Waves: the inaugural issue
From the Editors
Welcome to the first issue of Waves! We hope this will be a generative and experimental space for undergraduate writers—a place where students can test new ideas and modes of expression. The inaugural issue celebrates a stunning array of creativity in the face of 2020-proportion difficulties.
This year has been tough. By early January, the Australian wildfires had decimated nearly 30 million acres of land and over a billion animals, releasing 300 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere and portending bigger blazes to come. By the end of August, COVID-19 had infected over 25 million and killed over 850,000 people worldwide. Now, as we prepare for the inauguration of a new president in the U.S., millions of Americans are denying the election results and questioning the legitimacy of the nation’s democratic processes. At some point this year, people had run out of toilet paper and counted jars of sourdough starter among their closest companions.
Yet as the fires burned and coronavirus raged and businesses shuttered, there was astounding innovation: impromptu balcony arias, nationwide protests against police brutality—the largest in the country’s history—record-setting vaccine developments, crowdsourced pandemic cookbooks, and…whatever is happening on TikTok.
For this inaugural issue of Waves, the three pieces we’ve selected vary in terms of content, but collectively they model constructive, multidisciplinary approaches to human challenges. Brenna Marie Sheets explores death and grief in an introspective piece of creative nonfiction. The piece is published alongside one of Sheets's original photographs, "Boy with Fishnet." Ashrita Budharaju’s medical review addresses how discriminatory care and gaps in research affect health outcomes for trans patients undergoing hormone therapy. Finally, Brianna Riddle examines how Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma challenges androcentric paradigms of strength. Together, these writers demonstrate the diversity of undergraduate creativity and research and the value of humanistic inquiry, whether grounded in the arts or sciences.
Waves aims to showcase the unique possibilities of undergraduate work in different disciplinary modes and expressive forms. Undergraduate perspectives should be taken seriously and deserve a platform. We support the next wave of writers and activists, and with the fresh perspectives and the visionary sense of possibility you bring to your work, you can chart a new course in a world of uncertainties.
As writers ourselves, we know - writing is hard. As teachers of writing, we strive to acknowledge that part of the challenge of writing is talking about, working through, and sharing our experiences and our process. So for each piece we publish, we invite our authors to share the story of their work in a writer’s memo.
Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoy the issue, and we look forward to your submissions.
—The Waves Team
Creative Nonfiction
Broken Glass Still Upright, by Brenna Sheets
Cross-Sex Hormone Therapy
The Impact of Cross-Sex Hormone Therapy on Transgender Patients’ Physical Health, by Ashrita Budharaju
Feminine Strength in Film
Redefining the Masculinity of Strong Female Characters through Roma, by Brianna Riddle
Brenna Sheets
“When I wrote this story, I was in a place of considerable doubt about myself and the world around me. I was relentlessly striving to improve as a writer, but I was then faced with the turmoil of my father’s death. I felt pressured not just by my academic surroundings, but also by society to manage life, death, and self-doubt with effortless sureness and acceptance. I feel this piece was made subconsciously with the hope of resonating, empathizing, and acknowledging that uncertainty is inevitable and continuous.”
Ashrita Budharaju
“I was already interested in trans health, so I decided to take the opportunity to learn more about the medical aspect of transitioning. During that time, I was developing teaching materials and activities for the gender section of the Gatorship social justice retreat. I took care to center trans voices, and I was starting to understand how socially and medically transitioning impacted the lives of trans people. Most experts agree that hormone therapy has a positive impact on trans patients’ mental health and improves compliance with other treatments as well. However, the effect of hormone therapy on patients who are already at risk for cardiovascular, metabolic, or other conditions is not well studied. With my review, I hope to highlight areas for further study so that we can provide the best care possible for patients who undergo hormone therapy.”
Brianna Riddle
“As a nursing major, I don’t get to spend much time analyzing film imagery or reading books anymore. I’ve always viewed it as a privilege to read or watch these works created with so much passion by their writers and directors; Roma is no exception. I fell in love with the imagery of 1970s Mexico and the movie’s ability to flip the expectations of a strong female film character. Though this paper was originally written for a class assignment, writing it never felt like work. My intention in writing this paper was to reflect on the way that female characters are typically portrayed in film and to highlight how Cuarón channels a more realistic embodiment of feminine strength.”