I wanted to convey how life is like in Myanmar for many of those serving the Junta. With the villainization of the military, many people forget most of the soldiers do not wish to serve under Min Aung Hlaing (the dictator). I also wished to tell people about what is happening to my country. Although the character I wrote about was fictional, I based it off real accounts of real PDF soldiers who deserted the Junta.

I wrote this screenplay about a pregnant woman and an eighteen year old boy who get stuck in an elevator, where she unexpectedly goes into labor. Sam, the boy, has to act quickly and figure out what to do. This screenplay is comedic and fast paced with lots of unexpected twists.

This piece is based on the most vivid memories I have as a child. Growing up, every Christmas and New Year satsuma mandarins were plentiful in both of my households. For both my family in Japan and Italy, it was tradition to put an orange in the toe of a child’s stocking, a treat as they were expensive and seasonal. This poem is about a parent unable to express their love for their child in a conventional way, so instead they show it in tasks. The pain of raising a child as a single parent, and the fear that they will turn out the same as you. It represents the struggle that parents- especially immigrant parents- have surrounding vulnerability and showing their love. This piece is inspired by a mix of how my mother raised me and how my grandfather raised my father. My grandfather was abusive as a result of culture, racism, and addiction, and it is clear in how my father was raised. Parents like this want their child to be happy and successful, but they show it harmfully. The end lines are based on how this parent sacrificed so much for their child that they have become jaded, yet still bleed for them.

I drafted my poem, "It is written," following an episode of lightheadedness during mass one Sunday. Rising from my knees, an immediate sensation of impending faintness enveloped me. The room blurred as I clutched the wooden pew in front of me. I had not eaten for nearly forty-eight hours by then, the memory of that moment now lingers in my recovery. Reflecting on that experience, I recall the intense fear I had to conceal to maintain calm among the crowd. This piece aims to unveil the toxic inner workings of one's mind while struggling with an eating disorder. Infused with heavy religious themes inspired by my ordeal, the poem centers on how I justified and explained my actions through distorted Catholic beliefs.

I decided to write about my childhood home, and my perspective of it looking back years from when we moved. It is a place I associate with childlike joy and innocence, which is something so special to me as I face the challenges and struggles of life as I get older. Though so small to some people and an arguably insignificant chapter of my life, this experience of just being able to be a kid means everything to me looking back.

"Fifteen" is a look into a girl's experience growing up. I wanted to explore a different style and format of writing that wasn't poetry. I thought it would be cool to do a diary entry style piece with one from each year of my life. I wanted a child-like voice to shine through in the earlier entries and be able to see the growth the narrator goes through throughout the story. "Fifteen" shows the hopes that girls have for their teenage years and how they aren't all they are made up to be. This is definitely a very personal piece for me and going through several rounds of peer feedback allowed me to see just how relatable this feeling is to teenage girls.

This poem was written when I was sitting after a hike on a large hill in Point Reyes. I began thinking about if the beautiful coastal oaks surrounding me could feel like I did. I wrote the poem about a tree being attached to its leaves as if they were her daughters. It came to symbolize the relationship I held with my mother as I began to get ready to leave for college next year.

This piece’s original topic was about my family, but I soon realized that I didn’t know much about them. In contrast to the close familial bonds Chinese families are expected to have, me and my immigrant parents are cut off from my extended family. Separated by more than 5000 miles and a time zone, I felt like an acquaintance more than kin. Thus, this piece was born from my honest personal experiences and emotions. I hope that it reflects the difficulties an immigrant child undergoes, and that it touches the hearts of others who may be in a similar position.

My script depicts the feelings of being unable to love yourself and admitting defeat to your internal thoughts. Based slightly on conflicts I have faced, my piece dives into the struggles someone can face and that it’s ok to succumb to your feelings. At first, I wanted to create a simple horror script. I had the idea for it a few months before after reminiscing on how empty and never-ending the bleachers felt. Then there came Jonas. He started one dimensional, just a bully, someone to be thrown away for the sake of the story. The more I wrote, the more his character began to blossom into one of incredible complexity. There are many pieces of media out there that tackle mental health, usually the message being that things can get better. While that is a good message, I aimed to portray a story where that does not happen. I want people to see that it’s ok to feel that things might not get better and you shouldn’t feel guilty for thoughts you wish you didn’t have. Though this is my message, I do believe that you should keep trying to fight against these feelings and find healthy ways to deal with them instead of just giving in to them. At the end of the day, everything does eventually get better, and it’s ok if it takes a long awhile to get to that point in your life.

I wrote these poems to explore loneliness and the idea of being remembered. How will I be remembered? How do I want to be remembered? All poems are based on actual events, although the death of my Great Uncle Anthony was a far more recent occurrence. I wanted to write poetry about something I believe to be a universal struggle, which is why I chose the fear of being alone along with the idea of being forgotten. I’m not sure if these things haunt others as much as they haunt me, but if they do, I hope these poems can show those people they are not alone in their fears.

My mom told me a story about her experience as one of the "boat people" from Vietnam a while back when I was younger. I decided to turn her inspiring story into poetry, despite having no prior experience. As I wrote each line, I let my thoughts flow, eventually creating this poem that I can share with everyone.

This piece came from a project in my Cinematic Arts class. We were learning about screenplay format, how to write them, what to write, and were given a prompt. “You wake up, get ready for the day, and along the way realize that someone is in your house”. The idea was to make a normal morning, and I took that to create probably the weirdest morning possible to us...but not to my character!

The pieces within Sacrilegious Mad Cow Fever Dream were written over nearly six months. Breaking my writing into segments allowed me to connect various thoughts, all converging on one theme: the fetishization of women of color. Drawing from my experiences as a black woman who dates outside my race, many sections reflect thoughts that occupy my mind daily. Expressing my romanticism often leads me to be perceived as a porn category by men. My collection links the impact of porn on the brain to mad cow disease, highlighting how black women are treated like meat. The first piece in this collection, Ebony Tumor, emerged from my anger at my ex-boyfriend. His words during our relationship linger as a reminder that, before anything else, I am seen as black. Through writing this piece, I confronted and reconciled with my anger. Industry Standard serves as a midpoint, commentary on the porn industry and how it treats black women. References to prostitution and pornographic material aim to address how it’s inherently racist. While I've never had firsthand experiences with either, Barely Legal/Suckling Pig draws inspiration from my experience of sexual assault, where I realized my race was commodified. When getting feedback on this piece, I was often met with criticism of how bleak and shocking it was. However, I thought the over-the-topness conveyed my feelings perfectly, my anger, sadness, shock, and everything in between manifesting in extremely graphic imagery.

Since October 7th, thousands of innocent Palestinian lives have been lost in what is referenced to as a humanitarian crisis by the United Nations. Half of Gaza's population includes children, who are innocent of war crimes, yet are victims of this conflict. As many in Gaza can not share their stories and their voice right now, I wanted to convey my emotions surrounding what I have been seeing on social media and in the news. The poem is not intended to be biased or prejudiced, simply an accurate representation of what millions of Palestinians are experiencing in this very moment.

Teenage slander is not a new phenomenon. It's been happening since the concept of a teenager arose in contemporary society. However, the critiques that Generation Z faces are unique in multiple senses - primarily in the role that empathy, self-reflection, and isolation play in the development of our generation. This piece explores the facets of adult relationships with youth. Simply put, this piece is an insight into the teenage mind and a tutorial on how to be kind to your local teenager.

This piece is about the change I faced going from childhood to adolescence, from feeling joyful to dealing with mental health issues. I'm proud of this piece because it's relatable and uses strong imagery to capture feelings that sometimes can be hard to describe. I hope this poem impacts those who feel like it can't get better by showcasing that feelings are ever changing and that there is beauty in hardship and growth.

This Poem about the writer's, Sage's, experiences with Cerebral Palsy.

This flash fiction piece is based off of a photograph I saw of a paper-mache man. A face from a magazine was pasted on to the head, and its smile looked as if it was in pain. I was inspired to write this piece about the smiling man in pain, and I wanted to describe why he was in such agony.

Each of the poems in this collection are about a different point in time: “Pacing as a Mode of Transportation” is about the present, “Look How Tall You’ve Gotten” is about the future, and “Mom’s Jar of Teeth: an Incomplete Set” is about the past. “Pacing as a Mode of Transportation” explores avoiding progress for the sake of comfort. Ironically, it was the one that gave me the most trouble. I couldn’t seem to ground it in just one “perfect” idea. To fix this, I structured the poem around borrowed lines from multiple-choice Driver’s Ed tests (the lines you see in italics) and wrote it in a sort of instructional manner, like the narrator was giving and receiving advice. I wanted to evoke the feeling of a deer caught in headlights (thus the line “my deer”). “Look How Tall You’ve Gotten” was written in response to the prompt “letter to your future self”. For this one, I wanted to capture the feeling of a distant future self in the request for postcards. (When I think of postcards, I think of physical and emotional distance, since they aren’t as personal as a letter.) “Mom’s Jar of Teeth: an Incomplete Set” is about growing up and what you lose along the way. These “teeth” —or rather memories— aren’t so important that you can’t live without them, but sometimes you want them back for sentimentality’s sake.

In a world where one often searches for individually, Kaleidoscope poses the question of its possibility. Exploring the notion that everyone is a product of their environment, especially their family, the narrator questions if they are anything outside of a stolen identity.