The Pond Waits, The Pond Stays

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At the start of the year, I stood in the open space outside the main gym, surrounded by movement but feeling completely still. As a transfer student, I was new—unseen on a campus that already seemed to know itself. People walked past, lost in their own worlds, sharing space but not connection.

That day, loneliness sat heavy on my chest. In that quiet ache, I picked up my camera. I captured what I saw: people coexisting yet disconnected, reflections without recognition. The images mirrored exactly how I felt—adrift, waiting, uncertain.

But just like the pond, I waited. Slowly, life moved. I found friends, built my place, and realized that the loneliness I once felt was not a permanent state, but a moment in time. I wrote a poem about a pond—still, unnoticed, yet unwavering. I paired it with the photographs from that day and turned it into this zine.

This piece is a testament to patience, resilience, and the quiet strength of holding on. Just as the pond endures, so do we. We wait, we grow, and eventually, we find our place.