Perception Spring 2023

Perception is a free arts and literary magazine published once each
semester by undergraduate students at Syracuse University.
We are now accepting submissions for the Fall 2023 issue. We accept
submissions from undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and
staff. We ask that submitters send no more than five art and five writing
pieces. Our writing page limit is four pages, and we accept submissions in
any language with an English translation.
Any questions and comments can be sent to perceptionmagsu@gmail.
com.
Want to stay connected? Follow us on Instagram @perception_su
The opinions expressed herein are not those of Syracuse University, the
Office of Student Activities, the Student Association, and the Student Body.
Many thanks to:
Sarah Harwell
Alicia Kavon
JoAnn Rhoads
Student Association
Cover Art
Front/Back Cover
Inside Front Cover
Inside Back Cover
Center Spreads
Center Spread 1
Center Spread 2
Sara Oppenheimer – Space Angel
(digital)
Nora Benko – Split
(ink pen)
Ronan Mansfield – can't hear you
(acrylic and graphite on illustration board)
Hayden Celentano – Little Colorful Robot
(photoshop)
Hayden Celentano – Tim and Moby Gone Awry
(photoshop)
Sarah Mednick – Swamp Lady
(digital)
Dear Perceivers,
In his poem “Nostalgia,” Billy Collins writes:
As usual, I was thinking about the moments of the past,
letting my memory rush over them like water
rushing over the stones on the bottom of a stream.
I was even thinking a little about the future, that place
where people are doing a dance we cannot imagine,
a dance whose name we can only guess.
While we never anticipate or receive a cohesive set of submissions, every
issue somehow settles itself into central themes that ripple through its pages
and surge to the surface of one’s mind. The written work this semester was
deeply personal, describing inherently individual experiences. Reading through
these pieces is captivating in that it pulls you from your own world and directly
into the experiences and emotions of someone else, leaving you longing for a
distant memory that is not your own, and for a comfort that you do not know.
The art echoed this theme of a detached nostalgia and lingering familiarity,
but brought along its own contrasting sense of futurism and anticipation. This
issue stands out to me in its ability to cascade through and draw together little,
vulnerable pebbles of a collective memory, and I would like to thank you all for
providing us with a little window into the lights and sounds that make up your
existence.
To our writers and artists, it truly is such an honor to work with and experience
your work. Without your continued trust and support, this publication would
not be possible. This magazine additionally owes its existence to the hard
work and dedication of our wonderful team, for whom I have an eternal
appreciation. Thank you so much to Brenna Phelan for dedicating your
creative brilliance and humor to this magazine, to Kaitlin LaRosa for your
endlessly comforting presence during an endlessly chaotic process, to Kate
Eisinger for miraculously pulling the most gorgeous and artful concepts from
my most incoherent thoughts, and to Katherine Nikolau and Yasmin Nayrouz
for finding the harmony in our submissions. I genuinely adore each and every
one of you.
I am so excited to present our 41st issue of Perception Magazine, and I hope
you each enjoy the warm embrace of little remembrances within its pages.
Yours truly,
Noor Zamamiri
Editor-in-Chief