About

Ms. Angelou has summed me up with her quote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

I was a English teacher for middle school and high school for 10 years and one day, with the support of my then boyfriend and husband now, I made the bold decision to quit my stable job of teacher and enroll in a MFA program for Creative Writing.

As of today, I just recently finished my first year as an MFA student for Mills College.

Although my days are no longer filled with grading, lesson planning and teacher conferencing, I am enjoying my new role as a student of studying and learning the craft of writing. It has taken me a long time to get to this point, but I’m happy to have finally made the decision to follow one of my literary dreams. I hope to be an example to my students, that yes you can have a career change in your mid thirties and yes it’s okay to dream, and like my co-teacher once said, “If your dream isn’t scary enough, then you’re not dreaming big enough.”

My dream is to write a collection of short stories that are loosely based off my Filipino-American life, growing up in the ’80 and ’90s in the bay area. I know it’s an odd topic, but in all the libraries I’ve visited, I have not come across a book or title that has addressed that time or culture, and like Ms. Toni Morrison says,“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.” I don’t intend my book to be a on the New York Best Seller List or even have a fanfare like my favorite author  Jhumpa Lahiri. But if I can just write a bunch of stories that I’d be proud enough I share with my family, friends and students then I’d say that this leave of absence was definitely worth the wait.

Hope you find/ read something here that piques your interest!