Mosey, the cat I’ve been stuck with
By Teryn Midzain
I am a dog person. To my core, dogs are my favorite pets. Except for the annoying, but heartwarming, ball of tri-coloured fur … my brother’s calico cat, Mosey.
Mosey knows she is as gorgeous as she is cunning, and uses her talents of seduction and kindness to get her only two loves in life: food and a soft quilt to sleep on.
Mosey runs on a strict timetable that all must abide by and memorize. Morning breakfast by 9:00 a.m., followed by late-morning judgments of the walkers from her favorite window sill. Lunch should be served by 1:30 p.m., and dinner no later than 7:00 p.m.
Her demands of attention are a grievance. Simple work-from-home days or weekend video games now have to account for a bundle of fur that in one second will be purring calmly, then with the slightest adjustment of my mouse or twitch of my thumb, becomes a hurricane of claws and teeth. Her peace was disrupted, her entire mood went to shit, and my evening is now forfeit to the duties of Mosey’s Snuggle Hoe.
Then there are moments when I am distressed, scared, and alone. When I can’t breathe and feel trapped in a dark forest with no exit or meadow; when our contempt for each other dissipates. Her comfortable weight and soft purring from the nook between my legs and my butt tells me I am loved and appreciated — as long as I don’t move too much, and in doing so, disturb her sleep.
Fish are friends, not food
By Sydney Marchand
The past couple of weeks has been nothing less than hectic. My boyfriend decided to move in with me, which means that my somewhat organized house has turned into a chaotic mess of half-emptied cardboard boxes and packing materials. While I am stoked to have him around all the time, I think I am even more excited for the aquarium that he has brought with him.
Now, I know what you’re thinking: how exciting can a fish tank really be? But let me tell you, this isn’t just some small, place-on-the-counter-for-decor kind of fish tank. This is a huge-ass 115-liter beast that is home to a bunch of live plants and fish friends. I’ve carved out an entire wall for this bad boy and I couldn’t be happier. Although I love the fish, snails, and shrimp that swim around all day, the live plants are undeniably my favorite part. The majority of the tank displays an underwater jungle of different types of moss and aquatic plants that are wrapped intricately around pieces of wood and mounds of rocks (actual rocks, not those pearlescent beads that pet stores sell). Sticking out from the water, we draped different varieties of pothos and other wandering plants. It’s quite the setup, I’ll admit. And for someone who has an irrational fear of water, this aquarium brings me so much joy.
TikTok and Parasocial Relationships
Anisa Quintyne
TikTok has reduced musicians to material forms of their palatable selves, made to perform and commodify their music before their status as people is acknowledged. We see this now that concerts are opening back up and people are exposed to musicians for the first time since quarantine — with songwriter Clairo asking her crowd to stop yelling inappropriate comments after performing a song about objectification. There is a certain demand for entertainment that has violated all known concert etiquette.
Pre-COVID 19, we praised artists for sharing a sliver of their mind untouched by the world that kills creativity; now, the barrier that allows us to empathize with creatives has been worn thin by TikTok’s constant and accessible entertainment. It’s difficult to empathize with images behind a screen, and now creatives are forced to conflate their personal identity with their content and become commodified for the music that truly sells on social media. Their humanity cracks open like a running egg, and the yolk is consumed faster than the prose they write in verse.
Have yourself a moment of awe
By Andrea Sadowski
My days lately have been playing out like the movie Groundhog Day. I wake up and live the same day over and over again in a boring monotony of reading and writing and scrolling, trying to check items off a to-do list that never seems to get any smaller. The other day, I came home from another day of sitting in front of a computer reading words and thought to myself, “is this all there is?” After looming over that depressing thought for a moment, I decided to take a walk instead of sitting on my couch to catch up on all the depressing news in the world.
On that walk, I saw the most beautiful sunset where the sky turned from blue to pink to orange to gold along the horizon, and the brightest rainbow had formed all the way across the sky. And I stood there for I don’t know how long in a state of awe, grateful to be alive for the first time in what felt like a long time.
In the podcast Life Examined, psychologist Dacher Keltner describes awe as “being in the presence of vast things that you don’t understand.” You can find “moments of awe” in nature, art, spiritual texts, and in connecting with other people’s courage and kindness. Try to get your daily dose of awe to connect yourself to community, culture, and ecosystems, and to give yourself a reason to keep going.
Teryn Midzain is an English Major with ambitious goals to write movies and a full-time nerd, whose personality and eccentrics run on high-octane like the cars he loves. More importantly, Teryn loves sports [Formula One], and doesn’t care who knows. When not creating and running deadly schemes in his D&D sessions, Teryn tries to reach the core of what makes the romantic and dramatic World of Sports, the characters and people that make the events so spectacular.
Sydney is a BA English major, creative writing student, who has been a content contributor for The Cascade and is now the Opinion editor. In 7th grade, she won $100 in a writing contest but hasn’t made an earning from writing since. In the meantime, she is hoping that her half-written novels will write themselves, be published, and help pay the bills.
Andrea Sadowski is working towards her BA in Global Development Studies, with a minor in anthropology and Mennonite studies. When she's not sitting in front of her computer, Andrea enjoys climbing mountains, sleeping outside, cooking delicious plant-based food, talking to animals, and dismantling the patriarchy.
