Portfolio

4 things I can do

  1. I can write. Here’s an article and a short story.
  2. I can copyedit. Here’s a research paper and the style guide I made for it.
  3. I can website. I’m the web admin for the South Hall Literary Magazine website—take a look.
  4. I can video. Here’s a one-minute tutorial and a sixteen-minute onboarding.

Everything else

Still here? Here you go:

  1. Expository writing
  2. Expository editing
  3. Fiction
  4. Website work

Generally, the higher the selection, the more recent it is—and therefore the better it is.

Bolded text indicates selections that I am particularly proud of.

If you’re short on time or patience, read the highest bolded selections from each section.

Expository writing

Newsletters and tutorial videos

Since March 2024, I’ve been writing newsletters for Datamuse, a search engine company that’s been around since the early days of the web. My job involves crawling through CivicSearch, a database that aggregates transcripts of local government meetings from the United States and Canada, to discuss important but below-the-radar issues.

I use Slack to communicate and GitHub to create web versions of the newsletter.

I’m also scripting, recording, and editing one-minute tutorial videos for YouTube that demonstrate key features of OneLook, which, in my very unbiased opinion, is the best dictionary, thesaurus, and word-finder out there. (I used it often even before I joined—in fact, it’s why I joined in the first place!)

Guideline documents

From June 2021 to June 2023, I served as the internal chair of the Isla Vista Community Relations Committee (IVCRC), a student philanthropic and event-planning organization under the Associated Students of UC Santa Barbara. To make sure everyone knew what they were doing—and to create an institutional knowledge that could be expanded upon by future members—I wrote more than 25 guideline documents of 2 to 4 pages in length. Below is a small selection.

Onboarding videos

As the internal chair of IVCRC, I also created a series of 12 onboarding videos, each 10 to 20 minutes in length. I recorded 5 of the videos (the rest were recorded by my fellow chairs), and I scripted and edited all of them.

Bulk publicity emails

As the internal chair of IVCRC, I also wrote some of the emails that we’d send out to the entire campus, whether to advertise a new event or to recruit new members.

I’ve had a fair number of people tell me that they found these emails incredibly funny and were a large reason why they attended the events in question and applied to the board. (Obviously, I can’t prove any of this, but take it as you will.)

  1. 30-foot Ferris wheel on Sunday: Pardall Carnival returns
  2. Ferris wheel folks recruiting for next year (IVCRC)
  3. We need more
  4. Kozy Coffee, blueprints, bikes, and study jam at the Pardall Center
  5. Applications open for the Isla Vista Community Relations Committee
  6. Photo Exhibition with IVCRC for a Polaroid!

Speeches

Nothing major, and nothing much yet, but might as well put it here.

Newspaper articles

From October 2019 to April 2023, I contributed news articles and opinion pieces to the Daily Nexus, UC Santa Barbara’s primary student newspaper. I interviewed students and community members and reported on local happenings, in the process working closely with the editors of each respective section.

From my time here, I know how to ask effective questions and get to the point.

Class writing

Again, yes, embarrassing to use examples from class. That’s why I’ve put it dead last in this section.

Expository editing

Press releases and event write-ups

From April to June 2023, I interned with Isla Vista Recreation & Park District, writing press releases and event recaps. I compiled information and interviewed event attendees in a journalistic style—I was not merely sitting at a desk all day, though I did have practice coming into the office at regularly scheduled hours.

I was also the go-to person whenever someone needed suggestions on their writing, such as with social media posts, newsletters, and the website. To ensure consistency across the organization, I created a style guide of commonly used words and grammatical structures, using as my foundations The Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

Research papers

From February to June 2023, I helped copyedit an undergraduate student’s research into the relationship between Joan Didion’s writing and mental health. We corresponded via email and swapped drafts. To maintain consistency, I created a style guide that based its guidelines on The Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

  • Behind the Shades: A Close Look at the Blurred Lines between Joan Didion’s Fiction and Nonfiction (before and after)
  • Style guide

Class editing assignments

Yes, I know, I know: it’s embarrassing to rely on schoolwork as the basis for potential employment. But these assignments simulate real-world editing circumstances, from marginalia to cordial correspondences.

And, most importantly, these show that, yes, I can edit by hand; I know the typical copyediting marks, for clients who prefer pens over keyboards. I haven’t met many of you like this, but I’m sure you’re out there somewhere.

Fiction

Short stories that I authored

From January 2022 to June 2023, I contributed 5 short stories to The Catalyst Contemporary Literary Arts Magazine, a collection of prose, poetry, and art at UC Santa Barbara that publishes 3 print issues per year. I collaborated with other editors and magazine writers to refine my stories before print.

But I didn’t just write these stories—I also created the layouts for them to appear in the magazine, in the process employing InDesign, Photoshop, ekphrasis, and the principles of CMYK printing to ensure an aesthetically pleasing and intellectually fulfilling final product.

Short stories that I edited

From September 2022 to June 2023, I served as the prose editor of The Catalyst Contemporary Literary Arts Magazine at UC Santa Barbara. I helped students and outside submitters polish their words, ideas, and stories for publication.

  • Prose: “The Three Times I Have Dared to Tango With the Tides” (before and after)
  • Prose: “Tarsal Maggot” (before and after)
  • Prose: “*Sensitive” (before and after)
  • Prose: “All Aboard” (before and after)
  • Poetry: “Running Cross Country in Oxnard” (before and after)

Website work

Since October 2023, I’ve been designing and updating the South Hall Literary Magazine website. I started it from nothing and built it up using WordPress, HTML, CSS, PHP, Figma, Spaceship domain hosting, Cloudflare, SMTP, and Google Apps Script.

My responsibilities (still in progress) include the following:

  • Lead and implement eye-catching and pleasing aesthetics.
  • Ensure accessibility for people with disabilities.
  • Maintain the submission intake system.
  • Upload new pieces.

Additionally, from September 2022 to June 2023, I not only edited writing for The Catalyst but also redesigned, updated, and maintained the magazine’s WordPress website. I directly edited the site’s HTML and CSS to better customize its appearance and improve its usability on mobile devices.

I also created a series of 9 videos that instructed future students on how to update and maintain the website themselves. Below is a selection.

The website you’re currently viewing this portfolio on also runs on WordPress (.org, not .com). I maintain and update it myself, using HTML, CSS, Namecheap, Cloudflare, cPanel, and the occasional FTP. (I’ve learned a lot since starting this website and it’s no longer up to my standards—I plan to refresh it at some point, maybe by moving away from WordPress entirely and going with a static site instead.)

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