As either a staff journalist or a self-employed freelancer, Gary has contributed to numerous trade and consumer publications, in a wide variety of subjects, for over 20 years. Just a few of the plateaus are highlighted here.
Metro Silicon Valley
Every week for over 18 years, Gary has written the Silicon Alleys column for Metro, San Jose’s alternative weekly newspaper. One of the most anticipated pages in the city, Silicon Alleys is a regular installment of bent perspectives on the San Jose condition, usually borne from a creative harmonization of opposites: native/exotic, urban/suburban, punk/easy listening, east/west, luxury/gutter, or academic/street. In addition to the regular column, since 2002 Gary has written another several hundred stories for Metro on a wide variety of subjects: Artificial life, skateboarding, vampires, Liberace, neurofeedback, Japanese diasporas, thrash metal, Big Bird, the funeral industry, soccer, urban blight, opera, tea, poetry, Slav immigrants, AD/HD and much more. Nearly 300 of these columns are now collected in Gary’s new book. For more info, go HERE.
Some examples
And a few more (in .pdf format)
Blue Bascom: Inspired by the great literary travel writers of Europe, the columnist compares the ruins of San Jose’s Bascom Ave to the ancient civilizations along the Danube River
> read the column here
Two Worlds: The columnist harmonizes the punk rock and easy listening halves of himself to create a more complete identity
> read it here
La Vie en Bird: Celebrating Franco-Punjabi alliances at a nondescript corner of San Jose’s Willow Glen neighborhood
> read the column here
Nostalgic No More: Celebrating the history of IBM Building 11 and imagining a Nikita Khrushchev visit to Lowe’s Home Improvement
> read it here
Tree Routes: Tracing my ancestral roots all the way to Punjab and the remains of my father’s childhood home
> read it here
IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications
For over 20 years, Gary has written the “About the Cover” story for each issue of IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications, a scientific journal bridging the theory and practice of computer graphics. From specific algorithms to full system implementations, CG&A offers a unique combination of peer-reviewed scientific articles and informal departments. “About the Cover” focuses on the creative applications of computer graphics by an artist or designer, with Gary writing a story about whoever created the cover image.
Business Travel Trade
Several years of college-era experience in the international conference planning industry eventually paid off when Gary began writing for trade magazines in this industry as early as 2002. He has regularly contributed to this market ever since.
Singapore:
A Magnetic Mix of the Natural and the Manmade
> read it here
Arts
Gary is an accomplished arts writer, regularly contributing to several publications. One recent story about the artist Banksy was met with wide acclaim:
Off the Wall
The prolific street artist Banksy is one of the most polarizing figures in the contemporary art world
Montage Magazine, Winter 2014/15
> read it here
Personal Essays
Gary has written for numerous outlets, including Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Los Angeles Review of Books, Catapult and more. Below are a few of his favorites.
My Posthumous Ally
At the childhood home of poet Giovanni Pascoli in San Mauro, Italy, I found a posthumous ally
(17th Annual Solas Award Gold Winner in the Travel & Transformation category from Travelers’ Tales)
Image design by Axel Jenson
