Blog/Archive
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"Dounia"
9.0 cm x 10.8 cm
Inspired by The Sahel Region of Africa, "Dounia" embodies a mothering figure, an entity of guidance, love, support, and understanding.
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Woodland Series, October 2024
The Woodland Series — a collection of wooden/paper sculptural-works inspired by different forest biomes.
First of the series/completed: March, 2024
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Hyde Isle, November 2024
Contrasted with "Neighborhoods" and others, "Hyde Isle" is very experimental; my premise is: often — sometimes, Hyde Park feels reminiscent of a shore-town — an island perhaps. Seagulls squawk overhead on rooftops and light-poles; the fog gets thick, and rolls over the fluctuating hills and slopes; covering churches, homes, and morning commuters; the distant-view is calm, the lighting is soft — I can practically hear and see the pseudo-waves crashing against the pseudo-shore-line.
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Greenhouse, and Biking, October 2025
Started in mid-October, we underwent building the greenhouse and turning the backyard into a native rain-garden and pollinator-garden. Emphasis on native-garden because we want this garden to maintain itself and provide refuge and shelter to the wild-life surrounding it — the families of blue-jays, cardinals, mourning-doves, and black-capped chickadees — the chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels — the bees, butterflies, and the critters below.
And biking through the arboretum has become my highlighted activity to do during the fall.
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The clearing of trees on 1717-1725 Hyde Park Avenue, December 2025
I'm appalled by the city of Boston's involvement and negligence in allowing environmental-clearings like this to continuously happen — especially in areas of the city which needs forested-canopy-coverage the most.
I've sent my discontentment to the city in regards to this — and the developer, Ad Meliora LLC (who, conveniently enough, can't be reach by their email as it is "not found.") And unfortunately, the city doesn't listen, and frankly, it doesn't care to; as long as pockets are filled, interest are met and partnerships are maintained. Whether it is me, or another community-member advocating for the environmental-injustice being done to our communities, the city will continue to ignore, gaslight, and preform PR — wash, rinse and repeat.
A habitat and refuge to a multitude of ecosystems (whether native, or non-native,) and creatures for several decades, this forested-environment spanning for more than 600 feet, was a safeguard to communities from the highly-polluted industrial-district of Hyde Park. According to American Forests, the developing-area has less tree-canopy coverage than its surrounding, and now, because of the recent clearing, this number (25%) will only go down (most likely by half,) therefore endangering the surrounding communities to higher-pollutants and unsafe-conditions: lower air-quality, hazardous-debris, noise-pollution, and higher temperatures during the summers. Unfortunately, the clearing has already been done; despite how long it took for this forested-environment to establish itself, it took merely several hours to undo several decades of growth. And although a number of trees are proposed to be planted, what steps are being considered to ensure their survival? Native trees are struggling to survive in urban-environments; without the proper-soil conditions, tree-planting protocols, and environment, the chances of survival are low. Furthermore, there are discrepancies between the site plan/rendering with the street-view imagery from google. Where are the trees that were projected to be left unrooted?
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Pines, Birches, and Mountains, December 2025
How old are these trees? I wondered — on the slopes below, the birches, beeches, and the pines above; where the clouds meet the mountain-ranges — how old are these trees?
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Greenhouse Continued, and Tons of Mulch, November 2025
Soon I will need to install fan-ventilation as spring approaches, but as it is now winter, I've been implementing ways to keep the greenhouse warm during the cloudy days and nights. In hindsight, we should've went with a different way of installing the panels, we will likely do that as we near spring/summer. And we treated the wood with linseed-oil and pine-tar; my favorite.
It took 7-hours to move 20 to 25 cubic-yards of wood-chips from our front-yard to the back, and although it was intensive and repetitive, I thoroughly enjoyed it — and the smell of the wood-chips were intoxicating!
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Mushroom-Foraging, November 2025 (Written by my partner Lily)
Below the surface lies a world unknown that is seldom thought of as important. The soil beneath our feet is teeming with life, worms, insects and endless entanglement of hyphae that forms long strips of mycelium that stretch for miles. What we once thought of as just dirt, becomes revitalized as we engage with the complex and intriguing life of fungi. Without fungi, life as we know it would not exist. As Merlin Sheldrake beautifully puts it, mycelial fungi is "living, growing, opportunistic investigation-in bodily form". Fungi has has embedded itself in every living thing on earth, from the microbiomes in our guts, the lichen on rocks eating away at the stone to covert into soil and seeping itself into the roots of plants granting them the ability to retrieve nutrients in the soil. While animals and humans alike consume their foods from the outside in, fungi has found a way to embed itself into whatever it's consuming, releasing enzymes, in turn releasing nutrients back into the soil. Fungi has found a way to grab our attention by their intriguing fruiting bodies that come in all forms. Whether they're truffle mushrooms that allure us with their potent scents, or the deadly fly agaric mushrooms that tempt us with their fairy tale like appearances, or magic mushrooms that make us hallucinate vividly, deepening our spiritual selves, fungi is sure to leave long lasting imprint on human life; leaving us to question, are we eating them or are they eating us?
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Flowering Dogwood, July 2025
Bitterly-sweet, this young-tree, planted in a Hyde Park resident's front-yard — will unfortunately live a life of lonesome, unable to communicate with their own — but hopefully with chance and care, they will live happily-alone in a mutualistic-relationship with the resident. And similarly, I had asked the shrewd silverleaf-maple outside my backyard, to take care of the young flowering-dogwood I had planted near. Maybe resources will be shared and kinship will be formed, but perhaps it's happening already; as the dogwood is flowering and looking healthy.
The silverleaf maple had surely sensed and moaned the loss of their friends, or family over the years — stumps seen protruding near and far from the newly-planted dogwood.
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Germinating a Redwood, July 2025
Last November while biking through the arboretum, I found myself stuffing redwood-cones down my tucked-shirt — I had no-bag, no pockets, and it was without a doubt my only option of carry.
Having learned I had to mimic the climate-cycle for hopes of germination, I placed the cones inside a glass-pot near my bedroom window, and I cracked the window just enough to let some-cold inside. And it worked!
Fast forward to April, the seeds had fully-germinated and they were beautiful (I'll add a photo of the sprouting-seeds later).
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Solace Through Trees, January 2025
Better than Jazz, would you believe it.
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A Whole-Lotta Noise Pollution, January 2025
Their tires, their engines; cars are so loud!
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Roots, Trunks, Trees, November 2024
Mildly Cold; barely warm — I biked through the arboretum while precariously looking ahead and maintaining a wondering-eye; admiring and stopping for their energies when approached.
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Fish Out of Sea, November 2024
A fish washes into a sea-puddle; bounded and stuck, it misses the vastness of the ocean — but moments later, or what feels like an eternity, the fish washes back by a high tide.
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How Thoughts Manifest, September 2024
In an attempt to simplify my life; the way I view life and go through life — I had unfortunately allowed the anxieties of my various thoughts to be the enemy. I need to work on identifying my anxieties faster, before they establish themselves as an enemy/threat.
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Romanticizing My Biking Experience, September 2024
I really dislike riding around Boston; between them big-ugly pickup-trucks intentionally, ignorantly speeding pass, and the entitled-SUVs — biking anywhere on the streets is hellish. Side-note: cars, and car-infrastructure is killing the planet, the solution is not planting more trees, it's removing car-infrastructure from this earth — full-stop.
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Sun-Kiss, September 2024
Have you ever been sun-kissed; it's nice, and it's only ever a sun-kiss if it is tolerable, meaning, the sunlight isn't harsh, or damaging.
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They Talk, and They Gossip, August 2024
I've been told to enter a cluster of trees with respect, patience and humility. Our energies are felt; our intentions are felt — and to be embraced by them; be welcomed and harmonious with them, we must at the very short-instance of entering, decide to return to nature.
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Watering Trees, Hot Days, Hot Dogs, August 2024
On hot summer days like these — dogs on walks panting, tongue out, sluggish; pedestrians hanging right to avoid sunlight, irritated, uncomfortable, sleepy — the trees are often ignored; very ironic. We need to prioritize our trees; water them, protect them and advocate for them.
Anxiety, Tree Canopies & A Salamander, August 2024
Anxious all-throughout the day — I felt fatigue, confused and tempered; I was not myself. But, up high, looking above the trees felt wonderful, and down-low, to see a salamander, felt wondrous.
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Improvising Until A Song, July 2024
Improvising until I get a song, strictly by feel and emotions. I'll upload more as the song progresses.
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Forest Ground, Forest Feet, July 2024
Even my socks are one with nature — matchy McMatch.
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Pleasantly Vulgar, July 2024
I was repeatedly muttering: "ahh beautiful — o'yeah, beautiful," before my friend mentioned the trees were all dead — I didn't even notice, I was admiring the lighting, the composition — the beauty of the scene — it was pleasantly vulgar — even when the trees were dead, they still demanded presence and my admiration.
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A Day and an Adventure With Music, June - July 2024
I had spent a day at the Harvard Arboretum — I was up a hill — there, among the trees, and here, under a Black Oak tree.
I had spent an hour at the Harvard Arboretum — I was on a bench, people-watching and playing the ukulele.
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"Masoya" is a short story inspired by Jazz.
