Clouds

Jess Anderson

Most of us couldn’t help but look out the window when the theme for this issue was announced, at the grinning blue sky full of clouds. Some were thin and stringy, others fat and grey, but above all they were perfectly, frustratingly mundane. 

It prompted some thinking outside the box. 

So think we did, and suddenly our boring, white clouds were metaphors, symbols and gods. They took form, changed shape— loved in some cases, raged in others. Where once they grew heavy with rain, now they grew heavy with hope, with fear and a greedy desire for everything in between. 
In this 23rd Issue of The Quarry, we attempt to make sense of the fog. Just as you will never see the same cloud twice, so too will you never read the same story, as every student has interpreted this theme in a unique and interesting way. Together we ask, what clouds the mind? What shrouds the heart? What feeds a brewing storm and quells the wandering eye? 

Step into stars with Alexander O’Bied’s bittersweet Science Fiction piece, The Dive of Cassini, as a probe spacecraft realises desires that go beyond its mission. Choose your own adventure with Space’s thrilling, interactive murder mystery Case File 14092005: Joseph Kant. 

Then, ponder the ever-unforgiving, ever-evolving natural world with the enchanting poetry of Rory Hopkins’ The Cloud is Full, and It is Starting to Rain, and Jess Anderson’s eerie short story One Wolf (and One Wolf Only). Like these writers, many students chose to pen allegories and cautionary tales to combat the anxiety of our modern world. Others stepped back into the past, such as Elia’s powerful poetry cycle Diálogos, a new look at the classic Greek myth of Hades and Persephone. 

Seunga Moon peers into distant memories with her mesmerising poetry, At Tropos, Between Spheres, to examine childhood innocence and naivety, while Nanzeeba Khan artfully and poignantly spins a tale of grief in Photographing Cyclones. 

Finally, return to the gothic with Maxine Chen’s I Guess You Could Call Me A Gothic Nomad and flirt simultaneously with the romantic and the macabre. 

None of these stories would be possible without the guidance of our mentor and professor, Jimmy Van, who painstakingly put this unit together and created the website that our journal calls home. Thank you, Jimmy, for your care and compassion, and for answering our questions quickly, even when they were penned via email at outrageous times of the night. To our event planning team, Jessica Cannon, Caitlin Golfis, Nanzeeba Khan, Space Lok and Chelsy-Lee Ordonez De Cross, thank you for all the work you’ve put in to make our launch party spectacular, and a huge shout-out to Jasmine Moon for designing this edition’s gorgeous cover art. And of course, a huge thank you to my fellow editors, Valerie Keall, Nanzeeba Khan, Nathan Mackrill and Rory Hopkins. It has truly been a pleasure. 

So, whether they be light and fluffy or full of rain and thunder, our poems and stories will leave you breathless. Come with us as we step into the sky and, for just a moment, let your head linger in the clouds.