Issue Three:
Gaia

Over many centuries, we have seen countless “daring” authors ask the question: “What if the woman was evil?”

To them, the idea of a villainous female is unheard of, inconceivable, preposterous even. “A woman’s role is to be a caring, nurturing mother! So, the most unimaginable thing would be for her to be cruel.” However, mankind has a short memory. Every time this question is asked, people forget and seek an answer again. Thus, a rotten legacy of stories that demonizes womanhood is created. Pandora’s curiosity dismissed as selfishness; Eve’s desire reprimanded as foolishness and naivety.

 

Gaia is no different from these women, having been scorned and mistreated. The eidolon of life, our ancestral mother, has been blamed by man for every disastrous act of God: surging tides, raging fires, and erupting earth. We write stories of her rebellion and scheming nature, turning sons against their fathers. We shun her in disbelief of her unyielding cruelty. In truth, Gaia’s awesome power is not being used against us out of her own rage.

 

Our stories may change, but the truth behind them remains evermore. Eve’s pomegranate, now an apple; Pandora’s jar, now a box; and yet the true horror is the polluting hand of mankind that writes these tales.

We have been told for decades that we have been creating our own doomsday. Climate change, over-consumption, pollution, these terrors may not have begun with us, but it’s up to us to put an end to them.

 

To a better future,

by Hans, Editor-in-Chief of Writing

with Swee Chin, Editor-in-Chief of Visuals

Amanda, Editor of Writing

Michaela, Editor of Visuals