Archive | December 2010
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Inheritance
From the age of four to when I was about 24 years old in 2005, I had little to no contact with my father. My dad moved out, along with my grandparents, and because of what I assume was my mom’s bitterness and loneliness, I saw and heard from him less and less. Not to [...]
lies
“The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves. We live in denial of what we do, even what we think. We do this because we are afraid. We fear we will not find love, and when we find it, we fear we’ll lose it. We fear that if we do not find love we [...]
Mahal Means Love and Expensive
My mother and I have screamed at each other. She’s called me almost every bad word in the Pilipino language. Leche. Punieta. Tarantado. There are others. I’ve called her bitch. To her face. She’s threatened to put me up for adoption. I’ve threatened to run away. My life savings in dollar bills in my back [...]
a list of simple things
For Michele: earplugs a rounded brush, the good kind with a wooden handle air freshener lotion, lavendar scented a wristwatch, the watch-face kind, not the digital kind I made a list. A very particular list, of things I wanted to help get me through my stint at BHC Hospital, Alhambra. BHC as in Behavioral Health [...]
On Hunger: Some Thoughts on the Role of Fil-Ams in the Philippine ND Movement
A professor recently posed several questions to members of the progressive Filipino American youth organization I am part of, KmB (Kabataang maka-Bayan, Pro-People Youth), about the nature of and philosophies behind our educational and organizing work here in the United States. In particular, he wondered about the role of Jose Maria Sison (JoMa), the defacto [...]
Lolo
I’m going in a completely different direction with the short film I am making, given a lot of factors, namely, time, resources and a brief meeting I had with inspiration. Instead of doing an info-documentary on the issue of weight and size acceptance in the Asian American community, I’m doing a more personal narrative piece, [...]
Why I Won’t Spank My Kids
Violence against children comes in many forms, from child trafficking and sexual exploitation to female genital mutation to physical abuse resulting in broken bones and black eyes. This past year, on the anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN called for adopting November 19 as a World Day for the [...]
Babies
I was feeling particularly down one day. And for some reason, instead of taking a trip to the gym or a stroll in the park or something else that people always tell you to do to turn that frown upside down, I decided to do something else. I started thinking of the various scenes from [...]
How to Live
If observing my little cousins, playing with the newly born children of friends and working with students has taught me anything…not to mention being raised by my grandparents, building with community elders and having occasional meaningful encounters with an aged stranger, if these experiences have taught me anything, my biggest lesson would be this: Live [...]
Goodbye
I am watching my dad, my Lolo and my Lola put everything that means anything to them in cardboard boxes and black plastic trash bags. Photo albums filled with snapshots of my father as a young man of 22 or 23 years old. Smiling with his buddies in the navy. My Lolo’s collection of wool [...]
