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A Soul’s Garden
What’s a common misconception people have about happiness? They said happiness was somewhere out there—waiting in the distance,hidden behind achievements,recognition,and the things we hoped to one day possess. But I discovered a different truth: Happiness was a seedalready planted within me. A garden of the soul,watered by gratitude,nourished by love,and growing through purpose and faith.…
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Listening: The Skill I Wish I Could Instantly Master
If you could instantly master any skill, what would it be and why? If I could instantly learn any skill, it wouldn’t be speaking another language, writing a bestseller, or mastering an instrument. While those skills are valuable, I believe the skill I would choose is the ability to listen truly—to listen deeply, compassionately, and…
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What I’m Passionate About
What are you passionate about? “Your real education starts now, with friends you’ve made and friends you get to meet, with stunning successes and miserable defeats, and with a humble acceptance that your greatness comes from the mess around you, not despite it.” Conan O’Brien. People often ask what motivates my work. Central to my…
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Unmoved
If humans had taglines, what would yours be? It doesn’t matter what others think as long as you are doing the right thing and are at peace with yourself. Talking about peace: I was nominated for the Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize, administered by the University of New Mexico Foundation. I’m very grateful to the…
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Names and Identities
Names have long influenced how others perceive people and places. At a conference I once attended, I had the opportunity to discuss naming and power. One example that stood out was the term “Middle East.” For many residents of the region, the name itself carries little meaning because it is defined from an outside perspective.…
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When Stillness Calls
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Reimagining Black and Indigenous Student Representation at UCLA
Representation matters. Not just as a slogan, but as a lived reality that determines who feels they belong, who persists, and who thrives in academic spaces like UCLA. At UCLA, out of every 100 students, only about 7 are Black or Indigenous. That number isn’t just a statistic—it reflects how opportunity, access, and belonging are…
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Treasured Belongings
What personal belongings do you hold most dear? This is a response to the blog prompt Some of the personal belongings I cherish most are those that carry memories rather than monetary value. Photographs, old messages, handwritten notes, and gifts from loved ones mean the most to me because they remind me of different moments…
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Between Cold and Comfort
How do you feel about cold weather? This is a response to the prompt above. I’ve visited several American states, including Nevada, Georgia, New York, and Illinois, mostly during winter or spring, and it was always cold then. In this blog, I’ll focus on these three states known for their cold weather: Vermont, Oregon, and…
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Beyond Mentorship
Share a story about someone who had a positive impact on your life. One person who had a lasting positive impact on my life was a professor who believed in my potential long before I fully recognized it myself. Beyond the classroom, they took the time to mentor me, guide my academic growth, and open…
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Belonging
What do you do to be involved in the community? This is a response to the blog prompt above. Being involved in my community means showing up where I can be helpful—through teaching, mentorship, research, and service. As a scholar and researcher, I create spaces for learning and conversation, whether in the classroom, through workshops,…
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Muse: You feel like a hug
I was thinking about summer while writing this, not because of a break from schoolwork, but because of the hot weather. I don’t know if it’s too early to start worrying about a warm summer, though. I’m considering going somewhere, maybe taking some train trips, and writing about it, or camping somewhere remote and also…
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Faith in Christ
What gives you direction in life? By the waters that still my soul, my heart will trust in You! Hillsong What guides me in life is my faith in Jesus Christ. In a world filled with uncertainty, distractions, and shifting expectations, my faith keeps me grounded and reminds me that my life has purpose. When…
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Yurt Luck: Me and the Coyotes!
Have you ever been camping? Have I ever been camping? If sleeping in a circular tent in the middle of golden hills, surrounded by suspiciously confident insects and the kind of silence that makes you hear your own thoughts too loudly, counts—then yes. My camping debut at Blue Oak Ranch Reserve was less “survival expert”…
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Across the Ocean, Toward Myself
Describe a risk you took that you do not regret. This is a response to the topic above. One risk I took that I do not regret was crossing the ocean to pursue my studies in the United States. Leaving home meant stepping away from everything familiar—language, family presence, cultural comfort, and the everyday certainty…
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From Zimbabwe, with Love and Stories
Describe a random encounter with a stranger that stuck out positively to you. One morning, on the bus to school, I was fully prepared for my usual routine: sitting quietly in a corner, checking off items on UCLA’s student newspaper Sudoku column, staring out the window occasionally, and mentally debating whether I was awake enough…
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Four Poems of Oke Iroegbu
(i.) The MoonThe Moon is following meAnd with her light I seeWherever I walk she stalksBehind my shadow she followsAnd how she sweeps the landLooking for me in the quiet clan. (ii.) Village SquareThe nights dancing festivalBrings all, big and smallThe farmer, the wine tapperThe cobbler and the dancerA night of skewered meatAnd one, were…
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Frankie, Angel & the Six Musketeers
What animals make the best/worst pets? When people think about the best pets, they usually imagine dogs or cats—animals that bark, wag their tails, or demand walks at inconvenient times. My pets do none of those things. Instead, I live with Frankie the goldfish, Angel the freshwater angelfish, and six hardworking snails I call the musketeers. Together,…
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April
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Laughter
What makes you laugh? This is a response to the prompt above. Laughter, for me, often begins in the small, unexpected moments that gently break through the seriousness of everyday life. A thoughtful joke shared at just the right moment, a friend’s playful honesty, or even recalling something slightly embarrassing can suddenly lift my spirits.…
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Whimsy
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Actually
What was the best compliment you’ve received? This is a reply to the prompt above. The best compliment I ever received wasn’t about my looks, eye color, my singing, my style, or even my cooking (which, for the record, deserves its own award). No—someone, or rather multiple people, always told me this. However, one time,…
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A Poem of Los Angeles, First Part
Urban Space & Ecological Memory Los Angeles is often seen as a spectacle: film studios, freeways, and the ceaseless growth of a city driven by movement. But beneath this image lies a landscape that has long been inhabited, named, and listened to by Indigenous communities whose ties to land and water come before the city…
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Small Ocean in the Corner
Small Ocean in the Corner A quiet tankBreathing blue lightin the corner of the room. Pebbles hold small storiesof water and waiting,plants sway like soft thoughtsno one hears. The lamp hums gentlyabove a glass horizon,turning an ordinary nightinto a small ocean. Outside, the room sleeps—couch, curtain, shadow. Inside,a world floatsin patient silence. Developing My Concrete…
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What is the last thing you learned?
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Before America: Musing of All Places I’ve Become
I want to share a part of a short story about not giving up. The longer version will come as we go along. There is a strange quiet that comes when recognition arrives late. Before America, before UC Berkeley and UCLA.Before the awards and recognitions: Mastercard Foundation Scholarship and Alumni Fund, International House Berkeley Awards,…
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A House I Built Within, Without a Map
Describe the most ambitious DIY project you’ve ever taken on. Myself as a Project The most ambitious DIY project I’ve ever undertaken wasn’t built with wood, nails, or power tools. It was built with reflection, discipline, and uncomfortable honesty. I decided to renovate myself. There was no blueprint or inherited map that fit exactly. Instead,…
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Catch the Falling Leaves
I sit where the grass remembersevery footstep and every season,one shoe pressed into the afternoon,the earth breathing beneath me. The trees are letting go again.Soft brown confessions drift downward,each leaf rehearsing its last small dance. I’m going to stare into the horizon,wait for the sunset,and watch and catch the falling tree leaveswhen they say goodbye.…
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Humility
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New Mexico: Mountains, Stories, and Knowledge
I’m in New Mexico for the UNM AISA 2026 conference, and the first thing that caught my eye was the Sandia Mountains rising to the east. There’s something about these landscapes that makes you pause and reflect on the delicate balance between humans and nature—a balance I’ve been contemplating a lot in my research. My…
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Becoming Time
How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life? For a long time, I believed life moved in straight lines: effort leads to achievement, achievement leads to clarity, and clarity leads to peace. I thought of time as a neutral backdrop—something that simply passed while I did the real…
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Below—apparently
They call it sub-Saharan—as if Africa were a submarine,ducking politely beneath elsewhere,periscope up, waiting for permission. Excuse me. Sub like “less than,”like a footnote that forgot it was a library,like history that somehow happenedbefore it was discovered. I’m thinking out loud. A desert becomes a ruler.A line in the sand gets tenure.Everything south of it is “sub,”as…
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Notes on Leisure
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time? This is a response to the prompt above. Leisure, for me, isn’t the opposite of work; it’s where I reconnect with myself. I enjoy unclaimed time—time that doesn’t require me to produce, justify, or perform. During these moments, thinking slows and becomes less goal-focused. I…
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Yosemite and Grand Canyon National Parks
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting. This is a response to the prompt above. I’ve always hoped to travel to Yosemite and the Grand Canyon National Parks in California and Arizona, respectively, to experience their vast, breathtaking landscapes, towering red rock formations, and intricate canyon…
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Indigeneity 101d: Indigenous Animals and Spaces
I like to think with nature. Much of my research is shaped by Indigenous ways of knowing and the question of how Indigenous knowledge is produced, preserved, and erased. I’m especially interested in moving beyond a human-centered view of the world to consider more-than-human life. We often talk about speaking for Indigenous peoples, but we…
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Less is More
Where can you reduce clutter in your life? For a long time, I believed clutter was just about possessions. Extra clothes, crowded desks, piles of books I intended to read. But I’ve realized that the most draining clutter isn’t always visible. It’s the kind that quietly builds up in attention, time, and thoughts. I first…
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How Tumbleweeds Teach: Humor as Pedagogy
If you’ve ever watched a tumbleweed roll down a Los Angeles street (not saying I have), you know one thing: it’s completely unconcerned about your deadlines. In previous posts, I’ve written about clouds with self-esteem, birds with impatience, roadrunners having bad hair days, and, yes, the occasional dragon who does yoga while accountants panic over…
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What This Blog Is Turning Toward This Year
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A Gratitude Note: Lessons from the Journey So Far
Gratitude, I am learning, is not only for moments of triumph. It is also for the quiet disappointments, the delays, the rejections, the seasons when clarity feels distant and progress feels slow. This reflection is my attempt to honor all of it—the successes and the failures, the doors that opened and those that closed for reasons I…
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My UCLA Study Space
You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like? This is a reply to the prompt above. I adore vibrant, lively spaces that ignite the energy of the world around us and set the perfect mood for reflection and studying. I pay special attention to lighting, preferring bright white bulbs…
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Diary of a Village Boy: The Leopard Spirit 13 (Tales by Moonlight 3)
I ignored the onlookers and went to sit with Fata. The evening was still young, and more children arrived as time went on. The moon shone differently than before; the white underside looked like it was cloaked in a light gray hue. The evening wind was busy doing its thing, and the little commotion of…
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Perspectives: So Big, So Small
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From Los Angeles to the Wild: A Road Trip to San Diego Zoo
There’s a quietly enchanting feel to a Southern California road trip—the way neighborhoods burst with colorful murals and eclectic storefronts seamlessly blend into the highways, the sudden appearance of the ocean with waves crashing fiercely against rocks, and time itself seeming to stretch just enough for curiosity to take the lead. Our adventure began in…
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Pigeons
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Quote: Quiet Wins
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Alcatraz
I was there once—intense views,spirits rising and falling,all of us entrappedon this piece of land. I heard the seagullsand the silent whisperslifting with the sunrise—people, dust, memories. Cold weather, cold hearts,remnants of man’s resentment.Nature goes on living;this is no reservation. Guilt, conscience, prayers,tears, the 1960s, modernity—love, maybe hate.Are you ever worriedabout the past? I see…
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Quote: Power is Gentle
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Sandia Mountain 2
I miss the sight of Sandia Mountain—its quiet congregation of morning clouds,brief visitors dissolving in the first light. On the bus, with the window as a frame,I witness a slow-moving masterpiece:mountain, sunrise, cloud—a trinity that feels intentional. Sandia follows me, or so it seems,a steadfast citadel keeping paceno matter which road I take.I wonder what…
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Why Fairytales Matter – Slides
Once upon a time—around the corner from Neverland, two bus stops past Narnia, and slightly to the left of your imagination—there lay a kingdom so peaceful that even the dragons practiced yoga. The king was wise, the queen was kind, and the royal accountant was deeply concerned about the rising price of magic beans. In…
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Amuse: Past Life, Present Laughs
