issue 7 is BODYMOD. let us discuss the body as a site of obsession, discipline, performance, pain, and pleasure.
what does it mean to make a body “better”? why do you (or why won’t you) make changes to yours? write about tattoos, piercings, hormones, cyborg fantasies, experiences in bodybuilding, or the upgrades you’d adapt if technology permitted so [┐∵]┘
send all proposals or initial drafts to ucgargoyle@gmail.com by january 5th at 5 p.m. with “issue 5 proposal for section x, contributor’s name” as the subject line. include a sample paragraph (~200 words) with your proposal. final drafts are due january 7th (tighter turnaround! be prepared ) at 11:59 p.m. pieces can be anywhere from 1–1000 words. production night will be happening at 5 p.m. on january 15th, pull up inked, pierced, or spiritially altered (accessories encouraged).
prompts from our section editors (aftercare instructions):
uc: are you chopped and also unc? did you ask for plastic surgery as a graduation gift? do your piercings/tattoos make professors scowl at the sight of you? does the middle aged couple on yorkville ask you to be their third because they thought the blue hair and baby bangs screamed “liberal who loves freaky sex”? ever shave your head bald? was it shiny? what was the caretaking routine on that like? did you have to massage the scalp so the stubble didn’t itch? we’re curious (genuinely) (if you don’t want to write for us can you please dm us) (reddit isn’t cutting it).
arts & culture: talk about bodies as art, as performance, as battleground, as the self (or not). what does it mean to upgrade yourself? is pilates just contemporary penance? tell us about the cyborg fantasy or biohacker pseudoscience or hormones as mythic revisionism. when does a fitness routine become a ritual? when does self-improvement become self-surveillance? write about extremes. what does the ideal body look like in your corner of the internet? what does it cost to maintain? what happens when it breaks?
politics: discuss cyborg selfhoods: how do wearable tech, implants, or biometric trackers blur the line between body and machine. how does the orientalist’s gaze manifest in the popularity of culture-based body-modifications? explore the politics of pain: what does it mean to choose pain (e.g., piercings, tattoos, decorative scarification) when some bodies face pain without choice? write a manifesto imagining post-human modifications that challenge current aesthetics and ethics.
opinions: what does it mean to you, to modify your body? how has your body changed over time? is discipline hot, or are we just scared of being seen as lazy? rank your tattoos in order of preference. did that post-relationship piercing hurt as much as the break-up? tell us about your 75-hard experience. are everything showers necessary? bush or no bush? what even IS the point of a body? what’s the point of yours?
avant garg: give us a tattoo & piercing tour. what’s the most pain you subjected yourself to in the name of bodymod? do you regret any perma-mods you’ve made? let’s talk about non-human bodies we find solace in… furries, mecha, celestial……
comics: given complete free rein, how would you customize your persona? how do you imagine yourself beyond the confines of your #basic human body? draw us some tattoo flashes! get weird with it.
stay greasy,
amareena saleh
communications editor
