A red blood cell gets four months to prove itself. It carries oxygen as a loyal courier, no pension, no recognition, no plot in the cemetery, just a quiet recycling, its iron turned over to some newcomer reassigned after layoffs. Take this routine and give it consciousness; you have a human. Ever mutating but continuous strings of DNA. Frantic brushstrokes and vivid images of color. Dry ink and drier humor on stacks of paper. Instincts and reason alike drive the pursuit of outliving the flesh by replacing it with a body of work instead.  ​ At The Mortals—the first and only student magazine across 11 BASIS China schools—we understand this very significance of art and literature as a medium that transcends physical boundaries such as flesh, time, and distance. What isn’t said in life finds its way into the margins. What isn’t felt in the moment returns in metaphors, circulating after the body crumbles, and its vessels too. The pieces published in The Mortals all, from one angle or another, bear unique perspectives that acknowledge their ephemerality. Our copies are not designed to pass the test of time, but to evolve through time as it passes on. Thus, it covers diverse perspectives, often on contentions—from school policies to international affairs—that remain elusive at the time of writing. Impact, more than permanence.  ​ As a student magazine for 11 schools, we are especially drawn to student work because it is still in the process of becoming. Velocity, more than canon. Motion, more than pedestals. We seek writing and art that capture change, even mid-transformation, ideas that don’t rest, that sweat and stretch and sting. We look for new blood and young voices that carry the raw immediacy of current experiences and events. Thus, at least two of our editors rigorously review each piece of submission, offering written feedback for future improvement. And in doing so, we aim to spread the ideas, creativity, and knowledge of these young, burgeoning voices beyond the 11 campuses’ walls.  ​ Serving a readership of nearly ten thousand, we value contradiction. We embrace imperfection when it reveals deeper clarity. We welcome pieces that don’t have answers yet, but ask the right questions. We trace such evolutions in style that are personal and unique on their changes to an inherited literary tradition. We believe the most vital work doesn’t just tell us something new like taxidermy pins the dead as alive, it makes us feel the friction of that newness, more akin to observing what still twitches. Thus, we encourage everyone—from staff to readers—to engage in this creative endeavor, through everything from poetry slams to Writers’ Workshops. Disorientation, more than illumination.  ​ Student-founded, The Mortals is about championing works which are able to ground themselves in the present and remind of what it is like to be alive in the moment. Here, you can expect to hear from every member of, every place in, the BASIS China community: Heads of School and dorm parents, alumni and new students, teachers and security guards, Student Council Presidents and NHS members, janitors and dining hall chefs. What we are living through right now in all of its vividness is our body of work. ​ ​ By Albert Wang '26, Alex Huang '27