I know, I know, it’s not Saturday yet, but bear with me for a sec.
I felt that this blog post by B.D. Hesse came at a very appropriate time, especially after the Academy Award nominations were announced this morning and in the aftermath of the Golden Globes back on Sunday. It’s true that we can only understand about another individual’s experiences to a certain degree, but the reality of the matter is that we will never know what it’s like to be in their shoes. As obvious of advice it may seem, I think it’s necessary to learn, for it is a skill set writers and other storytellers need to learn to hone in the future to come.
Pretty much since the day I finished college last month, many people have been asking me how it feels to no longer be in college. For a while now, I didn’t really have an answer, seeing that I knew my (now) alma mater was on Winter Break for the past three weeks, so no one was in school then. But now that’s no longer the case. A new quarter started back up there this past week, and I can now confirm that it felt awfully strange not being there for classes.
I guess you can say that this past week marked Phase 1 of my transition to my post-undergrad life. It was my first time not having to go to school in nearly 20 years. While relatively chill, I did get to experience the freedoms I’ve otherwise tasted only so little of before. This was especially accommodating towards my life as a writer. I guess you can say- primarily this week anyway- that I was acting as a full-time writer. Continue reading “The Strings: Attached, Unattached and Yet-To-Be Attached”
It’s a new day of a new year and to start things off for 2015, I figured I have a voice featured today of someone other than my own. It’s been a while since I last released an interview on here, so I thought it would be nice to do that again. As to the person who’s featured this time around, that honor goes to an incredible spoken word artist whom I’ve known since high school: Gretchen Carvajal.
Gretchen is more than just a fellow writer; she is someone whom I’ve always known for never hiding her voice, however that may be. She expresses her art and her stories through the means of being a writer, artist, emcee, and performer. She was born in the Philippines before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area when she was very young. She is currently a student in the First Wave program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has partaken in many spoken word competitions over the years- including the national youth competition, Brave New Voices, when she was 17- and was recently a participant in The Ill List; the signature poetry slam invitational in Modesto, California. She already has a chapbook under her belt called Daughter of the Sun and plans to write more books in the future to come. To learn more about her, be sure to check her out on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Continue reading “8 Questions for Gretchen Carvajal”
I had to make some changes to my author bio yesterday. It’s not unusual to do so from time to time for an author. Sometimes, they update their bio to include more books that they have written, to include a special award that they have won, and other such similar addition of details as well. However, in my case, it was to add something that’s normally already set in stone for college-educated authors. I had to change my status from being a “current student” in university, to a “recent graduate.” Yes, that’s right. I may have walked back in June, but as of two days ago, I have officially completed all the necessary requirements to complete my undergrad education. Continue reading “Thoughts About College From a Recent College Graduate”
My school does things a little weird. While some colleges may have graduation ceremonies twice a year, mine on the other hand is one of those where there is only one graduate ceremony and only one undergraduate ceremony. On top of that, my school is on the quarter system, so whether if you graduated in the fall or winter, the commencement ceremonies will always take place in the spring.
It’s with that in mind that I’d like to note that even though I got to walk in a cap and gown as one of about 4,000 students who walked this morning at my school, I haven’t officially graduated yet. I’m taking a five-week class during the summer and in the fall, I have my remaining classes to take as an undergrad. So the reality is, I actually will be completing my degree- and my minor- later in the year. Continue reading “What I Walked For When I Walked at Graduation”
It’s Day 3 of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, and when not being occupied by schoolwork, I partake in it with my own contributions in social media, as well as checking out some of the others by other people (some of them coming from my favorite authors). It was such brilliant timing when I heard about it, because it’s a subject that I’m really passionate about, and really involved in.
I never thought I would find myself kicking off my Spring Break in this fashion. Two days ago, one of my favorite actors, Dante Basco, proposed a fan meet-up in Union Square in San Francisco. He was here in the Bay Area these last few days to attend screenings for the latest film he’s in, “Awesome Asian Bad Guys,” at the 2014 CAAMFest, and so he thought it would be a good idea to meet up with fans here in the area and just talk.
The other day in one of the classes I’m taking this quarter for my major, my professor came in, asking how we’re doing. Being sleepy and not fully awake as we were (including me), not a lot of us answered. So then one thing led to another, and then he was then asking us if we actually wanted to be here in college. I kid you not, there was one student who actually went on to say how she’d rather be working but that the only reason why she was enrolled in college was to get a degree and therefore enhance her career opportunities once she graduates. Needless to say, my professor wasn’t too thrilled to hear this, pointing out how a degree isn’t always necessary to have a successful career. Continue reading “Living the Hill-Hopper College Life”
Lola By The Bay 