CREATIVE | Kalina Yang

writing samples

At one point in my life, I wanted to be a writer. These are a couple samples that fall at opposite points on the spectrum of creative to technical. Please click on the headings to access the files.

Salami Miracle Tree - A very hungry caterpillar fanfiction

This is a silly thing I wrote in the height of Tumblr-era high school when I was seeing my friends glued to Harry Potter, Twilight, etc blogs and their respective fanfiction. I didn't know why only some books were deserving of fanfiction, so I decided to pick an overlooked but still beloved book to fan-fictionalize. It makes me laugh to this day.

Analyzing the Representation of a Universal Language in Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash and Max Barry’s Lexicon

This is a research paper that I developed and wrote during a class on Linguistics in Literature. I had recently read both of these science fiction novels and noticed the authors attempting to characterize a universal language that was understood subconsciously by anyone who heard it.

I wanted to analyze both characterizations as they related to the real-life linguistic characteristics shared among today's world languages to see how realistic their portrayals were.

Pottery

Making functional ceramics is a hobby I picked up at the beginning of last year (2022) as a way to bridge my interests in art and food. I'm taking classes at the Harvard Ceramics Program, and I've grown to love the gradual process of throwing, trimming, firing, and glazing. It's been a great way to create things that I use or can give away to friends.

Bowl - Porcelain slip on
brown stoneware

Mug - Lefties only
(a gift for a friend, no spikes on the left-handed side)

Lidded jars, vases, bowl, cup

cooking

If you visited the 'Resume' page before navigating here, you may recall that my current life aspiration is to be an "engineer-but-maybe-still-a-little-bit-chef." I've found a love of cooking stemming from being at home cooking for myself, family, and friends as well as my volunteer shifts at Haley House cooking for the community. That is where I spent Friday mornings in college, elbows-deep in 15 pounds of pasta - living my best life, in other words. Below are some pictures of things I've made (and eaten)!