Randa Hadi • Raleigh, NC
Puff is an etherial being, imaginative, & mysterious. She exists outside of our realm of understanding - building herself up slowly over time.
Note From The Editor:
I didn't really want to submit anything; something about the prompt felt off. I wanted an issue that was fluffy, a little bit like filler (but still with value), simple, light. It was a toss between poof, pop and puff…. there was something special about puff at the time, but after rolling it through my mind and trying to bring this issue together, I’m coming up short on what that something was other than I liked how the word felt when spoken (which isn’t fair or a good reason for a primarily visual experience). I got the sense that others had a hard time feeling inspired by puff, and some vocalized it. I’m not sure if it’s the word or where society and the creative community is at. Everything has felt so heavy lately that it felt like a good time for a lighter issue. Puff was meant to be non-polarizing fluff, like puff nothing-chips or how, supposedly, there’s gluten added to frozen vegetables to up the weight. Maybe we’re at a place in life/society/culture where we need polarizing - we need the natural weight and we need to stop pretending that everything is fine. We need to care about what’s happening in the world, and perhaps we’re collectively realizing that we’ve gotten lost in the scroll and gotten used to ignoring the important stuff, so now it’s crisis mode. I’m not sure. It could also be that end of march and beginning of april are always strange times to create - transitioning seasons, winter ending, newness and life are right around the corner, but you don't want to get your hopes up in case there’s a cold blast and you already packed away your warm clothes. I just don’t know, but that’s part of what posidrag is ~ a visual time capsule for how a handful of people interpreted a prompt.
I made a playlist for this issue, which started solid with Puff The Magic Dragon, but stalled out at the overwhelming amount of P. Diddy songs that came up. I considered making a playlist of just that, but realized there’s more to puff than just filler, there’s the feeling of floating on a cloud, the feeling of puff pastry when you eat it… there are a few “puff” songs, but mostly songs that make you feel puff.
All of that to say, the issue has come together and become it’s own thing. I want to thank all the contributors to this issue and those who have shared and continue to share the gospel of posidrag.
Keep making rad shit,
K Baergen