Published monthly in our newsletter.
Aimee Kuiper, Creative Team Member
When work stress, family drama, and traffic nightmares follow you home, scientists and gardeners agree on one solution – get a houseplant. A wide variety of studies describe the effect green plants have in classrooms, hospitals, offices, and especially homes. Overall, the presence of two to …
Jun. 2023
Denise “The Vamp DeVille” Zubizarreta, Creative Team Member
Edible flowers have been on the menu for humans since the beginning of our gastronomical explorations. But in recent years, they’ve begun appearing in our appetizers, on our dinner plates, and in our desserts as well. Some are much more than just garnishes for salads and cocktails, and may even …
Jun. 2023
Lizzie Tjahja, Creative Director
An exploration of spatial dynamics created between architecture and film narratives. How do director Bong Joon Ho and production designer Lee Ha Jun craft the relationship between the Park family home and the characters of Parasite?
Apr. 2023
Denise “The Vamp DeVille” Zubizarreta, Creative Team Member
Spring is when we all come back to life after our long winter hibernation state and it’s just in time to help us recover from the daylight savings shift that nearly made it nearly impossible to defrost ourselves. It’s a time when art starts to feel sweeter and the colors engulf us in happiness and …
Mar. 2023
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
Our Discord server got a makeover, we have the beginnings of some proper documentation, polls for Issue 07’s theme are live, and staff applications are open! But there’s lots more coming.
Feb. 2023
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
First things first–go read Issue 06! It’s great and everyone worked really hard on it. But I wanted to use this chance to explain our unannounced hiatus, what we learned during it, and what’s next for CCM. (Spoiler, submissions will be opening for everyone!)
Nov. 2022
Diane Kim, Creative Team Member
The way a room is decorated can have everything to do with how you feel when you are in it. Blue painted walls might evoke feelings of tranquility and peace. For some, it might make them feel melancholy. Artists have been able to express the different types of beauty and feelings that are brought on …
Mar. 2022
Gracie Neirynck, Publications Director
Astrology today is, I hate to say it, a bit of a joke. It makes you think of Buzzfeed and CO-Sign and while all that’s well and good, they don’t have any sizable impact on your livelihood (or at least I hope not).
Feb. 2022
Denise Zubizarreta, Creative Team Member
Art in isolation isn’t a new concept, many artists feel as though the isolation opens the creative mind allowing for a comprehensive connection to their work that supersedes the need for community.
Jan. 2022
Gracie Neirynck, Publications Director
Gothic art may make you think of poorly painted Medieval friezes, but this spooky season, let’s think about another form of Gothic art. Art inspired by the themes of Gothic fiction, also known as Gothic Horror. Read more to see the work of 6 talented artists who evoke the Gothic themes of sadness, …
Oct. 2021
Anna Dunn, Managing Editor
The best horror movies have ambiguous endings. Endings that make you leave confused, in disbelief, and searching the internet for more details and answers. The movie remains in your head, and you’re stuck thinking, what happens next?
Oct. 2021
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
Escapism gets a bad rap, understandably so. It’s often perceived as someone running away from their feelings by refusing to engage with reality–an unhealthy coping mechanism. Conventional wisdom says that the Right Way™ to deal with negative emotions is to feel all of it and work through the …
Sep. 2021
Gracie Neirynck, Publications Director
Sometimes stress can take hold of you, reaching its withering hands around your body, plucking at your heartstrings like it’s playing guitar. If you’re like me (unprepared and disorganized), then the beginning of the school year can be particularly stressful. The stress monster can linger at the …
Aug. 2021
Peyton Farnum, Creative Team Member
Finishing something you worked really hard on might just be one of the best feelings in the world. But what makes this accomplishment feel even more fulfilling? When you planned every step of the way!
Jul. 2021
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
Made for fun! Brought to you by Cicada Creative Magazine. CW // photos of bugs.
May. 2021
Anna Dunn, Managing Editor
Imagine you’re back in high school, working on a group project with the artsy philosophy guy who exclusively talks back to his female teachers. The project requires you to bring in some sort of family heirloom from home to share with your partner and then present to the class.
Mar. 2021
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
If you asked a stranger to list any 5 artists off the top of their head, odds are good that Andy Warhol would be one of them. A soup can homage even sits in front of CSU’s Center for the Arts (to honor a visit from Warhol in 1981). There is no doubt that his contributions altered the trajectory of …
Mar. 2021
Molly Flood, Creative Team Member
The Punk Movement was largely male-dominated, as much of the music industry is, but the women of Punk embodied the movement wholly and didn’t receive adequate credit. The movement’s female artists highlighted the struggles of the female experience that didn’t fit into the mainstream …
Mar. 2021
Gracie Neirynck, Creative Team Member
Agh, February! The month of love. This month I was determined to present you all with a love story—cliché, I know.
Feb. 2021
Peyton Farnum, Creative Team Member
I love wildlife. I have ever since I was a child.
Feb. 2021
Peyton Farnum, Creative Team Member
In my many years as a creative-driven being, I’ve discovered that I have a great affinity for tattoo art. Tattoo practice is something that is taboo in our society because of its permanence. However, tattoo artists are just as credible as other artists, and their art is worthy of admiration and …
Jan. 2021
Anna Dunn, Managing Editor
Anyone visiting an art museum or studying art history has probably encountered a weirdly shaped baby at some point in their life. These long-limbed babies, resembling a small man or wrinkly sock puppet, are a common staple of art from the Middle Ages all the way up into the Renaissance.
Jan. 2021
Haley Arnold, Social Media Manager
It’s 2021, and COVID is still in full swing. With cities encouraging us to continue social distancing, work from home and limit our activity outside of the home, it can be hard to stay entertained and feel motivated. At this point we have all moved on from whipped coffee and sourdough bread, so here …
Jan. 2021
Peyton Farnum, Creative Team Member
Nature is out there! (and it can help with your health and creativity, too!) Peyton Farnum, Creative Team Member With all the craziness that 2020 has brought, it can be difficult to remember to take some time to care for yourself. Luckily, I am here to inform you that one of the easiest ways to do …
Dec. 2020
Gracie Neirynck, Creative Team Member
Art changes throughout time, evolving to address each century’s unique struggles and values. In an effort to retaliate against the cynicism of a post-war era, modern writers began to pioneer a new age of writing which they called New Sincerity.
Dec. 2020
Casey Forest, Creative Team Member
Sometimes college is the place where we lose it—it not referring to virginity, house keys, parental respect, or mental stability. Hard as it is to admit, I myself have lost it more than once here, despite the fact that I’ve spent a lot of money to become an undergrad and curate it, in hopes of …
Dec. 2020
Molly Flood, Creative Team Member
Protest has also been a prevalent theme in art throughout the years. This timeline explores art that addresses injustice and inequality in the past 100 years.
Dec. 2020
Anna Dunn, Managing Editor
I miss sitting in front of a real person and hearing them lecture, but even more than that I miss the ten minutes before class where I could talk to my peers, catch up on current world news, and orient myself with where everyone else was in their projects (was I behind?). I’ve had no trouble getting …
Oct. 2020
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
As you all know, COVID. In response to the lack of in-person interaction, many colleges and universities have begun to use proprietary software to ensure students do not cheat during exams, most often ProctorU, Proctorio, and ExamSoft. I take 3 issues with this development.
Oct. 2020
Haley Arnold, Publications Director
Protest has also been a prevalent theme in art throughout the years. This timeline explores art that addresses injustice and inequality in the past 100 years.
Sep. 2020
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
In an era of political turmoil and and misinformation, it is more important than ever to critically evaluate and critique the news media we consume. Even traditionally trustworthy news sources are not immune to bias and manipulation. Not only must we be vigilant with the accuracy of the information …
Sep. 2020
Reilly Webster, Creative Director
We all love to imagine design as the industry of the future–innovative, inclusive, progressive. However, this field is just as prone to racial inequality as any other industry in America, if not moreso. Just check out page 14 of the 2019 AIGA Design Census. Because of this, it is imperative that we …
Sep. 2020
Herman Luis Chavez, Managing Editor
Layli Long Soldier’s “Obligations 2” is adventurous with form. This poem confronts us with choices we must make as the reader; we can take a path through the middle, or through the edges, or a combination of both. We can read top to bottom, and we can read left to right. We can read and re-read and …
Sep. 2020
Katrina Clasen, Design Editor
When global lockdowns were put into place, the world felt a little safer with the pandemic seemingly contained; however, closed doors and 24/7 confinement bred a much more sinister affliction. The UN has depicted the worldwide increase in domestic violence as a “shadow pandemic” parallel …
Aug. 2020
Casey Forest, Content Editor
Where we live is a mess. It’s a convoluted, poorly meshed, dig-until-your-hands-break country. It was a rug ripped out from under those who called it home, and now it is a capitalist petri dish. It’s hard to agree on things here, even with ourselves.
Aug. 2020
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
Early in July, a fake restaurant emerged on Instagram and Yelp. This fake restaurant was entitled “Ching Chong House” and had various racist menu items ranging from Corona cocktails to “Crispy Burnt Pug.” Although it is clear that this stunt is merely another in a long list of unfunny edgy shock …
Aug. 2020
Haley Arnold, Publications Director
In a few weeks, millions of students will be returning to school for the fall. Despite the current COVID-19 pandemic with cases on the rise again, most schools are planning on having at least some in-person learning. For parents, this requires them to make a tough decision on whether or not to send …
Aug. 2020
Herman Luis Chavez, Managing Editor
For non-Black people of color, it can be difficult to navigate allyship with the Black community, especially for those who are only just now beginning to educate themselves on Black justice. This article provides an introduction to the first steps and best practices you can take to be a better ally …
Jul. 2020
Anna Dunn, Art Editor
Social media has acted as a primary source of information, education, and organization throughout the Black Lives Matter movement since the its inception in 2013. It has been a platform for people to share and promote speakers, books, funds and organizations. Mass participation can create a sense of …
Jul. 2020
Molly Flood, Communications Director
The spring of 2004 raised two kinds of children. I, a proud four and a half year old, spent my time playing outside with toys and picking apart the lawn while a swath of angsty 17 year olds also emerged into the open air, ready to scream all summer long.
Jul. 2020
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
In the midst of yet another reckoning with the antiblackness that permeates every corner of the U.S., many people have scrambled for ways to make sense of it all. For some, it is a familiar topic of conversation, one that has shaped their entire life. For others, it is an abstract knowledge they may …
Jul. 2020
Jay Serrano, Editorial Director
Over the last few months, the world has changed in dramatic ways that have affected us all. CCM has had to contend with these changes and evolve, incorporating our original vision into a world that looks different.
Jul. 2020