The West Enders

Write, illustrate, edit and publish The West Enders, a nationally distributed literary magazine created by student-artists at West End Alternative Secondary School in Toronto. Call 416-393-0660 or email lee.sheppard@tdsb.on.ca to find out more.

Thursday 20 December 2012

My Face

Throughout this project I had color and line in mind for the elements of design. I made strong bold lines for the outline of my face and used striking colors for each project. In the blue picture, I wanted to convey feelings of loneliness and sadness. I used black paper with icy cold colors, and purposely spaced the image in the middle to focus on the single face. As a last touch, there are dabs of white to give off the effect of ice.

Monday 26 November 2012

Die With A Smile


Cecilia Evoy
Illustration by Jahan, Polina and Deangelo 
Title Illustrations by Kardelen and Clayton

            Samara sat on the balcony of her apartment, gazing down at the tree in front of her. The leaves had taken on the colours of the sun, and were dancing gently in the breeze. Brody, Samara's German shepherd was sleeping on the bench beside her. Samara gently stroked Brody's thick fur. Samara loved fall, it was when all her favourite colours presented themselves, and the weather was more comfortable than the rest of the year.

Displaced


By Cecilia Evoy
Illustrations by Jahan, Kim K., Kardelen, Sultan, Polina, Deangelo and Jennifer Luu


Everyone feels displaced at some point. We feel like we are in the wrong place, the wrong situation, the wrong body, the wrong universe. My poems concentrate on that feeling of not belonging. Perhaps one thing that unifies us is that sometimes we all feel like we don't belong.
My biggest struggle with this project was finding the right places to rhyme. Many times where I first tried to rhyme, it served only as a distraction. I did find success, however, in communicating my theme.


Thursday 15 November 2012

The Blizzard

Title and first illustration by Cecila Evoy
Popsicle and Doc Martin Illustrations by Sammie


I guess it feels like a gradual blizzard. At first it's just cold. You feel the sharpness pierce you. Slowly, you lose that feeling and it's replaced with a numbness. The blizzard gets heavier and begins to bury you. The snow crushes you and you can feel your bones invert, your whole body tightening and you lose the ability to breathe. Then the frost creeps and you start to notice parts of you dying. They turn black and begin to wilt. You watch them fall but you can't do anything about it, as the frost continues up your limbs. You can't feel it – you're still too numb – but that's almost worse. You can see yourself losing essential parts and you can't even feel them leave you. You're suddenly abscessed and the abscess keeps growing. And parts of you keep dying. Until, one day, you're gone.

That's loss.


The Break-Up



Cecilia Evoy
Title Illustration by Jahan and Sultan
Illustration by Kim K.and Kardelen


Ext. Dog park. Afternoon. Fall.


RAMONA and STEPHANIE are sitting on a park bench, watching dogs play. 


Ramona drags on her cigarette, blowing a smoke ring.


Jennifer Luu's Poems


Artist statement
My culminating was inspired by Erin Morgenstern’s novel, “Night Circus.” I decided to write extensions about other tents in her story in the form of poems. I enjoyed the writers’ fresh use of vocabulary and the descriptions of fantastical happenings in a place unbound by logic. I decided to base each poem on an Arcana of a tarot card deck as the author did before me, but use ones that were un explored by her. I tried to keep the same feelings of mysterious captivation I felt when I read a description of an environment in the circus.
by Jennifer Luu
Title illustrations by Jahan, Deangelo and Jennifer
Illustration by Cecilia

Friday 12 October 2012

Nowhere Bound

Story by Cecilia Evoy
Illustration by Cecilia Evoy



“Summer sucks.”
Brian’s proclamation startled Jason.
“It doesn’t.” Jason said, briefly turning his concentration from Arthur to his older brother.
“Gimmie that.” Brian snatched the remote out of his brother’s hands and violently flipped through the channels. There was nothing other than kid’s cartoons and preachers trying to tell him how lost his soul was. Brian already knew that. He settled back on Arthur, letting the grey remote drop beside him.