aAh! – your arts and culture magazine
Millennials, listen up again: our lovely, liberal generation is also unfocused and vague. We think we know everything – which we kind of do – but mostly we don’t. aAh! magazine hopes to present the opportunity for readers and writers to interrogate their own ideas about the world we’ve fallen into. Each issue will interrogate one important contemporary notion through our regular features, opinion pieces, spotlights, interviews, previews, art, poetry, flash fiction, photography and music.
This issue: YES
“I am not a ‘yes’ person. No matter who you are married to, you still need to lead your life.” – Melania Trump
How often do you say yes? …yeah, yah, yep, yup, mm-hmm, uh huh, that’s right, indeedy. Is there really such a need for so many? Yes is a big, exclamative word – or can be. Some yeses are small and insincere. Yes can be a no in disguise. Yes is a yellow word, a family of nods and winks. A yes can be the selling of a lie.
Yes is a word of consent, permission and agreement. Yes is political word, something chanted by an angry mob. Yes is the ultimate hippy word, maybe more so than LOVE, as in: open yourself up to all, man: say YES. Which is like the yes of YES, the British prog band, or Yoko Ono’s famous yes, a small word at the top of a ladder written on the ceiling. At this point, yes could sound like nonsense, just a meaningless sound – which it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah…
In Old – and Middle-English, yes was a stronger, more forceful alternative to the word yea. So what happened to yea? Imagine your teenage self answering parental questions: Did you do your homework? Yes. How many different yeses sleep in the one word? Do you love me? … Yes.
This issue is about optimism, hope, affirmation (and its lack). Yessir! About conformity, belief and rebellion. So tell us, why yes? If not, why no? What is there to say yes to, and how can we be sure?
We are taking submissions for:
Deadline: November, 2018.
Submissions for all categories should be sent to aah.editor@gmail.com. Please make sure to include your name and category of submission in the body of your email.
Feature Image: Press “It’s important to find your people. Don’t feel like you have to find this incredible producer or person who’s going to give you loads of money and change your life” says Lauerence Tratalos, one-half of the Northern duo responsible for Misper; a feature debut for director Harry Sheriff and script writer Tratalos….
Featured image and gallery: Lucy Elson-Whittaker Fuel Café Bar in Withington hosts the fifth stop of six-piece band Ignoring Izzy’s ‘Motorway Musk’ tour, following the release of their debut single. The room buzzes with the promise of chaos, and possibly a few flying vegetables. Opening the night is Manchester-based Leucotome, a witch-folk trio blending soft,…
Featured image and gallery: Sub Khan Opening the night, Gabrielle eases the Co-op Live crowd into the spectacular night ahead. There’s no need for spectacle, her presence alone is enough with her deep vocals echoing around the arena. A performance rooted in control and feeling, each song reveals a different shade of her understated command. Operating…
Featured image and gallery: Sam Holmes Formed in Belfast in 2019, Chalk have already made a name for themselves. From support slots for Fontaines D.C., IDLES and Sprints, to taking to the stage at SXSW earlier this year, the band’s growth has been rapid and shows no signs of stopping. Touring their debut album Crystalpunk,…
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