being nice is cool

emily oberg

south korea: school, suicide, surgery

(published 2012)

heart of a lion

(published 2012)

say hi to forever

manuela

a fifth of the land on earth is her

there’s a girl named savannah
with skin red like the australian sand
her eyes hid a library of stories
in a language she didn’t understand
for the better

she was ‘half vietnamese, half australian’
later she cried, sobbing she had lied
she was ashamed running through her veins
was 40,000 years of history
and 200 years of pain

her daddy was a myth
her mama tried to hurt her
her skin marked by scars
running like rivers, breaking into streams
striking, lightening from afar

the kids were ruthless, at 11 or 12
when taunts were thrown in class
she’d gaze up at the ceiling
no, she wasn’t inspecting the smoke alarm
but stopping her hurt from showing

one morning i found myself
walking alongside her,
‘savannah’
(i don’t know why i whispered)
her name echoed, like the end of a dream

‘hey’ she replied
 carrying the weight, of four thousand sleepless nights
i heard her surrendering a war
i heard her hint it’s over
i heard ‘hey’ but i heard more

fe fi fo fum

a curation by ally

when we shot this ally showed me some references she liked. she didn't know but one of them was a photograph that i took. i was given my own work as reference. #myworkisdone #startedfromthebottom #dropsmic

our beta test

victoria

you know when people stir the dreams you carry, reminding you every day is game day? we walked all over new york city, often finding ourselves submerged in the aspirations of others. everyone has a reason to be here, or at least everyone believes they have a reason to be here. which is a good enough reason by any means, but no one wants to be just good enough. you want to be the very best (pokemon master #thatnooneeverwas).

thursday sunday

thursday sunday

永别香港

i

when i bought my ticket home a huge sense of relief washed over me, as though i had been fighting a hun invasion under general conscription during the han dynasty and it was finally over, when all i ever did was live in one of the most efficient cities in the world. sure, work got insane at one (many) point(s), leaving my sanity in question, but i addressed the problem(s) in a way many people in their early 20s without much life experience would, by not addressing it (them) at all. bad idea. life experience: check.

ii

we cross paths with people throughout life. when we're open to knowing them, we establish relationships (by baring our souls and hoping the listener doesn't destroy us with our secrets). then as our lives progress we become less open, or more guarded, and those same bonds are never really created again, or not in the same way. late teens was when i formed many of my strongest relationships (no matter where i was). then i entered the real world and learnt life would never be the same again. that's sad, but so is getting one strawberry mentos and 19 orange ones in a 'mixed fruit' pack.

iii

i have so many quirks that are plain irksome but my friends are still my friends and would take a shot for me in lazer tag any day if i offered enough cash upfront. i never noticed how annoying i was (am) until i met someone with identical peculiarities. so for the all the times i walked away without a word to buy snacks while everyone's in conversation, stopped talking mid-sentence to think about pomegranates, listened to you with glazed eyes because i was still thinking about pomegranates, brushed my teeth in the living room, and left a country without saying goodbye, i'm sorry. thank you for still being my friend.

sun powered

taja

wonder/wander

as a child, you solve your problems by following your ideals. your intuition is your lonely planet. not always practical, but you take comfort in your pure heart and clear conscience. however you should still always carry a back up plan in your front pocket (and several other options in various odd locations, i.e. between your books, underneath the vase you received for your first house warming, in the gluten free cookies' jar) for there will be forest fires even when you live by the sea, and bad days even when your eyeliner is on point.

what ever you're going through, remember rain forests regrow rapidly and there's a tutorial for nine different eyeliner looks in under eight minutes on youtube.

sakura season

leo

land of the long white cloud

street lights dot the city like fireflies on a summer lawn. my heart swell as the plane descends. memories run in rivulets through my veins, but soon overwhelm me. i gasp for air as though i have held my breath for years. 

for a while, new zealand was all of me. 

i remember walking along boulders near the pier every weekend. my knees would tremble at the ocean's tantrums. i saw my life before a salty sea surrounded by pines. i didn't know the future because i thought i was already there. 

then we moved.

passing years accumulate, and i forget about aotearoa. i traverse earth. i forget the first sunrise in the world. i forget lots of things (which resulted in the recommendation of eating more vitamin b and omega three foods). 

this place is like no other, i can never collect all the right words to bring it justice. it's the eden of my childhood.

sweet like sugar cane

lucia, growing
in the garden
of life

sos only (tasmania)

note to self, do not drink coffee if you want to sleep within 20 hours.