2020 reflection
[based on this twitter thread]
time is a bogus construct, in particular calendar time, but i do want to spend some time today reflecting on what i've done this year, not that "doing" = all one is. this thread is to celebrate achievements, but also it's a way to assess how i can rearrange my time so as to be less busy in 2021 rather than more.
in 2020 i...
-taught 3 undergrad creative writing classes (two poetry workshops, one intro to creative writing class)
-taught for 3 low res mfa programs (antioch los angeles, new england college, & stonecoast)
-taught for 1 postgraduate creative writing conference (vermont college of fine arts)
-advised 4 mfa theses
-led several one-off generative workshops (i love doing these & want to do more generative classes in general, though not alongside a lot of other teaching)
-wrote 7 new poems for fidgety puddings, a zine collab w/ mag gabbert
-wrote a new poem with sam herschel wein
-edited another collab poem together; sent both of these out (& we've been coming up with so many titles for other poems). i need to do more collab work in 2021!
-"acted" in a gaysian improv web series, boy luck club
-did a poetry/dance collaboration for pao arts center (boston chinatown). again, more collab work in 2021! it expands/pushes my creativity in such wonderful ways
-blurbed several books & chapbooks, how many in total i don’t know. glad i ended up not taking on more blurbs at a certain point. i'll be extending this practice into 2021 & only doing 2-3 blurbs max for the year. a promise to myself!
-wore some great sweater outfits; wore some great non-sweater outfits. this will continue! :)
-got new poems published in ploughshares, the poetry review (uk), hobart, orion magazine, & the cortland review. a bit of a slower journal publication year, but it feels like the right pace for me. & really, any poem pub in 2020 should be celebrated! & thanks again to hobart & the cortland review for the pushcart nominations
-also got new poems published in these anthologies: the familiar wild: on dogs & poetry (sundress publications) + the map of every lilac leaf: poets respond to the smith college museum of art (smith college). thank you to all the dedicated editors!!
-worked with sam herschel wein to bring on new team members for underblong. so glad for you, new managing editor catherine bai & new readers cassandra de alba, albert lee, juliette givhan, angelina mazza, & aerik francis! & i'm so grateful for our seasoned underblong pros, mag gabbert (interviews editor + reader), e yeon chang (reader), & emma william-margaret rebholz aka billy (reader)! it's been such a joy & an honor to work with all of you to put together issue 5. our blongiest issue yet!! definitely need to make more time for underblong in 2021. already started to in the second half of this year, which just felt so good & right. excited for the future of this journal & community
-wrote 4 craft/personal essays; 3 of them were published by poets & writers as part of their craft capsule series. thanks again to spencer quong for the brilliant editorial feedback. still need to do some edits on the 4th one & send that out!
-had my first fiction publication, a flash piece called “summer." thanks asian american writers’ workshop for publishing it in the margins as part of a flash fiction series. thanks to swati khurana for the invitation/challenge & the beautiful edits. i'm planning on working on more essays, as part of a craft/personal essay book. but first priority is the second full-length poetry manuscript!
-interviewed victoria chang about her stunning book obit for electric lit.
-contributed to a new york times article, “the poems that poets turn to in a time of strife”
-served on some judging panels; not sure if i can yet say what the big one was
-did a panel on social media with muriel leung for “quarantine & me,” an online event hosted by queer & asian los angeles. muriel made a powerpoint featuring my thirst traps! big highlight of my year! :)
-did another panel on social media with muriel, this time for sarah lawrence, as part of their series of critical conversations; this time we mainly talked about twitter (but also xanga days) & the tricky concept of a writer’s social media brand
-did a bunch of zoom readings. my favorite was probably the one i did for the meijer visiting writers series at central michigan university. thank you, jeffrey bean, for inviting me & hosting the event so wonderfully
-my other favorite zoom event was moderating an amazing reading for the speakeasy project's new agency wing. it was great to listen to & support luther hughes, raina leon, torrin a. greathouse, george abraham, rosebud ben-oni, & cynthia dewi oka. thanks to tyler tsay for asking me to do this. not sure what literary events will look like in 2021. i like doing online readings, esp for the accessibility. i do miss in-person gatherings, too—though not so much the amount of travel i was doing in 2017-2019
-watched dear ex, a very moving taiwanese film with gay characters at its center
-watched thai gay drama sotus the series & sotus s the series
-rewatched sailor moon r the movie: promise of the rose in order to write my craft/personal essay “against universality & in praise of anger”
-watched andrew thomas huang’s "kiss of the rabbit god," a short film featuring gay chinese characters, one of them a deity i'm so happy to have finally learned about i need more gaysian media & stories in 2021!!
-didn't read as much as i would've liked. but i do want to highly recommend:
obit by victoria chang
tiny moons: a year of eating in shanghai by nina mingya powles
how to do nothing: resisting the attention economy by jenny odell
greyhound by aeon ginsberg
under glass by gregory kan
-oh also, a poem of mine, "year's end" was selected as highly commendable for the forward prizes (single best poem category). thanks to bath magg for first publishing it & then nominating it
-my fav interview i did this year (as the interviewee) was the one for lantern review. thanks to karen zheng for the fantastic q's
-way back in march, i was part of a mass poetry video project, "mass poets read "in this place (an american lyric)" by amanda gorman." it was great to be a part of this choral reading. thanks to paula champagne for the videography & for taking such fab new author pics
-& my poem "i invite my parents to a dinner party" was featured on the podcast, poetry unbound (on being). thanks to pádraig ó tuama for your generous words on this one
-thus concludes my ~reflection time~. no more reflecting until 2021. thank u
i'm sure i missed some highlights. the second half of the year is much clearer to me than the first. lol. for links to the publications & other materials i mentioned, go here. note: these links will gradually be moved to other pages on this site, e.g. the “poems,” “prose,” “interviews,” & “media” pages.