This sounds like a great project. I’d say some of what you’ve written here could go straight into the piece you’re writing.

I’m really curious about the principle of parity! I can imagine this in chapters already: the Nobel situation, the open letter, Wu’s research before and after her discovery, Wu’s father, physics and metaphor, the…[Read more]

So true. That could be an amazing title. And true about family and self. Writing about the self is always writing about relationships, even when you’re writing about being isolated–like, say, Nelson Mandela or Thoreau.

I agree with Catherine!

We’ve only just begun. No need to have made firm decisions. So many great writing topics here. I love the closeness and specificity of writing about your chlidren’s faces. There’d defefinitely be a way to do something related to your podcast work. A lot of people are writing about place, which is cool, and that’s always a nice way to ground a…[Read more]

I’m really curious about the history of “once in a blue moon.” I’m really looking forward to reading about that. The potential lyricism of the phrase and the connection to Nanci Griffith’s music seems fruitful, particularly since premature birth is such a physical topic. There’s something about that combination that seems like it just fits.…[Read more]

There’s a community fridge at QC–just FYI.

I think the very particular focus on refrigerators has a ton of potential. The focus–and creative constraint–could be really fruitful.

Do you want to integrate photographs? Or are they more inspiration? It could be interesting to include snippets of information about the history of…[Read more]

This is a great title. I say stick with that!

I can really imagine a piece centered around your trip–pilgrimage?–to Aberdeen. So much could come out of that, like spokes on a wheel. You’ve already done some incredible research. The connection to your father also resonates a lot.

Do you want to go in the direction of writing about what…[Read more]

You met Marvin Gaye?! I had to lead with that.

This could be a book, like Go Ahead in the Rain. I love the idea of writing about liner note and concert footage. This line stands out to me as a motivating impulse for the writing: “I have been able to connect with his music when I have tried to make sense of the world when often the world…[Read more]

My grandma used to read Sunset Magazine too!

Your project is almost unfolding itself in chapters. I can imagine one on Sunset Magazine, one on the history and architecture of cabins, one on roads, one on the varieties of people who’ve populated the Mojave, obviously one about your own move there. I could go on.

Eve Babitz has an amazing…[Read more]

I’m really curious about what you’re translating and how you’re combining translation with narrative. Mike Mena’s videos on translanguaging and other related topics might point you in the direction of some good sources. If you click on the video linked in our syllabus it will take you to his channel.

I know you’re into comics. GB Tran deals with a lot of similar questions in Vietnamerica–particularly around what does and doesn’t get articulated in families and the ways that political forces shape people’s lives, feelings, and actions. It might be worth looking ahead to that book.

Your grandfather’s memoir is an amazing source. Writing in…[Read more]

I wish I knew ancestry sites. That said, I think it can really work to create a narrative around the research process and explore where you run into gaps or obstacles, why they’re there, and how you deal with them. I’d be really curious to read that.

I also like imagining a world in which the pandemic has subsided and you get a grant to go do…[Read more]