Who We Are

Diane:

Told you I was fancy.

Dallas raised, I spent most of my teenage days doing the usual, hanging out with azn gangs, pretending I was a badass as the #1 clarinet player in the city (I really was), and daydreaming about becoming a Hennessy spokesperson/model. The Hennessy spokesperson dream, unfortunately didn’t happen but I was later deemed “Henny” by my friends because of an incident I choose not to elaborate on, but hey, close enough.


I graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a major in cultural anthropology aka the typical major for graduates who have failed at their life dreams in general. My parents almost disowned me for not becoming a doctor – whew, dodged a bullet – but I went on to work with higher education, social justice, and education policy issues, the epitome of lifelong unfulfillment.


Recently relocated to Washington, DC for a baller job, I don’t do shit and really, just serve as a complaint receptacle and doormat. I drink whiskey and party like my life depends on it. When I’m not in a drunken stupor, you can find me eating chicken wings or painting my nails because I’m so damn fancy. I’m so dope like the Louboutins with the red bottoms--that's all you need to know.

Melissa:

charming the pants off everyone i meet since 1987

Melissa graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in English and Asian American Studies, despite her parents’ cries of inevitable starvation.

After almost 3 years in indie publishing and inevitable starvation, she decided if she had to count one more stack of envelopes, she’d swallow a gallon of the publishing house’s black printer ink (rendered obsolete by the fucking Kindle). That night, she fell asleep with her contacts in and saw her dreams more clearly. She left New York City in hopes of finding a soul.

The journey continues.

Melissa’s biggest disappointment in life thus far is getting bronchitis and finding that it was not a new pet dinosaur.

Oh, and she's back in indie publishing––and still hungry. 

Doug:

Born into the backcountry of Texas, I grew up like your typical white kid…that is to say, thinking I was black.  I’m not talking the baggy pants, dealing-drugs portrayal that our media does so well to push into the limelight, I’m referring to the ebonic-using, rap-listening, subwoofer purchasing lifestyle that is so glamorized (I had rims on my car…so what!)  I hung around, associated with, and courted in that circle of people.  Yes, I said courted because that’s what gentleman do.  In retrospect, those were some good times.

It wasn’t until college that I rediscovered myself as an Asian-American…a bad one at that but still Asian and in America.  I met most of the prerequisites and thus they were forced to let me in.  Fast-forward four years, 3 major changes (I tried all the typical Asian ones – doctor, engineer) and I was ready to graduate with a degree in disappointing my parents – sociology can have that instantaneous reaction on Chinese parents. 

Post-graduation, not wanting to join the real world of 9-5 jobs and responsibility, I decided to continue on my academic career and ventured away from the distractions that Texas offers (beautiful women, fried foods, and country music).  I frolicked toward a fresh, new place where I could start over and apply my time to studying a topic to heal myself and others…or just avoid growing up.