04 — Notebooks

Literature

As a writer and playwright, I give voice to the voiceless through literature and theater. As an Iowa Young Writers’ Studio alumna, I wrote and self-published The Geometry of Silence, a 20,000-word collection of essays and poems discussing power, belonging, and gender inequality. Also, I believe in the power of the stage. My play on women’s rights, Stars and the Crust, drew over 300 students and raised ¥100,000 for rural girls’ education. Through writing, I document my world; through theater, I give it a voice. In the future, I envision continuing to speak for the voiceless who have been talked over.

Published work

02 items

20,000 words

The Geometry of Silence

Lin Chen

A 20,000-word collection of essays and poems discussing power, belonging, and gender inequality.

Introduction

Before, I thought that social problems were grand and distant — embedded in laws, institutions, wars, and inequality. Over time, however, I began to notice them in the most ordinary things. A street could become a boundary between social classes; a photo could shape what we trust; and a family recipe could carry generations of expectations placed on women. These things seemed ordinary because we had grown accustomed to them.

This book brings together essays, nonfiction, and poetry, approaching social questions through different forms of observation, reflection, and expression.

I did not always know what form a piece would take when I began writing. Some social problems I observed would lead me to research first. Nevertheless, after doing the research, I sometimes found that statistics and arguments may not be able to let readers feel the situation themselves. So I began to explore these questions not only through analysis, but also through nonfiction and poetry.

After writing this book, I don't think I've found the answers to these social problems. Instead, I have simply begun to notice more of the things that once seemed ordinary.

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10-minute play

Stars and the Crust

Lin Chen

(A One-Act Play in the Quiet Night), 10-minute play.

Scene 1

Setting: Lin's apartment, 4 AM. A desk with academic books, a computer screen, and two maps of East Asia hang on the wall. The screen displays “Feminism at Crossroads: Exploring the Current State and Challenges of Women's Rights Movements in East Asia.” A black cursor blinks on the blank screen.

Lin: “Harmony.” “Futile.” “It goes in the ‘accepted’ drawer.” (pauses, as if remembering something) “These papers will gather dust, like forgotten whispers in the library's shadows.”

At the turn of the 20th century… (stops abruptly, leaving the unfinished sentence and the black blinking cursor waiting expectantly, hits BACKSPACE, and the line disappears) “No.”

Mother: “You, a woman, are the crust.” (she stares intently at the screen) “Solid enough to hold the family together yet fragile enough to be overlooked.” (pause) “But never too subtle for anyone to notice.”

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