Remember When Quarto Was A Class?

Remember When Quarto Was A Class?
In Conversation with Former Executive Editor Declan Joyce
Written by Theo Martien

Over the past semester, I’ve spent much time combing through Quarto’s archives. In my investigation, I’ve gathered hints of how Quarto changed over time: in our 76 years of print, Quarto has weathered many seasons. Alas, the title pages of old volumes can only reveal clues about our ever-evolving magazine—like the names of past editors. To enrich my tracing of Quarto’s history, I set out to interview these alumni. This pursuit led to my phone call with Declan Joyce, the Executive Editor of Quarto in 2002.

Declan studied at the School for General Studies (GS) from 1998 to 2003, then spent the following year at the Journalism School. In Declan’s era, only GS students could edit or submit to Quarto. Though Declan studied at Columbia for five years, he was only with Quarto for one—as was true of all Quarto Editors then. At the time, Quarto was a class. This meant the entire staff turned over year to year—a major difference from our current structure, where praxis and community are cultivated through staff continuity. Under the supervision of Professor Leslie Sharpe, Declan co-led the magazine with Sandra Paulina Bazzarelli, another GS student. The class was entirely structured around creating a magazine: the assigned readings were submissions, with class meetings dedicated to discussing what should be published. Each Monday night, on the top floor of Lewisohn Hall, the 15 Quarto editors gathered to deliberate the week’s submissions. Declan described the physical room fondly—a haven with a “good atmosphere” for the group of eager writers.

Declan’s reminiscent tone reflected his “very fond” memories of Quarto. Their meetings were convivial “without breaking down into anarchy.” The editors dedicated themselves to the submissions, fostering fruitful and respectful discussions. Despite healthy debate over what to publish, Declan said their meetings never got heated. He says they had “great fun” together, often sharing in amusement at especially funny pieces. Delcan specifically recalled a piece titled “Soup,” which he described as “Beckett on acid” — a trippy play about “...[nothing] at all” in which one character repeatedly asks for soup. “Soup” can be read on page 72 of our 2002 volume.

Declan remembers an abundance of sophisticated pieces submitted to Quarto. He says they never struggled to “scrape together a sufficient number of good pieces,” but rather had to turn down many wonderful pieces due to limited space.

The year following his tenure as Executive Editor, Declan had a piece published in Quarto titled “Exhuming Mildred,” a soulful personal essay about metaphorically exhuming his mother’s story after losing her at age five. It can be read here, on page 39.

During our conversation, Declan woefully shared that his copies of Quarto were lost in a flood a few years back. I was pleased to send him digital versions so he could reconnect with his Quarto work decades later. In return, he offered us some advice.

To current Quarto editors, Declan says: “have fun with it” and “[don’t] take things too seriously.” We certainly have our fun, but, dear Quarto submiters, I promise we take your work very seriously.

To general Columbia students, Declan advises: “You have less time than you think you do, life comes bewilderingly fast. Start on your bucket list now.”

Sonny: A Picnic Poem

 
 

Watermelon always on my head this autumn,
My leaf flew off in monstrous wonder.
Autumn thumbelina, hidden between the leaves
O, sunshine! O, October angels!

Almost naked… I’m a baby on a blanket.
Head enclosed, mind protected,
Under my hat, a plastic memory,
Broken stem, too-small wings, will I ever climb up the vine?
Strange little head in a strange little melon, cosmic horror.

No shoes, no running, no thought about escape,
No nose, three lashes for per eye, face from the uncanny valley.
These wings are meant for flying, not for
Walking aimlessly along the riverbank.
If only the wind could rustle my feathers like these autumn leaves.
Nude but no naked, crude but not vacant, gaze alludes…

Watermelon head thinks evermore.

Written collectively by the Quarto Staff at a picnic in Riverside.

Quarto Staff Profile: Renee Morales, Events Editor

 

Illustration by Kaavya Gnanam

 

Year: 
Sophomore, Class of 2025

Major/College: 
I’m a CC student, intending on declaring my major in English literature and creative writing. I chose both of these majors because I want to write for my career. I’m doing English to gain exposure to talented writers and doing creative writing to be better at my own writing. I want to be able to do a lot of multimedia and cross-genre writing. Right now, I mostly write poetry, but I want to learn more about writing fiction. I would also love to get into screenwriting. I’ve also joked with my friends about dabbling in writing rap songs. Songs are poems, after all! I haven’t written any yet but just wait … my album is coming soon.

Hometown:
I’m from Miami, Florida. Miami’s a big city, but I don’t know a lot of people at Columbia who are from the same part of Miami as me. I live in a part that is primarily Cuban immigrants. I don’t live anywhere where you would see mansions on beaches.

What you love about Quarto (you can also share a favorite memory):
As someone who likes to read and loves to write, I really appreciate having access to student work. In English classes, the stuff we read can sometimes be so filtered and already run through by so many academics that it doesn’t feel as fresh or innovative or new anymore. But with Quarto, we’re constantly seeing young people write about things that other young people care about. We see a lot of stuff that take risks and have a voice that you don’t see as much in English classrooms. I also love that we get to talk about writing in ways that are different from a traditional classroom setting. We get to talk about the actual act of writing instead of only talking about literary devices. Our conversations revolve more so around what young writers are thinking about as they write, what are their intentions are with this writing, and what they are trying to say about their environments and the world they’re in.

What else are you involved in/hobbies & interests:
I love to write on my own time. I’ve been posting my stuff on Instagram, trying to get my work out there (@r.moralespoetry). I keep getting rejected from mags, but if poetry doesn’t work out, I guess I can always go back to pursue writing rap songs!

Besides that, I really love making jewelry. I’m a very hands-on person. I also took on crocheting last year. When I’m watching a TV show, I need to be doing something with my hands and oftentimes that’s crocheting. 

Favorite author/work:
There’s this one poem that I hold on to for dear life because it’s helped me through so much in life. It’s a Morgan Parker poem called “Magical Negro #217: Diana Ross Finishing a Rib in Alabama, 1990s” I read in an anthology called Black Girl Magic. Her titles are phenomenal. There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce is another book written by her that I really like. She’s really changed how I think about writing my own poems. I love her so much because when I read her writing I feel like she captures self-destructiveness so well. She writes so freely, a lot of stream of consciousness. A lot of her poems are very angry and I like that she doesn’t hide from female rage. 

My favorite musical artist is The Weeknd, which I’m a little embarrassed about, but let me explain. On a Google Doc, I analyzed every song on Trilogy. When I sat down and tracked the songs across all three mixtapes, I was like, “Wow, no one understands that this is really musical genius.” It’s actual poetry. So, that’s my favorite group of albums, and my favorite song from them is called “Till Dawn.”

My favorite movie is Brokeback Mountain. One of my movie-buff friends didn’t believe me when I said it was good because he saw that it featured Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger and assumed it was too much of a mainstream movie to actually be good. But when I showed it to him, I could see him getting emotional as the movie went on.

What’s in your tote bag/essential items (5-10):

  • iPad: Computer and laptop love child, efficiency on the go!

  • Glasses: Beyond being far-sighted, I literally cannot read something right in front of me.

  • Lip gloss: Plump, glittery, and juicy lips are always necessary.

  • Aquaphor: HYDRATED lips are always necessary.
    Deodorant: I sweat a lot and don’t want to make others the victim of my sweat.

  • Over-the-ear headphones: Perfect intersection of music and ear warmth.

  • Wired headphones: In the event that over-the-ear headphones unfortunately die.

  • Book and pencil: This book is specifically for a class, but any kind of novel to entertain me while I’m away!

  • Hair pick: Cannot be seen with flat hair.

  • Water bottle: For on-the-go thirst relief, the irremovable mold in the lid always has some added flavoring. 

Quarto Staff Profile: Alia Derriey, Staff Editor

 

Illustration by Tomiris Tatisheva

 

Year:

Senior, Class of 2023

Major/College: 

I’m an English and History major at Barnard. I went into college thinking I would only be an English major but decided to try other things because everyone always said that your major would change a million times throughout college. I tried History and ended up really liking it, but I still gravitated so much toward English and that’s how I ended up double majoring. I feel really comfortable in both majors because I think they play to my strengths and passions quite well.

Hometown:

I was born in New York but moved to London when I was four and grew up there. But I have an American accent, so no one believes that I’m British! 

What you love about Quarto (you can also share a favorite memory):

I did two other extracurriculars here before I got to Quarto and I was quite miserable at them. I had a hard time finding community in these spaces. I joined Quarto during my sophomore year. This was during the trenches of COVID, so I was at home in London taking classes in the middle of the night, but amongst all of that Quarto was just the best experience, even though it was completely online. I think it really got me through that year and made me feel like more of a part of a community than I ever did on campus. 

What else are you involved in/hobbies & interests:

I’ve interned at a few different publishing houses this past year. My favorite one was last summer. I got to work with picture books, which I feel really passionately about. They published a lot of diverse and progressive picture books for kids, which I think is really important. I really believed in what they were doing and all the books were so beautiful. 

Favorite author/work:

My favorite book is Severance by Ling Ma. I love dystopian stuff, so I really enjoyed how she explained New York coming to a grinding halt. Also, I just really relate to the protagonist, even though we have super different backgrounds. She’s a very introspective character who doesn’t know what to do with her life. I tell everyone to read this book.

I also love Mitski to death. I became obsessed with her over the summer. My favorite album of hers is Bury Me at Makeout Creek. 

A movie I really love these days is Fallen Angels by Wong Kar Wai. Everything is so blurry and romantic. I love how he expresses missed connections and longing.  

What’s in your tote bag/essential items (5-10):

  • Headphones: These headphones are kind of shit.

  • Water Bottle: This water bottle has my name engraved on it. It was a gift just before I started college. I remember people at NSOP being like, “oh, you’re that girl with the name engraved on your water bottle,” and I really tried to fight being that girl.

  • Notebook: I carry this little journal with me everywhere. I love how small it is. It was meant to be used for an assignment for my Fiction workshop. We were supposed to write down observations about the world and people around us, but clearly, I’m a little self-absorbed because this whole thing is filled with my thoughts and feelings. I treat it like a little diary.

  • Epi-Pen: This case holds three epi-pens. I’m allergic to nuts and soy, so I always have this on me. 

  • Mini Perfume: This is one of my favorite scents.

  • Lip-Balm: This is my first time owning a minty lip balm and I’m quite happy with the transition.

Quarto Staff Profile: Camille Sensiba, Editor-in-Chief

 

Illustration by Bella Aldrete

 

Year: 

Senior, Class of 2023

Major/College:

I am a double major in Comparative Literature and Society and Creative Writing on the poetry track. I’m having a lot of senior ruminations about my academic choices. I’m realizing that I would probably recommend sticking with just one major—for me, that would have been Creative Writing.

I chose these two majors because I’ve always loved writing, as so many people on this campus do! I chose Creative Writing because I see undergrad as one of my biggest opportunities to study and focus on Creative Writing. I chose Comp Lit because I always enjoyed studying Spanish in high school and I didn’t want to let that go. I also wanted more reading than the Creative Writing department would give me, so I thought Comp Lit would be a good way to go.

Hometown:

I’m from a really, really tiny town called Long Eddy in upstate New York, just west of the Catskill Mountains. It's super rural. Lots of trees and more deer than people. You can only really pick up one radio station in the car. It was naturally very beautiful and exposed me to nature and hiking in ways that I think were really important to me growing up. I feel lucky to have grown up there but, by the time high school came around, I was itching to get out because it was such a small town. Luckily, Long Eddy is pretty close to the city, about a three-hour train ride. As a teenager, I started to go on weekend day trips to visit the city. I came to watch a lot of Broadway shows when I was in my theatre phase. It was nice to find something that helped me get away and feel some independence.

What you love about Quarto (you can also share a favorite memory):

I love Quarto’s community, of course. Quarto is so special because of the people, which is such an overwrought answer and I bet everyone will say the same thing in these interviews, but it’s just so true. I’m remembering the Club Fair where we had to give the Quarto spiel 500 hundred times and we would say “Quarto is super tight-knit. We’re not like a family because that’s gross, but we are genuinely all friends.” I could talk to anyone in Quarto for hours and hours. I feel so safe within our community and that’s super special to me, especially as a shy person.

What else are you involved in/hobbies & interests:

My campus job has been a huge part of my college experience. I’ve worked at Avery Library for all four of my years at Columbia. Since working there several times a week for every week that I’ve been in college, I’ve realized that all the people that are behind making this university work are so amazing and talented and that, without them, we would be nothing. You can have all the brilliant professors and students in the world, but without the people who work in the libraries and help you with your research and finding books, nothing would work. They’re all such generous and wonderful people.

This semester I also started helping out with writing workshops for a non-profit called Uptown Stories. I basically assist a teacher in teaching middle schoolers writing. It’s one of my favorite parts of the week because it’s so life-affirming to see all of these kids who just love writing so much and it isn’t something that’s been totally tainted by school yet. They’re still very much in the stage where writing is such a raw form of emotional expression.

Favorite author/work:

My favorite novel—and this is a little embarrassing because it was assigned reading for LitHum—is To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. I was so out of sorts after finishing this book. I hadn’t been so moved by prose in that way in a long time. It felt so authentic and timeless but also pointed to my life right now.

I also love Bluets by Maggie Nelson. I think one of the most beautiful passages ever written is from this book. It starts with something along the lines of “that this blue exists makes my life a remarkable one.” 

I’ve been listening to SZA’s album Ctrl all semester, too. 

One of my favorite movies is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s a movie that followed me all throughout high school. I think it does a lot of interesting things within all sorts of realms in filmmaking, from storytelling to costume design.

What’s in your tote bag/essential items (5-10):

  • Book: for an essay I’m writing right now.

  • Mini Notebook: I have a little notebook because we have to write a commonplace notebook for my fiction workshop. It’s just a collection of hand-written quotes that you find interesting.

  • Water Bottle: I have this water bottle that I took from my mom in middle school and I’m still using it. At this point, this water bottle has so many memories attached to it, I can’t imagine how sad I would be if I lost it.

  • Mini Reusable Bag: I have a mini-bag inside a bag. This one is from Trader Joe's. 

  • Sunglasses: these sunglasses, which Armaan calls my matrix sunglasses.

  • Lipbalms: various lip balms for the winter.

  • Fingerless gloves: these fingerless gloves which my friend gave me yesterday. They’re little bees with smiley faces on them.

Quarto Staff Profile: Armaan Bamzai, Editor-in-Chief

 

Illustration by Tomiris Tatisheva

 

Year: 
Sophomore. CC

Major/College: 
English and Public Health. 

I’ve always known I would do English, it was just a matter of what I would do along with it. Public Health because I’m interested in HIV and AIDS policy. There’s also a lack of queerness within that space, specifically among healthcare providers. 

Hometown:
Bangalore, India. I was born and raised there – lived there my whole life and came to the U.S. for college.

What you love about Quarto (you can also share a favorite memory):
I’ll share a memory! Lia had a Quarto party at her place and someone started to play “Believe” by Cher on the speakers. There were these pipes in the corner and Dariya just really started working the pipes. I came and joined her, then Fatima and Alia came and it was a big group of us dancing together and singing “DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER LOVE???”

What else are you involved in/hobbies & interests:

I’m trying to get more involved in theatre this year. One of my friends is involved in Barnard theatre production and I would love to do something like that and get involved behind the scenes. 

I don’t know if you’ve seen this report that came out recently which talked about the lack of spaces for artistic people on campus. I’m interested in how we can create more spaces for creatives at Columbia. I think Quarto – especially in that we only publish undergraduate writing and hold writing workshops for the community – is trying to create more spaces for artists on campus. 

Favorite author/work:
My favorite work right now is a book called Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin. I read it over the summer and it’s one of those books I feel like I’ve always been waiting for. The author is Asian-American and it's about the lack of access to queer spaces and how the gay bar is a relic of a past generation and how it seems to be dying even though it’s still really important to the queer scene. The writing is also one of the reasons I love it so much. It’s beautifully written, exactly the kind of prose I go for, tight and electric. You can tell that the writer has put a lot of care into it. I think being at Quarto has made me hyper-aware of the kinds of writing I’m looking for. This book is definitely up there for me. Each sentence takes you to a new place you never expected to be.

My favorite artist is Kylie Minogue and my favorite song by her is “Fine Wine.” Kylie Minogue is important to me because (a) disco revival and (b) I think she’s a very seminal queer artist. Honestly, she’s made me more at peace with being basic. I don’t feel a need to be unique or esoteric, I’m so happy having the same interests as everyone else like me – and everyone else is so cool! 

I think everything is about dance, especially Kylie. Listening to her feels like envisioning movement or feeling like movement is possible, which feels really exciting.

What’s in your tote bag/essential items (5-10):

  • Sunscreen: You need to have it! I reapply once every hour. After I leave this interview I will be applying another coat.

  • Heart-Shaped Sunglasses: These are here for obvious reasons, to block out the sun.

  • Burts Bees Healing Body Lotion: This is for extremely dry skin, which I don’t have. I use products meant for extremely dry skin because they work the best and do exactly what they need to do.

  • Book: I have a book by Jack Parlett called The Poetics of Cruising: Queer Visual Culture from Whitman to Grindr. This, kind of in the same vein as Gay Bar, explores queer sex as social mobility.

  • Clinique 100-Hour Moisture Surge: This is to replenish my hydrations every 100 hours! It was free so it’s even sweeter.

  • Notebook: I keep a notebook in my bag because I’m just so esoteric. I’ll show you the notes, so you know I’m not faking it.

  • Pen: A pen to take notes in my notebook, of course, because this is real and not fake.

  • Earphones: To listen to Kylie Minogue.

  • Kimchi Chic Lipgloss: Mango scented, for delicious reasons.

  • Perfume: This is my Pistachio Brulee perfume, which is so delicious. Hopefully, it’s my signature scent. Time will tell.

You're Still Here by Crystal A. Foretia

 
 

You’re still here,
but maybe we should rethink what “here” means
because the world’s been shifting around you,
your country crumbling underneath your feet while
you can barely walk and fight to stand your ground.
Too much of your home has been made undone
for you to be in the exact same place
where I last left you.

You’re still here,
but maybe “still” is an inaccurate word
because “still” implies quiet stagnation—
no forward or backward momentum
We both know you survived too much
And lived too loud a life
for you to be exactly the same
as I last left you.

You’re still here,
but I’m not sure I can reconcile the “you” of today
with the “you” who sent me off to college two years ago.
Not when I know you can’t recognize me anymore.
How much of you is really left
when Time is stilling your heartbeat?

You’re still here,
but does it really count
when Time is stealing your memories
and twisting your voice
to the point where you and I
are no longer speaking the same language?
Pieces of your story no longer fit together
in a way I can understand.

You’re still here,
but I don’t know how long it’ll be
until night swallows your morning whole
until the light in your eyes fades to black
and God rolls the credits on your life.

You’re still here,
but I’ll never be ready for you to leave
not when your hands struggle to reach mine
not when you’ve become more skeleton than body
not when you’re lying in bed, waiting to finally

Be still.

 

Artist’s Statement: This is the second poem I’ve written about my grandmother since getting into poetry within the past two years. At the time of writing, my 82-year-old grandmother, who suffers from dementia, had been living with my family in Maryland and was in the process of traveling back to her home country of Cameroon. This poem can be read as a letter to her in that specific moment.

Crystal Foretia (she/her), Staff Editor at Quarto, is a junior in Columbia College studying Political Science and History. In her spare time, Crystal larps as an art critic while visiting galleries and museums. Her favorite painters are Faith Ringgold and Charles White.

Convos with Contributors: Grace Novarr

 
 

“I think I feel the most inspired by the idea of saying a lot in a small space. [...]Some of my favorite pieces to read are the ones where every word is so meaningfully chosen; the piece couldn't be the same piece if it was a different word. And I think I try to have that level of intentionality in the things I write.”

There is something emotional about being in the quarters of a Quarto meetings. If you enter our small, cramped-up meeting room on a Wednesday evening, you’ll see all of us at the edge of our seats, eyes transfixed upon the large projector screen that displays the pieces being reviewed. We are exhilarated, quiet, and enamored all at once during our meetings, spurred on to feel everything by the works of literature and art that we get the privilege of reading every week. 

When preparing for our Wednesday Quarto meetings, we read a handful of pieces whose authors we do not know. Our one and only job is to read, to study each piece with care and focus. It’s only after the pieces are up on our site that most of us get to learn about the authors behind the pieces. 

Convos with Contributors seeks to bring together the wider Quarto community, reaching beyond the simple bio at the end of a piece. This interview series bridges the gap between the digital and the physical, the anonymous and the known, the editor and the contributor. The gentle joy of speaking to Grace Novarr this past Friday afternoon presented so vividly just how important it is to bridge that gap. 

Grace Novarr is a second-year student at Barnard College. She won our 2021 Thunderdome competition with her apocalyptic flash-fiction piece “Dispatched”. On Friday, she and I hopped on Zoom and spoke about all things Columbia lit mags, Russian literature, and vocal jazz music. 

_____

FATIMA ALJARMAN: I'd love to learn a little bit more about you – tell me about yourself.

GRACE NOVARR: Well, I'm from New York. I think that's a big thing that informs a lot of what I do both as a writer and how I live my life, why I'm here at Barnard for college, and what I plan to do after this. I'm a twin. That's also a fun fact.

Fun fact! 

Yeah, I'm trying to think of what else to say. I am an English major, classic.

Classic! New York, twin, and an English major.

All you need to know. 

Love it. Okay, so then we'll delve right into things. You wrote your piece "Dispatched" in response to one of our 2021 Thunderdome prompts, and it's a piece of flash fiction. What forms of writing do you typically delve into? Do you usually write fiction or flash fiction? 

I'm usually a poet. Poetry comes more easily to me. But when I do write prose, it’s that shorter flash type of prose. I think I feel the most inspired by the idea of saying a lot in a small space. I really admire people who are capable of writing long pieces, but it's not something I feel either able to do or necessarily drawn to do. Some of my favorite pieces to read are the ones where every word is so meaningfully chosen; the piece couldn't be the same piece if it was a different word. And I think I try to have that level of intentionality in the things I write. 

So, after doing Thunderdome, I was like, maybe I should write more flash, maybe I should try to do this more because I was doing the prompts up until that day [day 3], and I was enjoying it just because it was unlocking a new side of my brain that I don't usually get to use. It's not usually what I tend to indulge in. Usually, when I sit down to write, I will just go for a poem, but I realized that maybe some of my thoughts should be coming out more in this format, of a prose piece. And that's not necessarily about myself so much in the way most of what I write seems to be, but something that may be a little more imaginative in scope.

That's so interesting, and I definitely agree. Lately, I've also been enjoying short pieces; that's the kind of writing that’s sacred [to me] and I can't do it. I'm one of those long-form writers, so kind of the opposite side of things. But I definitely resonate with what you're saying. 

So with “Dispatched”, the prompt was set around the idea of an apocalypse and you mentioned that in a lot of what you do, you tend to write the personal or things centered around the personal. Have you ever written something set around an apocalypse? What sort of themes do you delve into as a writer? 

Well, I've written about the apocalypse on a personal scale, I guess. A lot of what I did write when I was younger in high school was definitely my life, everything filtered through my feelings. I'd go through things that felt earth-shattering and felt apocalyptic. And I wrote about those. And I would say there was a big shift that came with quarantine. I was a senior in high school when COVID hit, so the shift from going from a child to an adult, from a high school student to a college student, also coincided with this major shift in how everyone lived their lives. And I think it was right along those lines that my writing started to change and I just— it's not that I started to disdain personal writing so much as I felt like I had less to say about my own life and more that I wanted to say about the world. It started to feel maybe a little bit silly to be, you know, writing about my personal feelings when such large-scale tragedies were happening all around me. 

I think in the past couple of years, I have been trying to address more in my writing or just trying to let issues outside myself inform my writing. I think that's definitely more of a challenge for me because I think most people are probably more articulate about themselves than they are about anything else, or at least most poets, which is what I typically am. I definitely have been consciously making the effort to try to bring in more themes. I like things like Thunderdome and other prompt-based competitions, or just places where you can find prompts. I can never think of things to write about, but then I'll seize a prompt or like a topic, or I'll read someone else's piece that really inspires me, and then I'll realize, oh, I actually do have something to say about this, but I didn't know it until I saw the prompt or I saw it being phrased that way. 

Right! I guess in the vein of that, I wanted to ask what your Thunderdome writing process was. Because it's a 24-hour-submission-type thing. So what was your writing process then, kind of from start to finish?

Um, so I did the first three days—I think I didn't submit on the second day, I didn't like how what I wrote turned out. This is my first year doing it. And I was just like, I want to do it this year, like I was reminding myself because Quarto was posting stuff like “Thunderdome coming up!”. And I was like, I want to do this year. And so, at some point during the day, I would check when the prompt was released when I had free time and watch it, and then I'd be thinking about it, and I'd go through the rest of my day. And then around like 8 pm—I was kind of starting late—maybe around 8 pm or 9 pm, I would just sit down and write something. 

And I wish I could better describe the exact process. But really whatever had popped into my head—I was trying to go based on first instincts. I think for the one that I won Thunderdome with—the "Dispatched" piece—it came really fast; I had read the prompt of the day, and it was just in the back of my mind. And then I got to Butler, opened my laptop, opened my Word document, and it came out within like five minutes. I did some editing for the next maybe 30 minutes, I was staring at it, taking a few words out. But I wrote it in about five minutes. 

I think the harder part is like figuring out what stuff needs to be changed. Or at least, that's always the harder part especially when it's like such a short piece. There were a couple of lines that I took out that I'm so grateful that I took out because I was looking at it up on the website, and I was like, it would have been so stupid if that was still in. Or not stupid, but just I was proud of myself for actually editing after writing it because usually, I don't love to edit things when I write. I like to just say, Oh, this piece is of the moment that I wrote it; this piece expresses something true about how I was feeling when I wrote it. But I guess the difference between flash fiction and or flash prose and a poem is that a fiction piece doesn't necessarily have to be of the moment that you wrote it, the way I feel like a poem could be. I was kind of working on [Dispatched] with that in mind, I wanted to actually have it be the best that I think it could be. I tried to think over it carefully, which I think you should always do with your writing.

Revision can be really, really tricky. Personal things can be especially tricky because there's a sense of attachment to what you're writing. So it's really interesting to hear kind of the revision process for "Dispatched", and I wonder what the other iterations look like.

They weren't very different. But I had some names; there were names attached to the voices speaking but I took them out. I don't know, it just felt more universal without the names. I think that was a positive change for the piece, and then just some other lines that the speaker was saying that just made— it just felt a little too obvious to me. I was trying to think of some subtlety. I think it can really hit hard when there’s a line that's like directly stating what's happening, but sometimes the challenge is to let the piece escape without needing it in a way, to let the piece say, I think people will be able to tell what this is about without like me having the sentence that says it or says what I'm thinking about. And also, it leaves room for other people's interpretations if you don't force what you're precisely thinking about on the piece. So I think I'm glad that I took—I don't remember exactly how I phrased it, but I remember there's a line that I was staring at, and I was like, I don't think that this piece needs to have this sentence because it's a little too on-the-nose somehow, you know?

Right. Absolutely. It's interesting to hear that you said that doing Thunderdome this year was a very intentional thing; you were like I should do it this year, I have to do it this year. I’m interested to hear what drew you to submit to Quarto – what draws you to submit to competitions like Thunderdome? 

A thing like Thunderdome is so fun in a large college community like Columbia and Barnard. Because I mean, one thing I love about it is just the literary magazine community here. I'm an editor on the staff of four x four. And I noticed that when you go through the four x four issues, a lot of the writers are Quarto editors, and I think it's such a great relationship between all the magazines. I don't want to suggest that you have to be a staff editor for one magazine to get your writing into the other, that's absolutely not the case, but I do love how there's this really strong community within the literary magazines. 

We have slightly different visions for the work we publish. But I think there's such a respectful relationship between writers in general at the school and also the initiatives that we as writers do. And so I really admire Thunderdome as part of Quarto and just things in general that bring forward writers' voices. That week I remember talking to my friends who I know are also writers and being like, Oh, are you gonna submit to Thunderdome? Did you do the prompt today? Today’s was kind of hard! I don't know what to do. Not everyone, some people were like, What are you talking about? What’s that? It’s people who pay attention to literary magazine stuff, and there are a lot of people at Columbia who do pay attention. And I really like that. I'm starting to feel as if  I've really found my place in the literary community at Columbia. You know, that was a big thing for me coming in as someone who did a lot of writing in high school but wasn't sure what my voice was going to be in college. I think I think the different initiatives that the magazines here take like things that four x four does, things that Quarto does, things that Echoes does, it all just contributes. It doesn't feel like these spaces are in a competition, it feels like we're all working together because a lot of the same people are involved with all these things. 

I was drawn to Quarto from the beginning, just reading the pieces you guys publish, recognizing some of my friends' names, and finding some new names. I’ll read a piece in freshman year, then the next year, I'll see that same writer published somewhere else. I'm like, oh, I remember their piece from Quarto! You start to feel like you're aware of who's writing at the school. And that's a good feeling.

Absolutely, I agree. And I think that was sort of the thought process behind also doing community outreach work; we wanted to continue forging those connections, so I really, really appreciate hearing that. Okay, and so going back to Quarto, we were talking about kind of the different sort of directions that the different lit mags [on campus] take. Quarto’s mission is embedded in innovation. I wanted to hear what innovation and writing mean to you. 

I think that's a complicated question because for some people writing is all about innovation. If you think about it, every time someone writes anything it’s innovative. In creative writing, you just cannot recreate someone else's work, like, one that's plagiarism, but two it’s also kind of impossible. Every time you sit down to write something, if you're telling the truth—whether that's the personal truth or the literary truth—it's always going to be somehow different because it's coming from you as an individual writer. So I do think, in a sense, all writing is innovative. 

But I think it means different things in different moments in different contexts. I think innovation in a pandemic might look like reaching towards a normal because the world has been so shifted against our normal, our wills. But when we're in a time that needs change I think writers can achieve that through form. I don't know if I can, personally, but it's something my favorite writers do. And innovation doesn't have to look like writing in a stylistic way that no one's ever seen before. You know, it can look like telling a story that has never been told before or accessing voices that don't get to speak, so I think there's no one definition of it. And the fact that there's no one definition, is part of why it's so important to focus on innovation in writing, because you can't just figure it out and be like, okay, I figured out how to innovate! We’re done! It's a constant process. And every time you write something, you're coming up with something new. And every time you put together a magazine, you're putting together something new, and the juxtaposition is important to that as well.

Absolutely. I'm going to be taking those words and absorbing them as the day proceeds. What things have you have been keeping you inspired lately? If there's any music that's been keeping you inspired, or books, or movies? I'd love to hear all about that.

I feel like I'm constantly inspired by stuff, but I'm also in a little bit of a reading slump. I think as an English major, it's just hard, or not necessarily for everyone, but for me, it's hard to read outside of class when I read so much for class. But I will say I've been listening to a lot of vocal jazz music like Etta James, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone. And that actually inspires me. I think it really inspires my writing too because they just kind of perfected emotion with that style of music. And I obviously like a lot of more modern music as well, but when I need to be reminded that the way I feel is kind of timeless [I listen to vocal jazz] and that will help me say something if I'm stuck in my writing. It's like, well, I can't say it how these people said it, but I can channel how they make me feel and try to write something that reflects that. So I do use music for that purpose. And recently, it's been those singers. But I also have kind of been having a Rolling Stones-Beatles phase. Something about that… that’s just my walking around music, for going to class, staying hyped.  

And in terms of books, I've been reading just for class; I've been taking these Russian literature classes, and I really love Russian Literature. It’s not a thing I saw coming, but Russia is my current fixation. But I think I'm trying to kind of make my way around the world. I think for too long I just focused on reading the English language classics. I know Russia is not that far removed and it has been pretty important to the Western canon, but I am trying to bring in voices that have less obviously influenced everything that we've read in our modern-day. 

I get to read my first Russian novel for LitHum in the next couple of weeks; I’ll get back to you on that experience but I guess now I have high hopes… 

Yeah! 

Well, we’ve reached our last question for today. Let's imagine you have a writer's toolbox, aka a box where you keep all of your inspiration or whatever helps you become a writer or in your writing process. If you could only carry three things in that box, what would they be?

Well, I would say, Lunch Poems by Frank O'Hara. That is a book that I carry around with me sometimes. I love it so much. I don't think his best poems are necessarily in that collection but I do love what it is and having it around. (After our Zoom call, Grace let me know that her favorite Frank O’Hara poem is Meditations in an Emergency.) If it could fit in there, I'd carry around a boombox. I feel like the boombox image is kind of important to me–of communication through music, and just the image of someone standing outside their crush's house or their ex-girlfriend's house or whatever, holding up this boombox, blaring it, and letting someone else's words speak for you. I feel like as a writer, that's what you try not to do, but it's also somehow really important in the sense of channeling some powerful emotion, and I feel like being a poet is like walking with a boombox sometimes. Yeah, and thirdly… I would carry around those frozen Starbucks Frappuccino drinks that they sell at Liz's Place. Yeah, they're really good and they always get sugar and caffeine just flowing in my brain. So that's just for a practical purpose. But yeah, I would need some of those in there.


_____

You can read more of Grace’s work in Echoes, Sooth Swarm Journal, and Body Without Organs. Follow her on Twitter (@notvgrace), or on Instagram (@gracenovarr).  Grace recommends Etta James’ Stormy Weather and Nina Simone’s To Love Somebody.

_____

Fatima AlJarman floats between Ajman, New York City, and her secret inner realm. Often, she is thinking about her next cup of coffee or the sea. Fatima is Unootha's editor-in-chief and a freshman at Columbia University. She is Quarto’s community outreach editor. 


summer and by Armaan Bamzai

 

Illustration by Camilla Marchese

 

what should you have said
to the aunt who poured herself into the sink
the day the others went out to lunch on the hill.
pat down your rippled skirt, fatal, turn
the other side:

nothing is more or less than the unfurling
of a picnic blanket, of an inheritance
on flaky grass, did you hear
the evil crash of the faucet, did you hear
your father brace the door,
pleat her chin, map her brow,
his jacket heavy with sweat for
his blood sister. it was

summer. while you
were walking north of your body.
she was opened like a veil, just
a shape of light inside.

Armaan Bamzai is an eighteen-year-old Indian writer whose writing has appeared in Polyphony Lit, body without organs and others. He is a freshman at Columbia University (where he’s Copy Editor at Quarto!) and hopes that one day he will create an abundance.

Seeking Comfort in Winter Season

 
 

Seeking Comfort in Winter Season

With finals finally upon us and winter break just around the corner, our never-ending quest to seek warmth and comfort intensifies. From books and songs to food, activities, or a favorite scented candle, Quarto staff share their go-to’s for finding coziness in the winter! 

  • My recipe for cozy warmth: warm lighting (preferably a Christmas tree), a friend or a mother to hug, tights, warm layering, and cutie patoodle smiley little rosy cheeks

  • Yogurt. Been really into yogurt lately. 

  • Spending meaningful time alone! Preferably outside, preferably in the sun 

  • Jazz music. Also finding what playlists my friends have made and listening to those

  • Reading by a fireplace while drinking hot cider

  • Britney Spears's breakout debut studio album "...Baby One More Time" and looking at pictures of dogs' and cats' little toe beans

  • Cozy socks 

  • Drinking hot chocolate while listening to 70s music

  • Listening to Big Thief on repeat 

  • Watching Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

Winter book recommendations:

  • Normal People by Sally Rooney

  • Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

  • Winter Stars by Larry Levis

  • A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

  • Funny Weather by Olivia Laing

  • Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Quarto Fall Shenanigans

 
 

What happens when you put Quarto’s staff under a tree by the math lawns? Picnic conversations mingled with the ongoing peeling of mandarins, and a collective poem eventually emerged. Check out our *very* impromptu and chaotic piece! Each line was written by a different staff member; we collected and assembled them to produce this poem. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we loved making it!

Collective Poem

bursting from the ugly white block, the artificial oscar the grouch screams in agony
he bites the orange in half, peel and all, sticky syrup dripping down his chin
oh you girthy green daddy, fondle my small breasts with those slender salad fingers of yours

easy peel mandarins from Westside Market
sour gums, the aftertaste of syrup sticks
orange peeled grass fields, sun-kissed plastic
prickly, smooth, soft – the green fronds reach toward the sky. And the clementines – they’re orange
the blue, orange and purple popsicles are now lost between the blankets
half moon cookies and clementines in a still life painting
a mandarin winks in the sun and a mandarin weeps down a cheek
the clementine peels are on the ground
but I still smell them
I’m like you, covered in spikes that are actually soft, waiting to be someone’s muse, if I can’t be my own

grant the decay and delay around us the opportunity to start again


We also came up with these ‘would you rather’ questions. Feel free to email us your answers – maybe they’ll even inspire you to write some poetry or prose, or create some visual art! :)

Would you rather…

  • go a year without reading a poem or without reading a novel?

  • only eat fruit snacks instead of fruit or have to run across the street every time you cross?

  • always be falling in love but never able to form a healthy, sustainable relationship with anyone or be in a healthy, content relationship with someone but not experience the passions of being in love?

  • eat an anthropomorphic clementine (it can talk and scream) or get stuck in a boring conversation for four hours?

  • eat shit-flavored chocolate or chocolate-flavored shit?

  • be a twitter microcelebrity or a tiktok influencer?

  • be semi-famous while alive or Shakespeare-level famous after death?

  • wear one color of clothing your whole life or one outfit in different colors your whole life?

  • live in NY or Italy when you’re old?

  • be able to turn back time for just one minute, or be able to see what will happen one minute into the future?

Spooky Quarto Blog Post

 
 

As plastic skulls settle around the brownstones of Manhattan and big bags of black and orange candy occupy all of Duane Reade’s aisles, Quarto’s Staff shares their takes on Halloween this year.


If you'd have to choose only ONE Halloween/scary movie, which one would it be?

  • Coraline!! (recommended 3 times!)

  • The Haunted Mansion (2003)

  • The Witch

  • Warm bodies

  • Tim Burton’s “Willy Wonka”

  • The Meshes of the Afternoon by Maya Deren

  • Haunting of Hill House (it's a limited Netflix series? So is this cheating?)

  • Rocky Horror Picture Show

  • Edward Scissorhands

  • Hocus Pocus

  • Halloweentown! (recommended twice!)


Favorite Halloween Treat

  • Trader Joe’s spooky bats & cats candy

  • Pumpkin bread or pumpkin pie!

  • Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

  • Kinder Bueno

  • Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!!

  • popcorn balls, even though I haven't been able to find them in years

  • candy corn >:) ik this is kinda controversial

  • Pumpkin Bread and Mulled Wine

  • Sour worms

  • Pumpkin Bread

  • Apple Cider

  • Hershey's Cookies 'n' Cream Bars!!!

  • Reese’s everything

*Disclaimer: this blog post is not sponsored by either Trader Joe’s nor Reese’s ;)


Quarto’s Spooky Reading Recs (!!!) :

  • Anything by Edgar Allen Poe ofc!

  • “Blindness” by José Saramago

  • “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”

  • "Fairy Tale" by Alexandra Kleeman (short story)

  • “All Hallows” (or almost anything) by Louise Glück

  • Emily Dickinson!!

  • “Murder in the Dark” by Margaret Atwood

  • “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe

  • “All Hallow's Eve” by Dorothea Tanning

  • “Three Letters” by Remedios Varo (Bomb Magazine)

  • “The Silence of the Lambs” by Thomas Harris (the movie was way better, but if you're a fan, the book's not bad!)

  • “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe

  • “We Have Always Lived In The Castle” by Shirley Jackson

  • “The Turn of the Screw”

  • “Goosebumps” !


Costume Recommendations:

  • A plastic water bottle

  • Mr. Krabs

  • Squid Game!

  • Your ex's new girlfriend

  • Slutty Shakespeare OR Fran Drescher

  • ummm maybe put a tissue on your head and be a ghost!

  • Great Gatsby themed roaring 20s something

  • Bottle of hand sanitizer that actually squirts hand sanitizer

  • Sheet ghost. Hanging Chad. Slutty pumpkin.

  • A sexy cookie monster

  • I think Max from Where the Wild Things Are seems really cute!!

  • idk </3

  • I think Phoebe Bridgers would be a relatively easy costume idea...

  • an egg


And finally… join us this Friday at 6pm for QUARTO’S HALLOWEEN OPEN MIC!!!

Gather round for some seriously spooky poetry & stories – made-up or real – with blankets and torchlights, steaming hot beverages, and snacks!! The theme is Worst Best Nightmare (weird dreams, secret fears, guilty pleasures) – you can be as creative as you want with the topic, but you're also more than welcome to bring any other material you'd like to share with us. 

The location will be on the lawn outside Uris.

Can’t wait to see you there!

P.S. The creative writing department is hosting a really cool event on zoom next week – check out the flyer below!

 

Comfort Content! by Quarto Staff

 
Illustration by Gisela Levy

Illustration by Gisela Levy

 

Life is a hellscape and finals are approaching. That said, comfort, coziness, and care are still things that do exist and can provide us with healing moments of warmth and joy. Here are some things the Quarto staff turns to in search of comfort:

Books:

  • Momo by Michael Ende

  • Brer Rabbit’s a Rascal by Enid Blyton

  • The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Hwang Sun-mi

  • The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

  • Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

  • Yes Please by Amy Poehler

  • Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer 

  • Circe by Madeline Miller 

Poems:

  • “Let It Enfold You" by Charles Bukowski 

  • "If—" by Rudyard Kipling

  • “You Are Who I Love” by Aracelis Girmay

  • "Object Permanence" by Nicole Sealey

  • “What Sadness Anywhere Is Sadness” by Shane McCrae

  • “Science” by Aracelis Girmay

  • Electric Arches by Eve Ewing

  • “Song of Joys” by Walt Whitman

  • “Elegy” by Aracelis Girmay

  • “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver 

  • “Eagle Poem” by Joy Harjo

Songs/Albums:

  • "Atheist" by Christian Lee Hutson

  • "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus

  • "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell

  • “Lianne La Havas” by Lianne La Havas 

  • “Bedroom Hollywood” by Sonny Miles 

  • “At Last!” By Etta James 

  • “SULA (Paperback)” by Jamila Woods 

  • “direct line to My Creator” by duendita

  • I Know the End" by Phoebe Bridgers

  • "I Love You Honeybear" by Father John Misty

  • "Untitled God Song" by Haley Heynderickx

  • "Timefighter" by Lucy Dacus

  • "Lullaby" by Cavetown and Simi

  • "A World Alone" by Lorde

  • "Steamroller" by Phoebe Bridgers

  • "Driving Driving Driving" by Kimya Dawson

  • "Demolition Lovers" by My Chemical Romance

  • "Carry Me Out" by Mitski

  • Bottle Opener by Gus Dapperton (or the entire album (or any of his songs))

  • “Heart of Glass” by Blondie 

  • “Goodie Bag” by Still Woozy

  • “Island in the Sun” by Weezer

  • “8teen” by Khalid

  • Before and After Science by Brian Eno

  • Anything by Casiotone for the Painfully Alone

  • Junglepussy’s new album JP4

  • All things Leonard Cohen

  • A Moon Shaped Pool by Radiohead

Movies:

  • Little Miss Sunshine

  • About Time

  • Another Year

  • Pride and Prejudice

  • Howl's Moving Castle

  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

  • Easy A

  • Crazy, Stupid, Love

  • Frozen 2

  • Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

  • Ladybird

  • Call Me By Your Name

TV shows:

  • Schitt’s Creek 

  • Barry

  • The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt 

  • New Girl 

  • Sister, Sister

  • Girlfriends (seasons 1-6)

  • The Office

  • GLOW

  • Fleabag 

  • The Inbetweeners

  • Community

  • Great British Baking Show 

  • Avatar: The Last Airbender

Miscellaneous: 

  • looking for mushrooms in Animal Crossing

  • intense lip-syncing

  • Stretching/going for a run

  • the Shine app (they have great meditation audio!)

  • manifest journaling (it's like writing fanfiction! but for your own life!

  • Go outside, sleep in the sun, walk on grass barefoot, and let your body be cradled by this earth. 

  • Content:

    • "Underwater Puppies" by Seth Castee

    • Watching aesthetically pleasing channels on Youtube: Honeykki (excellent cooking channel), puuung (really cute animations), BBC Earth, and this clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gU89xot700) of a documentary about bread

    • Watching Bo Burnham's "what" on Youtube!!!

    • Hanif Abdurraqib's twitter account

  • Food:

    • Cooking something really fun and hearty with a friend

    • Yummy pastries and coffee for breakfast

    • A good cappuccino 

    • Warm lentil soup 

    • Masala chai 

    • Chamomile tea

Quarto Staff Picks: Anti-Racism Content

 
Illustration by Mitali Khanna Sharma

Illustration by Mitali Khanna Sharma

Long-term investment in the fight to end systemic racism and oppression requires non-Black allies to actively and openly interact with the works of revolutionary Black activists and artists in order to better understand and incorporate anti-racism work into daily life. In light of other organizations’ similar actions, the Quarto staff put together some of the works and resources that have helped us educate ourselves on the history of systemic racism, and may perhaps become a resource for you as well. We understand, however, that such a list is only a starting point for becoming actively involved in anti-racist work, and encourage you to seek out and share other works dedicated to helping illuminate and educate allies on how to dismantle anti-Blackness, white supremacy, and systemic violence. We then encourage you to put that thought and education into direct action. 

Books:

  • Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison*

  • The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison*

  • Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah* 

  • Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates 

  • The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

  • Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge

  • The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

  • Passing by Nella Larsen*

  • Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs

  • The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. DuBois

  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson**

  • From Slavery to Freedom by John Hope Franklin

  • Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch

  • New People by Danzy Senna*

  • A Raisin in the Sun by Lorainne Hansberry**

  • Fences by August Wilson**

  • Are Prisons Obsolete? By Angela Y. Davis

* = fiction 

** = Adapted into a film

Documentaries:

  • I Am Not Your Negro

  • The Death and Life of Marsha P. Jackson

  • 13th 

Films:

  • The Hate U Give

  • Get Out

  • Moonlight

  • Malcolm X

  • Sorry to Bother You

  • Dear White People (also a show)

  • Fruitvale Station

  • Selma

  • Do the Right Thing

Poetry:

  • Zong! by M. NourbeSe Philip

  • Citizen by Claudia Rankine

  • “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron

  • “Comment #1” by Gil Scott-Heron

Essays:

  • “On Violence” from The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

  • “Poetry is Not a Luxury” by Audre Lorde

  • “The Ballot or the Bullet” by Malcolm X

  • “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July” by Frederick Douglass

  • Black Looks: Race and Representation by bell hooks

  • “Letter from Birmingham Jail” byMartin Luther King Jr.

  • “The New Black Aesthetic” by Trey Ellis

  • “Stranger in the Village” by James Baldwin

  • “Malcolm and Martin” by James Baldwin

  • “Lonely in America” by Wendy S. Walters

  • Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

  • Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay

 

In Light of Recent Events: Combating White Supremacy and Systemic Racism

 
Illustration by Mitali Khanna Sharma

Illustration by Mitali Khanna Sharma

The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade are horrific but all too familiar. These are far from the first incidents of racial injustice, and unfortunately won’t be the last. Quarto acknowledges and condemns the violent, deep-rooted history of systemic racism in this country. We support the dismantling of these systems of injustice and stand with those who are actively protesting police brutality and systemic racism. Due to our position at Columbia, we are unable to donate our own funds or organize our own campaigns, but this does not excuse us from active allyship or suggest that we condone silence in the face of injustice. Both short-term and long-term solutions to the violence facing Black communities require active support and attention at every turn. Below is a researched list of resources, organizations, and actions that are dedicated to helping people become actively involved in the fight against systemic oppression and anti-Black violence. 

Here’s what you can do: 

  • Educate yourself (and others!)

    • Understand your privileges

      • Understand what “white privilege” refers to: Actively benefitting from the color of your skin.

      • Understand that anti-Blackness is not confined to white perpetrators. Different communities of color are responsible for using their respective privileges and resources to support each other against racism in their community and beyond. 

      • Use your privilege to help redistribute power to marginalized communities who have been systematically alienated from it.

    • Research your rights

      • Understand what your rights as a citizen are and should be (e.g., you have the right to gather and protest).

      • Familiarize yourself with resources dedicated to protecting said rights.

      • If you plan to protest, do so safely and with the intent to promote change. 

    • Know where and how you can help

      • Contact representatives and government officials to demand justice and demand policy that addresses police brutality (e.g., requiring body cameras and requiring that said cameras be turned on as soon as a call is answered). 

      • Donate to organizations involved in combating systemic racism and white supremacy.

      • Raise awareness and educate others (And yourself! The learning process is never finished.) about white supremacy, privilege, and systemic racism. 

  • Become a better ally

    • Familiarize yourself with the current events and history surrounding these protests.

    • Be wary of what you share/repost online. Is it truly raising awareness or does it unnecessarily spread triggering/traumatic images of Black death? Are you virtue signalling, or do you stand by what you preach virtually in private spaces?

    • Does your antiracism activism extend beyond social media posting? Are you truly committed to dismantling white supremacy and racism in your own life, supporting activists on the ground, and putting your money where your mind is?

      • It’s not enough to be “not racist” or rely on social media as your main source of activism. Your contributions should actively participate in anti-racist efforts. 

    • An important thing allies can do is having discussions about the injustice of systemic racism, police brutality, and white supremacy with people in their own life (e.g., their family members, friends, coworkers, etc.).

Places to educate yourself and donate to community support and police accountability:

Many more resources, opportunities, and organizations can be found online and in the news.

 

Quarto Staff Profile: Alena Zhang

 

Illustration by Sophie Levy

 

Year: Class of 2021 ... ready to be destroyed

Major/College: History & Sustainable Development

Where are you from?

Syracuse, NY 

What do you love about Quarto?

Snapping, mmHMMMmm, “but the way I read it…”, picnics, well-selected snack assortments, sex poems, “this piece is about climate change”, and the roses & thorns that are shared before each meeting. But mostly, the incredible, talented, and deeply empathetic people who inspire me every day (cliche! sorry! don’t sue if it’s true!).

What inspires you to do the work we do?

The way I feel entering Kent 511, drenched wet and stressed, before the Quarto meeting, and after. The privilege of being able to give so much care, time, and interpretation to the art of students at Barnumbia. The lack of fictive endeavors in my actual fields of study. Also, Dorla McIntosh <3

Do you have any pets?

Just my friend Sharon.

Where can we find you in your free time (a lazy Monday afternoon, a cozy Sunday morning)?

The lovely sunny bathroom outside of the music library.

What else are you involved in/what are your other interests?

Since quarantine started: Fish tycoon, throwing sticks into the gulley, journaling about what I’m going to do tomorrow because I didn’t do anything today, asking friends for their favorite class syllabi, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, daydreaming about communes, wondering when the rain will stop.

Favorite author/artist/work?

(What a rude question!) Some works that are up there: Jorge Luis Borges’ Labyrinths, Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles, that one Avatar: The Last Airbender fancomic where Mai yells at Zuko the defining line of my life: “YOU CHARD MONSTER!”, & recently, Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings. 

What else should we know about you?

I thought I was the biggest teacher’s pet I knew until I came to Columbia.

Quarto Staff Profile: Priya Pai

 
Illustration by Cameron Lee

Illustration by Cameron Lee

 

Year: Class of 2020

Major/College: Computer Science and English double major in CC

Where are you from?

Sugar Land, Texas (right outside of Houston). Pretty stereotypically suburban, nothing exciting. We have very large grocery stores and an abandoned sugar factory.

What do you love about Quarto?

I’ve had the privilege of being on Quarto for four years (wow!). It’s been incredible to see how the culture and “brand” changes a bit every year as new ideas and people rush in but how fiercely constant the sense of community stays throughout. When I first started joining campus clubs, sometimes it felt like people had ulterior motives for being in the club or were there for different reasons. Quarto I feel is one of these unique spaces where every single person is united in this precious love of writing and art and sees how important it is to lift up and support diverse campus voices. I love that we all equally care about supporting writers on campus to the point that we’ll fight hard for pieces we care about. I consider everyone on Quarto’s staff a friend, and I’m so honored to know them!

What inspires you to do the work we do?

Not to be too cheesy…but I will be. There are many moments in meetings where people are brought to tears by certain pieces. These pieces touch people so deeply—maybe about the urgency of a poem in your Notes App or a certain element of your culture that hasn’t been articulated in this specific way or the delicacy of fruit or, for me, this one poem about coming home from college to your mother. These moments in meetings where someone says that they have never felt understood in this specific way until reading this piece is beautiful! My peers at Columbia and the astounding quality of work they produce, not only technically innovative but the raw honesty and vulnerability they trust us with, always inspire me. Keep making us cry at meetings! We love it!

Do you have any pets?

I have a 8-month-old beagle named Charlie. He ripped up my favorite sandals to shreds the other day. But he is also the most snuggly nap partner.

Where can we find you in your free time (a lazy Monday afternoon, a cozy Sunday morning)?

Quarantine has obviously thrown things off, so maybe I will share some favorite places I liked to go during the school year and some places in Sugar Land.

Walks in Riverside during the school year help ease anxiety. I really love sitting down in Hungarian and eating one of their buttery croissants. A tangent, but I’ll quote from a book I’m reading now (The Idiot by Elif Batuman), “The croissant was crisp and soft and flaky at the same time. Just biting it made you feel cared for.” That’s exactly how I feel when I’m sitting inside Hungarian at like 10 AM on a Friday and spreading jam on this beautiful, delicious thing! I really like walking in Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry. You can also find me taking a train to New Haven to visit my best friend, Yagmur, at Yale. The train ride there is always so scenic and relaxing and I am always filled with such excitement to see her! And honestly, my Woodbridge suite and the small table by the window where you can see the sunset over the Hudson River remains one of my favorite places.

In Sugar Land, when things calm down more, I am very excited to go to Pho Ga Dakao with my best friends. I cherish the sprawling lawn in front of The Menil Collection, a free art museum in Houston. I also like the beautiful array of Houston coffee shops that have housed so many conversations and days spent reading and writing: Campesino Coffee House, Siphon Coffee, Agora, Brasil.

What else are you involved in/what are your other interests?

Reading and writing are a given! I am pretty involved in activism with the South Asian Feminism(s) Alliance on campus—we organize and do our best to spur collective action on issues affecting minority and other marginalized communities. I’m very interested in coffee too—I would like to learn more about the different blends and how to grind beans and pour over and french press. Right now, it’s just me and my Folger’s ground coffee in an automatic coffee machine. I’d like to change that! I also love running—one day, I’d like to run a marathon! And finally, I’m very interested in vegetables and cheese. There are so many types of each, and they are so colorful and carry so many different smells and tastes and textures. I can’t explain it…these foods just makes me feel human. I just want to learn to cook veggies in more ways and make yummy cheese spreads.

Favorite author/artist/work?

In terms of musicians, Father John Misty, Mitski, Julia Jacklin, Phoebe Bridgers all really…do something to me. They’re incredible lyricists. My favorite album of all time is probably Mitski’s Puberty 2 or Father John Misty’s I Love You, Honeybear. Writers are more difficult. There have been too many that shaped my life in different, equally significant ways. A short list (and just know there are many more): Jhumpa Lahiri, James Baldwin, George Saunders, Myung Mi Kim, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Toni Morrison.

What else should we know about you?

I really want to dye my hair metallic purple one day.

Quarto Staff Profile: Veronica Roach

 
Illustration by Cameron Lee

Illustration by Cameron Lee

 

Year: Class of 2020

Major/College: Creative Writing (Nonfiction & Poetry), Columbia College

Where are you from?

All over—I’m a military brat! But also South Florida since my extended and now immediate family is there.

What do you love about Quarto?

As a writer, I always love seeing what other people are doing in their work. Quarto not only allows me to see what other Barnumbia students are creating but it also allows me to help publish and share these works with the larger community, which is so rewarding. Also the people are amazing :)

What inspires you to do the work we do?

The idea that we as a literary magazine can help positively contribute to our community by showcasing diverse and innovative works that evoke people in some manner and make them think.

Do you have any pets?

I have a Maltese back in Florida named Mia! She’s my favorite family member (sorry Mom and Dad) and I miss her tremendously. I try to fill the void, though, by walking dogs for Wag.

Where can we find you in your free time (a lazy Monday afternoon, a cozy Sunday morning)?

Watching tiny-home videos, trying new coffee shops and brunch places, walking through the Whitney or the Brooklyn Museum, applying to jobs.

What else are you involved in/what are your other interests?

Besides reading and writing (duh lol), I love getting to experience NYC—everything from concerts, museums, plays, musicals, food, bookstores, thrift shops, to parks. I stalk the skint for free and cheap events, and I save all the places I go and want to go to my Google Maps so if I’m ever unsure of what I want to do I have plenty of options. I also like just wandering around the city , especially after taking the creative writing seminar Walking. It really showed me the joy of just being present in, paying attention to, and moving through a space. 

Favorite author/artist/work?

Ugh, so many. In terms of art, I’m a little obsessed with Georgia O’Keefe’s works and JR’s The Chronicles of New York City (at the Brooklyn Museum) right now, as well as Japanese Shinto and Buddhist temples since I recently got to visit Japan for the first time. I also read a bunch of Carmen Machado’s short stories recently for a seminar and can’t stop thinking about them. 

What else should we know about you?

I’m likely the biggest Disney fan at this school, so if you start talking about Disney with me (especially Walt Disney World), be warned that I may not stop.

Quarto Staff Profile: Alex Tan

 
Illustration by Cameron Lee

Illustration by Cameron Lee

 

Year: First-year!

Major/College: CC, most likely Comparative Literature & Society

Where are you from?

Singapore. I don't appreciate hearing anything about how the country is clean, beautiful or efficient. The phrase 'Disneyland with the death penalty' also should be outlawed.

What do you love about Quarto?

Quarto feels more and more like a home to me. I've made so many good friends in this place, with interests and sensibilities that mirror and challenge my own. I also love listening to people express their thoughts on the pieces we read; I learn a lot from the way people see and understand texts and art. Sometimes it's so eloquently articulated that I wish we could record people talking and publish their voices.

What inspires you to do the work we do?

I think I'm thrilled by the thought that in selecting pieces for publication, we play a role in expanding people's ideas of what good writing can look like! Sometimes I feel saddened when people cite works by super traditional/canonical white male writers as their favorite books. I mean, ok, but have you read anything else? I also strongly believe in literature and storytelling as occupying an important intersection between the political and the intimate; it's simultaneously a channel of self-articulation, but also always inhabits a space in relation to a pre-existing hierarchy of voices. Quarto provides, I think, an inclusive platform for the creative expression of a diverse range of perspectives and experiences.

Do you have any pets?

Unfortunately not, but I'm still harboring dreams of having a cat one day, or a marmoset—like the one that kept the Bloomsbury Set company.

Where can we find you in your free time (a lazy Monday afternoon, a cozy Sunday morning)?

Running in a park, doing yoga, curled up with a good book, or seeking out new corners to have deep conversations with a friend!

What else are you involved in/what are your other interests?

I love writing, journaling, baking, making art, watching films, thinking about different forms. I hope to find more spaces to build community on campus and take part in activist/social justice causes in my remaining time here!

Favorite author/artist/work?

Always a challenging question! Some books that absolutely enraptured me recently: Tender by Sofia Samatar, A Greater Music by Bae Suah, A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson, Who Killed My Father by Edouard Louis. My desert island book is probably Lila by Marilynne Robinson. Virginia Woolf's work was too formative for me to be too critical of her aesthetics, even though I now recognize more clearly that her politics were problematic and exclusionary.

What else should we know about you?

I'm a big fan of friendship. We don't talk enough about it.