I purchased a typewriter recently and, despite the inconsistency of its ink and the relative noise of its keys, it has become my favorite item. Below is the first poem I've penned in my vintage-tropical paradise, presented to you fully with white-out marks and handwritten add-ons.
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“He allowed himself to be swayed by his conviction that human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.”
- Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez "Between you and memory everything is water. Names of the dead, or saints, or history." - "The Opposite of Nostalgia," Eric Galaminda “None of us are just one thing, I guess. None of us. We all have the terrible and amazing power to hurt and help, to harm and heal. We all do both throughout our lives. That's the way it is.” - Patron Saints of Nothing, Randy Ribay "The cave is believed to be the home of the giants long before civilization thrived in the nearby barangays. Passages seemed to be carved by mighty yet gentle hands. The rock surface is smooth but edges are sharp. It is imperative to exercise extreme caution when navigating its passages. The cave itself is a humongous limestone rock covered by tropical plants and trees. The cold wind and the greenery in its surroundings is soothing and relaxes every weary soul." - natsf28, TripAdvisor
“What have those lonely mountains worth revealing? More glory and more grief than I can tell:” ― Emily Brontë, The Complete Poems "Paraw (Philippine Spanish: parao) are various double outrigger sail boats in the Philippines. It is a general term (similar to the term bangka) and thus can refer to a range of ship types, from small fishing canoes to large merchant lashed-lug plank boats (balangay or baloto) with two outriggers (katig) propelled by sails (usually a large crab-claw sail opposite a smaller triangular foresail)."
Happy Philippine Independence Day, or as they say, maligayang araw ng kalayaan! ecently I've been learning a lot about Filipino history through the Artikulo Uno movies including Heneral Luna and Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral, inspiring me to read more into Filipino history and express it through art. It allowed me to better understand my heritage and gain a greater appreciation for my country and all the Filipinos who made it what it is. Above, you can see I even painted one of the most memorable scenes from Goyo. As today is Philippine Independence Day, I thought I would share another magical realism story influenced heavily by Filipino mythology, geography, and my own family below.
Image by Monyee Chau via Chinese Born American To my fellow Asians and Asian Americans
(and to all who wish to listen), Growing up in the South, I have always been fascinated by the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. King and Katherine Johnson (of Hidden Figures fame) have always been among my heroes. This interest even took my family to Birmingham just to visit the Civil Rights Institute. As an Asian-American growing up in America, I felt grateful that the efforts of the black community paved the way for a better life for me. But we need to do better.
The second stemmed from my family watching '1898: Los Últimos de Filipinas," a movie on the Siege of Baler from the Spanish perspective. We followed this movie by watching "Heneral Luna" and "Goyo: Boy General," letting me see a side of Filipino history that I, unfortunately, hadn't known very much about before.
This new-found interest in magic and renewed interest in history sparked the story you will find below by clicking "Read More," inspired by the Siege of Baler and García Márquez's works. |
AuthorAlessandra Tatoy knows that the power of words is stronger than anything, coming from a country whose fight for independence was sparked by the works of an author sentenced to death of his words. You can find her articles, poetry, short stories, and other musings here. Archives
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