Writing
This page showcases some of the short fiction I have written and links to publications my where my work is showcased.
Most of my writing these days are thoughts and stores from my travels. Click here to read my travel blog.
LIGHT IT UP
An incredibly short story inspired by the Major Lazer — Light It Up music video, with a specific focus on 1:49–1:51. Exploring translating multimedia to a text format.
Imagine, if you will, a rave. But not just any rave. The biggest rave in galactic arm B-184, an arm of the Netronian galaxy, already known for its boisterous parties. This is the setting of our story.
Here humanoids from all walks of life come together with the most impressive costumes, the strongest psychedelic substances, and the most mediocre of dance moves to let loose and party for days on end. EDM music is constantly blaring, and brilliant colors refract off of the soundwaves themselves creating physics-defying feats of optical beauty.
Among these legendary festivities, one dancer stands out. His appearance is much less impressive than the amorphous human shapes made entirely of multicolored string or the dancing figures sculpted from a rainbow of sand that periodically dissolve and reform, but still, he stands out.
This dancer is noteworthy for looking like a large collection of sentient lizard fecal matter.
Lizard poop, for those who are unfamiliar, is distinctive for a few reasons. First, it has a strong and unique scent. Secondly, it is a repulsive combination of brown, black and white splotches. This dancer shares all of these characteristics.
After only a few seconds of dancing, he appears to notice this himself, and spontaneously collapses back into a non-sentient glob of lizard excrement.
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Heritage Food of the Peranakan Indians: In a Chitty Melaka Kitchen
I use the last few pages of this cookbook to talk about food waste and sustainable choices. Published in 2023.
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Trinkets
Guac Travel Magazine article about the souvenirs and experiences I collected while living in Vienna that was published in 2021.
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Gifts of the Earth
Creme de Cornell, Cornell’s premiere food magazine published this article about foraging in 2021.
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The Ancient Art of Worm Charming
Michigan State University Extension article about worm charming, published in 2020.
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How Do You Show a Tarantula?
Michigan State University Extension article about showing tarantulas at county fairs, published in 2017.
Divergent Biographies
A short story written in 24 hours with the prompt ‘divergent biographies’.
Allen was not a man who fainted in life. Fainting was for those of a more… feminine deposition. All his life he avoided fainting and thought himself superior for it.
When you die you no longer have a head. Nor blood. Fainting is caused by a sudden drop in blood flow to the brain.
Despite these facts, Allen (or rather Allen’s disembodied soul) fainted for the first time shortly after his death.
Shortly before fainting he said simply two words. (1)
“A… a.. rug?”
One might wonder what thoughts were going through Allen's consciousness as he vocalized this phrase. But, in fact, Allen tried to think so many thoughts at the same time that none of them ended up being thought at all. The gears inside his metaphysical head had grinded to complete stop. Then they shattered (2). Then Allen's ghost fainted.
1. Only one of them really counts though, the other is an indefinite article to specify the more important noun.
2. Really beautifully too. Like gears made of tempered glass.
Jen died young. Her car got hit by another, faster-moving car and she ended up in the afterlife. Just like Allen, she was shown the meaning of life. Ten minutes later (3) and she was in an argument with god.
“I don’t see why you can’t call it a tapestry. Or a quilt, or something more appealing.”
3. Time doesn’t quite exist in the afterlife as it does in the before-life. This argument actually took place in the year 1966, decades before Jen’s death in 2009. But her soul was still used to Earth time and perceived about 10 minutes as having passes.
Humans, collectively, have spent billions of hours thinking about the meaning of life. One would think when they are finally shown the real meaning of life and cumulation of every human life they would be pleased. Or at least admire the beauty. One would be wrong.
It is hard for many of them to fathom that the meaning of life is a rug.
Some had come close to this conclusion; the Hopi tribe of Native Americans for one. Their creation myth included a spider grandmother weaving the world into existence.
The Greeks had a myth even closer: three fates that spun, measured, and cut strings for every human life. They just needed to weave these strings together into an ornate rug.
Perhaps the person who came closest was a writer in 2009 when she published these images:
The blogger, by total accident, illustrated the way the rug of human existence is woven, albeit in a two-dimensional manner. The rug itself is a nine-dimensional weave full of braids, loops, and knots. Each consciousness is a thread, weaving in and out, closer and farther from others. Emotional connection and distance made into a tangible object.
Lovers’ threads braid together, diverging when they break up. Friend groups weave together in tight configurations. Families form their own patterns. Strings span multiple braids and twist around into beautifully complex patterns. Communities of love are illustrated by the rug.
The rug contains a biography of closeness for every human life and every emotional connection they had. Spun together, it tells the story of the entire human race and all the love souls shared. All in one rug.
The Schwartz Award
The Schwartz Award is a Cornell Award given for exemplary work in agricultural journalism. It is open to all 4,000 students within the life science college. My piece on edible insects won the $900 grand prize.