Illustration by Sophie Levy
Year: Senior
Major/College: Creative Writing & Ethnicity and Race Studies, Columbia College
Where are you from?
I was born in Hong Kong, moved around a bit, but mostly I’m from Southern California!
What do you love about Quarto?
Kent 511, random baked goods (usually from Gisela), funny misinterpretations, and of course, the COMMUNITY! Quarto is such a loving, beautiful group of mostly INFP and INFJs. Go figure.
What inspires you to do the work we do?
Giving a platform to art and writing that needs to be heard :) Looking at spring print once it’s done, knowing how it felt to be published once myself in Quarto alongside beautiful art and writing and wanting to give that feeling to other people.
Do you have any pets?
Yes! Cali and Gwen (short for Excalibur and Guinevere, my sister was going through a King Arthur phase). They’re so, so old, they’re sisters, and they are the LIGHTS of my life.
Where can we find you in your free time (a lazy Monday afternoon, a cozy Sunday morning)?
On Sunday mornings, at the farmer’s market by Columbia, then cooking (my roommate has walked in on me and a crispy pan-fried duck breast more than once). Sometimes at museums with friends, or cafes, journaling, a lot of the time by myself taking naps and drinking tea.
What else are you involved in/what are your other interests?
Writing my own stories, Asian American Alliance, social justice, oral history, cooking, having a cookie competition with a four-round bracket to find the single best chocolate chip cookie recipe to exist. Yes, post cookie-fugue state, there was a winner.
Favorite author/artist/work?
I would marry Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer, would give my life to share cake and tea with Maira Kalman, could spend my life watching Princess Mononoke, and Harold and Maude on loop, and if there were only two books on my bedside table for the rest of my life they would be Kafka on the Shore by Murakami and Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
What else should we know about you?
I love Batman comics (or any graphic novels), Tillie Walden, Steven Universe, Whitney Houston. I make the best homemade dumplings of any college student I know and will make them for you at any time. Also, right now my thesis is my life. Ask me about it or take a look here!