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#note

On New Stuff

~5 min read

Over the past week I’ve added a bunch of new content to this website, mostly of writing I’ve done in the past. I’ve also overhauled the visual look of the site, and tried to make the style cleaner and more consistent overall. In regards to the older writing, I would like to point out a few things:

On Migration

I did not edit the content of my old writing in any signficiant capacity. My process usually involved transferring the text from its original source to the site, where I adapted the original format to what i’m working with behind the scenes1. I tried to preserve formatting whenever possible, such as italicized or bold text, but mistakes were likely made nevertheless2. If there was something I thought the reader ought to know about the text, I clarified it in a note at the top of the page, and in some cases as a footnote. But if the original writing already included footnotes, I did not mix the two.

On Formatting

Some of the original text adhered to an original format, such as the essays, many of which were MLA or APA compliant. I made no significant attempt to restore proper formatting completely. The site renders the text in a consistent manner, such as the removal of whitespace, removal of indentation, etc, which I have no desire to directly modify.

On dates

As far as dates go, I usually dated the posts according to when they were written, otherwise you would see a huge influx of posts dated between the 24th and 27th of February 2026. I think this also provides a snapshot of my ability or mindset at a given time. Writing found further back might exhibit different influences or style than later writing.

On curation

Lastly, I thought a lot about what works ought to be displayed on this site. Going back through my old writing to around early high school3, I realized that I did a lot of writing. This was motivating, as I remember feeling like I never wrote enough all throughout school, but also intimidating, as there was a lot to sift through. Not all of it was made in earnest, and was of such a poor or specifically academic quality that it was easy to cut. Some of it was good or interesting, and so was easy to include. But a lot of my older writing was of a low or crude quality, and I didn’t know if I wanted people to potentially see these things easily on the public internet simply by searching my name. Did I really want my employer to find both my linkedin and a spiderman fan fiction written when I was 16 on the same website?

In regards to work I made specifically for other people—often of an intimate nature—I questioned if I even had the right to showcase these things. I wrote personal letters for friends a few times, where I provided advice. Is it right for me to showcase what was meant for them and them only? In those cases, I came to the decision that they presented a unique perspective on my thoughts at those times in my life, and that they could be presented with omission of personal details. One thing I debated over for a long time was a love letter I wrote in my first real relationship. On one hand, it was a unique marker of mindset in my emotional maturation. It is honest, vulnerable, and earnest, everything you should expect in good writing. But it is first and foremost a highly intimate letter written specifically for that individual. I highly doubt they would care now if I posted it, especially if I omitted personal details, but I think it’s the principle that matters. I decided not to post it out of respect for that ephemeral version of her, and in that sense it will always belong to her and her only.

In the end, I decided to include a lot of things that were personal or revealing. This website is first and foremost a presentation of my interests, pursuits, and productions. I hope to include things here throughout my life, and surely that must include where I came from.

  1. A combination of markdown formatting, custom CSS theming, Jekyll/Kramdown stuff. I might do a technical dive on the behind-the-scenes of this site at some point, as a lot of consideration has gone into it. ↩

  2. Transferring from docx to a .md file turns rich text formatting to plain text, which does not preserve formatting. Later on, after painstakingly scanning dozens of pages of text for individually italicized words, I realized I could’ve exported the data as markdown, which would transfer formatting automatically (Including headings, lists, even links). It’s done now, but I hope this serves as a reminder to people that you should always work smarter, not harder, as this could’ve saved me hours of work. ↩

  3. What is presented in no way serves as a verbose display of my writing. I still have writing in old notebooks, journals, and more out there in the world. What I posted here is just from scouring my google drives and hard drive. To great chagrin, much of my writing is lost to time: My old school email address, which I had from 1st grade to 12th, contained a wealth of writing stored no where else. And in my ignorance I didn’t think to back any of it up. Of course, the school deleted my email after my graduation, and now that data is likely gone forever. ↩