T
his is more than you’ll ever need to know – but as someone who is habitually self-critical, it’s important for me to remember my triumphs. Here is a reverse chronological timeline of some notable moments in my life.
2024 Mar
Moved to Brooklyn
for no reason in particular.
2023 Aug
Someone shared my piece
Light with the comment “Woowwoweeewaaaa this is good.” Started a snowball of subscriptions.
2023 Jul
Started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
2023 May
Quit the startup
after months of agonizing over the decision. Turned out to be highly necessary and fruitful.
2022 Mar
Started my Substack!
I’d always written privately, and sharing my work has given me clarity about what it means to create art, to touch the people you care about.
2022 Jan
Moved to San Francisco
to start a company with my brother and a couple of his friends.
2021 Mar
Moved to Hawaii
and picked up some steam freelancing.
2021 Feb
Drove solo from San Ramon, CA to Seattle,
which inspired a piece called Getting Lost. Felt like a rite of passage.
2020
Gave myself a crash course in design
and started my freelance journey by building websites. Thanks to Addison Luck for my first gig for Wirat Family Farm.
2020
Failed to start a startup.
I taught myself to code using React and a bit of GraphQL. After that, I feel ready to take on anything.
2020 May
Evaluation from a professor I respect (Louise Glück):
“Miles had an amazing period — his poems have a scale and beauty and originality rarely seen.”
2020 May
Evaluation from a professor I respect (Shifra Sharlin):
“Miles’s passion and talent for writing are obvious. His creativity and talent are worthy of professional writers. His final essay was exceptional and among the best I have received.”
2020 Apr
Art show in my residential college.
I didn’t tell anyone about it, but Gabi found out and organized an opening. Thanks Gabi!
2020
Read poetry for an annual Yale Student Poets event.
One of 6 students picked by the faculty. Really trippy because that event in part made me choose Yale.
2020 Sep
I joined a folk music singing band
after a back injury ended my rugby career. Until then I’d only sang and played guitar to myself. I was so nervous at the audition that I couldn’t play the guitar part.
2017
Rookie-of-the-Year, Yale Rugby.
2016 May
Best-In-Show
at high school art show.
2016 May
2nd team all-league quarterback.
Yes, I have a bit of a silver medal complex about it.
2015 Sep
Became starting quarterback of my high school.
I quit crew in the middle of freshman year (2011) because some part of me fell in love with football. This was definitely something nobody expected of me.
2013
Painted a mural
on the side of a school property my dad owned.
2009
Made a comic strip called Pencil Wars.
Visual puns galore. Holy cow this list is getting pretty sparse.
2006
Made a really cool LEGO snake.
With a bunch of Bionicle limbs and Bohrok neck hinges, I made a snake that I could wrap around things, complete with an elastic snapping jaw.
2005
Published a poem called Gurkey Turkey
in some national youth poetry contest.
2004
Filled a red notebook
with drawings of animals, real and imaginary.
2003
Drew a self-portrait
of myself drawing a self-portrait.
1999
Filled a wall with drawings.
Instead of getting upset at me for covering the walls with crayon, my mom covered the wall with newsprint. I covered the newsprint. Thanks Mommy.
1997
Born.
Had no idea what I was getting into.