Let’s Talk Story: LEX drops Raging Ego

LEX the Lexicon Artist. Photo by Alco Photos.

Today’s the day that you may or may not have known you’ve been waiting for: LEX the Lexicon Artist has dropped her debut album. Raging Ego rages in the best way possible, dipping into stories that feel simultaneously deeply personal, wholly relatable and uniquely LEX. This lyric from the track “Curse of Creativity” says it best: “I felt like I was reading your autobiography. With every track it was as if I was exploring your brain and inhabiting your every pleasure and absorbing your pain. I know that all your other listeners have felt like this too, but I’m privileged to have shared something special with you.” The sentiment is mutual, LEX. Meet the artist and entertainer behind the infectious rap rhymes in her personal essay here.

Advertisement

Let’s Talk Story: A Need for Speed

Growing up, Alexander Larson had a need for speed. Make that Speed — the 1994 action film. It was the cars that drew him to the film (a subject he’s still passionate about as he pursues his degree in Mechanical Engineering as a senior at Colorado State University) but it was also something else. It starred someone who looked like him. Keanu Reeves is one of the best known Hollywood actors who happens to be part Asian, significant when only one out of 20 speaking roles goes to Asians and only one percent land leading roles. Alexander writes about these memories and more in his essay here. 

Musings on literature in translation and a quest to see the Super Moon in London

Behind the scenes to the most recent feature I wrote.

One of the things that makes me feel grounded and connected to all parts of my identity (and just generally feel human ) is gazing at the moon. It’s something that’s simple and universal, but has special significance to me because it’s referenced so frequently in Chinese poetry, including the Tang poet Li Bai’s famed work “Quiet Night Thinking.” This week I wrote about it in relation to my quest to see the Super Moon.

I hadn’t done written translations since college, and started to consider it again this summer when my English vocabulary fell short in trying to describe my affection for my childhood best friend in a speech. It worked out so well I decided to try it again.

Let’s Talk Story: The Company We Meet, the Family We Keep

Who’s your family? Sometimes it’s the people we choose, and sometimes it’s those we’re born to. In the case of two Colorado State University students, these relationships are works in progress. Myvy Ngo talks about the evolution of her relationship with her parents who immigrated from Vietnam, and another discusses the familial roles different family members and friends have played at various times in her life. Listen to their conversation above, or read on for a full transcript.

Let’s Talk Story: Our Town

We may leave the places we’re from, but they often have lasting impacts on the people we become. Allie Hoog, a Human Development and Family Studies major, and Anna Porter, majoring in Political Science and International Studies, reflect on what it was like to grow up in small towns in New Mexico and Ohio respectively before becoming students at Colorado State University. Listen to their conversation above, or read on for the full transcript.

Let’s Talk Story: Playing with Convention

Two students at Colorado State University reflect on breaking and following convention. In Taylor Coulter’s case, a social work major, it came naturally with the freedom for her to explore from an early age. Until recent years, the other student found that they were performing to follow convention, putting pressure on them and their relationship with their sister. Listen to these students talk about their journeys using the media player above, or read their conversation below.

Let’s Talk Story: Traditions Old and New

GLBTQQA Resource Center Assistant Director Emily Ambrose and  staff member  Meaghan Booth, a third-year political science major and gender and women’s studies minor, talk about the traditions carried by their families.

Even without tangible rituals that tie us to those of our ancestors, we crave connection to our past. Colorado State University GLBTQQA Resource Center Assistant Director Emily Ambrose and third-year student Meaghan Booth (who also works as  the center’s Inclusive Community Assistant) explore what this looks like for them, as well as new traditions they’d like to see passed on to future generations. Listen to their conversation using the media player above, or read the full transcript below.

Let’s Talk Story: Things Said, Things Unsaid

Colorado State University second year Troy Wilkinson, a journalism major, and Aaric Guerriero, the GLBTQQA Resource Center Director, discuss what languages they speak, when, and why.

Colorado State University GLBTQQA Resource Center Director Aaric Guerriero and second year journalism student Troy Wilkinson discuss the power of languages. We are all fluent in many, giving us access to certain communities. However, not being privy to a language can result in us being removed from the people closest to us. Listen to their conversation above, or read full transcript below.

Let’s Talk Story: What’s in a name?

Brought to you by Sara Hayden of the Silk Knots Project.

What’s in a name? A whole lot of difference. Colorado State University’s Jaysun Usher, a fourth year student studying Sociology, and a second year student find there’s a discrepancy between how they’re seen on paper and in the real world.

Let’s Talk Story

The students made me a poster. I love it very much. ❤

When explaining my pursuit of Asian American stories in the Mountain West in a recent interview, I was asked, “What will happen if you don’t find a story?” And I had to smile, because at the end of the day all we are left with is the narrative out of which we make sense of our lives and the world, and that’s a story in itself.

Thursday affirmed this for me. It  was the type of day that made me feel so incredibly lucky to be human and have other wonderful humans with whom to share that experience. That afternoon I had the privilege to put on an event called “Let’s Talk Story” at Colorado State University