Q: Who are you?
A: I am Michaela. I am a storyteller. I make these lies come true with pictures and words.
People ask if my parents are artistic-- 3 of their 6 children have gone this path. Mom would say, Not like you kids, and Dad would shrug. I say yes. Artists prod the substance that envelops them-- then delight in the response. While sometimes a thrilling response is absence, my parents’ preference is thumping vibrance. They are artists of chaos. I think I have grown among that.
This is me and Bae-K, who is Jiayu but no one calls her that. The teal dress served me well.
Q: How did your journey begin?
A: How did my journey begin!? I feel each day it begins again, but maybe this is beginner’s luck. I sought perfect handwriting in second grade. Then I made still life arrangements out of classroom objects, and these doodles continued in the margins of notebooks up to age 21. I think I was playing volleyball when I tore some stuff in my knee, and that shabang --,,suffering,,-- pulled me out of my skin. I bolted from my laboratory chair into the wilderness of a summer camp to be a counselor. Wonderful! Except… me and my friend Nai were the onliest non-whites. (And do I even count?) A summer of conversations, and I needed to make a left turn. I applied for a fifth year scholarship to study American Race Relations. I found stories again, casting many kinds of shadows.
I am supremely grateful to have molecular collisions as a formalized framework to conceptualize life. I am, however, more grateful to have ripped my knee’s bungee cords and padding a couple times. Through my physical dissatisfaction, I discovered a more interesting (to me) way to explore the mystery of life: that macro phenomenon, humans and their wants. In storytelling, I seek an understanding of life that walks with the inconsistencies of humanity.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m making a book!!! I am three exclamation points excited about it. I don’t know if you’ll like it though. It’s a little scary. It’s about biology research in the second decade of the 21st century. It’s also about (love). It’s made out of words and pictures.
This breaks my heart for some reason. A December ‘19 work.
Q: Who is your audience?
A: My brother asked me this question last winter as I formulated EmptyFullEmptyFull for the Yards January Residency. I said, rolling like a trapped, turned over turtle on the sofa, ‘I don’t know!! I don’t know!! Have you always been this intense about asking questions!!??’ I hugged my knees and said ‘I just want to write a story!’ I have since understood that understanding who I write to is important. Last Friday this question was asked again, and my diva ego whispered, ‘high school students of 2100 who complain they have to read ancient books.’
But to answer the question realistically: my audience consists of people curious about scientific validity in this contemporary and ancient tradition when stories alone make truth. I hope my audience wants to know more about what it is to fall out of love with a person. And I further hope my audience wonders about the boundaries of I, you, them.
This is
排骨
( Pai Guat.)
Two truths and a lie:
-His name is a food Chinese people eat.
-I have a tattoo of him.
-I ate him.
You might find me digitally at www.michaelachan.com. Besides a blog I keep up with, there may even be some embarrassing love poems posted. Thank you for reading. I hope you breathe easy.
This is part of EmptyFullEmptyFull rough draft. Made during Yards January Residency.