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i studied journalism and film in college, where my cohort parroted the hegemonic tendencies of western state media—which is to say that they took anything they consumed at face value and were incapable of writing critically about marginalized people. this of course was not limited to their craft as storytellers and subsequently extended to their actions as people.

some of the pieces here were written for a grade. many of them were written out of spite. my positions now, or at least my preferences in articulating them, may have changed from those listed here. frankly, they ought to be updated with current ones.

the only use to have come from my degree was the brief solace my works gave to those who read them then. it's my hope that they will still resonate with a select few now. enjoy.

essays

commentary

manifestos

poetry

  • untitled religious poem

    the most alive i'll ever feel
    is when you cut through my skin
    and there yields no flesh
    i will never be god’s perfect lamb

    show me a mirror
    and i'll show you the price of decay
    angels weep at lives dismembered
    but they still see mutilation as sacrifice


  • front windows and open doors

    it's been weeks and days and hours since we last spoke,
    and all i can do is sweep the front doorstep and tidy the kitchen
    i saved a seat for faith at this dining table, repeating to myself

    that absence is also a visitor
    and waiting is also an action


  • 451

    death speaks to me in threes and nines
    i check the clock as if a minute could tell me anything

    tell me,
    what must the body think after a day's long slumber,
    when it sees itself sewn up after being under the knife
    i hope i die on an even number
    i hope my body thinks it had healed itself overnight


  • heaven is in the medicine cabinet

    i peel the fibers off each tangerine slice
    i don't like the taste of dirt and drought
    scrubbing my skin raw in the shower
    hoping a new body will no longer repent

    i watch the water rise to the surface
    as the drain struggles to swallow it down
    it sputters and cries, engorged with the filth of yesterday's sins
    but the purge will prevail, and the waste kept for another day

    god speaks through sonic soothsaying laughter,
    "you will be clean of it soon. you will be clean of it soon."
    but there was no blood to rinse off that bathroom faucet,
    nor was there a body that could ever be cleansed holy


  • hometown medical center

    there are medical encyclopedias - erudite chant, never a hymn
    never like the way i hear you sigh through the screen
    when i tell you i am carrying your sorrow again
    i tell the practitioner, "father has thick blood, mother has sick nerves"
    and she says, "your heart is not theirs"

film photography

i'm lucky enough to be able to borrow my uncle's nikon FM2 from the 90s. on occassion, i use a canon af35m when i want something light to travel with. i mostly shoot on cheap expired film as i'm still new to this particular medium and did not want to feel stingy with the photos i take.

sept 2025 - san diego

canon af35m / expired fujifilm superia x-tra 400

  • a waterfront villa at balboa park
  • a botanical pond at balboa park
  • a view of the ocean at sunset in la jolla
  • two cats laying on rocks at an oceanside jetty

jan 2025 - korea

nikon fm2 / expired fujifilm superia x-tra 400

  • two cats greeting each other in a courtyard
  • a fish market closed at night
  • a woman staring out the window of her hotel
  • a single cat walks across a courtyard

oct 2024 - home

nikon fm2 / expired fujifilm fujicolor 200

  • a person standing in a dimly lit black box theater
  • my calico cat, calibri
  • my two cats sleeping in a cat tree
  • my two cats sleeping in a cat tree in our dimly lit living room

mar 2024 - san francisco

nikon fm2 / expired fujifilm fujicolor 200

  • a plum blossom tree in bloom
  • sea lions resting on a pier at fisherman's wharf

digital photography

when i was 15, i asked my dad for a video camera. he got me a used $400 canon t5i from some guy on craigslist. this fucking thing carried my work well into my 20s.

i later shelled out a good amount of my savings to get a lumix gh5 for my videography gigs, but it's been collecting dust lately. mostly because it costs way more to invest in a proper lens for this body.

sept 2023 - san diego

lumix gh5

  • my girlfriend alina in a green dress sitting by a koi pond
  • a koi fish swimming in a pond

nov 2018 - sequoia

canon t5i

  • bright orange leaves glow in the shade of a grassy field.
  • two tall sequoia tree trunks overlook the rest of the redwood forest.
  • a foxhound rests pridefully in a grassy field covered in dried leaves.
  • a cluster of tangerines with dewdrops on them.

jul 2018 - guangzhou/hong kong

canon t5i

  • a lone tree stands in the middle of a vast tea field.
  • a grove of bamboo trees create a small pathway leading to a wheat field.
  • old apartment buildings overlook a busy street.
  • a dark, empty alleyway.

jun 2018 - lake tahoe

canon t5i

  • a cliffside view of lake tahoe. a small grassy landform rests in the middle of the lake.
  • a cliffside view of lake tahoe at sunset.
  • two small white boats rest peacefully in lake tahoe.
  • pine trees frame the view of a lake at sunset.

digital art

trust me, i have a lot more digital pieces. i'm just neurotic about what i think is good enough to share online. also i have way more incomplete works.

  • a painting of majima goro from yakuza 0
  • a painting of elesa from pokemon
  • a sketch of grimsley from pokemon
  • a sketch of michelle and the duchess from sorry we're closed


  • a 3/4ths view 3D mockup of a tattoo design. stars and star trails swirl around the model's shoulders and collarbones.
  • a profile view 3D mockup of a tattoo design. stars and star trails swirl around the model's shoulders and collarbones.
  • a deer with the caption "you deserve space to make mistakes"
  • a wolf with the caption "we are prone to encountering disorder despite our best efforts to avoid it"


  • a black and white portrait of a person with medium hair and a cowboy hat in a desert
  • a portrait of a person with long red hair and glasses in front of the night sky
  • a portrait of a person with long green hair in front of the sun
  • a portrait of a person with medium red hair and butterfly earrings in front of the night sky

traditional art

most of these are studies/assignments i did in art class in high school. i experimented a lot with gouache, as i wasn't too fond of watercolor and was even less fond of acrylics.

  • a black and white painting of a deer jumping in front of the moon. it is impaled by one red rose.
  • a gouache painting of a horse resting in a flower field
  • an acrylic painting of a bunch of tangerines
  • a gouache painting of a woman with pink hair

tech

i'm not a tech collector by any means (and think being one would be too costly on my finances and the environment at large), but i do love little gadgets and handhelds as much as the next early 2000s adolescent.

in an effort to balance mindfulness and convenience, i try to use my devices for as long as possible until they become too broken or outdated for daily use. even then, i always buy my tech refurbished or preowned to help stave off the ever increasing supply of otherwise pristine tech discarded only after a couple uses.

i think this habit was passed down to me by my father, who insisted on only buying my things secondhand to preserve his frugal lifestyle, but who's to say?



nintendo 3ds xl

kindle paperwhite 11th gen

meletrix zoom75

  • bamboo forest keycaps from aliexpress
  • feker matcha creams v2s
    • spring swapped

lumix gh5

canon t5i

nikon fm2

canon af35m

tea

my main interests are gong fu cha (traditional ceremonial chinese tea) and japanese tea. i'm not particularly interested in western teas, as i've found them to be too heavy-bodied and one-noted for my taste. i tend to go for teas with more vegetal, grassy, roasted, and nutty notes, though i appreciate a delicate floral feel from time to time.

gong fu cha


matcha


hojicha


misc