I was born to a family of immigrants and engineers in Los Angeles. When I was six, I began writing poetry. My mother used to get my rhymes bound at the FedEx down the street, and I would spend my free time illustrating the pages. I don’t know what prompted my family to support my creative interests, but I’m glad they did.
My family met a published writer during my sophomore year in high school, and I took her creative writing classes until the end of high school. Some of my best high school memories are still of me sitting in her blue armchair, reading Sandra Cisneros or Sherman Alexie, and workshopping the poetry of other students. Her constant support for my writing pushed me to apply to be an English major in college.
I’ve met so many incredible folks at USC. Molly Bendall taught my first workshop, and her ability to acknowledge the latent beauty and potential in any student poem set the pace for how I treat others and encourage others in the workshop setting. During my sophomore year, I took Poet in Paris with Mark Irwin, and seeing his genuine admiration for student talent and the art and architecture of Paris was an amazing experience. This past year, I completed my senior honors thesis on Chinese American poetry under the direction of Viet Nguyen and David St. John, both very generous and brilliant instructors and thinkers.
After I graduate, I plan on attending the June Bucknell Seminar for Undergraduate Poets and the July creative writing program at the University of Edinburgh. I will also take the GRE and the LSAT and apply for graduate and law schools. Whether I become an attorney or educator, I know that writing and language will always play an integral role in my life and sense of being.
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