This poem is meant to capture the unfortunately timeless experience of girls who find themselves powerless and shamed by an attempt at romance. We can take our place in history by acknowledging these sometimes uncomfortable realities even when others refuse to do so.
Transportive
Summer Camp Love Letter
Summer camp carries a particular kind of magic in your life. I wanted to capture the whimsical romance of teenage relationships in this prose poem.
Agatha and the Naming
“Agatha and the Naming” is the story of me, in a way trying to claim my place in my family’s history. While Agatha’s struggle is name-based, mine is skill- and future-based. She gets to meet her namesake while I still question mine.
Epiphany of Hotpot
Moving from city to city at a young age, away from my family and relatives, shaped my passions and how I view the world. These two chants connect blurry fragments of my childhood to my hopes for the future.
sayonara, hello
“sayonara, hello” is a cross-genre piece that explores the discrimination and isolation immigrants face. It is told from the perspective of a young Japanese girl who searches for acceptance from the people around her.
Evening Distractions
For this flash fiction exercise, we started with a prompt and edited down to 100 words. I cut out words that didn’t hold as much significance to the story, and what’s left was intentionally included to help show the reader instead of telling them.
This Sacred Earth & Fire Into Water
Growing up in midtown Manhattan, spending the weekends at tree-filled Central Park instilled in me a love for nature, leading me to reflect upon our treatment of the environment.
Green Tea. Hot. Mint With Honey.
My piece, “Green Tea. Hot. Mint With Honey” is a reflective personal narrative about a specific vulnerable period of time in my young life.
Into the Underworld, Chapter 1
This is the first chapter of a novel I’ve been developing for about six months. It is set in a future where humanity is divided by pollution, class, and race and the world order is on the brink of total upheaval by two very spunky girls and a suction tube.
this is
“this is” is an answer to the question: “Where do you see yourself in ten years?” Just recently in history, women have the power to seize their opportunities and follow their dreams. This piece reflects on those dreams, and the future.
A Snapshot in Time
“A Snapshot in Time” is a story about June, a teenager, who bonds with her grandmother and learns how far her love reaches.
Flower Crowns
This is a scene from a novel that I’ve been working on forever. Anna is saying goodbye to her best friend—who has died trying to save her—and learning about grief and the past from an older woman.
A False Home
We tend to cling to our past and the sense of familiarity because it reminds us of home. This prevents many of us from ever actually trying something new or finding who we’re meant to be. My story takes you on the journey of discovering why home isn’t always home.
Miss Rona & Me
In quarantine, my mind can’t help but gravitate back toward life outside: when I was undeniably happy. I pick out these little moments, and then I remember everything going on inside my head then. What I was feeling, and exactly why I was really happy. In this instance, I remembered a walk I took after school one day, past Trinity Church on a crowded street. This collision between a colonial past and the skyscrapers towering above me was exciting, so I wrote a little something about that feeling. Then I spoke, giving new life to these words.
Why Obsessions Matter
I chose to write about how my obsession with comics books, which seemed the opposite of my personality, has allowed me to grow into who I am, both as a writer and as a person.