Notes on a Nation
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fools
April 2, 2021
Manila, 28 March—Remember what insanity means? It’s doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results. So yeah, last week I noted ‘record-...
all-time high
March 21, 2021
Manila, 21 March—7,999 [1]. Not a Lazada item on sale, but the number of new COVID cases registered yesterday, March 20. How we are posting new record-highs...
losing a whole year
March 14, 2021
Manila, 14 March—I spent the past week in a fog, it seems. It was surreal. I’m not a person who easily forgets, and yet a handful of things felt like they...
half the sky
March 8, 2021
Manila, 8 March—Happy International Women’s Day! It seems a bit rote, to start off with this greeting, but it must be noted that throughout this pandemic,...
happy almost-niversary, *CQ!
March 1, 2021
Manila, 1 March—I hope you guys are checking on your bread expiry dates because once upon a time, when we still lived together, my sister and I had to do a...
i care a lot (2021)
February 22, 2021
Manila, 22 February—In the new Netflix film “I Care A Lot”, Rosamund Pike cons seniors out of their homes and auctions off their properties, claiming “legal...
a world without (news on) Facebook
February 20, 2021
Manila, 20 February—If you’re reading this, chances are you did not get referred here by Facebook. And that’s OK. I’m not a big fan of the platform, though I...
OK let's go: Year of the Ox
February 13, 2021
Manila, 13 February—Happy Lunar New Year greetings! Last year was actually our year, if you’re a Rat like me, and gah. What a year—certainly something the...
accumulation
February 8, 2021
Manila, 8 February—This letter comes late as we’d been moving over the weekend—our Q1 project for this year (last year’s Q1 project was our Korea trip1). The...
frustration season
January 31, 2021
Manila, 31 January—Did any of you get wind of the GameStop shenanigans early enough? Or at least, enough to perhaps take advantage of what’s happening? Well,...
for the hope of it all
January 25, 2021
Manila, 25 January—This is belated, because I’ve been watching Marie Poulin videos about goal-tracking on Notion, so maybe it’s not too late to layout some...
the great lesbian movie marathon of end-2020
January 20, 2021
Manila, 20 January—As is customary for the holidays, C and I marathoned some really good movies with women-loving-women characters. Such a good way to spend...
some notes on pearl next door (2020)
January 17, 2021
Manila, 17 January—Pearl Next Door, one of the first (if not the first) Filipino YouTube series centering women loving women, recently ended its eight-...
the first week or so
January 9, 2021
Manila, 9 January—Happy New Year, friends! I was going to open this year with a relatively benign yearopener—say, about all the lesbian movies we binged...
yearender: what if we could do 2020 over?
December 31, 2020
Manila, 31 December—There’s an essay from the New Yorker that asks this provocative question: What if you could do it all over? Writer Joshua Rothman opens...
yearender: things we read in 2020
December 27, 2020
Note: Share your best reads in the Yearend survey—still open! Thank you in advance. :) Answer the Yearend Survey Manila, 27 December—One of the few bright...
quick note: fan girl (2020)
December 27, 2020
Note: The yearend survey is still open for responses! Thank you in advance for participating. Answer the Yearend Survey Manila, 27 December—This year’s Metro...
yearender: things we watched in 2020
December 24, 2020
Manila, 24 December—Merry Christmas Eve guys! Wishing you a safe celebration above all. Because we probably have lots of time for binge-watching, I figured...
the year we lost
December 19, 2020
Manila, 19 December—The Atlantic calls 2020 "The Year we Lost" and it's something I've been thinking a lot about these days, as we enter the 'yearender...
the prom (2020)
December 13, 2020
Manila, 13 December—Sure, it’s Ryan Murphy, but The Prom on Netflix is pretty enjoyable, with a few catchy tunes and a hella talented power cast, which...
back to december
December 6, 2020
Manila, 6 December—How did you feel about reaching the first Friday of the last month of the year? I don’t know how to feel either. The general stress of the...
the happiest 🌟
November 29, 2020
Manila, 29 November—It feels almost obscene to headline something with ‘happy’ these days, but I hope you can indulge me. This year has been called a lot of...
some notes on gaya sa pelikula (2020)
November 22, 2020
Manila, 22 November—Juan Miguel Severo’s web series “Gaya Sa Pelikula” (dir. JP Habac) just aired its finale—a fitting ending to its fantastic eight-episode...
a question about poetry
November 21, 2020
Manila, 21 November—What was your first encounter with Lang Leav? I think mine was on Tumblr. I thought her writing was… relatable. Plus I admired, without...
twenty-three
November 15, 2020
Manila, 15 November—Also this week, we marked 23 years since our mother’s passing. Traditionally, we would spend the closest weekend swinging by her grave,...
live through this
November 14, 2020
Manila, 14 November—Oh wow, where do we start with this week? Far too many things happened between today and the last time I sat down to write a letter. Like...
near & queer to your heart
November 7, 2020
Manila, 7 November—I have written about this before. It’s been such a week, and I haven’t been able to catch up properly with the renewed round of LGBTQ hate...
the obliterated place
November 1, 2020
Manila, 1 November—In her book “Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar”, Cheryl Strayed writes letters to strangers. One of my...
light up the sky
October 25, 2020
Still open: Canva Manila is hiring! Check out available positions here: bit.ly/canvajobs2020 Manila, 25 October—Where did October go, no? I wonder myself....
this year's haunting
October 18, 2020
Public service first: Canva Manila is hiring! Check out available positions below or click on this link: bit.ly/canvajobs2020 Manila, 18 October—The Haunting...
everything's made of glass
October 11, 2020
Manila, 11 October—One of the more interesting things I saw this week was the trailer for the latest female-led spy movie called The 355. It stars Jessica...
the queen is dead; long live the queen
October 4, 2020
Nasa is on Unsplash sharing photos from space. jsykManila, 4 October—One of the shows I was terribly invested in, about half a decade or so ago, ended its...
divorcing the news cycle
September 27, 2020
Manila, 27 September—Can you be a good person if you don’t read the news?Journalist Leah Finnegan, features director at The Outline, poses this question in...
Our social dilemma
September 20, 2020
More resources on the movie’s official website here.Manila, 20 September—The Social Dilemma landed in my radar at the right time. Last week’s post was all...
antisocial media
September 13, 2020
Manila, 13 September—This week has been frantic with a capital F. On Friday night, as I was closing my work week, I reviewed my to-do lists for Monday to...
my favorite namesake
September 6, 2020
Added some new URLs to my collection of online reads, penned by people I actually know. Know a journalist who is now running a newsletter or has recently...
lesbian fossil hunters, etc.
August 30, 2020
Added some new URLs to my collection of online reads, penned by people I actually know. Know a journalist who is now running a newsletter or has recently...
revolutionary
August 23, 2020
Added some new URLs to my collection of online reads, penned by people I actually know. Rec your blog and/or newsletter: http://bit.ly/addvoid The United...
to Quiapo and partway back
August 16, 2020
Added some new URLs to my collection of online reads, penned by people I actually know. Rec your blog and/or newsletter: http://bit.ly/addvoid Manila, 16...
legacies
August 9, 2020
Slowly adding to my collection of online reads, penned by people I actually know. Rec your blog and/or newsletter: http://bit.ly/addvoid Manila, 9...
august is liminal
August 2, 2020
Slowly adding to my collection of online reads, penned by people I actually know. Rec your blog and/or newsletter: http://bit.ly/addvoid Manila, 2...
Notes on SONA 2020
July 29, 2020
Slowly adding to this collection of ‘voids’ on the Internet. Rec your blog and/or newsletter: http://bit.ly/addvoid Manila, 29 July—Tis the season for State...
the old guard and other stories
July 26, 2020
Help needed: Building a collection of ‘voids’ on the Internet. Rec your blog or newsletter: http://bit.ly/addvoid Manila, 26 July—Before we get into anything...
a discipline problem
July 19, 2020
Hello! Help needed: Building a collection of ‘voids’ on the Internet. Rec your blog/newsletter: http://bit.ly/addvoid Manila, 19 July—Four months under...
the chill
July 12, 2020
Manila, 12 July—Every week, as I sit down to write this weekly letter, I always seem to have to ask myself some permutation of the question: How did we get...
the terror
July 5, 2020
Manila, 5 July—Despite protests, the President has signed the controversial Anti-Terror Bill into law. It is now Republic Act no. 11479, also known as the...
pride in the time of covid
June 28, 2020
Manila, 28 June—This weekend marks this year’s Pride festivities, which were mostly done online because of the pandemic. It’s bittersweet, seeing how the...
father figures
June 21, 2020
Manila, 21 June—Last weekend, I had a bit of a false alarm and started greeting my friends for Father’s Day—turns out I was a weekend ahead! LOL. So yeah,...
moment of truth
June 14, 2020
Manila, 14 June—Like many of us who are waiting anxiously for the decision on Maria Ressa’s cyber libel case tomorrow, June 15th, C and I managed to catch...
is there anywhere left that doesn't hurt?
June 7, 2020
Dear friends, Earlier this week, my cousin's wife gave birth to a daughter. For a bit, he and I and my sister were the only kids around, and we were raised...
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