Essays and Reviews
My essays and reviews have appeared in various literary magazines.
Review of the memory eaters by elizabeth kadetsky in punctuate
“As much as this book is a quest for answers, it’s also about following the trail of moths (memories) to find their epicenter…herein lies the premise of Kadetsky’s inquiry into generational trauma: the relationship between the rough edges of these not-stories and the conspicuous clouds of silence and collective amnesia that surround them.”
Review of The Collected Schizophrenias by Esmé Weijun Wang in punctuate.
“Wang’s essays comprise an oral history of one woman’s cohesive, continuous effort towards understanding and living with her mental illness, which defies explanation and categorization. She grapples with the systems imposed on her for coding and understanding schizophrenia, decision-making and responsibility, treatment and control, and through these essays has assembled a functional picture of her schizophrenic experience as a whole, gifted and unique person with a family, a career, goals, and desires.”
“Bohemia is Dead: Watching RENT in 2018” in CLASH magazine
“My memories of these songs—which I haven’t listened to much in the years since the Bradford Theater Arts production took my high school by storm in 2008—are tinged by my memories of the people I first shared these songs with and who I was when they came into my life…The truth is that I had all the opportunities in the world to sing and act, but I was too scared of failure, too busy comparing myself to my peers to tap into my own creativity.”
Interview with Dollhouse Reading Series curators Holly Amos and Dolly Lemke in Columbia Poetry Review
“Both Columbia College Chicago Creative Writing MFA alums, Amos and Lemke or, more fun-to-say Holly and Dolly, have provided not only a monthly reading opportunity, but also a community space for new and experienced poets from near and far to mingle.”
Review of Pelican by Emily O’Neill in Columbia Poetry Review
“Emily O’Neill crafts a fragmented narrative of a second-coming-of-age: already a young woman, the speaker’s life continues to change throughout the death of her father, a miscarriage, bouts of depression, battles with violence towards the female body, and her continuous search for comfort in the forms of sex, whiskey, and freedom from the demons of her past.”
Journalism
I cover local authors and poetry events for the Windy City Times.
Queeriosity open mic kicks off ‘Louder Than a Bomb’
YCA’s smallest, most intimate program goes beyond standard “safe space” principles to provide an environment where young people can openly speak their truths and explore their identities with a supportive audience.
Chicago poets bear witness to LGBTQ-lived experiences in four new collections
“Chicago is famous for a lot of things, but one of its best-kept secrets is a thriving community of some of the country’s most innovative poets…Four new collections released by Chicago poets this fall are deeply rooted in their racial and LGBTQ identities.”
Collaborative work spotlights older trans, GNC individuals
“More than five years of work snowballed into To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults—consisting of a book released in September, an exhibition, a portfolio for museums and teaching institutions, an expansive archive of oral history and much more.”
Podcast
Interview with Hala Alyan and Straylight Literary Arts Magazine
Straylight Literary Arts Magazine invited me to interview Hala Alyan on her latest book The Twenty-Ninth Year: a soul-wrenching collection of poems on displacement and addiction, marriage and self-discovery, that teeters on the edge of divinity.