been 

claimed that they did, and that 

James Device stole a sheep for 

it (sheep-rustling would have 

been enough to condemn him 


to the gallows). Now eight more people stood accused: 

Device, James Device, Katherine Hewitt, John 

Bulcock, Jane Bulcock, Alice Gray, Jennet Preston 

from Yorkshire, and Alice Nutter, whose statue we 

encountered above. Not only were they accused of 

witchcraft in general, but crucially of a conspiracy 

to try and blow up Lancaster Castle by magic. They 

too were now awaiting trial in Lancaster Castle gaol. 

The trial itself was not short of tragedy: blind, confused 

and frail Elizabeth Southerns died at Lancaster 

Castle, cheating her persecutors of the chance to 

see her hang. Many of the accused, especially those 

implied in the improbable meeting at Malkin Tower, 

desperately pleaded their innocence, but to no avail. 

Nine-year-old Jennet Device calmly asked for her 

mother to be removed from the courtroom, so that 

she could give her witness statement, condemning 

her family to the gallows, without being interrupted 

by her mother’s desperate sobs. In the end only 

Alice Gray was found not guilty. Jennet Preston 

was hung at Knavesmire (at the site of York Race 

Course), Yorkshire on 27th July 1612. Alizon Device, 

Elizabeth Device, James Device, Anne Whittle, 

Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, 

John Bulcock and Jane Bulcock were hung at Gallows 

Hill, Lancaster on August 20th 1612. There 

is still dispute amongst historians today as to what 

really happened at Pendle Forest in 1612. The most 

likely scenario is a mixture of mass hysteria and a 

family feud gone bad, leading to the destruction of 

THE LANCASHIRE WITCHES: A CHRONICLE OF SORCERY AND DEATH ON PENDLE HILL BY PHILIP C ALMOND 

Readable and profound analysis of the trials, even though his conclusion about the Malkin Tower meeting is a bit daring. 

Very useful chronology. 

THE WONDERFUL DISCOVERY OF WITCHES IN THE COUNTY OF LANCASTER: MODERNISED AND INTRODUCED BY ROBERT 

POOLE BY THOMAS POTTS 

If you like your history dry and factual and with every little bit of of known info available, our man Robert’s collection of 

essays is your thing. Plus, he modernised and republished the original witch trial pamphlet. Hero! 

18 


two families and a lot of people 

around them. But that does 

not explain why Jennet Device 

would hate her family so much 

that she would behave as she 

did, even if she had been taught 

her statements by court officials 

eager to win favour with a political 

elite obsessed with witchcraft 

– King James I himself had 

written a demonology. Many of 

the accused were Catholics, and 

the meeting at Malkin Tower 

again fits with a paranoid political 

class in an unpopular county 

trying to uncover another 

Gunpowder Plot to impress the 

court in London. So local events 

A PETITION TO JACK STRAW TO 

POSTHUMOUSLY PARDON THE 

PENDLE WITCHES WAS REJECTED 

gone out of control? Political 

spin? Most likely an unhealthy 

mixture of both that lead to the 

death of many innocent people, 

or at least not guilty of anything 

more than – in the case of the 

Demdikes and Chattoxes – being 

poor and unlikeable. There 

is a coda: In 1998 a petition to 

the then home secretary Jack 

Straw to posthumously pardon 

the Pendle Witches was rejected, 

likewise a similar petition 

to pardon Elizabeth Southern 

(Old Demdike) and Anne 

Whittle (Old Chattox) started 

ten years later. Apparently it easier 

to erect statues, encourage 

dress-up and use “our witches” 

to encourage heritage tourism 

than to face up to the injustices 

of the past. 


These days the county of Lancashire is mighty 

proud of its witches, and does a lot to promote 

the sites associated with them. Info for visitors, 

including suggested walks, museums and touristy 

paraphernalia can be found her. 

The statue of of Alice Nutter in Roughlee remains 

a bit of a mystery: according to the village’s endearing 

website it’s located “on Blacko Bar Road 

between Crowtrees and Roughlee”. Nevermind 

them sticking her on the main road through the 

village instead of the centre – google streetview 

fails to show her. Maybe witches are invisible 

on google? Let’s head to Roughlee and find out! 

(And ask down the pub why they don’t put her in 

the village centre if they love her so much, now?) 

Alice Nutter is also thought to have lived in 

Roughlee Old Hall, a building which is also supposedly 

haunted by her. Coming down Blacko 

Bar Road from the village centre towards 

Crowtrees (hunting for the elusive Alice statue), 

look out to your right for Old Hall Close. The 

building you see at the end of the little lane is 

the hall. Stopping briefly for a picture should be 

acceptable, but PLEASE be respectful, as this is 

a private home, and IF you are disrespectful, do 

NOT under any circumstances mention us. Enjoy 

exploring! 

20 


Hedy’s Soundtrack 

Issue I 

Sue Or In A Season Of Crime by David Bowie 

There’s a Girl in the Corner by The Twilight Sad 

Hesitating Beauty by Wilco 

RUN by Kill It Kid 

WICKED GAME by Gemma Hayes 

Mirror Monster by Deerhoof 

Zombie by The Coathangers 

Easy Money by Johnny Marr 

Body Betrays Itself by Pharmakon 


22 



A day in Paris 

LAURA LEFT HER HOMETOWN TO LIVE IN PARIS 

SHE’S NOW OUR GUIDE TO SOME NICE 

PLACES IN THIS MAGIC CITY 

Staring our day in Paris, we visit Montmartre. 

This neighbourhood, once quite bohemian, 

is now full of tourists (though it still hides 

some lovely places). We have breakfast at Milk. 

This small restaurant looks like a dollhouse, full 

of lovely objects and delicious jams! We then visit 

some quaint shops, such as the Marché Saint- 

Pierre (a building with lots of floors dedicated 

to selling precious fabrics). Inevitably we won’t 

leave without at least a few samples. The street 

is a paradise for those who love sewing, and has 

more fabric stores to browse. The next shop, Belle 

de Jour, is a gem. The luxurious perfume bottles 

are a dream! All beautifully painted and elegant, 

there’s many different shapes to chose from. Looking 

from the window you can admire the variety 

of bottles. Also, within the store, there’s a miniature 

of the facade.Most French restaurants close 

their kitchen after lunch, so if you’ve not eaten 

by 14:30, I recommend trying something different 

in Japantown. At the Aki Restaurant, the speciality 

is Okonomiyaki. It’s a dough with various 

ingredients (flour, egg, onion, mochi and cheese) 

eaten with a choice of meat, squid or vegetables, 

all grilled and served within a rich sauce. 

A dish that will fill us with energy to continue 

the ride! This neighbourhood is great for lovers 

of all things oriental. The library Book-Off is unmissable! 

Books, CDs, video games and Japanese 

films starting at two euros, a store to spend 

hours browsing. Totally recommended for lovers 

of manga and craft books. Also, for those who 

want to improve their French, their sister store is 

located opposite. There’s many museums in Paris 

worth visiting, one that’s highly recommended is 

the Musée des Arts Décoratifs. Found in the first 

quarter, it’s part of the building of the Louvre. A 

great place to wander, its rooms are filled with 

antique furniture, tableware and hosts an entire 

collection of iconic design objects. If you still 

have time in the afternoon, we can visit the familiar 

tenth quarter, and, weather permitting, we 

24 


WANDER ALONG THE CANAL SAINT 

MARTIN, A QUIET AND FRIENDLY 

PLACE THAT KEEPS THE 

PARISIAN CHARM 

can wander along the Canal Saint Martin, a quiet 

and friendly place that keeps the Parisian charm. 

Paris has many passages ideal for shelter when 

it rains, so before dark we’ll check out Joffrey 

passage. This place is full of cute little shops and 

features Pain d’Epice, a shop dedicated to toys 

and millions of precious miniatures! As we’re 

staying in the ninth district, we’ll have dinner at 

the Bouillon Chartier. A typical French restaurant, 

it’s gigantic, delicious and cheap. And before 

we arrive at the hotel and finish this day so 

intense, we’ll take the subway to the Trocadero. 

There we’ll observe the romantic Eiffel Tower, 

and watch out for its sparkling lights that blink 

once an hour. 

MILK 

62 Rue d’Orsel 

MARCHÉ SAINT-PIERRE 

2 Rue Charles Nodier 

BELLE DE JOUR 

7 Rue Tardieu 

AKI 

11 Rue Sainte-Anne 

BOOK-OFF 

29-31 rue Saint-Augustin 

MUSÉE - LOUVRE 

107 Rue de Rivoli 

PAIN D’ÉPICES 

29 Passage Jouffroy 

BOUILLON CHARTIER 

7 Rue du Faubourg 

WORDS AND ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA GOMEZ 

TRANSLATION BY JOHN SLATEX 


Dutch women 

painters 

As a lover of art and especially paintings 

leo had some questions, and after 

research she found some answers 

26 


Are there no great female artists in Dutch 

history? Yes, there are! Are they hushed 

up? I believe so. Are the only women who 

had something to do with art the nude models 

or muses who are shown in the paintings? No! 

Those are the answers that I found. Was art 

made by women by definition “craft”? A craft 

considered inferior to real “art”? After seeing 

some work of female Dutch painters (some I 

only came across by accident) I came to the 

conclusion that they are certainly no less great 

than the works of let’s say Rembrandt, Vermeer 

and my favourite painter Van Gogh. In the 

19th century 1100 women practised fine arts 

in the Netherlands. Most of these women were 

forgotten after death. The art world was rather 

unfavourable to women and painting was seen 

as a leisure activity for wealthy ladies. A professional 

career was reserved for only a few. 

Female painters can be split in two categories: 

a considerable group of ladies from the 

upper classes and the bourgeoisie who during 

their upbringing had learned how to draw 

and paint. They practised the art as a hobby. 

In addition there was a larger group of women 

who had developed as a professional artist 

and sold their work to generate an income. A 

solid art training was of great importance for 

all these women. But that wasn’t easy because 

the art schools traditionally did not admit wo- 


28 


men. The main reason was that art schools 

required their students to produce drawings 

of live nude male models: it was considered 

this was not morally appropriate for 

women. But in 1871 the “Rijksakademie” 

of Fine Arts, as one of the first art academies 

in Europe, allowed female students. A 

woman who wanted to build a professional 

practice in the 19th century had to combine 

her artistic practice with social expectations. 

In the first place she had to be a dedicated 

wife and mother. As this combination 

was not easy, many female artists married 

late or not at all, and many also remained 

childless. These women artists needed perseverance 

to compete and keep up with 

the prevailing standards of the art establishment. 

Exhibitions of masters organized 

annually between 1808-1917 in various cities 

in the Netherlands formed the gateway 

to the world of art for female artists. Only 

towards the end of the century art buyers, 

dealers and museums were often in personal 

contact with them. Being a professional, 

commercial artist revealed a possibility for 

a woman to provide for a part of her own 

livelihood. Although in recent years female 

artists have been exposed through publications 

and exhibitions,most female painters 

were forgotten. The problem of their neglected 

position in the art world is occasionally 

touched, but a comprehensive study 

of the position and development of Dutch 

female artists is still missing! I will introduce 

you to four Dutch female painters and 

their beautiful work – hopefully they will 

NOT be forgotten. And I leave you readers 

to decide whether theirs is art or not. 

1 Maria Van Oisterwijck - VANITAS STILL LIFE 

2 Rachel Ruysch - FRUITS AND INSECTS 

3 Judith Leyster - FLOWERS IN A VASE 

4 Annie Caroline Toorop - PORTRET VAN DE DRIE 

KINDEREN JELGERSMA 

WORDS BY LEONIE VERMEER 


Video games for 

people who don’t 

like video games 

DO YOU KNOW ANY VIDEO GAME WITH RIOT GRRL BANDS IN THE 

SOUNDTRACK? OR ONE TO PLAY AN INMIGRATION OFFICER? CELIA 

KNOWS THEM ALL! 

I 

still vividly remember the first time my family 

bought a video game console. One of my older 

brother’s friends had lent him an early Atari 

console for the weekend with a bunch of heavilypixelated 

loudly-beeping games. By Monday it 

was clear that we needed one. Some weeks later 

on a Saturday morning, the four of us took the 

train from our seaside suburb town right to the 

centre of Barcelona. We bought a Nintendo NES 

for what was a small fortune for my family at the 

time, along with the first Super Mario Bros on the 

staff ’s recommendation and a game called Skate 

Or Die! because my brother liked the punk guy 

in it. Playing video games soon became a family 

activity. After school and during weekends we 

sat around the screen and took turns at clearing 

the levels, I was only five or six at the time and 

an awful player, but my Dad and brother dutifully 

handed the pad when it was my turn, even 

though I always had to be Luigi. Together we 

solved Maniac Mansion’s puzzles, got frustrated 

with Rygar and laughed with Monkey Island. 

However, being a teenager during the peak of the 

Playstation era only a alienated me from the gaming 

culture. I wasn’t interested in bestselling 

franchises and couldn’t relate to the shooters, 

action or sports games that became massively 

popular. Suddenly video games felt like they 

weren’t made for me and I recalled with nostalgia 

the age of graphic adventures and simple platformers. 

Luckily we have come a long way and even 

though mainstream commercial games are still 

dominated by the same franchises, the spectrum 

of games has widened extraordinarily with the 

emergence of independent, or indie, games. Indie 

games first appeared in the early 1990s but it 

wasn’t until the mid 2000s that the number of titles 

began to escalate quickly. This surge has been 

mainly due to to the appearance of toolkits that 

make developing games for consoles and mobile 

phones easier, made available by the major manufacturers 

themselves but also by independent 

30 


third parties like Unity. Over the last five years 

the indie game scene has exploded, with their 

own trade shows, awards, documentaries and 

an ever growing number of studios worldwide. 

Aside from being present in PCs and smartphones, 

popular titles are being made available for 

their consoles by Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. 

The availability of technical resources and the 

possibilities for self publishing that the internet 

offers have made possible that people from 

different backgrounds can now make and sell 

their own games in a DIY spirit similar to that of 

zine makers, bringing a fresh and new perspective 

to games. As opposed to mainstream commercial 

games, indie games are deeply personal 

and draw inspiration from a whole new range of 

themes and experiences. As a result minorities 

are exceedingly becoming represented in games 

that touch upon issues such as queer culture, feminism, 

mental illness or politics. At the same 

time, innovation in storytelling and gameplay 

mechanics have been sending waves through 

the traditional gaming community, not always 

open to allowing these new forms of games being 

brought up into the scene. But for those of 

us who have been dissatisfied with commercial 

video games and even for those who have never 

been interested in them, the appearance of a new 

range of games is a welcome revolution. 

WORDS BY CELIA BORRULL 


Our favourite 

games! 

Papers, Please 

A critics and fan favourite, Papers, Please is set in the dystopian country of 

Arstotzka, which has recently opened its borders after years of political tension. 

You play as a newly appointed immigration officer and your task is to review 

the documents of anyone attempting to enter the country and grant or deny 

their entrance accordingly. Papers, Please is emotionally draining and presents 

serious moral dilemmas. As you advance in the game you’ll be torn between 

dutifully doing your job and accepting bribes that can pay for your family’s 

bills, all this while trying not to empathise with the applicant’s circumstances. 

Monument Valley 

80 DAYS 

A text-based adventure based on the famous novel by Jules Verne and set in 

a steampunk world, 80 Days is what you always dreamed choose-your-ownadventure 

books would be. You play as Passepartout, Phileas Fogg’s valet and 

personal assistant in his race around the world. Setting off from London, you 

are faced with several course of actions to choose from through each stage of 

the trip. The impeccable writing on the game and the wide range of options 

available on the routes will keep you coming back to it and completing the 

game several times through. 

One of the most aesthetically pleasing games of 2014. Developed by indie studio 

Ustwo, Monument Valley is a 3D puzzle game with optical illusions reminiscent 

of Escher’s famous drawings. Simple interaction with the background will unfold 

impossible stairs, change planes and rearrange corridors allowing Princess 

Ida to advance to the goal at each stage, while immersing the player in a beautifully 

soothing world. 

32 


Gone Home 

Gone Home is a story-driven exploration game that takes place completely inside 

a house. You play as a young woman who returns to her family home after a 

year abroad to find a seemingly empty house with no one to receive her. Despite 

the very unsettling feelings that this empty house provokes in the player, there 

is no action in the whole game. Instead you will find objects and mementos left 

behind by your family that will allow you to discover the story of this past year 

in their lives, mainly through your sister’s notes and diary entries. The soundtrack 

made up by Riot Grrrl tapes that you find around the house is a big plus. 

Mountain 

Described as an “ambient procedural game”, Mountain is what one could call 

a mountain simulator developed by David OReilly, best known as the artist 

behind the holographic video game that appears in the movie HER. The game 

starts by generating a floating mountain and offers a somewhat existential gaming 

experience, in which you interact with nature and objects that eventually 

make their way into your mountain. Mountain is a relaxing and intriguing 

game, there are no goals or tasks, simply watch over your mountain and ask 

yourself why are you feeling melancholic about a bunch of virtual rocks. 

illustration by chus lopez 


Travelling Europe 

Angels travels around Europe with her camera 

She shares some of her inspirations with us 

CAPPADOCIA, TURKEY 

you get great pictures 

from a hot-air balloon! 

ROME, ITALY 

Statue hunting 

could be a hobby itself 

34 


TENBY, WALES 

Boats look nicer 

than people 

POOLEWE, SCOTLAND 

lakes give you a nice 

palette of colours 

PARIS, FRANCE 

Architecture can be an 

asset to your pictures 

ST. PETERSBURG, 

RUSSIA 

History is something to 

have in mind 

PHOTOS BY ANGELS ALCAIDE 


Martha Rich 

Susana talks to martha rich about her art, 

projects , inspiration and 

social media 

Once you said something along the lines 

that you wanted your art to be like a 

Louis CK stand-up, I thought that was a very 

refreshing statement, and I just want to start 

by saying thank you for making art fun for a 

change. Your life has been filled with seminal 

experiences, but what was the moment that 

made you decide to reset your life and be a full 

time artist? 

After a series of mundane and life-changing 

events that began when I was born, I was in a 

classroom and my teachers Rob and Christian 

Clayton pulled me aside and told me I could do 

it. For some reason it was a that moment in time 

I believed them. 

You do so many things, the drawing club in 

the train, teaching, art shows, apparel... How 

do you keep your art activity so constant? 

I am a naturally lazy person but I am also not 

very tolerant of things I don’t like to do. I worked 

in corporate America for 15 years and the 

thought of going back to a cubicle is a HUGE 

motivation to keep the art activity going. HUGE 

I tell ya! I assign myself fun projects to do and 

they always seem to lead to something else that 

is fun to do. I have to keep the momentum going 

so I don’t have to wear pantyhose in a cubicle 

again. I am not good at working for the man. 

You strike me as a beach/street comber, if you 

are, which have been one of your best finds? 

Do you collect anything? 

While I do love combing the beach and the 

streets, I am more of an experience collector 

these days. This is because when I was packing 

for my move from Pasadena to Philadelphia my 

hoarding tendencies were shoved in my face. It 

36 



38 


was kind of embarrassing when I found a dead, 

flattened, dried out mouse amongst my vintage 

magazines and ephemera. So these days I don’t go 

to estate sales or junk shops anymore and instead 

go to weird or cool places like the Space Acorn 

in Kecksburg, PA or to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in 

Hurricane Mills or Wild Blueberry Land in Columbia 

Falls, Maine. I do collect magnets from 

my travels though. 

Any advise to those of us trying to break away 

from the cubicle, is it possible to be a cubicle 

artist? 

Yes it is possible! When I was first trying to be an 

illustrator I worked for Baxter Healthcare. They 

do scientific things and make machines that take 

the platelets out of your blood. I met interesting 

scientists there. My boss had books on her shelf 

that had pictures of gross diseases. The worst 

was a picture of a giant worm being pulled from 

someone’s knee. The best art comes from daily 

life. My friend Julie Murphy created some of 

the funniest art while she also was working at a 

Healthcare Corp. was a picture of a giant worm 

being pulled from someone’s knee. The best art 

comes from daily life. 

You are active in social media and rarely post 

the same thing in the different platforms you 

use, how do you balance social media use and 

your art work? 

YES! It gives me more control over my own career. 

I don’t have to rely on someone else publicizing 

my work. I don’t have to go the traditional 

route of becoming an artist. 

I sell artwork on social media, I connect with 

interesting people on social media who end up 

hiring me. It’s SUPER! I know social media is 

much maligned but it can be good too! It’s all 

how you use it. I feel really lucky that my career 

coincided with it’s invention. If I had gone to art 

school when I was younger in the 80s, I’d probably 

be an old fuddy duddy with a dying career 

yelling at kids to get off my lawn. 

When you started commuting and made a 

drawing club in the train, I thought it was the 

kind of thing that could save the world, tell us 

a bit about your experiences with that. (The 

train, not saving the world or maybe that too). 


I teach a great class in the Illustration MFA program 

at FIT in NYC where I get to bring in interesting 

speakers who talk about side projects 

leading to career shifts. Last year I brought in 

Andy Rementer, a fellow Philadelphian, and on 

the ride home he introduced me to the cafe car 

on Amtrak. I had always sat in the regular cars 

on my commutes to NYC and back. It was more 

fun to sit at a table and draw together. So now 

I always sit in the cafe car with a snack and a 

glass of wine, a sketchbook and markers. I pick 

a theme in NYC and try to fill the page before I 

get to Philadelphia. The short trip forces one to 

not think too much which for me dooms a piece 

of art. I have dreams of bringing together Philly 

and NYC artists to take over the cafe car, but I 

haven’t quite figured out the logistics yet. 

Do you have a dream project or is there a dream 

project in the works? 

Well this summer I get to fill the lobby area of the 

Wieden + Kennedy ad agency with my art and 

it’s pretty much a dream. Murals, installations, 

sketchbooks galore! It’s a super cool space and 

there isn’t the pressure of selling art for a gallerist 

or being fine arty. I get to be me. It’s intimidating 

and exciting at the same time. These are good 

things. AND I am doing all the illustrations for a 

new book by the Jealous Curator! I am having a 

pinch myself year. 

What’s the most indispensable item in your 

studio? My studio-mates.: Andrea Cipriani 

Mecchi, Matt Curtius and Gina Triplett. In your 

fridge? grapefruits. In your pantry? Wine and 

bourbon. In your wardrobe? Jeans and tees! 

What’s the last artwork you purchased? 

I just bought a print by Eugenia Loli and I commissioned 

a friend’s nephew to draw a portrait 

of my cat. 

Would you share with us a recipe against procrastination? 

Get off the computer and tell yourself you will 

draw for only 5 minutes. I read this tip while on 

the computer (ha), but it works as you usually 

keep going and before you know it you are working 

on something cool. 

40 



Let’s talk 

about hair 

My friend Chris told me about all those girls online with 

their hairy armpits dyed in bright colours. I checked 

the pics and saw all kinds of girls, with different looks, proudly 

showing their armpits and I thought: oh yeah! There are many trends 

in magazines and on tv, they come and go and change nothing, but 

this one is different. Girls are accepting their natural hair and are 

showing it proudly, not just by not shaving it off, but also by drawing 

attention to it with bold colours. You might like it, you might not, it 

doesn’t mean you are more feminine or more feminist, neither does 

it mean they are. But we have to admit that it screams freedom all 

over. Me myself, I shave, mostly because I think it’s much more hygienic 

when you’re sweating, but so much respect for those girls. I 

want to include some advice for girls wanting to cut, pluck or dye 

their hair in my little piece: there’s no wrong choice if it’s your choice. 

42 


FROM THE ROOTS! 

Plucking your armpit hair with wax, 

electrical epilators or any other method 

might hurt but in the long run it’s the 

most durable and neat method. Always 

choose wax over electric machines, some 

are fine but most of them will give you a 

terrible amount of ingrown hair. The best 

way to avoid those in any part of your 

body is through moisturising. 

CHOP IT OFF! 

There are different methods for you to 

shave your armpits. You can use a razor, 

hair removal cream, or an electric shaver. 

It’s a painful method, but the hair grows 

back faster and in many cases doesn’t 

look as neat as using wax. Always use 

foam before shaving with a razor, and 

hydrate your skin. If you use a razor buy 

one with more than 2 blades. 

COLOR ME BAD! 

So you have decided to give it a try? Some 

girls trim and even ‘design’ their armpit 

hair before dying it, so think if you want 

less of it or have it shorter or anything. 

Pick a dye that is not permanent, because 

those have more chemicals and you 

don’t want that in such a sensitive area 

of your body. The most popular brand 

among ‘dyers’ is Manic Panic, they have 

many colours and it fades with washes. 

WORDS BY LANA DENA. ILLUSTRATIONS BY GLORIA Estevan 


Hedy’s bookshelf 

THE ACCURSED -JOYCE OATES 

The perfect gothic story. This 

is what books with vampires, 

ghosts and demons should be 

like! TINA 

THE LONGEST JOURNEY - EM FORSTER 

I love Forster novels and this one, 

has all the elements of his literature. 

EVA 

THE PENELOPIAD - M ATWOOD 

Short book inspired by Penelope, 

wife of Odysseus, and 

her maids. A mythic tale in a 

new light. MAR 

MY WICKED WAYS - E FLYNN 

A history to discover the golden 

age of Hollywood from 

one charismatic actor. LAURA 

THE HOBBIT - J.R.R. TOLKIEN 

Recommended reading for all 

LOTR fans. JOANNE 

PERSIANA - S. GHAYOUR 

I collect recipes books and 

this one is my current favourite! 

MARTHA 

44 


NIGHT GAMES - ANNA KRIEN 

Krien follows the rape trial of 

a footballer and explains how 

football culture treats women as 

objects. CARA 

BLUE NIGHTS - JOAN DIDION 

A very touching book about 

loss. Made me cry a few times. 

Perfectly written and 

very honest. LANA 

WE WERE LIARS - E. LOCKHART 

A book that is easy to like, easy to 

read and yet clever. To be read in 

one sitting! ANA 

THE BRIEFCASE - HIROMI KAWAKAMI 

This book tells a realistic love 

story based on the love for Japanese 

food. CELIA 

THE BLUE FOX - SJON 

Reflects on both the horrors 

and wonders contained in 

human beings, a story to be 

read in wintertime, with a 

good cup of tea by your side. 

SUSANA 

THE ROSIE PROJECT - G. SIMSION 

Imagine Sheldon Cooper falling 

in love. Funny and unputdownable! 

MINA 


A call for 

rev-o-lution 

quietly bury their way into our subconscious 

from a very early age. The majority of literature 

about sex breeds us to please and see ourselves 

as instruments for man’s pleasure. Who is, of 

course, Prince Charming who never tells a lie! 

TV sex depicts instantly passionate sex with 

women writhing in ecstasy in 30 seconds flat (if 

we’re lucky) and so we end up with Mr Instant 

Access or acting out Ms Oh yeah, of course I 

came! Sometimes we come across something 

a bit more radical like a T-shirt with L7’s controversial 

“Smell the Magic” cover - which legend 

has it, got Sean Lennon kicked out of class. 

Should we dare to say what we want, or see sex 

as something we can have for the sheer pleasure 

of it, we risk being seen as scary. Women can 

risk their sexual health and autonomy by treating 

birth control as a male responsibility. How 

does sex make usually pro-active and responsikate 

will make you think about sex, 

female sexual roles in the media 

and orgasms 

Hold the headlines! Button down the 

hatches! A global emergency is underway 

and it’s affecting nearly half the population. 

What is it? All around the world women’s 

vaginas are shutting down out of sheer disappointment 

as we are not, or are hardly ever experiencing 

orgasms. We can’t get no oh, oh, OH! 

Why is this? Well, there are the mechanics of 

the situation. Maybe you’re lucky enough to be 

one of the 10% or so that can climax from penetrative 

sex alone. Maybe you’re sensitive enough 

to get off with a bit of grinding or are blessed 

with a freakishly erotic ear lobe (but if you are, 

you’re not reading this). Most of us need a bit of 

clitoral stimulation and getting it takes time, willingness 

and a bit of practise. There are also societal 

pressures. Women’s magazines telling us 

‘how to please your man’ and men’s magazines 

declaring ‘How to get her to do what you want’ 

46 


le women give up so much control over their 

bodies? Is it shame? Might the tales of fallen 

women, or the Madonna/ whore complex stop 

us acting in our own interests? Our virginity 

is something that is lost, opposed to our first 

sexual experiences being experiences gained. 

Men often feel the pressure of the slut/stud binary 

and are too embarrassed to ask if they’re 

doing it right, or accept being told what actually 

does it for us. Which assumes we know what 

does it for us. By the time we ditch our promise 

rings, chances are we’re a bit messed up by our 

flabby or lack of flabby bits. If not that, then the 

fear of smelling or tasting unpleasant, as though 

the human race hasn’t managed to keep going 

a few millenia without electric showers, plastic 

surgery, brazilians and modern day toiletries. In 

fact... wasn’t that what sex was like in the nineties? 

On the plus side, vibrator sales have been 

rising dramatically. One day I might even be 

able to travel with one without worrying about 

it going off during a suitcase check at customs. 

Women are using them to experience their first 

orgasms and if we’re a bit more confident, introducing 

them to our partners in the bedroom. 

But they’re also being used as a substitute for 

sex and so far, nothing I know of with a battery 

can replace the meaningfulness, emotions 

or desire in togetherness. So let’s start a conversation 

and break some taboos. Let’s start a 

trend: HERS FIRST! What if all parties put each 

other’s pleasure first? Society’s attitudes change 

by default if we change our own. Mechanics, after 

all, are on our side. Get it right and we can 

orgasm again, and again, and again, and again. 

That’s gotta make a little extra effort getting there 

worth it, right? 

WORDS BY KATE ANDERSON 


Greyish Tones 

WORDS BY EVA MELGAREJO. ILLUSTRATION BY LAURA GOMEZ 

My mother started getting grey hair at a 

very young age. My first memories of 

her are of a tall, lean woman with short grey hair. 

Now that she’s grown old, it has turned completely 

white. Like her, I started to get my first grey 

hairs in my twenties. But unlike her, I decided to 

dye it. I went red, auburn, black and dark brown 

recently. Until a couple of months ago. 

I was thinking about stopping to dye and let my 

natural hair out for a very long time. I work long 

hours and always had to find the moment to go 

to the hairdresser for the monthly retouch. I felt 

sort of trapped, forced, out of habit, out of fear. 

I started voicing my intentions to co-workers, 

friends and family. “But you’re too young.” “Grey 

hair makes you old.” “Why not? Try it. If you 

don’t like it, you can always dye it again.” Were 

some of their responses. 

So one day, I threw my habits and fear out of the 

window and went for it. Very short hair in all 

the splendour of its greyness is my new look. I 

must admit it was difficult at first, I looked in the 

mirror and saw a different person. But people 

started to compliment me on it: “You look good.” 

“This style suits you.” “It’s funny because you look 

younger.” Now I look in the mirror and I only see 

a smiling woman very content with herself. 

It may sound silly but I’ve learnt a lot from this. 

We are our worst enemies when our image is 

concerned. We tend to conform to society’s conventions 

or opinions which aren’t set in stone. 

Why do we equal grey/white hair with old age? 

Why do we view old age as something negative? 

As if life stopped when we reach a certain age. 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine to dye your hair 

if you feel like it, if you feel like changing your 

look, if you feel like experimenting or simply because 

you want to. But it’s also fine to go natural, 

to do whatever you like and not conform to stereotypes. 

At the end of the day, what makes you 

happy is what’s important. 

I’m happy with my decision. Less time wasted at 

the hairdresser, more money to spend on other 

things, more self-confidence. Now I understand 

why my mother was the way she was. 

48 



50 


Paradise City 

WORDS BY EVA MELGAREJO. PHOTO BY ANGEL SALGUERO 

To find your self is one of the purposes of 

life. Most seek gurus, meditate, create art 

or literature to accomplish it but I’ve found it’s 

easier than that. Simply walking alone across a 

city, any city, opens your mind, stimulates your 

senses and changes your perception of things. 

You have holidays, some days off work and mundane 

things and decide to travel. Or stay where 

you live. It doesn’t matter. You visit a city in 

another country or the one nearest to you and 

you put your most comfortable shoes to explore 

unknown worlds, magical places and mysterious 

spots. Walking is an exercise for the body 

and an exercise for the mind. Your eyes wander, 

they look in all directions because wonders may 

appear where you least expect it. 

When you visit a city you haven’t been to before, 

the experience is different than when you stroll 

down the streets of a city you know. If you know 

the road, you focus your attention on the things 

you may not have noticed before: an old building 

that’s always been there but the beauty of which 

you haven’t enjoyed properly, a hidden statue, a 

carved wall, a stone bench that’s in history books. 

You learn about the city and you learn about 

yourself. Because you might discover things in 

you, you weren’t aware of. Some days, you meet 

acquaintance on your outing; you have a chat 

with them or simply call out to wish them the 

best. On other days, you bump into tourists who 

are looking at the same things as you. but with different 

eyes. Sometimes, they enquire about this 

or that, they’re lost, they’re searching and you 

show them the way. You’ve been in their shoes 

plenty of times. If you like to write, you take a 

notebook with you to scribble your thoughts 

into, your feelings, and your adventures. If you 

like photography, you take your camera to picture 

the beauty that you see and perceive. 

When you enter new territory, it can be overwhelming: 

where to look? what to observe? where to 

go? But you feel like a kid who sees the world for 

the first time, it’s full of surprises, of mystery. You 

have two options: go to the popular places or let 

yourself be drifting. A museum, a monument, a 

famous square, a cathedral, your comfort zone. 

You don’t need to worry about a thing because 

everything is planned, secure. But the real adventure 

begins when you walk aimlessly along 

the less travelled path. You may find treasures 

within the city, secrets only you will know. And 

you certainly will find treasures within yourself. 

Isn’t life an adventure after all? 


Little girl 

fiction story by emilio lanzas 

The transparent veil appears, always covering 

bodies. It appears in her eyes, the bodies 

long gone, but she can still see them, lying there, 

establishing a kind of secret order. The forest is 

covered in filth and hope, it’s been a while since 

someone’s looked among the branches. Her bedroom 

floor is blanketed by her feather collection, 

as if by gathering together all the feathers 

in the world, she’d some day be able to fly, an 

inner Icarus—she’s desperate, of course. She buried 

her mother’s corpse, smothered it with kisses 

and threw it deep into the centre of the earth. 

She’d now be a woman with long white hair, 

which would be the only thing still clinging to 

her skeletal body. That’s how she envisages her, 

emerging from the blackness of her room, fear 

in her eyes and then a transparent, dark, oceanic 

kindness. Walking from one room to another, 

she reminisces and chews, her body grows smaller 

and she curls up into herself so as not to keel 

over under the ceremoniousness of the ceilings. 

She’s grown too big, they never thought she’d be 

so tall, their little monster. She then imagines her 

mother making something to eat in the kitchen, 

and she helps her reach the highest cabinets, she 

catches the heavy pots mid-flight before they 

fall on her white head, crushed and deformed 

from all the soil upon it. No child should ever 

grow taller than their mother, she thinks, and 

with that a new wave of flying thoughts that lash 

out at her and make her crouch down. She wishes 

she was no taller than a dog and could see 

things from its perspective. 5’6” and above and 

her head enters a new atmosphere, her skull cannot 

take the pressure and it tries to seek more 

benign latitudes. I bind your body to mine so that 

the current does not drag you away. I bind your 

body to mine so that we can float together, the tide 

rises and there are no sharks or sirens that can pull 

us into the sea, my daughter-woman. Rivers of 

saltwater and iridescent insects, a new discovery 

through different eyes, it was always like this, 

now that you remember, now that you’ve seized 

the burning memory with your hands, just tell 

me if it burns enough. Can you make it? Can you 

sustain your own life and feed another inside of 

you? Can you be as brave as she was? The eternal 

walk between rooms, from one to another, always 

doors, always the fear of finding her huddled in a 

corner, waiting for her, bright, gleaming in silver 

and perhaps wounded, broken. To get up and set 

foot on a new path, she doesn’t know what it is 

that enlivens fear. To find her? To lose her? To 

know her always veiled within those walls? Are 

there other doors to go through, away from that 

house? She rubs her middle and calls it, prays 

that nobody comes tonight and pounds on the 

door. There are no knuckles strong enough to 

make her hear the call. Am I not pretty enough? 

Is there no love in me? Can’t I unfold and lose 

my flesh? What can we do with what we can do. 

Grab it and shake it until it spits its last drops 

out, before it disappears along with everything 

else. Inside that room she feels a gentle, warm 

loneliness. She sits down in the middle and closes 

her eyes. Her placenta’s been chosen, where 

it can only come to be through silent gurgling, 

red sea wave breaks, as if it was in a boundless 

inner ocean, and everything else was wonderful 

by virtue of being unknown. 

52 


TRANSLATION BY GLORIA Estevan. photo by oscar xarrie 


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