Warm greetings, my friend.

I am glad that you are here, on this webpage and upon our Earth. Allow me to introduce myself.

My {first, English} name is Margin, like the margin of a page, or of what’s possible.  My {middle, Mandarin} name is Tianya | 天涯, which translates as “the margins of the heavens.” My {last, family} name is 郑 | Zheng, which is the name of a regional state that existed during the Zhou (周) dynasty of China.

My pronouns are they/them/theirs. I do not like honorifics, but if you insist on using one for me, I permit Mx. or Mz. I reside in the vicinity of Philadelphia, PA, United States.

Having just graduated from college, I am embarking upon the next chapter of my education-through-life. My intellectual and artistic development, my spiritual growth. Becoming more in-touch, grounded, and empowered in my Mad neuroqueer being.

My interests are multifaceted and deeply interconnected. I am a composer and performer of music, a mathematics tutor, a writer, a wounded healer. Yet my music intermingles with performance art; my mathematical inquiries interrelate with history, philosopher, and culture; and my deep commitment to healing and awakening for myself and others informs and motivates much of my work.

I started a newsletter because many of the musicians I knew had one to update people on their musical work and happenings. One person used MailChimp, so I began my newsletter on that platform. However, after just one mailing, I started to feel that something was lacking. I didn’t just want to market myself, as capitalism forces us to, in order to launch a career. And I did not want that career to be so narrowly defined as “musician.” My writing does not merely serve my music; it is an expression of human.

So now I am here, on Substack, trying to find my way. I invite you to join me in this journey. To take intellectual risks, challenging every threat of orthodoxy, including the orthodoxy of the margins. To open ourselves up to our madness, our bubbling strangeness, and thus to our growth.

Let us ever become: philosopher, artist, awakener.

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To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.