F
pom
the Edito
Possibly a product of the perpetual campus renovations, or
maybe a result of the recent presence of the revolutionary Saul
Williams, but whatever the reason, the work in this year’s LAMBDA
art and literature issue builds upon a common theme of reinterpre
tation Robert Wells’s sonnet directed to Samus Aran, for example,
questions the assumption that a “female first” denotes a step in the
direction of women’s rights. At the same time, Robert plays upon
the poetic form’s conventions with desire directed toward a video
game creation rather than a living person. Like Robert’s poem works
on poetic convention, Scott Kaplan’s poem, “So Simple,” reexam
ines the boundaries of gender, love, and poetry and finds them to
be more fluid than they are commonly held to be. Patrice Wrights
poem, on the other hand, arcs from one mostly normative set of
interpretations to another. Eric Verlade’s untitled photo of a win
dow begs us to decide if the circles frame the squares, if the squares
frame the circles, or if both are required to form the frame.
A standing pool grows stagnant: art and literature should offer us
novel ways to interpret society and give us room to move forward.
While it could be said that every LAMBDA issue offers a number of
perspectives that stretch societal norms, the visceral engagement that
art and literature allow make this issue particularly salient. However,
to say LAMBDA stretches traditional boundaries does not mean it
lacks foundation; each included work, while stretching ahead,
remains firmly grounded in artistic or literary tradition.
As for the publication itself, this year marks the third year of
LAMBDA’S art and literature issue. We hope you find this issue rich
in new or reinterpreted ideas. As you close this publication, keep the
works in your thoughts, and may they serve as stepping stones to
drop before you as you walk ahead in life.
In Unity,
Daniel Cothran
M
ission
LAMBDA IS UNC-Chapel Hill’s Lesbian-, Gay-, Bisexual-,
Transgender-, Intersex- and Queer-affirming pubucation,
PROVIDING A progressive OUTLET FOR NEWS, ANALYSIS, OPINION AND DIALOGUE.
As SUCH, WE ARE INHERENTLY COMMITTED TO A FEMINIST, ANTI-RACIST AND
HISTORICALLY CONSCIOUS PERSPECTIVE IN PURSUIT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE FOR ALL PEOPLE,
lambdX
Box 39
Carolina Union, CB# 5210
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
lambda@unc.edu
Office: FPG Student Union 3512D
(919) 962-3191
•
www.uncedu/glbtsa/lambda
Apt & Lit Team
Daniel Cothran Issue Editor
Special thanks to
Robert Wells
for helping with layout
Confrikuiops
Julie Goodstadt
Imay Ho
Scott Kaplan
Antoine Reid
Eric Verlade
Brittany Wofford
Robert WeUs
Patrice Wright
LAMBDA is a project of the Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgender - Straight Albance
This publication is funded at least in part by
student fees, which were appropriated and
dispensed by the Student Government at
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
LAMBDA b printed in Benson, N.C.,
by Benson News Printing.