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By Audrey Wijono | April 2My grandfather grew up in small-town, middle-of-nowhere East Java, right around the old Dutch sugar plantations.
My grandfather grew up in small-town, middle-of-nowhere East Java, right around the old Dutch sugar plantations.
As the weather becomes gentler and clouds give way to warmer blue skies, I am reminded of how much I love the coming of spring, but not spring itself. I often give it the cold shoulder when answering the “What's your favorite season?” icebreaker because, when comparing spring to her seasonal siblings, ...
My bedroom is a shape no other room should be. It’s built like a square horseshoe, a left bracket symbol with elongated sides. The bed is nestled snugly into a space so small that when I sit with my back against the wall—head tilted forward on account of the sloped ceilings—my feet rest on the ...
Over spring break, I went to visit my closest friend from home and stayed at her college apartment. We made steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast and, to my surprised delight, she offered me a bag of chocolate chips to sprinkle on as a topping, alongside frozen berries that turned our bowls gorgeous shades ...
I’ve bought a journal every year since 2018. It’s been seven years, though it doesn’t feel too long ago that I was a middle schooler gripping a ballpoint and carving letters into paper for no apparent reason. I struggle to remember exactly what drove me to my first notebook, what motivated me ...
Our sunroof only opens when it rains. When blue skies are all you can see, they no longer feel like blue skies. It’s the rain that makes us excited. At its beckoning, we pile into the car, wrists hanging over our heads like lazy and futile umbrellas. Our shoes stain puddles on the carpet and we shake ...
There’s something sweet in the air. It usually hits me at night on the walk back from North Campus, right between Wriston and Keeney. Each time, I’m left disoriented, unable to keep walking. It’s a green, sharp, scent–one of freshly mowed grass, sweat, clear sky, crisp morning air. It’s youthful—gentle, ...
Disclaimer: mild spoilers, I tried my best to live in the abstract but I would love it if you watched the movie before reading.
*Spoilers for The White Lotus Season 2
“It’s my fault / The way I broke the Earth / It’s my fault,” ANOHNI yearns repeatedly over a blanket of mellow guitar riffs. It’s an intimate moment that comes straight from the soul, exploring her positionality in society through music. The sultriness of her voice finds shelter in the acceptance ...
I take a rest on the oily, heat-stained seats of the L Train to Brooklyn. My feet tingle after the long summer walk to the station, buoyancy enveloping my limbs. I feel the body heat of a close friend from Brown next to me. She sports jorts. Classic. A navy tank top and rose-gold jewelry, too. She is ...
I’ve been meaning to get my screen protector changed for months now. It’s cracked beyond belief—still usable, but the unevenness of the glass skews the front camera’s lighting. I’ve never put one on myself, though. I wait for my dad to do it. Maybe I haven’t bought one yet because I’m ...
1.) Find a piano.
1.) Find a piano.
Make two wishes and say one of them aloud.
I practice curling my tongue, enunciating, moving my mouth in unfamiliar directions. The sounds of the spoken language ring true—I grew up listening to my mother tell me Chinese folktales of a woman stranded on the moon for infinity, or hovering above my shoulder to reprimand me for my poorly drawn ...