May 31, 2022

Fake Plastic Sushi

I talk about sampuru — the Japanese art of creating “sample” food out of plastic. I also use it as a metaphor for how society hopes for perfection instead of fighting for progress.

April 27, 2022

The Followers We Made Along The Way

A look at Twitter’s influence on my life, my friendships, and a very specific few hours in which I was stranded without cash at Cape Town International Airport.

March 29, 2022

Nostalgia (Remake)

I’ve been playing Final Fantasy VII Remake, and it’s got me overthinking the two spectrums of nostalgia — general and specific, and restorative and reflective.

February 28, 2022

Remaking Our Songs and Ourselves

Artists are always revisiting the songs they’ve recorded in the past — to give it a new spin, or to fix past mistakes. We do that too — and in doing so, we both accept and move on from whatever we once were.

January 31, 2022

On The Whiteness of Country Music

In which I write about being at the Grand Ole Opry (it was amazing), learning from our history, and my struggle to come to terms with how country music continues to embrace its whiteness.

December 29, 2021

The Gatekeeping We Do to Ourselves

Whether it’s convincing ourselves that we don’t belong in a scene, or convincing ourselves that we can’t stop drinking, our own gatekeeping shields us from accepting who we actually are.

November 29, 2021

Fighting Guardians and Launching Podcasts

Most things aren’t perfect on the first try. You can’t beat a Guardian in Breath of the Wild straight off the Plateau, and you can’t expect your first podcast to be something of perfection.

October 28, 2021

The Returning Permanence of Aaliyah

Music legacies are tied to two things: permanence and visibility. So what happens with both are taken away from one of the genre-defining artists of her generation?

September 28, 2021

Theft of a Cassingle

Once, I was caught shoplifting the cassingle for R.E.M.’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” and the worst part of the story is that that cassingle had little to no redeeming value to start with.

August 27, 2021

Chinese Satellites

The two ends of the acceptance spectrum as it relates to shooting stars, satellites, and whatever’s right.