BLUEPRINT LITERARY MAGAZINE
PROJECT PAGE
JAN 2016 - MAY 2019
Having emotions means you are weak.
We begin with, “If (Engineer) {Can’t Write}”, which holds a concept near and dear to this organization’s heart and mission. We are not limited by the titles on our diplomas, not by our peers’ judgments of what we can and cannot excel at, and not by what the world deems as a “productive contribution to society”. Admitting that our perception of our own capabilities is the greatest hindrance to what we can truly achieve - that may be the hardest thing many of us have to do.
An engineer can draw. An engineer can write.
An engineer can be creative. An engineer can be analytical. An engineer can be both.
Anyone can.
This Is How The World Starts. It’s the morning and everyone’s moving, changing. Are you breathing, hearing, and talking “Immigrant Talk” because you decided to start your new days in a new country across the sea? Are you headed to a “Coffee Date” because a caramel latte is the best way nowadays to get your head into gear, be productive, and meet friends (or perhaps someone more special)? Are you stopping to smell “The Rose” blooming in your garden? Make a “Wish” on a dandelion that you’ll have a good day today.
An Intermission. Pause for a minute. Look around you for the small details that we so often forget. Look at the whimsical streets of “Venice” and the twirling of the “Dancers”, so rapid and nimble that you can’t see where one person ends and another starts. Look for the “Beauty” in everything and everyone.
This Is How It Ends. It’s okay to be tired. It’s okay to be angry. It’s okay to feel “Hunted”, cornered by everything going wrong. Breathe it in, confront it head on, because pain is a lesson just as rewarding as joy. Just know that at the end of the day, when the “Fire Burning” dies out, you can begin again, and it’s “(Just Like) Starting Over”.
Having emotions means you are weak.
If that was true, all the amazing works in this book wouldn’t exist. Because having emotions, speaking about them, rising to remain equal to them, means you are strong. And so I’m happy to present to you, in my fourth and final year with this amazing publication, Issue 8, our 2018-2019 edition of Blueprint Literary Magazine.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Issue 8, 2019
Everyone’s collecting stories. Stories of pain, stories of laughter, stories colored by changes seemingly beyond our individual small worlds, both political and not. It’s funny just how much flows in undercurrents of all our lives, emotions and fantasies drawn only by our pens and scribed only by our minds on metallic tapping on keys late into the night.
Blueprint started as a space for the engineers on North Campus to make their creative mark where there hadn’t been one before. Now, that’s no longer the case, because Blueprint has grown to become a place for everyone to be creative. Our members are diverse, coming from backgrounds ranging from art to biology to computer engineering to business. The biggest treasure of it is what is hidden behind these labels. It is a plethora of talents unseen except in the works produced. It is an unquenchable thirst to talk about things that make life a little more meaningful everyday. We have a fallen angel, musing over the world and grand wings curled about. We have letters dated to our best friends, our dear ones, the people who matter most. We have beautiful mosaics created by careful hands and an amazing eye to detail, works one definitely doesn’t see everyday.
Blueprint was passed down to me from a long-time veteran, who knew the ins and outs of this club long before I came to UM as an undergraduate freshman. In the three years I’ve spent here, Blueprint has grown significantly. Certainly, it’s grown in number, structure, and in its literary and artistic public presence. However most specifically, it’s become a family to me. Hopefully this is true as well to my fellow board members, who carry each other in both times of long tired nights and of incredibly bad, quotable jokes, and to our new members, many of them finding their fit on this campus.
In this publication, we collected stories that we saw as above all, genuine. You, your friends, and we own this creative creation collectively. No matter what mood or time of day, we hope you have just as much fun poring through it as we did making it. With that, I present to you the 2017-2018 Edition, Issue Seven of Blueprint Literary Magazine.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Issue 7, 2018