Illustration by Ji Yoon Sim | @moonbebb Author’s Note ‘Jenny’ explores the evolving relationship of a girl and her grandmother Po Po (婆婆 pópo – maternal grandmother in Cantonese). It is a fictionalized continuation of my essay For My Family that I wrote in 2021, and is set in the same universe as the short story Joey that I wrote in 2023. I began ‘Jenny’ during my … Continue reading jenny: a short story
Dear freshman year Katie, I’ve already forgotten many small details of beginning Duke during a global pandemic. But reading about your thoughts on your first month of college brings everything back. I remember relishing every in-person class like it was a field trip and feeling sweat rolling down my back as I debated when to “unmute” myself on Zoom classes — those were interesting times. … Continue reading letters to myself
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Illustration by Ji Yoon Sim | @moonbebb A subway train streaks through the guts of Lower Manhattan, rushing past the sewers and cables and the millions of rats crawling over them. It barrels north. It’s a Friday evening, and Joey is heading home on this train. As usual, his Herschel backpack is tucked between his knees, and he’s listening to Spotify’s “Chill Mix” playlist through beaten headphones. … Continue reading joey: a short story
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Note: There are four pages to this piece. This memoir is dedicated to the music educators who showed me the magic of the performing arts; to my musical peers, who are now some of my closest friends; and to my parents, who supported me from the moment I said I wanted to learn to play the clarinet. June 2022 The house lights dim in Carnegie … Continue reading Ode to clarinet
Family is the unbreakable cord that ties people together. Family is the trunk you can always lean on and the home you can always go back to. Continue reading For my family
It was a quaint little village: crowded wooden houses with tiled roofs and narrow dirt roads winding in between. The place was perpetually awash in a shade of dusty gray; infinite layers of dense clouds clogged the sky and encircled the village in a sphere. The village was its own little cloudy microplanet, a dreary snowglobe floating through a mysterious void. One day, the clouds … Continue reading I recorded a dream
Katie Tan 