Ana B

Pétala

Thrilled to be part of Pétala Magazine, now available at Studio Saudari

In Development

Currently working on my first short film as a writer!

Parrot is a surreal dramedy about obsession, loneliness and the uncomfortable lessons that teach us how to reach for connection.

After being ghosted by her girlfriend Jess and kicked out of her flat, Maja decides to move into a depressing studio with only her parrot Billie to keep her company.There’s something not quite kosher about this new abode. Strange noises are coming from the attic, taps are magically turning on and an ownerless phone appears out of nowhere. But Maja is too busy obsessing over Jess to register any of it. She just can’t accept that Jess would have left her. So when Billie suddenly starts talking to Maja as if possessed by Jess’s spirit, Maja doesn’t question the absurdity of the situation. Instead she throws herself into this parrot romance, preparing lavish dinners and celebrating the life she thought she had lost. That is until an unexpected message forces Maja to snap out of her defensive mania and to realise that the answer to her isolation lies in the studio’s other clandestine inhabitant. 

Friday Night

Micro Fiction for Seed

On Friday nights, he goes out to get ice cream for his mom. He should have better plans, but a six-mile bike ride on the deserted highway is as good as it gets. Usually, the store is equally empty, but last time he spotted two boys leaning against the newspaper racks, wearing jeans too tight for the humid heat.⁣
⁣
“Cool bike”, they shouted, as he was leaving. They had just moved here. “Do you know someplace cool to hang”, they had asked. “Let’s meet again next week”, they later decided, casually. ⁣
⁣
Tonight, with hands as sticky as melting ice cream, he waits.

The importance of being native

Here’s a fun fact about me: Until the age of five, I only spoke one language, the same language my parents grew up speaking: Bulgarian. According to the definition, this makes me a native speaker, Bulgarian is officially my mother tongue. Being a native speaker is the holy grail for writers. You’re immediately catapulted to the top of the application pile. Nobody wants to risk hiring someone who poured over grammar books in 6th grade instead of someone who one day woke up with an innate talent for language.  

The only problem is: I don’t actually speak Bulgarian. 

Keep reading

Thoughts on the role of content

Last week several millennial institutions came under fire. 

There are more pressing pieces in the systemic racism jigsaw (like defunding the police) but I still believe that media, and who it represents and how, plays a bigger role within racial dynamics than we might want to admit. It’s all just fun and pretty clothes, or is it?

Keep reading

My Brooklyn bedroom has no windows

Read of the month - April 

What happens when your world is reduced to four walls  

Fundamentals of Design Thinking

Academic Writing - Sample Essay

Write a 600-750 word reflection on your learning through the Fundamentals of Design Thinking course. In particular, focus on the before and after states of your mindset changes. Then, expand that mindset to include the toolset you learned and reflect on how you might use this in your personal life and career. What surprised you? What do you feel conflicted or unconvinced about? 

Design Thinking is a process rooted in creativity and curiosity. It encourages us to empathize without judgment and to produce solutions that encourage innovation through positive collaboration. It strives to first understand the needs and desires of the user before identifying the issue at hand, hereby departing from the rigidity of traditional problem-solving. 

Keep reading

Out of Touch - What Happens When You No Longer Speak the Language of Love

During a recent sad desk lunch, a Buzzfeed article informed me that there are  218 different German words for the end piece of a bread loaf, the heel you might call it. Did that surprise me? No. My mother tongue is known for its linguistic oddities and regional quirks. But it got me thinking about the nuances of speech. Fluency in a foreign language is one thing but mastering a dialect propels you to a whole other level, one that allows you into conversations few are privy to. This is not only true for the words that come out of our mouths but for the many ways we talk to each other. 

Keep reading

Malfunctioning Sex Robot

Read of the month - November

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n19/patricia-lockwood/malfunctioning-sex-robot

I’m late to the party but I cried (laughing) reading this. Write what you hate, gracefully. 

Are Crushes the New Meditating?

The first time I felt the now familiar tingle of an impending crush was on a school trip to the seaside when a boy in my third grade class suddenly grabbed my hand. Even though he was simply following our teacher’s instructions to get into rows of twos, feeling his palm in mine transformed the harsh sea wind into a gentle breeze that seductively swept back his blonde curtains. From then on, my mind was forever tuned into the love station and crushes became the narrative of my inner monologue. Kopfkino (German for ‘head cinema’) in the most literal sense of the word.

Keep reading

The Only Vice I Will Never Quit

‘Shorty let me tell you about my only vice / It has to do with lots of loving and it ain’t nothing nice’ - Q-Tip’s line from A Tribe Called Quest’s 1993 song Electric Relaxation evidently refers to a specific kind of vice, but my personal indulgence of choice sure isn’t nice either and it’s got to do with a Q-tip. Not the legendary Queens emcee but Chicagoan Leo Gerstenzang’s 1920s humble invention, the cotton swab (or ‘cotton bud’ for us Brits).

Keep reading