Abril

I was excited for this month to arrive, but I also dreaded it at some point. My emotions were all over the place, mostly because there were so much unknown for me. But I kept reminding myself that I committed this life to always going where I am called, and going to places I doContinue reading “Abril”

Enero

ENERO is a collection of poems that distill my daily experiences of being a researcher; embodying this body in a foreign city; becoming while also recognizing my lived experiences; and celebrating people who have fought to see better days. The cover – a Filipina cyborg – depicts my ongoing internal debate of how living inContinue reading “Enero”

Diez (10)

Diez / Sampu (in Tagalog) / Ten (in English) In the last three weeks, I had to ask myself questions that up until now I still do not have answers. I probably also will not allow myself to settle at answers without growing through the whole process of this thing called PhD. I love doingContinue reading “Diez (10)”

This book

At one point, you just have to start writing. At one point, you just have to share what you have written. This short book is a compilation of prompts, questions, existential provocations of being a body in a codified world. At one point, you have to ask yourself, what kind of person you want toContinue reading “This book”

VOMIT

Agency. Binary. Credibility. Dichotomy. Equity. Fascism. Gun. Hegemony. Inclusivity. Jaded. Kurtosis. Liability. Monopoly. Neutrality. Oxymoron. Polarity. Quintessential. Rage. Similarity. Transcend. Ubiquity. Validity. Wrath. Xenophobia. Yearning. Zoning This series does not offer answers. I am too limited to arrive at absolute answers. We are too limited – temporally and spatially – to really embrace certain answers,Continue reading “VOMIT”

The Spineless

Sing me your painsas I close my eyesand let the night fool meinto believing that I understand Sing me a lullabythat tells a storyhow your countrymen foughthow your country lostcount of the bodiesthat had to be surrendered In exchangeof something more valuable than oilbut cannot even capturethe magnitude of my ragethe length of my despairthatContinue reading “The Spineless”

More than Quantified

One of the major pushes I had to have this binary set etched on my center-back is how development work has deteriorated to the point of treating people as data. Development and research organizations have turned to datafying people. While curating a database is essential for a number of reasons, a database is not anContinue reading “More than Quantified”

The Valley where it Begins

Quite a night, quite a thought. I was alone, but my mind was together with other. Other thoughts, quite a number of questions. I knew I wanted something permanent, somewhere permanent on my fleeting body. It hit me, it hit me in the middle. I saw a valley, where I can be a river. IContinue reading “The Valley where it Begins”