As Someone Much Wiser Than I Said, America is in the Heart — I have pledged my allegiance to my country thousands of times as a child mostly in a mindless mumbling of memorized mumbo jumbo that was the mandatory exercise every morning in my governmentally funded school. The tradition was passed down to us over the past hundred thirty years or so…

A Semi-Creator’s Battle with Creativity — Why am I not Laurie Anderson? I asked myself that question after listening to her talk in a video recently and something rose up, stirred up on the inside, like the beginning, sputtering flow of water after priming a pump. This usually happens whenever I listen to any creator talk…

How do you measure your progression through life? What constitutes moving forward or backward? Or getting stuck in a ditch? Can you tell the difference? Is forward momentum created by simply making changes big or small, not settling for the same old, same old? Is that how you make certain…

Jacob Collier, Mad Musician, Bringer of Divinity into the World — I don’t know how else to say this. Words, Music, Art are EVERYTHING. You hear me? EVERYTHING. They are somehow the conduit to the universe. To joy. An unfettered pipeline to paradise. You hear me? I don’t know what other words I can use to express this. You can jump…

More Than Asian or American, the Hyphen Defines Me — I was suddenly put in my place by a random stranger when he said to me, “Hey you stupid Jap.” This was my first time hearing this particular ethnic slur and it cut. I was walking on a college campus with a friend as we headed to the parking lot…

It’s not the notes you play It’s the notes you don’t play. –Miles Davis– Poetry writing can be the true test of your ability to wrangle words. It requires an unyieldingly strict economy. The filter of a poet’s mind has to be exceedingly fine in order to not only capture…

A Mission Statement is in Order — What brings me to Medium? What brings you here? Let’s be honest. I think most of us are in the same boat. We’ve been lifelong readers, recreational writers and did not pursue writing as a career. But as lifelong readers, we developed a deep love for words put together well. …

After Decades Have Passed, I Still Grieve — Just thinking about writing this makes me feel sick. My stomach is tying up in knots. I am certain that at any moment I will stop typing and leave the room. I’ve never had greater resistance to writing about anything and that’s saying a lot because I’m always hounded by…

. . . that infinitesimal unit on whom the world depends — Carl Jung — I woke up this morning with the thought that at this very moment as I was lazily lounging around in my bed very bad things were happening to people. They’re being mugged, they’re being pushed…