Hello and welcome to the Connection Issue of The Rattlecap! We have emerged from deadline hell - dissertations submitted (!) - to bring you this wonderful issue. Thanks for your patience and understanding as this issue took a bit longer than usual to pull together. Uni’s hard sometimes! We’d also like to say a warm hello and a massive thank you to our new editors, who have brought so many exciting new pitches, new perspectives, and generally a new lease of life to this issue and to the team - thank you Rhiannon, Ali, Val, Tara, Gabriel and Molly!
Connection has felt especially challenging this year, and we hope that this issue provides some fresh approaches to consider as we finally all make it out to the pub. We have eleven (11!) incredible pieces of creative writing in our issue and we really love it all. From the funny and bizarre (read: Will’s raging, sexual, fantastical stream of consciousness featuring Gregg Wallace) to thoughtful poems from Hattie and Paola, there’s so much to choose from (and you should choose it all!).
This issue also features loads of insightful Arts & Culture pieces, which discuss artists past and present in an accessible and relevant way - be sure to check out work from Selin and Ruby to refresh your connection with art just in time for the galleries opening. Rhiannon also spoke to the artists behind AFTERS, an experimental exhibition close to The Rattlecap’s heart to learn about their virtual exhibition this semester.
As always, this issue has plenty of political material to sink your teeth into. Paula continues her foray into the intricacies of pop culture with a piece on the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen scandal, while J discusses capitalism, climate change, and the connection between humans and the natural world. Meanwhile, Grace talks about why Clap for Carers was actually kind of fucked up, and Rosaleen takes a closer look at the UK prison industrial complex.
Now, we’re going to get a bit emotional... This is (take a deep breath) our LAST online issue before we graduate and leave our baby in the capable hands of a new committee. Even though we did consider failing our exams to give us another year of Rattlecap, we figured that wouldn’t be very community-focused of us.
In all seriousness, The Rattlecap has been such an amazing and important aspect of our time at university (we literally prefer it to our degrees half the time) and it is going to be so sad to let it go. Thank you so much to every editor, writer, illustrator, proofreader, graphic designer, committee member, and Instagram liker over the past three years who has helped us make (and connect!) our own little community. Without you guys, there’s no way we could’ve transformed the frankly delusional idea in our heads into an actual magazine. We are taking solace in the fact that we are not leaving the community - just our current roles. You can’t get rid of us that easy! And we hope to see The Rattlecap continue for many, many years to come.
LOVE AND SOLIDARITY FOR EVER AND EVER
Phoebe and Iz xxxxx