letters & life
Everyone has heard the Bible verse, “Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, and good will towards men.” We see it on holiday cards and we hear it in Christmas carols every year. For many, this verse represents the Christmas spirit. In fact, this King James Version translation is inaccurate. Luke 2:14, which … Continue reading Towards Men of Good Will: Translation as Tradition
Cathy Park Hong’s collection of poetry, Dance Dance Revolution, is a linguistic masterpiece. Narrated by an Historian who is transcribing the words of a Guide in the Desert, an invented resort city, the narrative goes from English to Korean to Spanish to Latin. It explores the borders that exist in countries and in minds. It expands the … Continue reading Characters as Translations: Thoughts on Cathy Park Hong’s Dance Dance Revolution
I never thought I would give up caffeine. I drank coffee twice a day, in obscenely large servings. At the dining hall, I drank it out of those soup bowls with handles because the coffee cups were too dinky. If there was some reason I couldn’t get 8 hours of sleep, I’d just have an … Continue reading Decaffeinated
My abiding love for Scrabble hasn’t always exactly translated into useful life skills. But when I started thinking about the names in Twelfth Night, all of a sudden, all that agonizing over anagrams finally paid off! Check it out: Viola Olivia Malvolio All of these names have the letters “Viola” in them! If one thinks of Olivia … Continue reading Social Status and Name Scrabble
What makes true love true? The concept of true love comes up so frequently in Shakespearean comedies, I started wondering about this question. As a child growing up in a Disney culture, I had a lot of ideas about what true love meant. I thought of it as a destined, magical, partner-for-life kind of deal. I … Continue reading The Trueness of True Love
I’m in love with the idea of algorithms for creativity, even though I’m skeptical about them. I like to think that if you dissect a book or a poem enough, you can figure out how it does what it does. At the same time, I cringe when I read articles titled something like, “How to … Continue reading Double Translation
I should probably start making better life decisions. The other night, I ate ice cream instead of dinner. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I believe it was something along the lines of, “I’m an adult! I can do what I want!” The ice cream was delicious. But it turns out, even adults … Continue reading 5 Things I Learned This Week
I’ve been working on applications to MFA programs for Creative Writing. What I’ve learned in my brief foray into the land of MFAs is that sending a good writing sample is the most important thing ever. Legend has it, if you send a good writing sample, good things will happen. You’ll get accepted. You’ll get … Continue reading Things I Have Needed to Google While Editing My Writing Sample for MFA Applications
Today, I came across this hilarious list of security questions. They’re not the usual “What’s your mother’s maiden name?” questions. Oh no. I’ve sorted these questions into three categories: 1) Questions that require an anecdote (or for some, a sprawling memoir) for a reply. Think about it. Someone asks you where you were when you … Continue reading Could you please repeat the question?
My roommate has a cupcake machine. It’s bright red, shaped like a waffle iron, and resides in our kitchen. I laughed when she told me about it. How often are we actually going to make cupcakes? More importantly, why does it require a separate machine? The oven covers massive baking territory. After some further investigation, … Continue reading Cupcake Machines and Capitalism
