How it started

“Landing” zine is a passion project I have been working on for 4 months over quarantine. I first proposed it in May 2020 and launched the printed zine on September 1st, 2020.

As a Parachute kid who was sent to an American boarding school at 15, I’ve always been fascinated by the community of youths who leave home for foreign education. While we might not have realized the significance of our experiences back then, our Parachute identities intersect with almost every chapter of our lives, affecting how we live, where we go, and who we become.

Amidst the pandemic, from moving apartments multiple times, to anticipating my visa expiration date, I’ve experienced how difficult it is to be twenty-something, to be away from home, and to be a Parachute kid in 2020. After deferring my grad program due to the pandemic, without school for the next year yet unable to fly home due to travel bans, I find myself surrounded by uncertainties: Where do I go from here?

This zine has become my way of understanding and healing from such hardships. In the process of making "Landing", I was able to both reflect on my own past and listen to stories from others. It made me realize that there is a community out there, that we are not going through this alone.

The Process

After reaching out to my artist friends who expressed interest in this project, I entered the creating phase, devoting months to writing stories, taking photos, drawing, and endless editing. I made sure to give myself and the featured artists ample freedom to express their emotions through whatever medium they preferred. The prompt was simple for the creators: tell me your parachute story.

As August came around, I entered the editing phase. I used sticky notes to keep track of all the works submitted, and I used Adobe InDesign to format all the pieces together, trying to figure out the best way to sequence them. I also designed the front and back cover for the zine, and finally decided on the title “Landing.”

The Result

You can access the full digital zine HERE.

I want to thank my dear friends, Kathryn Huang, Sarah Hee Joo Hahn, Jerry Tang, Grace Lin, and David Liu for sharing your work, your talent, and your passion. Thank you, readers, for taking the time to read this zine. I see this project as not the end but the beginning. Hopefully, stories will be shared, individuals will connect, and in time, a community will be built.

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Let the storytelling continue.