filipeanut

[filipeanut]

Great news for Romblomanons, and for all of us really.

[filipeanut]

Working on new art. Nature's ancient "bottled water", and the original bottle opener.

[filipeanut]

We vote for edible indelible ink, made from actual ube.

[filipeanut]

For the 2nd time I got to my precinct 10 minutes early and was in and out within an hour. Grabbed brunch at one of the many karinderias in the neighborhood. Can’t go wrong with ginataan kalabasa na may siling haba. Met a Bisaya karinderia owner. Forgot how walkable it was here. What’s also nice about my precinct is that there are trees everywhere, and also for the 2nd time there’s a kiyaw or oriole calling out from the canopy.

[filipeanut]

Binangkal ironically reminds me of growing up in the US where Mama would finish up a deep-fried batch with sesame seeds riddled all over the place. In Pangasinan there are zero binangkal (so far) since it’s predominantly a Visayas-Mindanao mainstay. Thankfully there's some really good batches in QC, like this one at Inay’s in Cubao.

[filipeanut]

From the blues music, to the performance and portrayal of the Smokestack Twins, the “time traveling”, and the genre-bending, Sinners is a definite foot-stomping, knee-slapping, hell of a good time ya’ hear?!

[filipeanut]

I look back at my life after graduating high school and can’t help but look at the mistakes I’ve made. Either because I didn’t have the knowledge, or didn’t have the support.

In the Philippines 21% of senior high school grads are “functionally illiterate.” This means they have difficulty comprehending the information they read, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

To think critically requires practice, and it helps when you have a village to guide you. But when you don’t and there is this thing called “public school”, you should be able to depend on that at the very least.

Manuel Quezon once said, "Our country must have a wholly literate population, because only on the foundation of an intelligent public opinion can we build the structure of liberty and sound government.”

Philippine elections are on May 12, so it’s a bit too late for that. However, those of us who are older and have children, nieces and nephews, it’s time we think of ourselves as the village these children need. If you have the privilege to read this, my rant continues here: https://filipeanut.art/what-do-we-do-with-low-literacy-rates/

[filipeanut]

Rode the BRT for the first time. Amazing how so many cars could be on EDSA, while the bus we were on wasn’t even full. I wonder how many Metro Manila “public servants” use public transportation?

[filipeanut]

Help it, I could not.

[filipeanut]

The real connection is not between poverty and bad voting decisions, but between illiteracy and political disempowerment. People make uninformed choices not because they are poor, but because they have not been equipped - by our schools, by our government, by our collective inattention - to read, to think critically, to choose wisely. So what do we do? We start by treating education not as a favor, but as a right. We start by seeing books not as gifts, but as vaccines against ignorance, against disinformation, against tyranny disguised as charisma. We stop thinking of ensuring access to books as charity, and start treating it as civic infrastructure.

-Gigo Alampay in No Democracy Without Readers

[filipeanut]

If knowledge is power, the more you read the more empowered you are. Why are we not ensuring that future generations have this power, let alone a healthy environment to do so?

[filipeanut]

Moving on to coloring this little guy. I just read one study where females of this species preferred males that had less vibrant colors. I was appalled, “how dare you” I said.

(For patrons: https://www.patreon.com/posts/coloring-jumping-127973591)

[filipeanut]

When I saw the photos and videos of what happened at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver over the weekend, my heart ached for people who might as well be my lolo, my mom, or “pamang-kids”.

It was also a reminder of how we need to band together in regards to mental health as well as community health, and how they are intertwined. The overall Asian community in “Western” countries such as the US, Canada, and the UK are afflicted with all sorts of issues, especially when it comes to mental health.

As more stories and conversations unfold after this moment we must also remind ourselves that no tragedy can ever be bigger than the love, hope, and conquering spriit of community. In the spirit of the ancestors we celebrate, the food we enjoy, and the words we use - “kapwa”, ���dayon”… words that express inclusion and acceptance, but have yet to be put into practice in our world today - amping kanunay, ingat lagi.

Take care of each other.

UPDATE Apr 30: A linktree to resources for victims in Vancouver, as well as links to fundraisers for some of the families: https://linktr.ee/isangbaksak

The City of Vancouver has a webpage with occasional updates here, including mental health lines: https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/lapu-lapu-day-mass-casualty-incident.aspx

[filipeanut]

My drawing breaks now include arachnids of the jumping kind. This little guy is inspired by little colorful jumping spiders I encounter from time to time away from the big cities.

This will be a nice way to learn about them, and how they use their acrobatics and colors to find love. (Photo by Sunny Joseph, 2015)

[filipeanut]

Did you know Metro Manila still has mangroves?

As you can imagine, they are hidden from view and part of the last 1% remaining along the 200 km of Manila Bay coastline.

Despite being protected by law, the Las Piñas-Parañaque Wetland Park or LPPWP is still threatened by surrounding reclamation projects.

Learn more: https://www.patreon.com/posts/manilas-last-126973798

[filipeanut]

I'm trying to find studies or citations regarding Philippine plants and products that have gone abroad (i.e "tuba" and coconut trees to Mexico via the galleon trade).

I'll likely also look up how Philippine timber was used in America, and I read somewhere that Philippine bamboo might have been brought to the Caribbean by the Spanish?

If anyone has any ideas or thoughts, or knows someone who might, do let me know, thank you!

Photos of are of the Kew Gardens in London, where a Jade vine, a Philippine endemic (only found in the Philippines), can be found.

[filipeanut]

If you have family in the Philippines in their 70s and 80s, within them are amazing stories that occurred before many of us existed. Some stories actual precursors to our own existence. This story is an example.

Swiping through AI-generated algorithm content is one thing, but listening to our living, breathing elders share their stories of love, fear and in-between is definitely another.