Seagull and Sparrow

My best friend, Eleni, and I got through the cold winters of our undergraduate studies by fantasizing about the things we would be doing if all of our time wasn't consumed by studying and writing papers. One of the things we talked about was making a zine called Seagull and Sparrow. Seagull and Sparrow because birds are travelers who have a different natural vantage point than humans (a good place to make observations from), and because both seagulls and sparrows are underrated and overlooked. 

Seagulls in cities (and even on beaches) are the rats of the sky. They fly over parking lots and eat junk food. Once I saw one chasing another, and it appeared to be a life or death question for the seagull with the donut in its beak. Plus, any animal that's not afraid of humans has to be fierce and/or intelligent (I don't have room to expound here, but you have the internet--look into the history of the relationships of whales and humans and bears and humans). 

Sparrows are underrated because they're little and plainlooking and fat, but they stick out the winter. It's no easy feat, as we all know. Almost any human with the means flies south in the winter. And sparrows are the ones whose voices you always hear. If you ask someone what a sparrow song sounds like, they will say they don't know. But sparrows are always singing in the background. They are everywhere: fat and tough, simple and brown, and so Eleni and I feel like they are in our corner. One seagull. One sparrow. Fierce. Intelligent. Will eat anything for survival. Little, but with compacted strength. Always singing. Not afraid of humans. That's us!