My name is Jennifer Elise Wang (she/they). Most people call me “Jen”, but I have several other names for different places and purposes. I’m an autistic, grey-asexual, genderqueer scientist and writer.
I was born in Terrell, Texas to Taiwanese immigrant parents and grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Because Mandarin was technically my first language, I actually disliked writing as a kid until I started writing self-insert Buffy the Vampire Slayer fanfiction. That very unexpected idea developed into a lifelong passion of crafting both stories and poetry.
I graduated from Rice University in 2008 with a B.A. in English and a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology. Then I became an Assistant Language Teacher in Tome, Japan through the JET Programme for a year. After that, I became lab tech at UT Southwestern and have been working there ever since. Throughout all of this, I’ve been writing poetry, blogging about my various interests, and occasionally dabbling in fiction and creative non-fiction.
In lieu of sleep, I enjoy learning aerial hoop, pole dance, and how to snowboard and skateboard. I’m obsessed with action sports and Japanese subcultures. Occasionally I cosplay, perform drag, and rescue cats.
Check out my blogs:
- Style of Song – a travel blog that is currently chronologically-reversed due to my backlog of photos and journal entries
- To the Power of X – my often-nerdy commentary on the world of action sports
- I’m also a contributor for the Japanese pop culture website, J-Generation.
Photo by Maryam Obaidullah Baig