Representative Works
I'm interested in animals, perhaps, because they show us the negative space to the human experience. What pains, pleasures, and triumphs define us as humans? Why do we run towards the fire? These are my most recent works, and they explore my three areas of interest: human-animal relationships, trauma in paradise, and immigrant experiences. Many of these works are ongoing and will be submitted to publication eventually.
All the Stars in the Air (2023)
A memoir about my mom shaping me into a competitive swimmer by bribing me with illegal fireworks. Ultimately, it is an exploration of the immigrant identity. My parents came from China and I was raised in a small village where most of my friends were white. In slipping into a new culture, where do you integrate, and where do you rebel? This current version is the third place winner in the Stanford undergraduate creative writing competition. The writing is still a working draft and will eventually be submitted for official publication.
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Matchmakers of Dolphin Grotto (2022)
Taika is the head trainer at Dolphin Grotto, and as he deals with a few anti-captivity activists, he wallows in his own kind of captivity. He's suck playing the role of a Eagle lover in the nighttime show while his real life fades into the glowing lights of the Central Florida night. This is my first fiction piece and I don't really like it, but for your entertainment I've placed it here.
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See it Here, Save it Where? (2021)
A collection of 5 quasi-fictional poems. It begins with a critical essay on my writing style, written by a poet classmate. In my work, I write about innocence, a tumultuous family, and dying animals. Some of these pieces have been published in the Stanford Quarterly magazine.
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Orca Boy (2024)
This is an audio production two years in the making with the Stanford Storytelling Project. I was so obsessed with whales that my childhood friends called me Orca Boy. But when a SeaWorld trainer named Dawn was killed by an orca, my love for whales turned to shame…until I met Dawn's best friend, a whale trainer named Lyndsey. She leads me back to SeaWorld on a journey of reclaiming the Orca Boy that I thought was gone. This work is on PRX and available anywhere you get your podcasts, including the soundcloud link below.
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The Descent (Work in progress, 2024)
In this set of short stories (or maybe a novel??), we follow the life of a head killer whale trainer, her rivals, her team, and their whales. From the crowded stands of a whale stadium you can only take a small sip of the human and animal condition. In this story, I'm trying to take a large, greedy, salty gulp. An excerpt of this piece won second place in the Stanford undergraduate creative writing competition.
Non-Fiction Articles
Sometimes I write articles about things that matter to me. It usually has something to do with brains, or whales, or brains in whales. Sometimes I write about AI and robots, if I feel like something from my day job is worth talking about.
Dolphin Poets Aren't a Thing: The Past and Present Cults of Cetacean Superintelligence (2024)
In this publication with The Flip Online blog, I challenge the idea that whales and dolphins have some sort of mystical intellectual power. I look at how improper science has contributed to this mysticism, from the early works of John Lilly to the contemporary claims of Lori Marino. Ultimately, I'm trying to argue for the acceptance of diverse intelligences. It's really hard to compare intelligence, so let's appreciate all types of them.
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Can I Train a Robot like a Dolphin? (2024)
I gave a presentation at the International Marine Animal Trainer's Association (IMATA) conference in 2024, where I talked about how the challenges of training animals are shared with the challenges in developing robots that exhibit broadly intelligent behavior. Below is my written report from that presentation, published in IMATA Soundings.
Published Report
A Squeeze of the Hand (2023)
Stanford Live called me to review Wu Tsang's reimagination of Moby Dick through a feature-length film and live musical performance. The show, brilliantly created and executed, reminded me about my creative purpose. I'm interested in stories that highlight animals as sentient individuals while still focusing on our human experience of them.
Published ReviewAdvised Works
I've had the privilege and honor of advising numerous high-impact pieces about the aquarium & marine park industry with Valerie Greene. People change in different ways, and unfortunately I am no longer ideologically aligned with Valerie and her group. Still, I am very proud and honored that she chose to take this part of her journey with me. I am also proud to call her one of my closest friends.
Commentary: Losing my SeaWorld religion (Orlando Sentinel, June 2024)
Animal trainers have compassion beyond belief and sacrifice so much to care for animals in their facilities. Films like Blackfish gave the zoological industry an undeserving bad rap. Instead, they should have been focusing on a darker side of the industry, one that has little to do with animals. In this piece (which took so many late night phone calls), I help Valerie talk about an incident that happened to her friend and role model, Liz Thomas. Like many of Valerie's works, this piece was received very positively by the training community and even some activist circles.
Orlando Sentinel LinkThe Golden Touch: A Whale Sanctuary Project mystery (Themed Reality, Sept 2023)
While sanctuaries can play an important role in animal welfare and rescue operations, they are often weaponized against the zoological industry, causing further partisan divides. In this piece, I help Valerie create an olive branch piece that was received positively by people all over the spectrum of captivity beliefs.
Themed Reality LinkSeaWorld has a duty to its captive killer whales (Orlando Sentinel, March 2023)
Valerie Greene is a former, high-ranking killer whale trainer at SeaWorld Orlando. She also served on the leadership board of the International Marine Animal Trainer's Association (IMATA). She likes her past life, but there are certain experiences and norms that she's trying to change. She hopes to improve the welfare of the animals and the training staff at these facilities. In the wake of a high-profile killer whale death, I helped Valerie find her voice.
Orlando Sentinel LinkCommentary: The whale sanctuary that never was (Orlando Sentinel, Feb 2024)
The politics of high-interest zoo animals (like killer whales) are always messy and rife with partisan jabs. In this piece, I help Valerie surface various complications surrounding the story of Tokitae, the Miami Seaquarium whale that was allegedly going to be moved to a coastal sanctuary. Targeted in our investigations is the Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP), who have been attempting to build a sanctuary for captive whales. The WSP effort is motivated by a philosophical disagreement with zoological facilities, and as a result, they have quite a few skeletons in the closet. Read more in the link below.
Orlando Sentinel Link"Free Willy" whale had a tragic ending in real life. Don't let that happen to Lolita (Miami Herald, March 2023)
When plans were announced to bring orca Lolita / Tokitae into a sea pen, I helped write a dissenting opinion that highlighted the logistical and welfare challenges of a sea pen for an old animal with health conditions. This article spawned the Truth4Toki movement, one of the first times that whale trainers came together in a unified voice for animal welfare. My involvement in Truth4Toki and Tokitae's story is nuanced, but this was the article that started it all.
Miami Herald LinkMiami's modern-day "Free Willy" must be saved (Orlando Sentinel, July 2023)
As the sea pen plans for killer whale Tokitae circled national headlines, new information revealed the dire conditions of her tank and the infeasibility of the sea pen plans. Here, I help make a simple request: move Tokitae to SeaWorld.
Orlando Sentinel Link