A Thrice-Told Tale of Moldy Minorities in the Neoliberal Academy

A hybrid work of memoir-theory, this essay explores chronic inflammatory response syndrome (CIRS) as a coming-into-awareness of mycotoxin illness compounded by other traumas. Citing contiguity as a queer method of narration, the piece interweaves three distinct voices: firsthand recollection of inhabiting moldy residences, third-person scholarly reflections on fungal hyphae in cross-species mycorrhizal networks, and poetic snippets that float like spores. Using a phenomenological method of recounting acute episodes of hallucination across three distinct chronologies and environments, the work additionally contemplates the ways that intersectional sexism and racism can delay coming out as a moldy minority—as an Asian American woman with cognitive deficits, employed in higher education.