"for myself, to sync is to align, to be affirmed, and guided. - in alignment and one with the earth and the universe. experiencing moments of synchronicity in my daily life - whether through seeing angel numbers, the weather, people i cross paths with, conversations with strangers.. all guiding lights and signs that i am on the right path towards fully, unapologetically, embodying my true self and my gifts. i am further reminded of the simple joys in life and to remain thankful for all that i have."

- Laura (Wen Pei) Low, UNSWeetened 2022 Designer

"'SYNC' reminds me of well-composed things. Music, art, writing and films ... beyond that it also reminds me of events, friends, and teams of all kinds. You can't really hear or see patterns both small and all-encompassing or enjoy a conversation, event, sports match or a project well done, without first having elements that flow in and out of synchrony. For art and texts, it's the work of the author or a team of creators carefully crafting every factor to work together towards a cohesive final piece. The same doesn't apply to larger things, where the elements aren't so deliberate and more randomized, unpredictable. You, the author, can decide what your protagonist and deuteragonist might do in a certain situation, but you can never know for what certain your friend or teammate might do, and you're much, much less likely to know what a stranger would do. That's what makes well-composed things so lovely: to have instruments, characters, ideas, and people synchronized regardless of whether you had a hand making them that way. If that's hard to grasp, then the once viral video of Robyn concert-goers singing together on the subway while heading home is the perfect example of what I mean."

- Darshni Rajasekar, UNSWeetened 2022 Illustrator

"Meaning in tune with another, everything aligned. Like a pair who, to all appearances, met by chance but move to the same rhythm. It makes me think of something right. Feeling right, even if you can't fully describe why. I first think of people. A person with another, with a pet, with the world. Everything clicks into place."

-Rose Chubb, UNSWeetened 2022 Publicist

"I recognise a concept with high potential by its ability to make my mind race faster than my pen or mouth could ever hope to be; this is no exception. First, in such a broad category, my mind goes to visuals, to colours and shapes. In the case of 'sync', these are fluid and flowy. I see liquid in its most amiable state to humans: peaceful and stable, slowly rolling about, rippling uniformly, splashes and drips and breaking waves at a minimum. On the other hand, I see almost a sci-fi theme. Greys meet neon red and electric blue, as to sync is a common thing in IT jargon. In short, however, I think of harmony. Water acting symbiotically with the nature around it, a delirium of small parts making up machine functioning with a sexy smoothness, people all across the world collectively acting, speaking, living in the same way - no, not the same - A synchronisation is not a replication; a good dance troupe will exert individual personalities, even when they all partake in the same movement; a river should not be expected to carry out the same tasks as the trees. 'Sync' should be about masses expressing individuality as one. An infinite number of differing entities working toward, or becoming, a common cause."

-Alex Naele, UNSWeetened 2022 Publicist

"Sync. Nsync, in sync, synchronicity, asynchronous. Sync makes me think about coincidences, Jung’s theory of synchronicity - ascribing meaning to insignificant moments (self-mythologising is crucial to our quest for meaning - we look too deep for things that are in “sync” - maybe it's a sign?)

People have said that women’s moods are synced with moon cycles - lunacy - the moon’s disease. Do we really change with the seasons, the tides? Maybe it’s another write-off for hysteria. (But sometimes I feel a certain way for no explicit reason. The moon’s fault then - that’s what astrology is about, right?)

When you say it enough, “sync” is “sink” . Being in sync is a positive thing - we are attuned to our environment, or others. But then it implies being out of sync is subversive and discordant - and perhaps it is. Such is the English lexicon. (To be in sync is to be the same… to conform would be a failure. A reach? Probably. But some people do think like that, I think.)"

-Lesley Lui, UNSWeetened 2022 Publicist

"'Sync’ makes me think of ‘cloud sync’, where files are uploaded and stored in virtual spaces. My mind visualises a landscape of technological universes that exist in our mobile phones and laptops so that we are all carrying our own little meta-verse in our pockets. Perhaps it is not exactly an alter-ego of our identities that we create in these clouds (like Facebook’s meta-verse) but a new identity that is inspired by our original identity. Consider the possibility that these cloud spaces become artificially intelligent; that every time someone uploads information to the cloud, the web interface links this information to form new, virtual individuals that exist in the space (like internet cookies!). And since we have systems like Google Drive that allows for interactions with others, I imagine that relationships can also form in these virtual worlds: where intimacy can be found with people far away from you or it can be commodified; where a connection with someone can deepen through instant text messages; or perhaps it's diluted, because what if love is truth? Could you love someone that you meet regularly through VR but never have to see in real life? 

These contradictions force us to re-evaluate the human experience and as writers, what better role do we have than to do exactly that?"

-Michelle Huynh, UNSWeetened 2022 Editor

"I interpret the word 'sync', or 'synchronicity', as a way we can find meaning in our lives – although the kind of “meaning” you will potentially find or respond to will differ greatly depending on the beliefs you hold as a person. As a kid, I’d always roll my eyes when my new-age mother would exclaim “synchronicities!!” whenever some unlikely coincidence would happen. I think she’s always had a view of that kind of stuff that’s much more spiritual than I’ve ever been able to understand. She loves to try to figure out what the synchronous events are supposed to symbolise, what kind of message she can derive from them. But now that I’ve gotten older, I can see the enjoyment you can get when you allow yourself to dwell on these happenings, even if it’s just for a moment. It doesn’t matter why these things lined up, synchronised with each other – it only matters that they did. So, wow! I will marvel for just a few seconds at the world we live in, in which these things can happen, and take delight from it as I please. If these things did synchronise for a reason, I will never know, but I will no longer let this way of thinking stop myself from the very natural part of my brain that feels happily rewarded when it recognises a pattern."

-Juliet Manolias, UNSWeetened 2022 Editor

"When I hear the word ‘sync’ my mind travels to the obvious responses: synchronous entities, moments coinciding with each other, soulmates who can never quite escape each other’s orbit. I think of pair skating and parallel universes; mirrors and identical twins. But if we’re thinking in the spectrum of alignment, we must also consider the inverse of harmonised ‘things’. The time when you look in the mirror and see someone else’s reflection; watching dreams clash with reality; moments of alienation both external and/or internal (Who am I? What the heck am I doing?). Like all great stories, ‘sync’ makes me think of the self: who the world wants you to be versus who you want to be."

-Hannah Smith, UNSWeetened 2022 Editor

‘‘‘Sync’ is one of those words that elicit this vague, lost feeling. There’s nothing specific about it, you can’t categorise things into it, so I think it’s one of those broad, sweeping terms about being caught in life’s riptide. To be in sync is the ideal, but I feel the older I get, the less it feels attainable. In a literary context, it may be about the union between reader and writer, the foundation of the quintessential experience of storytelling. ‘Sync’ is intangible, but it directly refers to the notion that we can be one, the act of sharing stories briefly enabling us to attain that ideal.

In the past year, I’ve had this sinking feeling of not having enough, namely not having enough time. We sync to stories because they simultaneously exist within and from within others, and yet so many people’s music never gets to be shared. In our contemporary sociocultural context, ‘sync’ again refers to connection but on a simpler level. New connections seem harder, and we desperately hold onto established connections— we are in sync about our anxieties, but also in seeing the light and our hope that things will get better. Like the feeling of springtime or a walk in the rain, ‘sync’ is quietly appreciating and making enough of our lives— that is the ideal. In conventional narrative, the struggle is always the protagonist being out of sync in some way and finding themselves, so maybe ‘sync’ is a coming-of-age, an acceptance, a catharsis."

-Marco Lam, UNSWeetened 2022 Editor

"At first glance, sync can be interpreted as an informal cue to be aligned, rhythmic, and "in time" with everything else - the metronome of conformity. Of course, I despise being the same as everyone else so let's be meta about this. From another perspective, sync can be considered an acronym. Read it backward. CNYS or as I would like to state with a firm passion 'Chinese New Year Sucks'. The new year reminds me of redundant tradition, a synchronous cycle of my favorite aunties and uncles gathering to exchange money equally through red pockets (this is just passing $20 in a circle with extra steps). It's the same every year.

The only instance of broken rhythm and the uneven tempo is not the excitement of money that is inevitably ‘borrowed' for the classic, undefined ‘expenses', but rather the rare opportunity I get to meet my cousins. It's fascinating to learn how much everyone has matured from different backgrounds. A cousin of mine is musically proficient with basically any instrument and sings very well which only fuels my own passion for music. In the end, being in sync has its rare advantages where matching someones' tempo can let you see a common perspective. It can teach you to hold yourself back - a rare lesson on humility. It can even push you. Someday, I will be able to play in sync with my amazingly talented cousin."

- Kei-Fu Low, UNSWeetened 2022 Editor