Issue 9
When the Calafia crew met virtually to discuss the theme of this issue, Systems was an immediate choice but... complicated to define. This was the challenge the youth of 2020’s Calafia fellowship created for themselves–I mean, what the hell is a system? Broadly, a system is a structure designed to create a status quo. It is both bureaucratic, like the American education system, and conceptual, like gender. In the pages of this magazine, you’ll find the experiences of California youth like Rosa who wants to know who her Coachella Valley school system was built to benefit. And Ivan, who asks us to look at the structures of our own upbringings and face the question, what does it mean to “be a man”? The youth of this fellowship came together to produce this issue under the enormous pressures and loneliness of 2020.