<!– ISSUE 3: DREAMGIRL –>
this week we’re queuing up issue 3: dreamgirl ♡˳·˖✶ write about the girl in the mirror, the girl on screen, the girl in your twitter groupchat, the girl you invented at 2 a.m. representation for a girl of nightmares? tell us how the idea of a “dream” girl shifted over time. how is it different from a dream boy.
send all proposals or initial drafts to ucgargoyle@gmail.com by friday septmeber 26th, 5 p.m. with “issue 3 proposal for section x, contributor’s name” as the subject line. please include a sample paragraph of 200 words with your proposals. your final drafts will be due wednesday, october 1st by 11:59 p.m. your article word count can be as few as 1 and as many as 1000.
our production night will take place at 5 p.m. on, october 10th in the junior common room until 9 ish pm. who knows, you just might just meet your dreamgirl™… (or at least a masthead member with pizza). if you want to meet with anyone from masthead irl prior to pitching, issue 2 production is happening this upcoming thursday (sept. 25).
also! for or our nom nom nom food issue, we’re also collaborating with @uoftletseat on a campus food drive. please bring non-perishable items like canned vegetables (tomatoes, chickpeas, etc.), oatmeal, canned fruit or fish, and nut butter.
donation spots:
sept 22–25 → uc lit office (jcr, 9–5)
sept 23 → sid smith lobby, 1:30–4:30 (possibly sept 24 too, tbc)
sept 25 → during nom nom nom prod night (5 p.m. – midnight)
all donations go to the daily bread food bank, who have been working since 1983 to meet emergency food needs and address long-term food insecurity across the gta. they distribute fresh + shelf-stable food to over 200 programs and advocate on issues like affordable housing, newcomer support, social assistance, and livable wages.
here are some dreamgirl dlc prompts from our section editors:
uc: have you ever pictured your professor in a maid outfit? every wondered if there muscles under that button up? we want campus crush fanfiction. get raunchy, get feral, get nasty.
arts & culture: dissect these so-called ‘girls’ in media. tell us about mary-sues, girlbosses, big sisters, and girl-next-doors. what does it take to be a final girl? who gets to be a main character and who is relegated to npc status? what art is made for girls and where is that line drawn? what does ‘girlhood’ look like on screen? what does girlmusic sound like? how is femininity glorified, satirized, and/or sensationalized?
politics: discuss feminist intimacy: how does decolonized intimacy look and feel? do trends like “princess treatment” and “I’m just a girl” do more to infantilize women than center our genuine needs and desires within a relationship? tell us about navigating womanhood and singledom. how does capitalism define “the girl”? is it regressive to use gendered language when describing anything done by a woman (i.e. woman writer)? does queer femininity align with popular interpretations of the “feminine experience”?
opinions: how do femininity and labels play into your relationships, or how do they not? what about in your relationship with yourself? how did the quintessential ‘manic pixie dream girl’ shape or affect you? tell us about the top 5 girls in your life. how does it feel to be somebody’s/nobody’s dream girl? WHO IS YOUR DREAM GIRL? what even IS ‘girlfriend material’? ‘wifey material’? what the hell is a ‘girl’, anyway?
avant garg: i’m stealing opinions’ question. what the hell is a girl? what the hell is a dream? answer those questions for me in a mind map. please help me. fix me. did that turn you on? yes? let’s dissect that. serenade the shoulders of women who carry the plot for boring, depressed men. belt “clementine” by grentperez. verbalize the desperation of desiring to be your own dreamgirl, the ideal girl, the special girl. rewrite the Gone Girl monologue.
comics: why does everyone look the same? subvert the convention of cookie cutter femme characters in visual media. pixar moms, impossible anatomy in femme superheroes, eyelashes and curves to indicate female animals in cartoons. what gives??!! make a comic exploring the ways that femininity is stylised, constructed, exaggerated, and contorted in the arts.
see you soon,
amareena saleh, communications editor
