Memory

Davis, CA. 2010 Jun 22.

Some day I will realize that all of the things that I've left behind are actually still right in front of me.

Respire

Chinatown. New York, NY. 2011 Aug 20.

Some day we will all grow enough to return all the love we've been given.

Miles

M. Yu. Providence, RI. 2011 Jul 16.

Look up to see where you're going, glance down to see where you step. Go back to to see where you've been, push forward to face your regrets.

Flight

Providence, RI. 2011 Jul 16.

Certain mornings my alarm will go off at its usual time, and my eyes will open. But they haven't quite focused on anything yet, and I'm still partially asleep. And my mind is free to travel anywhere in the world.

Eyes

Dale Chihuly Exhibit. Museum of Fine Arts. Boston, MA. 2011 Jul 13.

Margaret once told me that the world didn't have enough color. And she's right. But every once in a while, if you stand waiting long enough, you come across something or someone that blinds you with brightness. And you don't even have to be able to see to know that it's beautiful.

Growth

Walker Memorial. MIT. Cambridge, MA. 2011 Jul 3.

Entropy erodes at everyone and everything. But somehow there's a beauty to the way we still manage to stand, even if we're scared, even if we're hurt.

Silence

"The Alchemist" sculpture by Jaume Plensa. MIT. Cambridge, MA. 2011 Jul 3.

Sometimes, the best thing in the world is to just sit, without the worry of wrong words, and think about all of the good things to come.

Across

Atlantic Ocean, Boston Harbor. 2010 Oct 10.

Oceans have always intrigued me. Named differently because they're somehow divided by the large lands that have surfaced over time. But they're connected. And yet I still glance over the Atlantic not with an entirely light heart, hoping that if I lay it down in these waters to rest, somehow it'll sail from here and end up on the West.

Pause

Full moon. Charles River looking into Back Bay. Boston, MA. 2011 June 15.

I read an article today about how we as humans in this technology-dependent world live such fast-paced lives. In constant need of constant stimulation through multitasking on our computers and phones (ironic and hypocritical, I know, as I'm doing just that). But the next time I wait for the bus, I will just sit quietly and peacefully. And take a break from it all, and just wait for the bus. And when I get home, instead of watching the computer screen illuminate my room, maybe I'll take a walk along the Charles, and watch the moon illuminate the sky.

Water

Harvard Dragon Boats. Boston Dragon Boat Festival. Cambridge, MA. 2011 June 12

It's nice to be living by the river. And no matter how dirty the water is, or how many people are sitting on it, or even if it freezes over in the winter, it's always moving.

Direction

Auntie Reina. City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Ukiah, CA. 2011 May 29

And as we walk we roam and roam and hope we find the right way home.

Humbled

Schools at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Ukiah, CA. 2011 May 29

I think Terry would understand if I told her I am putting grad school on pause, so that I can go back to learn the essentials.

Redwoods

Great redwoods of Leggett, CA. 2011 May 29

What an amazing feeling it is to be in the presence of life that has been around well before we began worrying. To feel what it's like to not feel any consequence of not having to think. To realize how small everything is that we think about.

Parallel

The tracks running in between and parallel to Albany and Vassar Streets. Cambridge, MA. 2011 May 20

I have forgotten people. Though I say that I really haven't. If I look far enough into the places I can't really see, it's all so perfectly reconciled. And yet these vanishing promises come flooding back to me.