What's Wong?

There's been plenty of books that I've heard about or seen, but haven't gotten the chance to read.  1. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski It’s been on my reading list for so long now, but I haven’t found the time to read it (or I can’t borrow it for long enough), but it is often mentioned in discussions of more non traditional horror or psych horror. I’ve listened to plenty of video essays that mention it and indie horror projects that take inspiration from it, so I want to check it out for myself. The story, to my knowledge, is that some people discover that a house is larger on the inside than it is on the outside, and chaos ensues. Mostly, it’s famous for pages like this: 2. Chemistry: A Novel by Weike Wang I heard about this book from a friend who’s in college, and I thought it would be an interesting read. It covers the stresses of working towards a doctorate, and is very honest (according to my friend). I feel like it may be helpful going into college. 3. 4321 by ...

 So two weeks ago, Ocean Vuong's "Essay on Craft", one of the poems from the poetry panel really stuck with me. You can read the poem in its entirety here , but it's essentially about how artists often take inspiration from painful moments in their lives. This is especially clear in this section: ———— So I dipped my fingers back into the fire, pried open the lower face until the wound widened into a throat, until every leaf shook silver with that god -awful scream & I was done. & it was human. ———— The visceral image of a wound widened into a throat (a voice) in order to make something so clearly portrays this message. However, this also reminded me of David Armsby's short film, Scary and Strange , as well as the accompanying "making of" video on his creative process. To summarize, the short film serves as a reminder not to overly romanticize or hold onto the pain in your life for the sake of your art. Drawing on pain is an easy way to inject st...

For my mentor poet, I chose Kimiko Hahn. I checked out her work pretty much arbitrarily, but a certain poem caught my eye, "The Ashes" . Even now, I have to say that I don't completely understand the poem. If you want to read it, just be aware that it is 80 lines across 14 stanzas. Not terribly long, but there is some pretty high diction ("reticent", "apoplectic", "intransigent,") which is not what I would consider a casual read. After my first read through, I felt that chunking would not be the best approach. There was plenty of vivid imagery, but deeper meaning started to form when I began to relate lines from separate stanzas together. For example, take a look at the eighth stanza: I tucked away our baby’s pink layette in circumspect mothballs for a christening that never took place. As well, a doll that Auntie crocheted. More than anything, I love tidal pools.  On its own, to me, this largely read as just a scene, although the third line...

     So, I recently read Siddhartha, and I didn't like it all that much. However, it did get me thinking about the concept of the self, and what self discovery looks like. I am certainly no expert on the topic though, since I don't really know myself all that much. What I do know, though, is that social pressures most definitely do not help the process of defining that inner self.  Oooooooh, it's a visual metaphor     I, as a person, tend to try to please people. I'm sure that everyone deals with this to some extent, and I think we can agree that we may act differently in front of other people. There might be people who do this that have a really good idea of themselves, but in my experience, I certainly do not know in detail who I am (at least that I care to share). Anyway, I have found that compromising parts of your personality tends to obscure the self.   Social pressure? I guess?      As an example, if you still remember m...

Earlier this year, I read Toni Morrison’s Recitatif. It’s interesting in the fact that it never makes any statement about the race of the two main characters, or any of the characters for that matter. All that there is is some class coding and the fact that one is black and the other is white. But what is “coding” anyway, in a literary sense? Well, it’s the usage of the characteristics or stereotypes surrounding a group of people (in terms of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) to imply that a character is a part of that group. Coded language is the usage of phrases or slang that is popular within groups. In a similar vein is subtext, which is an allegorical reading of a text. With this in mind, the usage of coded language and subtext is often indicative of the societal context in which a text is written. What is said explicitly and what is left between the lines speaks volumes about what one could say at the time. Racial coding can often reveal more about the reader than ...

 Every once in a while, I find myself joking to avoid having to put effort into a conversation. Now having lived for an extremely long 18 years, I am definitely the most qualified to give the goodest guide to types of humor (provided there are no comedians or literature majors nearby). Anyway, here we go! Most of the comedy I am familiar with is observational, because it’s quick and easy to do decently. Personally, I split these into several sub-categories: It's Funny Because It's Relatable Often, pointing out a shared experience, especially ones that go unnoticed, can be funny. Finding a bit of irony in how we can’t fall asleep easily, but also want to get out of bed is a common example.   Finding some amusement in the everyday is a fairly common way to craft a joke. The way we aren’t used to the normal lights being on in the classroom, or rushing the conclusion of an in class essay, as long as it is said in an interesting way, can be pretty funny. Similes and metaphors come ...