I sat in a woodcarving studio in Xi’an, China with my eyes fixed on my soon to be fā zān. A fā zān is a Chinese hair pin that I would never actually wear. They are beautiful and ornamental but not for girls like me who need their hair to withstand lacrosse goals and cross-country [...]
The stars were dispersed throughout the luminous sky, the full moon the only other sign of light amidst the crisp autumn air. My boots made a small clink every time I climbed another rung of the cold, metal ladder, my grandfather’s 270 Winchester slung over my back. Once at the top, I slid into the [...]
I have a drawer stuffed to overflowing, as full as a drawer can be. Papers get stuck behind it, lodged in the sliding-gear of my dresser. However, I can always stuff in a few more sheets. Notes or “flow paper,” speedily jotted down by competitors in a debate round, is normally tossed when the tournament [...]
I’m one, and I’m spinning through a golden field. I remember that much; everything else is a blur—a story told so many times, it feels like a memory. Sunrays splash my dress, a lovely white thing ornamented with pearly ruffles, extravagant lace, and jingling beads. It’s unbearably itchy, but I’m dancing, so I don’t mind. [...]
On June 27th, 2011, a 220-pound, straight edge, tattooed superhero named CM Punk changed my life forever. I know, that sentence could have easily been the beginning of a disturbing confession, but such is the reality: CM Punk changed my life. On a dreary Monday night in the middle of the summer, he sat cross-legged [...]
3:17. I was late. I leapt from my friend’s mother’s car, scrambled into my bedroom, grabbed my books, and tumbled back into the garage. After snagging my bike lock off the wall and lifting my bike from its hooks, I took off from Albion then flew down 1st Avenue. As I turned to take the [...]
FADE IN: Every movie, from Pulp Fiction to Casablanca. From Dr. Strangelove to Goodfellas all start with this phrase: “Fade in,” in 12 pt Courier font. It’s the unseen and unheard prologue of the entire adventure that awaits you. It’s an exciting thing, really: the beginning of something great. The problem is that [...]
The airport was packed. People bustled by, boarding planes, grabbing breakfast– or in my case– kicking a tattered, brown suitcase through the baggage check-in line. A warm, June breeze blew in through the opening doors of DIA as I glared down at my bag. It seemed to enjoy resisting my every effort to move it [...]
Layered in sweaters over my leotard, I head towards the dance studio. The San Francisco morning bites my nose as I walk through the heart of Tenderloin. Sidewalks clutter with trash and human waste. Sleeping people bundle against buildings. Tenderloin is isolated from outsiders… perhaps the majority of San Francisco’s homeless reside here. Their afternoons [...]
You should never substitute kosher salt for plain salt in a recipe, for an equivalent volume does not mean an equivalent weight. This knowledge wasn’t born of experience; I learned it from a habit I developed the summer after freshman year. Somewhere in the bowels of San Francisco, a man known only as “Chef John” [...]
