Author: Chloe Chen

“Then, the crow’s-feet on your eyes only slightly starker, you wrap your fingers around the air where her calf should be, knead it as it were fully there. You continue down her invisible foot, rub its bony upper side before cupping the heel with your other hand, inching along the Achilles’ tendon, then stretching the… Continue reading Reading Journal 13 – Chloe Chen

I’m not a hundred percent set on this yet, but I think I might do a zine for my final project (kind of a combination of an essay and a presentation). I’m writing on fetishism, and I think this sort of visual essay would be the best way to present the different aspects of the… Continue reading Reading Journal 9 – Chloe Chen

In my midterm essay, I examined Ocean Vuong’s book of poetry Time Is a Mother, specifically how the poem “Nothing” contributed to the themes of collective mourning and growth through intergenerational trauma. I focused first on the images of the house and snow, specifically how the idea of the “hungry ghost” in Asian cultures factored… Continue reading Reading Journal 8 – Chloe Chen

Last weekend, some of my friends and I went out to eat Korean BBQ in Atlanta. Growing up Asian in America, KBBQ is one of those experiences that is a pretty big part of my childhood – everyone sits at one table and you order platters of food to cook over the grill, alongside side… Continue reading Reading Journal 7 – Chloe Chen

A metaphor is a way of taking two items or ideas and placing them in conversation with each other in some way. Some metaphors may mean equating the two objects, while others identify unifying characteristics or themes that link the two, while still others may not outwardly share any characteristics at all. As long as… Continue reading Reading Journal 6 – Chloe Chen

TEXT CHOSEN: I am choosing to write about the prose poem “Nothing” from Ocean Vuong’s poetry collection, Time Is a Mother. DESCRIPTION: In his previous poetry/prose publications, Ocean Vuong talks about his existence as a queer Vietnamese immigrant, with special attention to his relationships with his mother and absent father. This poetry collection, written shortly… Continue reading Reading Journal 5 – Chloe Chen

Avenue of Broken Dreams | National Review “Avenue of Broken Dreams” The National Review, Richard Brookheiser From the beginning, the article skews intentionally towards the emotional (perhaps even melodramatic). The headline is vague, not releasing any hints as to the content of the article itself Richard Brookheiser focuses the piece on crime statistics in New… Continue reading Reading Journal 4 – Chloe Chen

Troye Sivan’s “Angel Baby” incorporates aspects of 90s music into a pop ballad, focusing on a gay relationship between Sivan and his lover. When I first heard the song, I didn’t realize that it was mapping a queer relationship. The only pronouns used in the lyrics are “you” and “me,” reflecting an intimate conversation between… Continue reading Journal 3 – Chloe Chen

Possibility is neither forever nor instant. It is also not easy to sustain belief in its efficacy. We can sometimes work long and hard to establish one beachhead of real resistance to the deaths we are expected to live, only to have that beachhead assaulted or threatened by canards we have been socialized to fear,… Continue reading Journal #2 – Chloe Chen

Hi everyone! For me personally, reading has been something that I’ve loved as long as I can remember. My parents immigrated to America to study and find job opportunities, and one of my favorite memories would be when they took me to the public library in Oklahoma. I’d borrow dozens and dozens of books (I… Continue reading Chloe Chen