What is Lunchbox?
Lunchbox Magazine is Emerson ASIA's (Asian Students in Alliance) premier publication featuring all mediums of art and storytelling by Asian-identifying students. As co-founder and co-editor, it has been an honor to platform the stories of Asian creatives. By doing so, Lunchbox is actively working against the single-story stereotype projected onto Asian people in America.
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Read the Lunchbox statement on the one year anniversary of the Atlanta shootings and its impact on the publication here.
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Visit the Lunchbox Magazine website here.
Lunchbox Issues + Letter to from the Editor
Vol. 1 Issue 1: The Sampler
During my leave of absence from Emerson in the fall of 2020, I discovered Gidra, an underground UCLA student-run publication devoted to Asian Americans (a groundbreaking term at the time) and Asians in America. It ran for only five years, first being published in 1969, but in that short amount of time, the newspaper was able to collect contributions from social justice activists, labor union organizers, as well as academics who were at the forefront of compiling the very first Asian American history textbooks. Gidra was driven by Asian students who were passionate about redefining their identity and finding community.
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With Lunchbox, I hope to allow for Asian and Pacific Islander students at Emerson to rediscover and reconnect with our racial identities. To freely express our experiences being at a predominantly white institution while knowing full well we are entering fields that prioritize white frameworks. To find comfort in being able to share our stories with one another and to take solace in knowing we are not alone without the pressures of educating our white peers.
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Thank you to ASIA (Emerson’s Org of the Year but also the Org to which my Heart Belongs), for green-lighting Lunchbox, and for being so welcoming to where I feel comfortable enough pitching a (read: fleeting thought of a) magazine in the first place. Huge cheers to Marieska for being the catalyst of Lunchbox–for granting me with the confidence that this was something that could be done, and something I could do well. Her talent and insight was essential in this process, and I am so grateful to be able to share this editor experience with her.
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Enjoy the free samples.
Read The Sampler here.
Vol. 1 Issue 2
It is with great honor and pride that I present Lunchbox Volume One Issue Two alongside Marieska and the entirety of the Lunchbox Team. Starting a magazine is one thing, but it is a whole ‘nother feat to keep it running. Many lessons were learned in the last few months, but I am so blessed to have had the opportunity of working with such gracious team managers who were more than willing to help build Lunchbox from the ground up. Thank you to Sam, Shruthi, Dellin, Naomi, Hannah, Lauren, Maddi, Neeka, and Chloe for your patience and for your passion. Thank you to the entirety of the Lunchbox Team for your bountiful presence and ideas. Thank you to Jay, Vince, and Katelyn for your continued support in ASIA (Asian Students in Alliance), where I derive all of my motivation, comfort, and reassurance. Finally, thank you to Marieska, who has fearlessly tackled the role of Co-Director, leaving me in perpetual awe.
Take in each and every detail of this issue with care and love. Continue to celebrate the work of Asian storytellers.
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Read Volume I Issue II here.
Vol. 1 Issue 3: Renewal
The release of Lunchbox: Renewal marks the one year anniversary of the publication’s beginnings. In the past year, it has been a remarkable pleasure to watch Lunchbox grow from a seed of an idea to an outpour of stories in one of the most glorious tangible forms: 8.5 x 5.5 inch glossy paper.
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There is an abundant pool of stories and experiences in the Asian community at Emerson – ones that defy the pressure to parallel a single story of tradition and modernity, an overwhelmingly common theme in the presence of Asian people in American media. The question of tradition vs. modernity remains the root of analysis in me and Marieska’s Asian American Literature class. Because of the course as a whole, I’ve grown to realize the value of an Asian-run zine featuring Asian work: through publications like Lunchbox, the single story of Asians in America is slowly being dismantled. Our stories are renewed.
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I’d like to thank our contributors and the Lunchbox team for your trust, patience, and determination to shape Renewal into what it is today. My heart goes out to jay, Vince, Katelyn, and Hannah – there would be no Lunchbox without ASIA. Thank you to Prof. Rani Neutill for guiding me through the realm of Asian literature. My highest regards belong to my sister, Marieska Luzada – you sure know how to run a darn good publication!
Read Renewal here.