#she is FILIPINO AND SHES STRANDED IN NEW YORK

[dead-finches]

pavitr rly changed the spidersona designing scene huh

[ericsonclan]

Allison’s Character Bio

Summary: Here is Allison's character bio for anyone who's interested!

Word Count: 1340

Read on AO3:

Name: Allison (Amehan) Sumaya

Nickname: Allie (by Renata and Willy)

Age: 4 (Season 1) / 6 (Season 2) / 8 (Season 3) / 12 (TFS) – arrives at Ericson age 16

Gender: Female

Pronouns: She/her

Sexuality: Bisexual

Height: 5’6”

Weight: 52.16 kg (115 lbs)

Hair color: black

Hair length: down to the middle of her back if it was down

Typical hairstyle: ponytail with loose strands in front of each ear

Eye color: Brown

Noticeable Features: burn marks scattered across her body (a punishment from the Delta)

Typical Clothing: mauve hoodie on top of a grungy white tee, worn out jeans, sneakers

Preferred Weapon: a combo spear/hammer she and Willy made together.

Backstory: Amehan was four when the apocalypse happened. Her family was vacationing in America and visiting some of their relatives in New York when disaster struck. Amehan’s memories of that time were hazy being so young, but she remembered always being told to keep quiet and always moving. Her family survived by relying on members of the Filipino community in New York, but that could only accomplish so much. A year and a half into the apocalypse, both of Amehan’s brothers were killed when there was a breach in their small community’s walls, leading walkers directly into a playground where most of the community’s children were at play. Only 3 of the 15 children survived. Amehan was one of them.

After the loss of both of her sons, Amehan’s mother grew heartsick and depressed. She did not sleep or eat much at all and was unwilling to be near Amehan, leading the six-year-old to spend a great deal of time alone. Several months later during an evacuation, Amehan and her mother were cornered with a few other women within an alleyway by the very walkers they were trying to flee. Amehan’s mother told her to run and Amehan did. Those were the last words she ever heard from her.

Over the course of the next two years Amehan focused on becoming as useful as she possibly could be to her father and their community. Her father, scarred by the loss of the rest of their family, interacted with Amehan on a purely practical level. When he and Amehan were not out hunting, scouting or training, he was running English drills with her, training her to be as proficient and skilled as she could be should the day come that he was no longer there.

That day came all too soon. One night, the community came under attack from a militia group at their walls. While the adults barricaded the front gates and fought to protect their home, members of the militia circled round and took their real targets: the children. At eight years old, Amehan became one of the first child soldiers “recruited” by the Delta. She was sent down the river and given the name Allison since her commanding officer didn’t care to learn her “foreign” name.  She never learned what became of her father that night.

Delta life was brutal. Every day was regimented, every moment watched. Each time a recruit disobeyed or messed up one too many times, the child was dragged off and a red-hot poker pressed to their side, leaving a mark to remind them that their actions had consequences. Allison knew how to be silent and how to follow orders. Still, over the years the number of marks upon her sides grew. There was never an end to punishment, it was only a question of who received it. There always needed to be someone to make an example of.

Life held little happiness for Allison. The only joy within it was the small stolen moments between her fellow recruits. Whispered conversations after curfew, quick jokes when none of the adults were round to hear them and promises made that someday they would all break free. None of those promises ever came true. Deserters were maimed or killed; dissenters transferred. Nothing stayed the same. Except for Bridget.

Bridget was a special case, the daughter of one of the soldiers in Allison’s unit. When Bridget talked back she was smacked instead of burned, a meal taken away rather than a finger. Bridget realized her power, and she used it as best she could, taking the blame whenever possible to shield the others. Sometimes it worked (Bridget was enough of a troublemaker on her own to make her claims believable), sometimes it didn’t. But Bridget never stopped trying.

Allison admired the girl, who was two years her senior, and stuck by her most of all. She tried to behave in part to avoid transfer, some deep part of her fearing that she would lose all hope if she couldn’t see Bridget. As she grew older, Allison recognized her feelings for what they were: love. She never disclosed them to Bridget though. Love had no place in the Delta. Perhaps someday when things were different, when the Delta was done fighting, their empire secure, she could tell Bridget how she felt.

She never got that chance. Bridget died on a raid, one she’d been conscripted to at only 14 due to the thinness of Delta’s ranks. Their unit was desperate for new recruits and took a risk to gain them. It backfired terribly. Allison felt her heart go numb at the news. From that day on she lived as a machine, eating, sleeping and fighting for no reason other than the commands given to her. She fought for nothing: not the Delta, not survival and certainly not for herself.

A few months later with Allison’s unit still unable to gain new recruits, it was absorbed into another unit. There Allison met Renata, a Hispanic girl who had recently been transferred there herself. Allison didn’t care about anything when she met Renata, but for some reason Renata cared for her. The older girl took Allison under her proverbial wing as a sort of adoptive sister, talking with her, checking on her and covering for her whenever there was trouble. In some ways she reminded Allison of Bridget: the way she never gave up and looked out for others even though the consequences she faced were so dire. Against her better judgement, Allison found herself caring for another being once more: a friend whose sunshine never seemed deterred by her gloom.

The girls had known each other for about four months when news reached their unit of a Delta squad that had been completely destroyed, their boat torched and abandoned without a trace of their enemy. A tremor was felt throughout the entire Delta and the recruits felt the adults’ fear. Delta wasn’t invincible after all. That night, Renata confided in Allison what she’d been working toward since her transfer here: a way to escape. They had to do it tonight, before replacements were sent for the adults deployed downriver to provide backup to the southern units if needed. With nothing to lose, Allison agreed. In the dead of night, they targeted the weakest security point, slit the guards’ throats, and disappeared into the night.

They were free. After years of guarding her every word and action, Allison had no clue what to do. Neither girl had any living family that they knew of left. But Renata had a plan. Somewhere in West Virginia there was a school where they would be accepted. All they had to do was find it.

Facts about Allison:

Allison enjoys collecting stones. As she puts it, they’re pretty to look at and an instant weapon if needed.

One of Allison’s earliest memories is her cat Bunso who she left in the Philippines. To this day she sometimes wonders if he’s alright.

Allison always thought it would be fun to dye the tips of her hair another color but never got the chance.

Allison’s favorite game is Slapjack since the rules are simple and she enjoys the opportunity to slap others in the heat of competition.

Allison’s favorite flowers are daffodils since they remind her of her brightest loved ones: Bridget, Renata and Willy.

[uzumaki-rebellion]

“Stark’s New Intern” Chp. 10

Summary:  Caught between two friends, Erik finds himself caught with a third...

NSFW. Mature Audience.

Me Can you focus on me? Baby, can you focus on me? Me, me Can you focus on me? Baby, can you focus on me?

H.E.R. - “Focus”

Erik sat between Giselle and Athena at the round booth table they were seated in at a seafood restaurant overlooking the Santa Monica shores. Tony ordered lobster platters and fresh New England chowder for their meal.

Tony got down to business talking about his expectations for New York and the women were focused on him instead of each other. After they finished the first course of clam chowder, Maria joined them and Erik gave a sigh of relief. Maria had a way of making people comfortable with her spastic energy.

Erik almost didn't recognize her when she swept in.

Dressed in a black tuxedo dress and midnight black boots, Maria looked beyond sophisticated. Even her hair was slicked back in a chic way, reminding him of when her tresses were wet in the pool when he kissed her…

For a second, Erik forgot about Giselle and Athena and even Tony, his eyes taking in Maria's visage. She looked good. Real good. Sitting next to Tony, Maria handed him an envelope and he tucked it inside his blazer pocket. A waiter brought over a tray of Oysters Rockefeller and while everyone dipped in to savor the goods, Maria finally looked at him, and her face looked stressed.

Tony allowed Erik to have a glass of white wine with everyone else and most of the talk was food and vineyards in Paris. Athena and Tony compared favorite wines, and Erik could tell that Giselle was stewing. So did Tony.

"So…you two know each other well?" Tony asked.

Athena took a sip of her wine and glanced at Giselle.

"From school," Athena said.

Her voice was cool.

Tony looked at Giselle who looked super annoyed.

"Frenemies," Tony said while pouring more wine for himself.

Maria watched the two women and then she glanced back at Erik. The mood was icy and not improving. Erik decided to change the topic.

"You look real fancy, Maria," he said.

Maria smiled at him.

"Maria is going to be giving a presentation this evening for the Los Angeles Asian American Business Alliance in a couple of hours. You all set?" Tony said.

"Yes," Maria said.

"Love that dress," Athena said.

"Thank you. It's a cocktail mixer and I'm going to talk about the internship and my experience with it so far," she said.

"You look lovely, Maria," Giselle said.

"Thanks."

"I'll be right back, restroom break." Erik said.

He stood up and moved past Athena. His bladder was calling.

"I'll go myself," Giselle said, following him to the back of the restaurant.

"Yo, what's the deal?" Erik asked.

Giselle stood near the ladies' room and her face looked cross.

"I fucking hate that bitch," she said.

"Why?"

"She and I used to be friends. Tight as hell back at Brown University. Before we graduated, I applied for and an overseas fellowship in Paris to study. Kicked my ass trying to get letters of recommendation and worked hard to get this thing. My mistake was telling Athena about it. She applied for it too. And she got it."

"Maybe she was a better candidate—"

"She called her father who pulled some favors. She didn't get it on merit. I know that for a fact. She just wanted to go to Paris and have that on her resume."

Giselle's eyes were in full kill mode.

"I hustled so hard. During my interview, I was told that I was a top candidate. She knew I wanted it, didn't even tell me she applied for it until after she was awarded the damn thing. She saw me putting in extra effort for a whole year…"

"Don't get bent out of shape over it now. That was the past. You're here with Tony—"

"That's just it, I know her ass didn't earn this spot like everyone else. I know her father is tight with Stark. I know it was just another quick phone call. Just like Wes, and all the other mediocre people who leapfrog over people more deserving."

"Don't let her steal your thunder in front of Tony. It makes you look bad. Do you really think she used her Dad to get her here? Tony doesn't seem like a dude who would go for that. You gotta have real game to get this internship."

"You know what sucks? She and I were like sisters. This cut me so deep, Erik."

"Y'all can't salvage your friendship?"

"Would you?"

Erik shrugged and dipped into the restroom. Giselle was still standing outside when he came out.

"Ready to go back?" he asked.

Tony was spinning a tale about New Zealand and Maria and Athena looked enraptured. Dinner seemed to get everyone back on track. Giselle ignored Athena for the most part and when the meal was over. Erik was asked to join Maria at her event.

"I'd like to attend," Athena said.

They all ended up going.

###

Maria did well.

More than well.

Erik didn't know if it was her clothes, the way Tony fawned over her in front of the event coordinators, or how Maria answered questions from the audience with sass and excited zeal. She was funny, endearing, and so fucking ready for any and all questions. Tony was asked to come up and say a few words, and the Asian audience ate up his words too. Later, as the mixer got into full swing, Maria stuck by his side. So many people came up to ask her more questions.

"Oh jeez," Maria said.

Two women and a man walked over to Maria.

"Maria, didn't recognize you for a second."

The name tag on the woman said, Yuna.

"Hi. Yeah, it's been a minute," Maria said.

Erik noticed Maria's countenance changed quickly. The confidence she had earlier was gone.

"Erik, this is Yuna, Paul, and Sooh-Ha."

They looked at Erik's clothes and his face and were about to brush him off when Tony sidled up.

"Maria, Erik, I'd like you to meet some people," he said.

Erik and Maria followed Tony, and Erik heard Yuna, Paul, and Sooh-Ha following them.

"Erik, Maria, this is Mr. Huang of TBS Corp. Mr. Huang, these are my two top interns…"

Tony bragged on them and Erik could see the others looking at him different. He wasn't just a random Black guy to ignore. He had some status. A bit of clout. Typical.

Erik and Maria showed off to Tony's delight, and Erik found his eyes wandering to Athena and Giselle who were talking amicably it looked on the other side of the room. He was curious to know what they were working out. Tony guided Mr. Huang to another group of business owners and Erik led Maria to the open bar. The clout chasers followed them.

"Maria, Joseph Kim is here," Yuna said. Her eyes sparkled when she said the name and Maria's lips went tight.

"Who is that?" Erik asked.

"Nobody," Maria said.

She picked up a glass of wine. Erik grabbed a coke.

"Your face says different," Erik said.

"Joseph!" Yuna called out.

A tall Korean man walked over carrying a plate of food. A smile spread on his lips when he saw Maria.

Maria tried to turn away from him, but she was stuck next to the bar table. She ended up bumping into Erik's side.

"Maria," Joseph said.

Erik recognized the look on Maria's face. He'd seen it himself on enough women he'd broken up with or dogged out. This dude had hurt her. And that pain was still there inside of her.

"Hi," Maria said.

Joseph's eyes looked her up and down.

"I didn't recognize you until you started speaking. Working for Stark must be amazing."

"Yeah, it is," she said.

Joseph glanced at Erik. They were the same height.

"How is your family?" Joseph asked.

"Everyone is great," she said.

Maria looked like a shrinking violet.

"Joseph and his wife just had a son," Sooh-Ha said. There was a smirk on her lips.

"Congratulations," Maria said.

Joseph beamed, and Erik wanted to punch him in his bland smug face.

"Since you work for Stark now, maybe you could put in a good word for me. I applied for a position in his San Francisco office," Joseph said.

The unmitigated gall. Erik felt his jaw clench.

"We better get back to Stark. He has some more people for us to talk to."

Erik held out his arm for her. Maria pushed back a strand of hair behind her ear and leaned into him.

"Nice seeing all of you again, but our boss calls."

"Good luck with that application," Maria said.

Erik steered her away from them and he felt Maria relax. They went to the other side of the room and stood near Tony as he spoke to a group of older women with a ton of questions and picture taking.

"Thank you," Maria said.

"I could tell they were bugging you. A nobody, huh?"

"Ex-boyfriend. He broke up with me to marry someone who was not Filipino and too Black for his family."

"Too Black?

"Yeah. My father."

"It was like that?"

"Yep."

Erik noticed Giselle stomping away from Athena.

"Excuse for a moment," he said.

Threading his way through the crowded mixer, Erik stepped to Athena who looked a bit shaken.

"Hey. Everything okay over here?" he asked.

"Never better," Athena said trying to brush him off.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really…"

Her eyes connected with his. She gave a sigh and leaned against the pillar she stood next to.

"I used to think Giselle and I would run the world together. She was the bestie that I dreamed of having. But now…she just thinks I steal things that don't belong to me like I don't work for stuff."

Athena's eyes flicked over his shoulder, he turned to see Giselle at the bar ordering a drink.

"She thinks I'm like these white boys out here. Always a phone call to Daddy to make things happen."

"Is it true?"

"Fuck no."

Erik felt his lips quirk when she cursed.

"I don't even like my father. We aren't even on speaking terms. Haven't been since I left Brown. She just…she makes wild accusations. Assumes too much."

"That's what y'all were going in about?"

"She doesn't think I belong here. But I do. I worked hard to get here and I worked for every fellowship I ever received."

"The one in Paris?"

Athena's eyes bored into his.

"She told you about that?"

"Said she told you about it and you stole it from her."

"I didn't steal it. She told me about the program and the company had twenty fellowships throughout France. The entire country. Twenty slots. I applied for the fellowship that matched my studies the same as her. I even turned in my application weeks after she did, almost missed the deadline waiting for a recommendation. I had to do six different interviews before I even got picked. In fact, I didn't even get picked until another candidate dropped out for a family matter."

"She says your father made a phone call on your behalf—"

"My father didn't even know I applied. I did it to get away from him and my family."

Athena's eyes were watery.

"I miss my friend…"

Athena wiped her eyes and Erik moved in to block her from spectators.

"Did you tell her all that?"

"Yeah. She doesn't believe me. Doesn't believe I earned my spot here. I told Tony not to even tell my father I'm here, let alone applied for a spot. She's just so damn angry and not trying to listen to me. I have never lied to her. I have never tried to sabotage her aspirations. I was always her biggest cheerleader. Been there for her through her darkest times…even when she had a—"

Athena pulled away from the pillar.

"Shit. I've been drinking too much. Talking too much…"

She glanced at her watch.

"How long is this thing? I'm ready to go."

"I can take you home."

"On a motorcycle?"

"Lyft."

Erik pulled out his cell and texted Tony.

"I let Stark know I'm escorting you back."

"Escorting me?"

"Looks like you need a friend to do that."

Her eyes dropped from his.

"I don't have very many friends, Erik."

"Let's bounce."

###

Erik ended up taking the vibranium with him to New York. It got through customs without alerting the metal detector.

He flew first class with Maria, Athena, and Giselle, along with five other interns hand-picked by Tony to attend the event. Their hotel was V.I.P. status all the way and their first night in New York was spent finding a club that Erik could sneak into. They ended up staying at the hotel bar lounge where the waiters assumed Erik was of age like the others.

Athena and Giselle were on their best behavior. Erik tried to get Giselle to talk to Athena, but that was tossed aside. Erik knew it was a misunderstanding. He believed Athena. But Giselle needed to have a villain to blame for something she wanted badly. He tried pushing up on Giselle, tried to get her to loosen up while they were away from the office, but she curved him.

Maria took a liking to an intern who seemed genuinely intrigued by her. Erik played the overprotective older brother and mean-mugged the white boy as much as possible to keep him on the straight and narrow. He seemed to get the hint and treated Maria well.

"What are you daydreaming about?"

Athena caught him sitting in the hotel gym, the stationary bike he was on far from spinning wheels.

"Tony has me hosting the children's day opener. I was just thinking about how I was when I was that age. I had this robot I entered when I was like nine, and I got pretty far. I was thinking about what I would've wanted to hear from somebody working for Stark back then."

"That's so cute. A robot."

"Got a certificate and everything."

"Did you come to the convention?"

"Nah. My family had to deal with some stuff so I wasn't able to go."

He watched Athena step onto a Stairmaster and start a program. Her gym clothes were form-fitting and he couldn't keep his eyes off of her curves and the deep cleavage in her work-out tank. The girl was bad, no lie. He started cycling and looking down at the mileage he was putting up.

"You had a chance to talk to Giselle?"

"Nope. She's still ignoring me."

"Same."

"You two…?"

"Was trying."

Athena smiled.

"What's that smile for?"

"She keeps her eyes on you."

"I'm tryna get more than that."

"Alright now."

Athena laughed and it made Erik smile.

"Them dimples are deadly. You'll wear her down soon enough."

"It's been almost three months. This gig is about to end and she ain't budged. Not happening."

"Perhaps if she weren't messing with Cameron she'd be all over you."

"That buster."

Erik rolled his eyes.

"He's cute. Has a lot of personality."

"And I don't?"

"Yours is more volatile. A little rough around the edges. That's not her style."

"I think it is. She got a little taste."

"Ooh…a little taste?"

"I mean…she knows what I'm working with and she seemed to like it."

"You slept together?"

"Nah…just a little touch and feel—"

"Okay…stop. This is none of my business. I'm sorry I started the convo."

"No you not."

He stepped off the bike once he hit his target. He joined her on the Stairmaster next to her for his cool down.

"I can't figure her out. She's hot and cold with me."

"Maybe take that as a hint. Find someone else."

"Would you go out with me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Too young."

"That's a cop-out and you know it. Y'all keep settling for weak dick then—"

Athena burst out laughing.

"You laugh, but when you ready for that deep dick, you come holla at me."

He stepped off the machine a walked out of the gym.

Athena was still laughing.

###

Erik was drinking bottled water when he heard Maria fumbling with her key card trying to get into her room. He stuck his head out to tease her for being drunk when she couldn't open her door.

"You know it's bad when you can't get into your own room with a card—"

Her eyes were red and her face was streaked with fresh tears.

"What happened?"

Her hands dropped to her sides and Erik ushered her into his room and sat her on his bed.

"Maria?"

"Kevin—"

"He hurt you?"

"No…I…we…"

Her voice shuddered.

"Take your time."

She nodded at him.

He poured her a glass of water from a fresh bottle in his mini-fridge and she drank it down. She smoothed her dress and pushed her hair back from her forehead.

"I thought it was the right time for Kevin and I. We've been seeing each other for the last month and…I guess…I wanted to and…"

"And?"

Erik felt his stomach tighten. He was ready to fight.

"We had sex, and it wasn't good. It wasn't what I thought it would be."

"So it was consensual?"

Erik felt himself relax a bit. He unclenched his fists.

"Yes…oh God, yes…I don't want you to think I was forced. I wanted to do it."

She wiped her eyes.

He wanted to know why she was crying so hard about it.

"You have regrets?"

"I should've waited. I like Kevin well enough. It felt right at first. But it was missing something. Thank God it didn't last that long. I left the moment it was over even though he wanted me to stay the night."

A knock on his hotel room door interrupted them. He answered.

"Hey, we still on for dinner?"

Athena was dressed and ready to head to the hotel restaurant. She wore a snazzy black blouse and skirt. Dinner and then some clubbing afterward.

"Yeah…about that, Maria is having a moment and I'm—"

"Hey, Athena!"

Erik opened the door wider so Maria could see Athena.

"Hey, Maria. What's going on?"

Erik let Athena in. It would be best to let another woman handle the situation.

Maria looked at Erik. Then she looked at Athena.

"Maria…why don't you go take a shower and change and come with us to eat—"

"How did your date go with Kevin?"

Athena had a look on her face that let Erik know that she knew the extent of Maria's date night plan.

"Not so good," Maria said.

"Oh, honey…"

Erik opened Maria's conjoining door.

"Go get dressed. We'll talk at dinner," Erik said.

"I'll wait for you two downstairs. I want to keep the reservation," Athena said.

"I won't take long," Maria said.

Athena left and Erik put on his shoes and some brand new cologne.

A soft knock on his inner door let him know Maria was ready. She walked in looking cute and bubbly again in a slinky green dress.

"Ready to go downstairs?"

"Yes."

He turned to go open the main door and Maria hugged him tight around the waist.

"What's this for?"

"Listening to me. Not being grossed out by me talking about it. Not judging me."

"Sex is always different with different people. It's not easy the first time."

"Was it for you?"

"Hell yeah."

Maria rolled her eyes.

"What I mean is, I wanted to do it and I was ready to do it with whoever. But I was hella young. Fifteen. I was just all poke and stroke. I wasn't thinking about my feelings afterward. I was thinking about getting better at it with the next girl. I didn't know any better."

"I'm sure you were better than Kevin. He had his eyes closed the whole time, and it was like I wasn't even there. It was like he was screwing a sex doll."

"How are you feeling physically?"

"Okay. It didn't really hurt. But it seemed so fast. Is it always fast like that?"

"Um….nah, it depends. On who you're with and where you are—"

"I thought there would be more kissing. He kissed very little—"

"We should probably leave."

His hands stroked her shoulders and she placed her head against his chest.

"I'm glad you were here so I could vent."

"Me too."

He pushed back from her gently and when her eyes looked up at him, he felt a little funny.

Funny enough to lower his head and kiss her on the lips.

But not the way a friend would.

###

Chapter 11 Here

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[purplesurveys]

662

What is the wallpaper on your computer screen? Why did you choose it? It’s one of the default Mac wallpapers, but I picked the shot with a pinkish hue, because pink. The default ones are already pretty enough, so I don’t feel the need to scour the web for the perfect wallpaper image. Is there a pattern on the pants you’re currently wearing? Which one? I’m currently wearing a romper. It’s just plain sky blue. Do you like going to baby showers? Do you go only for the cake? As an Asian, I can tell you baby showers are hugely a first-world thing. I think the more hip, Western-influenced, and upper-middle millennials and Gen Z Asian crowd can have the means to do them, but it’s like 90% not a thing here. In a region where there’s poverty in front of you, only the rich can pull them off; and for most of us, the biggest concern is that the baby remains healthy. Who is the person you text the most in your life? What relation are you? Gabie, probs. Girlfriend. Angela, my best friend, comes a close second. Mexican food, Chinese food, Italian food, French food or American food? Chinese > Mexican > Italian > American > French. I think I only like French cuisine for their pastries and escargot, but that’s about it.

Has there ever been a time in your life, you felt sexually undecided? Yeah. I still get confused about it from time to time, so eventually I just slapped the term demisexual on me and by far it’s been the most fitting for me. Does your mother annoy you when the holidays come along in the year? No? If anything I get worried a lot more because she comes home a lot late, and it always turns out to be because she spends the entire evening gift-shopping for family, friends, and co-workers hahahaha. What is the color scheme of your absolute favorite fast-food restaurant? I don’t really have a favorite fast food place anymore... if it counts, maybe Yellow Cab? They have a yellow and black color scheme, like the literal yellow cabs of New York. Do you think tattoos and piercings are sexy on the opposite sex? I don’t mind them; I don’t think of them in terms of being ~sexy lmao. Do people ever ask you to do things they’re too short to accomplish? Nah I’m usually the short one who needs people to reach stuff for me. Do your siblings bring people around that your parents don’t approve of? Mmm nope, not really. My mom loves my sister’s boyfriend, and as far as I know my brother doesn’t bring anybody home. Is there carpet or hardwood floor in your bedroom? Hardwood. I don’t know if there’s any Filipino home that has carpet floors. Do you check the texture of things first or the smell of them? As much as I hate this habit of mine, I tend to want to know the smell of everything. I only check the texture if I think it’s going to be satisfying, like if it’s anything like slime or sand. Have you ever broken the arm or head off of a trophy? How did you do this? Nope. I don’t think I’ve already even held a trophy before. Do you believe in superstitious things such as breaking a mirror? I only follow one superstition that has something to do with my school, but that’s it. I don’t obsess over it and I know it’s fake, but ‘following’ what the superstition says hasn’t gotten me in trouble in my last four years in university, so I just continue following it HAHA. Do you get sick of people who call themselves bipolar all the time? I do hate it but fortunately a lot of people are now more sensitive when it comes to mental health and mental health issues. I don’t hear this word thrown as much as it was in like 2011 anymore. Ever have an ultra-sound performed on you? What was it for? Nah, no reason to. I’ve only had X-rays of my spine taken. Do you like those ‘end of the world,’ ‘Armageddon’ movies? Never did. I was never into the whole apocalypse/disaster/wartime genres. What color are the headphones you have at this moment in time? I don’t have headphones. And I also don’t have earphones anymore :( I want a new pair soooo baaaaadddd. Ever been choked severely on something during lunch at your school? I’ve never choked on solids, but I’ve choked on water several times, when the droplets get stuck in your throat and your lungs get all confused and you’re left gasping for air but you just choke some more because the water in your throat blocks any air from coming in, so you end up coughing to near death. The last time this happened was during a lunch break in my INTERNSHIP, and it was so embarrassing because I couldn’t tell them what was happening, I was just coughing frantically and slowly turning red lol.

Do you remember who you sat next to in Kindergarten? Who was it? Yeah, the girl in front of me in the class list was I think Kaira, and the one after me was Kaye. I was friends with Kaira throughout high school and we still are today, but back in kinder she used to be my bully. But during recess, I usually sat beside a girl named Raegan, who was one of my good friends for a while. Has anyone ever compared you to an animal? Which one(s)? I don’t think so. Has anyone, including yourself, forgot it was your own birthday? On my 18th birthday my high school friend group completely forgot. It makes me feel like shit every time it’s brought up, so we’re not bringing it up tonight. Chocolate or strawberry birthday cake? Choose one. Chocolate! Do you eat more vegetables or fruits? What’s your favorite fruit/veggie? I loooooove me some vegetables – I’d try all of them in a heartbeat. My favorite is broccoli. And I hate most fruits, but I’ll give an exception to avocado. Do you abbreviate things way too often? Do you get called out on it? Not really, I just use the usual shortcuts – lol, lmao, rn, tbh, idk. My mom would get confused sometimes and ask me for the meaning of some abbreviations I use, but she doesn’t ‘call me out’ on it. Ever been in one of those church Christmas plays before? Why/why not? Hahahaha no, because I never wanted to join and it’s one of those things I’d never allow myself to be in no matter how much my mom forced me. What is the funniest conjunction you use throughout your day? ...Are conjunctions supposed to be funny? Have you ever thrown a roll of toilet paper at someone before? Nope. Does the dentist calm you or does it tend to stress you out? I like the dentist. I’ve never had big issues with my teeth (save for my worst ever toothache last year), so the idea of having my teeth cleaned and treated is actually pretty calming to me. The one time it ever stressed me out was when my dentist had to extract a dead tooth and he had to put three injections on the roof of my mouth. It was the first time I’ve ever caught myself literally shaking in fear, huhuhuhu. If you had to choose, which is the worst movie you’ve ever seen? Jack and Jill, for movies that are objectively bad. But in general, Knives Out was a big fucking waste of my time and money. Have you ever found yourself talking to an inanimate object? When I say sorry for bumping into them D: Do you like movies that are originally based on children’s books? Not all of them. Some were hits for me like Charlotte’s Web and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and some I didn’t really care for, like Coraline. Is your hair more thick or thin? Is it more curly or straight? THICK. So thick I could never pull off a bob, even though I’ve had the desire to adopt it as my look for a while now. It’s straight but it’ll sometimes be wavy. Something on the human body that grosses you out the most: Raised moles. Do you like meeting new people? What’s your most common greeting? Uhhhh I’m okay with meeting new people but it still depends on their crowd or the air that they carry around them. If I have a meh feeling about them or if their body language initially rubs me off the wrong way, I’d be hesitant. With my situation now, I usually say hi, tell them my name, we exchange our courses, then we talk about school stuff to break the ice. Ever think of what it would be like to be a mermaid or merman? Not really. Ariel has since showed me that it wouldn’t mean much, so I never actively wanted to be a mermaid. If you had to choose, which celebrity would you date out of all of them? Kristen Stewart or Hayley Williams. Do people feel sorry for you for no reason? Have they ever? I don’t think so. Idk, idk how people feel about me. What is something that bothers you about most surveys in general? I never liked surveys that go too deep, like those that ask me what I think of socialism or abortion, hhhhhhhh. I answer surveys so I can talk about my dog, say what I learned in school, or discuss who I had lunch with, and not to get all political. Simple yes/no questions can also be annoying so most times I elaborate. Who would you take with you on a stranded/deserted island? Maybe Gab? She’s super smart and resourceful and makes everything work haha. Do you have your own personal boom box in your bedroom? No. I was too young to want to have one. Would you survive if zombies were to take over the world? Why or why not? Probably not. I can’t even cross the street without holding on for dear life to my friends’ arms lmaoooooo. What would you say is the worst part of high school period? Adjusting. I took a while to, and when I hadn’t yet, it was the worst. I was left out of everything, had no opportunity to figure out who I was or what I needed at the time, and nothing and no one approached me unless I did so myself. What is your favorite color of apple? Red, green or yellow? I don’t like apples. Ever want to be a doctor? Is it because of all the hospital shows? I never wanted to be a doctor as a kid, but now I do see the point in going to med school. I’ve always liked and been good at memorizing names and terms, and biology is my favorite subject along with history, so a part of me thinks what could have happened if I pursued some specialization of med. As for hospital shows, I’ve never seen one. What do you think of all these reality shows that try to alter personality? I’m not sure what they mean? Don’t they all do that? Reality TV personalities always seem like much exaggerated versions of themselves. Where are your favorite pair of shoes in the whole world right now? I wear it too much but my Onitsuka Tiger sneakers are a k e e p e r. So comfy and such a classy-looking pair. Do you live anywhere near a mall? If you live in the Philippines, there is an 80–90% chance you live near a mall. In my case, I just live quite far from the main entrance of our gated village so it’s a bit of a drive; but the village itself is like two minutes away from one mall, four minutes away from two others, and five minutes away from still another one. Malling is pretty much the national pastime, so we’re loaded with them. Do you like drawing smiley faces or do you think they’re overrated? They’re pretty harmless, I don’t see why they should be deemed as overrated lol. If you were dying who would you say goodbye to first out of everyone? Gabie. Are you someone who actually likes to babysit children? I’ve never formally baby-sat someone, actually; at best I was put in charge of my younger siblings and cousins and looked out for them and took up the position of the responsible older sister whenever our parents weren’t watching. But to me it was already kinda like babysitting based on what I’ve seen in American TV hahahaha, and I always liked that sort of task. Do you ever have those ‘ah ha!’ moments? Do those annoy you? If the a-ha moment meant I was stupid in the past, then yes it would annoy me. Like for example if I’m driving somewhere and already far from home, then had an a-ha moment that I forgot something important back at the house, then I’d be pretty pissed with myself. But if the a-ha moment was something like a realization, I’d be relieved to have it. Do you hardly ever remember where you put things at? YES I HATE that about myself. I’ve lost earphones, my Hydro Flask, my yellow pad paper, readings, jackets, hair ties, socks, and school IDs because of it. What’s your favorite lunch meat, if you even like any in the first place? I don’t eat lunch meat. When is the next time you’ll eat a cupcake, if you know when? I have no clue :( Cupcakes are one of my favorite desserts though, but they’re just so hard to find or get. Where did you last buy socks from? What do those socks look like? The last time I bought socks was like 2015, back when they were a trend here for some reason. It has a bacon and eggs design, and I actually just wore them the other day haha. Do you ever lay in the grass and look up at the sky, just because? I’d look up at the sky, but not on grass. I find it itchy. When do you normally go to sleep on the weekends? Depends on what and how much I did during the day and how tired I am. Like just earlier (Friday evening) I was passed out by 9:30 because I stayed up til 2 AM working on a Powerpoint and had to wake up at 6 in the morning to continue working. But other nights I could stay up till midnight. Have you ever met someone with the same ‘biggest fear’ as you? I haven’t met anyone afraid of knives and injections and any sharp stuff like me, no. Do you ever have movie nights with your significant other? We don’t do movie nights ever, which I recently and finally realized when we did sit down and watch Titanic together a couple of weeks ago lmaaaaaaaaao. It was honestly really fun doing it and I remember remarking that we in fact never did movie nights in the last four years. Would you rather write with a pen or a pencil? Why is this? Pen. It’s just more convenient for me. Pencils get blunt as you use them, and I’m too impatient for that. Do you like candy bars? Are you trying to slack off of them? I honestly have nothing against them, but given that I have several many relatives who work overseas and have brought home candy bars as pasalubong (gifts) in the last 22 years of my existence... you can imagine how tired I can get of them. What is your favorite number? Is it significant with your life? 4. Not really. It just reminds me of Beyoncé and happier days haha. Are you afraid of being kidnapped if you go outside at nighttime? Yup. That’s why I never walk outside at night except when I’m at a mall or in school. I just drive everywhere. Has your mother ever called your school because of your grades? No. Whenever I struggled in school it was always just due to either 1 or 2 subjects, so there was no reason to ring up our adviser as it was never that worrisome in my case. I was never failing all my classes at the same time, basically. In the next twenty minutes, what will you be doing and where will you be? Maybe another survey or watching BoJack Horseman? Idk. It’s 3:44 AM and I’m pretty awake so I dunno if I’d still want to sleep. Do you like showers or baths better? Why did you choose your choice? Showerrrr. It’s quicker, plus it’s what I do more often. Are you a controversial person? Do your views oppose others? This was me as a teenager because I thought it would be cool to be edgy and have a different opinion than everyone else BLECK please delete that person lmfao. But now, hmmm the way I’d explain it is that in the case of e.g. being pro-choice, LGBT, critical of the Catholic Church, basically the more liberal ideas, I seem to be in the majority opinion about relevant issues on the Internet/social media. 

But I live in the Philippines, where society is still mostly traditional, conservative, modest, and disapproving of a lot of the progressive stuff happening in the rest of the world – hell, divorce isn’t even legal here. That said, a lot of my views which would otherwise line up with those on social media or those in like US or Canada or Europe would get me a lot of hate and criticism in the Philippines, especially among the older generation. Have you ever thrown a surprise party for someone? Who for? Yeah we threw one for Dave a few years back. My friends also threw an advanced surprise party for Raf on my actual birthday, and I was too hurt about it so I didn’t attend. What would you say your average word per minute time is on the keyboard? We did this in class once for fun when we weren’t really discussing anything, and if I remember anything I hit somewhere between 70-80 words. What is your least favorite class in school? Why is this? Chemistry, calculus, and trigonometry. So fucking useless. Do you bite your fingernails or tap them on desks? I tap my nails onto desks. I only bite them when I’m anxious. Have you ever wanted to be in a band? What position exactly? I wanted to learn the drums but never explicitly wanted to be in a band. Who is your role model or hero in life if you have one? No role models for me. Do you ever call your cousins just to talk to them randomly? No. We’re close, but we’re also busy, so the only time we get to catch up is when we get to have family lunches/reunions. Do you find any of your friends’ parents creepy or really mean? Not at all. All of my friends’ parents have been lovely. Do you ever have to wash your clothes at someone else’s house? Nope. When is the next time you’ll go to the library? Why is this? I dunno actually. I don’t really have to pick up a book to read for a class right now. Do you like fiction or non-fiction books more? What’s your favorite? Non-fiction. I don’t have a favorite but I will sit down and read any biography you offer me. Do you constantly have to be told to shut up? By who? No, and that would hurt, I think. I have friends who I lowkey think are too talkative for my social battery, but I’d never tell them to shut up. Do you know how to play pool? Are you any good at it? Nah. I don’t even know how to swing(?) the cue. Do you treat others as you’d like to be treated? Have you always? Yeah, I always try to. I always assume or imagine they’re going through something, so I always try to be a little kinder. Were you a really mean kid or a sweet and quiet kid? I was quiet, neither mean nor sweet. I didn’t make trouble at all but I wasn’t exactly the most darling of kids either haha. I was just too shy to move or talk. Are you someone who likes to get in arguments or fights a lot? I’d get in one if I have to, but I don’t thrive on them. How do you make sure people know you don’t like them at all? I don’t have to make a big spectacle about it if I don’t like someone for whatever reason. I can still be polite and civil if I have to interact with them. < Pretty much. The one way someone would know (if they even notice at all) is that if I would do anything and everything to avoid having to talk to them. Would you say you’re someone who likes to cuss a lot? I say shit and fuck pretty often. Do you keep secrets from your parents that you don’t keep from your friends? My entire relationship is a glaring answer to this. What is your father’s best friend’s name? Do you know them personally? I don’t know if my dad has one. He has close friends, but not sure about a best friend. If you had to, where would you get a tattoo at? Why? Inner wrist, but I know that would hurt so I might just settle with having no tattoos ever haha. I picked it becauuuuse, idk, it just seems pretty intimate to me. How much was the cell phone you have at this moment in time? It was the newest model when I got it so it cost like P45,000 or a little less than $1000. Would you say you hang out with people the majority of your life? Yes. For the last 18 years my life has revolved around going to school, so I’m allllllways around people. What would you do if you woke up randomly with purple hair? I’d be pissed and try to hunt down whoever dyed my hair in my sleep, but then afterwards I’d assess if it suits me or not HAHAHA. It’s dyed anyway, so I might as well make sure I look good with it. Do you ever look in the mirror and name all of your flaws for no reason? Yeah, especially the ones on my face. Doesn’t get to happen a lot but I’d do it occasionally. Are you getting sick of the reality show Survivor? Why? I never watched it, but I’m surprised it’s still on. < This. Do you usually explain to people why you do the things you do? It depends what I do but generally, I’m not weird or crazy or daring enough for me to have to explain myself to people all the time. In contrast, I have an org-mate who’s a little on the...experimental side, and we have caught him trying to drink glue or stabbing himself with a pen. He always says he just wants to know how it smells/tastes/feels like, depending on the situation. We’re all lowkey concerned about him though lol. Ever submit a video to America’s Funniest Home Videos? We didn’t, because I don’t live in America. The most painful medical procedure you’ve ever had? Anything that had me getting pricked, so like platelet count tests and the one time I needed to get IV placed on my wrist. I’m WINCING just thinking about them. Are you someone who likes to eat Poptarts? What’s your favorite flavor? Love Poptarts, my favorite is the chocolate one. We don’t get a lot of flavors here, hence the basic choice. Ever have a dream you’re being abducted by aliens? Was it scary? Never. Do you like people who are loud or people who are quiet? I like quiet people who can get chatty and loud when necessary. Does personality weigh out the sense of ‘good looks?’ In terms of who I find attractive? Not really, looks still matter to me. When is the next time you’ll see someone who is pregnant? I only know one person who is and I only see that girl like once a decade lmao so I have no clue if I’ll see anyone else who’s pregnant. Do you hate it when people copy the things you do? No, unless it’s the exact same thing I’ve been doing. Where is your favorite piece of electronic equipment? It is on the drawer next to my bed. Where is the person who ‘owns your heart’ at this moment in time? She’s in her dorm, all passed out considering it’s 4:40 AM lol. Has anyone ever told you that you’re good at cooking? Hell no. I’d tell them they’re completely mistaking me for a different person, because I don’t enter the kitchen at allllllll. Would you say you’re a fast texter, or are you pretty slow? I’m fast. What is your favorite flavor of Doritos? What do you drink with them? Nacho Cheese is fine with me. Do you have any enemies who you think are dangerous? I don’t have any enemies. < Yep. Do you ever try to squeeze information out of people? Sure. It comes with being a journ student lmao. Does it freak you out when the police drive by your house? I live in a private village so this never happens. I do get paranoid when I’m driving and there’s a police car coming from behind me, though. Are you someone who tends to take a whole lot of naps? Not really. I always have a lot of work to do so I can’t nap even though I would want to. What is your favorite nickname you like to be called? Why do you like it? I’m fine with Robyn. I’ve gone by it since I was four. Do you already have your outfit for tomorrow planned out? Eh not really. I usually don’t think of my Sunday outfits until I’m actually already in front of the closet anyway. I never feel like making an effort for church.  What is the color of your favorite pair of pants? What brand are they? Blue. No clue, but they’re mom jeans. Has your favorite song ever been featured on a commercial? Nah. I’ve never heard Paramore on a commercial. Do you ever promise pc4pc on Myspace then never return the favor? I never did Myspace. I’m vaguely familiar with the slang, though. What is one song right now that really gets on your nerves? That new Demi Lovato ballad. Bless her for allowing herself to be vulnerable on that track, but for the most part I cannotttttt stand her voice. What would you say was the best year of your life? Why? 2014, a lot of things seemed to fall into my lap back then, and I was simply happy and satisfied. Do those annoying infomercials ever draw you in to buy things? I have never been convinced to buy anything they sell but I WILL spend hours watching the commercials just because of how entertaining they are. Have you ever been pulled over by the cops for speeding? No. Speeding isn’t an issue here tbh. If it was nearly everybody would be pulled over, I think. Common reasons for being pulled over are like making illegal u-turns, overtaking on a solid double line, or being caught driving when your car is under coding for that day. Is anyone in your family a firefighter? Who is it anyway? Nope.

[phgq]

Over 325K overseas Filipinos repatriated in 2020

#PHnews: Over 325K overseas Filipinos repatriated in 2020

MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) capped its repatriation efforts in 2020 by bringing home 327,511 overseas Filipinos.

In a news release Monday, the DFA said land-based repatriates make up 231,537 or 70.7 percent of the total numbers, coming from at least 90 countries around the world.

The remaining 29.3 percent or 95,974 are seafarers from more than 150 cruise ships, oil tankers, and other bulk vessels.

The breakdown of the repatriates traveling or transiting through these regions are as follows:

Middle East -- 228,893 or 69.89 percent Asia & the Pacific -- 36,868 or 11.26 percent Americas -- 30,971 or 9.46 percent Europe -- 28,909 or 8.83 percent Africa -- 1,870 or 0.57 percent

Since Feb. 9 last year -- the day when the DFA mounted its first Covid-19 repatriation flight to Wuhan, China -- the department has been relentless in bringing home overseas Filipinos despite the multitude of challenges it faced.

A 10-member team from DFA and the Department of Health personally flew to Wuhan when it was still the epicenter of Covid-19 in February.

The pioneer mission brought home 30 Filipinos from the Chinese city. Also in February, a three-person rapid response team flew to Japan to assist the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo in the disembarkation and repatriation of Filipinos on board the Covid-19 stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship.

This marked the beginning of the pandemic’s immediate impact on the cruise line industry where thousands of Filipino seafarers were working.

When countries started to close their borders in March, the tourism industry was heavily hit and cruise line companies were forced to suspend their operations.

From March to June 2020, the DFA facilitated the daily arrival of chartered flights -- each carrying hundreds of seafarers from cruise ships docked all over Europe, North America, and the Caribbean.

Many of the repatriated seafarers have only been onboard their ships for weeks when the pandemic struck. They had no choice but to come home, without certainty as to when they will be called again for work.

When businesses started to close shop because of the effects of the worldwide lockdown, the repatriation of our land-based overseas Filipinos followed suit.

In April, the DFA chartered flights to Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, and Italy to bring home 1,096 distressed overseas Filipinos who lost their jobs and had no means to come home from those countries.

Calls for repatriation from the Middle East came in May 2020 as the DFA sent its first sweeper flight to the Middle East, via Riyadh and Dammam, Saudi Arabia. This marked the beginning of the mass repatriation of more than 220,000 overseas Filipinos from the region.

In June 2020, the DFA sent a sweeper flight to Africa which stopped by Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya before heading home to the Philippines with 287 distressed overseas Filipinos on board.

In August 2020, the DFA was confronted with two Herculean tasks. First was the repatriation of our compatriots in Uzbekistan where the Philippines does not have an embassy, let alone an honorary consulate.

Through the Philippine Embassy in Tehran and coordination with leaders of the Filipino community, the DFA worked on the repatriation remotely but was nevertheless able to bring home 257 Filipinos.

The second Herculean task was the need for a swift organization of a repatriation flight for the Filipino victims of the blast at Port of Beirut.

The DFA sent a chartered flight to Lebanon and brought home 386 repatriates, many of whom sustained injuries from the blast. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. welcomed the repatriates personally upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

In September, the DFA also organized a goodwill mission to Lebanon. Together with the Chief of Presidential Protocol, the DFA traveled to Beirut and brought 5,000 boxes of relief goods for our overseas Filipinos in Beirut.

Medical supplies such as vitamins and face masks were also donated to various Lebanese hospitals and other non-government organizations. On the return flight, another 317 distressed Filipinos were repatriated.

Even as the DFA entered its eighth consecutive month of repatriation efforts, October still marked several “firsts” -- the mass repatriation of more than 500 Agrostudies students from Israel, the first repatriation of 92 OFWs from Benghazi, Libya since 2017, and the first-ever repatriation by sea from Indonesia of 40 Filipino fishermen via the BRP Tubbataha.

In November 2020, nine Filipino seafarers were brought home by the DFA after their shipping vessel was abandoned by its owner at the Port of Djibouti.

The DFA, in coordination with its missions abroad, lobbied hard with the Djibouti representatives in the International Maritime Organization in London, the United Nations in New York, and the Djibouti Embassy in Tokyo to allow the disembarkation of the Filipino crew of MV Arybbas on humanitarian grounds.

They arrived safely in Manila last November after being stranded on board their vessel for more than 14 months.

December marked the highest monthly total of repatriated overseas Filipinos at 51,770 despite the cancellation of several flights as a precautionary measure to the spread of the new Covid-19 strain.

Sweeper flights were also organized to bring home distressed overseas Filipinos from Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, in time for the holiday season.

“While these are some of the highlights of the DFA’s repatriation efforts for this year, let us not forget the tireless dedication of our DFA front-liners who facilitated the return and provided airport assistance to hundreds of medical repatriates, victims of trafficking-in-persons, unaccompanied minor children, and senior citizens who were repatriated by the DFA this 2020.” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said.

“As we start a new year, the DFA remains committed to its assistance-to-nationals mandate and renews its promise to bring home every Filipino who wishes to come home,” she added. (PR)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Over 325K overseas Filipinos repatriated in 2020." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1126230 (accessed January 04, 2021 at 07:27PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Over 325K overseas Filipinos repatriated in 2020." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1126230 (archived).

[jodellejournals]

in the eyes of a flower girl

my tita said, “never share a roof with a man you are not married to.” the year was 2002 and in the 21st century. gone should be the days of traditions like that, right? but not in a filipino family, more so, a conservative one. that was what’s told to my other younger tita who was to be wed on the july of that year. the groom set foot at our hometown a day before the wedding and it was debated whether he should spend the night at our ancestral house or the hotel. as you might have guessed the answer, it was the latter choice which prevailed. the wedding was a big celebration and everything was carefully planned from the motif, invitation letters, giveaways and souvenirs, reception area, church, and of course, the bridal gown. oh, how i love weddings! the six-year-old romantic in me was very excited because my tita, who never fails up to this day to shower me with kikay kits and fancy clothes, will now be tying the knot with the love of her life. how romantic. just like the fairytales watched in disney movies — but not in the big screen this time because i get to live and witness the magic before my eyes with my role as a flower girl. that was one of my earliest real-life memory of happy ever afters. aside from that, i was excited also to be dolled up and walk around in a gown shaped like a pastry. i couldn’t wait for the wedding day and so it fatefully came.

july 13, 2002. i finally wore my baby pink lacy gown and looked like an inverted strawberry cupcake. not that i am complaining though because i love strawberry cupcakes and all the other flavors there possibly is. i paired it with my lacy socks as well on my feet and slipped them in my shiny white doll-like shoes. my hair was parted in half but tied in a bun and hair-sprayed to keep the strands in place. it was then topped with a wreath of flowers in the shade of baby pink to match the motif. i had light make up since my age forbade a heavy one and i wore jewelries of hand-me-downs that made a jingling sound each time i moved. then i was all set to go when i put on my silky white gloves and clasped my tiny pink hand bag.

off we go to the church. my tita chose molo church, which was located in a nearby town and almost thirty-minutes away from ours. it was dubbed as the “all-women saints church”, “gothic church”, and “the feminist church” because aside from the fact that its patron saint is a woman, st. anne, sixteen statues of women saints also perched at the pillars facing each other. girl power. going back, it was a rainy afternoon. it is still vivid to me how the thick raindrops fell and sounded at the windshield of our grey adventure automobile that time. mother nature will always have her course no matter what the plans or ceremonies are. but since i’ve mentioned that we are a traditional family who always uphold ancient customs and beliefs, my titos and titas believed that the rain was a good omen. legends even said that rain is a blessing to the wedding and so everybody kept calm and carried on. it really seemed to be because everyone was happy smiles with joyful tears especially when the bride walked down the aisle. i’ve always heard that a woman is most beautiful on her wedding day and i think it’s true. maybe it’s because you radiate a different kind of happy when you’re about to wed the person that God has given you under His blessing. how beautiful, indeed, and my tita sure looked like it. my lola walked her down with my elder tito because my lolo passed away four years prior. and a year after the wedding, my lola passed away too so my tita must have felt lucky for the once in a lifetime opportunity she’s had. throughout the ceremony, my six-year-old self did not listen but instead kept on giggling with my cousins and sister and we were told to keep quiet every once in a while. i have no idea what exchange of vows were back then! but now, they are my favorite part of weddings. all i could remember was that it was a peaceful union and nobody interrupted when the pastor said, “speak now or forever hold your peace!” — or else, the perfect fairytale pictured in my head would go straight down the drain.

in the reception, me and the kids my age danced to mambo no. 5 for the newlyweds. i love that song! who am i kidding?! everyone loves that song! so much that the grown-ups threw coins on the floor to applaud us. they were literally tokens of appreciation. easy peasy money. after which, i witnessed the slicing of the wedding cake and releasing of two lovebirds. i don’t know what that really meant but i guess, like lovebirds, they will be inseparable for the rest of their lives wherever they may be.

now here’s a fun fact. fast forward to the present time, it was just around last year when i found out that the wedding was my tita and tito’s first meeting! yes, you read that right. they first met — in flesh — on their wedding day. how could i have only known this after more than a decade? well, i never asked so this is why, my friends, it is important to always ask questions so you won’t get surprised out of the blue. anyway, my mother narrated me their love story. around at the start of the millennium, the couple were introduced to each other by a common friend and they became pen pals for a year. no facebook, skype, viber, wechat, instagram back then so the struggle must be real. call it true love or what but theirs is a love that endured and still endures up to this day. they seemed to have enjoyed each other’s love notes that they started calling each other, long-distanced. my tita during that time was a thirty-something-year-old working girl in new york city while my tito, her then-pen pal, was a striving employee in a watch-making company based on the other side of the world, saudi arabia. love really knows no distance! and that’s when two worlds collided — not in the city that never sleeps nor in the land of the two holy mosques but in the city of love at the center of the pearl of the orient seas.

isn’t it wonderful that love can find a person wherever and whenever? it makes me believe of fated unions and cosmic connections. inonce read a greek myth which said that humans were originally created with four ams, four legs, and a head of two faces. zeus feared that humans would be too powerful because of this so he split them apart, leaving the humans to search for their other halves for the rest of their lives. lucky and blessed would you be if you find yours, right? but whatever the forces, myths, or legends that there exists, i will forever believe that love is the highest law and most encompassing power may it be in fairytales or real-life. i have always did and even witnessed one unfold before my eyes when i was but a flower girl.

[kentonramsey]

What 17 People Are Reading Right Now in New York City

Photographer Jasmine Clarke headed to four New York City bookstores to find out what everybody’s reading right now.

Cafe con Libros

A feminist bookstore in Brooklyn founded by Kalima DeSuze. Books, coffee, and pastries are all currently available for pickup from Café con Libros.

Whitney Kuo, 28

Which book did you pick up, and what’s it about? Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. She’s a black feminist queer author.

Did someone recommend it to you? I think it’s on the ongoing, queer black feminist book list, so I had it on hand. I actually let my ex borrow it a year ago. I wanted to re-read it, so I asked her for it. She doesn’t want to see me, so she ordered it to Café con Libros because it’s in my neighborhood.

Do you usually shop here for books? I just moved here, so I haven’t been before, but I’m really happy to be here.

What’s the last book you read, and what’s it about? The last book I read was… Why is this so hard? Oh, I just finished Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. It’s another book about a lesbian coming of age, because I’m obsessed.

And what have the last few months been like for you? During COVID?

Yeah. Honestly, I feel like I’ve been thriving; my life is good. I spent a lot of this time journaling, reading, actually watching TV, and going through all that. It’s been a lot of me time which was really good. People think I’m joking. They’re like, “How are you doing?” Because everyone wants to complain. I’m like, “I’m fucking thriving.”

Last question, are you picking anything else up while you’re out? I was trying to pick up Minor Feelings, but that’s  sold out. I may stop on a bench and read.

Prama Verma, 26

So, what book did you pick today? Hood Feminism.

What’s it about? It’s about feminism, but from an intersectional lens, written by a Black woman.

How’d you hear about it? It’s been on my radar for a while. I heard the store was opening again, and I was just, like, “I think it’s time to finally pick it up and read it.”

What’s the last book you read? Until We Reckon. It’s written by the executive director of a restorative justice nonprofit in Brooklyn. And it’s just about restorative justice versus the prisons and stuff.

What have the past few months been like for you? I can’t complain too much. I work for a nonprofit, and I’ve been able to work from home, so that’s been really lucky. I have a roommate, so I’m not completely isolated, but it’s been a little tough to not be able to get out and see people.

Aaron Banes, 24

Which book did you pick today? Fairest by Meredith Talusan.

How did you hear about it? The Strand Bookstore did an interview with the author and another Filipino writer, so I watched a Zoom call about it.

Do you always get your books here? No, this is my first time. I didn’t know about it before quarantine. I was sad that it’s been closed, but here I am, on the first day.

What’s the last book that you read? I’m still reading a book right now called Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. It was described to me as a gay, African Game of Thrones. The main character is a tracker and he just, like, tells stories about his life and growing up, but there’s also magic. There’s a leopard that is actually also a human-were-leopard. It’s a fantasy book.

Is that the genre you usually like? I’ve been trying to get back into it because real life is too scary right now.

I know. I feel like a lot of people are buying fantasy books. Escape is in. What have the past few months been like for you? They’ve been okay. I’m not working right now. I’ve been really getting into tarot.

How’s that going? It’s going really good. I have an Instagram if anyone wants to follow it.

Oh, shout it out. What is it? It’s @misterwitchboy.

Are you picking anything else up on this outing? I found all of these ants on my windowsill….

Oh no. So I have to go find Raid, and I need body soap.

Mmm… Spring things!

Ashley Ahn, 26

What book did you pick today, and what’s it about? I picked up Dominicana by Angie Cruz. I actually don’t really know too much about it, but I’m a teacher, and I teach a majority Latinx population, so I’m always trying to find books that incorporate my students’ narratives.

How did you hear about this book? I heard about Café con Libros from a friend, so I went on their website, and I was just perusing through books and decided to put it in my cart.

Cool. What school do you teach at? Sunset Park High School.

What’s the last book you read, and what’s it about? The last book I read is Minor Feelings. It’s about how Asian-Americans kind of fit into the racial narrative of the United States and how oftentimes Asian people are erased from that narrative. And how by understanding our histories, we can be better allies and just speak up more, I think, in the current situation, and the situation going forward.

You would recommend it? I would totally recommend it, because I feel like there are very few books talking about that sort of narrative.

What have the last few months been like for you? It’s been rough, transitioning into online teaching.

Are you doing Zoom teaching? Yeah. I’m grateful that I have high school students, so it’s a little bit easier to get them onto the computer and have those conversations. But I know it’s really hard to just continue those relationships over the computer. So it’s had its ups and downs.

Books Are Magic

Located in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill, Books Are Magic is owned by novelist Emma Straub and her husband. They’re currently open for appointment-only pickups.

Arianna Cameron, 25

What book did you pick up today? My Year of Rest and Relaxation. I believe it’s about a woman who’s depressed and addicted to Xanax and sees a therapist. The modern woman, I guess.

How’d you hear about it? Through a friend who works in publishing.

What’s the last book you read? Just Kids by Patti Smith—her biography.

Did you like it? I loved it.

Are you picking anything else up on your outing today? I wanted to buy White Fragility, but it’s out of stock right now.

Natasha Guarda, 17

What book did you pick up today? Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. I’m reading it for a book club.

What was the last book you read? I’m in the middle of reading War and Peace, another classic. But the last fiction book I read was The Girls, which is about a cult in the ’60s.

Did you like it? Yeah.

How have the last few months been for you? I’ve been reading a lot more.

Rebecca Strassberg, 28

What book did you pick today? I picked Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby. It’s a collection of her essays. I was just looking for something to immerse myself in.

What’s the last book you read? Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, which I highly recommend. I actually started reading it before the state of the world erupted. It’s a book about this Black babysitter who gets herself tangled up in this—I’m trying to put it into just a few words, but it’s really a story about race and class and people’s intentions. I recommended it to quite a few people. I found it to be an escape but also just very important reading right now.

So escapism, but with a twist. Yeah. It was very cool.

How have the past few months been for you? A little isolating; I live alone. I’m also in the media, so just working non-stop. Obviously I’m just super thankful to have a job. The community has been really great though—there’s a great Facebook group that I’m part of, Boerum Hill at Large. We reach out to people. But yeah, it’s getting hard.

Last question: Are you picking anything else up on your outing today? I bought some plants at The Sill. Basically, there’s nowhere to be outside that I feel is far enough away from people, so I bought a little camping chair, and I just sit outside and read.

Joshua K.

So, what book did you pick? I got Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor. It’s from a British publisher I like a lot. It had good reviews on LitHub, so I picked it up from there.

What’s the last book you read? Oh my God. I just finished one. Give me a sec. Why am I struggling?

Sure. No problem. Take your time. I read East of Eden a little while ago. I’m reading a book by Judith Butler on nonviolence—the philosophy of nonviolence. She’s the feminist philosopher from University of California, Berkeley. It seemed, like, on-the-nose-ish, but I have a bunch of books that I’ve ordered—MLK Jr. Speeches, The Color of Law—and they were saying that racial justice books are back ordered by hundreds of copies.

Oh, that’s interesting. I’m waiting for a month or two to get White Fragility, but I read East of Eden and then this nonviolence book.

Would you recommend East of Eden then? Yeah. It’s top five for me. Really, really good book.

Can you explain what it’s about? It’s a multi-generational tale. I sound like a narrator here. It’s about a family that starts off on the East Coast and migrates to California in the post-Civil War era. And it’s about the dissolution of a marriage, and then the man’s relationship with his two sons—and free will and the ability to make decisions about the people we want to be, and not being constrained by our family and our history. And still having a chance to become good, even if we’ve been bad for a long time.

What have the past few months been like for you? The first couple of months were extremely isolating. I had tried to do a book a week—that was my goal for the year—and I was ahead of pace. Then, despite having all the free time in the world, I couldn’t focus on anything for the first month.

The past two weeks have had a bit of a different tone—it feels like you can’t really do enough. I’m just trying to focus on doing what I can—whether it’s reading or donating or marching or whatever. It’s not a good thing, but it’s nice to feel more of a sense of community. I think it sucks to live in New York and be stuck indoors all day.

I feel like there’s a common sense of purpose right now. It’s been a dark couple of weeks, but it makes me feel proud to live here. I’m not from here originally.

Where are you from? Toronto. I moved here five years ago. And I feel like I’m becoming a New Yorker through all this. I’m proud to live here.

Are you picking anything else up? I asked about the Ibram X. Kendi book How to Be an Antiracist. I’m trying to send stuff back to my parents in Canada as well. My dad watched 13th last week. He was, like, “Oh my God”—he kind of had this awakening. And then I left The New Jim Crow at my house for him back home. I’m trying to pick out things that are going to be easy for them to read and digest.

Brooke Wright, 34

What book did you pick up today? I picked up Slavery by Another Name and White Fragility.

Could you tell me a little bit about them? I don’t know a whole lot about them—that’s why I’m going to read them. For me, Slavery by Another Name seems most interesting just because it’s more about the systemic issue, whereas I don’t really know a whole lot about what White Fragility is about, I’m not going to lie. I get that it was a good one to read so I was like, “Okay, let’s do that.” There are so many books right now that are being really advocated for and I was like, “Let’s go with those two for the beginning.”

Do you shop at Books Are Magic a lot? Yeah. It’s my local bookshop.

What’s the last book you read? Let’s see. I’m really bad at finishing books. I’m normally reading five at a time. The last book that I almost finished—it’s still kind of not done—is a book called Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy. It’s a history book about four women—two on either side of the Civil War. Two are for abolition, two for are slavery.

How have the past few months been for you? They were stressful at first, just not knowing what was going on. I had been traveling abroad with many people from many different countries, prior to coming back for Fashion Week. I was definitely pretty scared for the first month or so. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to work from home.

Sisters Uptown

Located in Washington Heights, Sisters Uptown is a family-owned and -operated bookstore.

Landon Michael, 35

So what book did you pick up and what’s it about? I actually picked up James Baldwin’s Another Country. I originally came for White Fragility, but they’re sold out until the end of the month. So I picked up James Baldwin because he’s one of my favorite authors. I started with Giovanni’s Room, which is one of my favorites. It hits home for me. So, I wanted to continue with this as well.

How’d you hear about this bookstore? Instagram, actually. I think someone posted about the conscious reading list, and I was like, Ah, yes. Perfect.

What’s the last book you read? The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck.

What’s that about? Literally the subtle art of not giving a fuck. It just helps you build that confidence that you need to be able to move through your career paths and your spiritual journeys and things like that.

Would you recommend it? It changed my life. So yeah. Absolutely.

Do you live in the neighborhood? I live in East Harlem—like 120th and Madison.

What have the last few months been like for you? You know, surprisingly a lot of my friends, or a lot of people, are saying this is the end of the world, but I really appreciate this time, because it’s given us a moment to sit back and be able to sit with ourselves. We don’t usually get that time. We’re always rushing around, whether it’s school or your career; you’re always on the go. But now you actually get time to just sit with yourself and reflect, and then be able to move forward. The one thing that I continue to repeat to myself is that I’m going to be stronger after this than I was when I went into it. You know? That’s the one thing that I push to everybody that I speak to. Get something positive out of it. It’s really just about self-care right now, honestly.

Milton Lyles, 31

What books did you buy today? Blueprint for Black Power, and then another Amos Wilson book on Garveyism, Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order.

How’d you hear about those books? I saw the Blueprint for Black Power after I was doing a play one day with New Heritage Theater Group over in Harlem, and then I wanted to get it, but I didn’t have the funds at the time. It’s been on my mind.

What’s the last book you read? Wounds of Passion by bell hooks. It’s the last one I read to completion. Then I’m working on The Black Jacobins right now. It’s about the Haitian revolution. Then I just bounce around between books.

How have the last few months been for you? Exhausting. Yeah. Exhausting.

Sam Winslow, 20

What book did you pick today? I picked up Ta-Nehisi Coates’s We Were Eight Years in Power. I suppose it’s about Obama-era politics and that kind of interplay on the Black community. It’s something I’ve had on my reading list, on the back-burner for a while, but with recent shit that’s been going on, I thought, now is absolutely the time to pick this up.

How’d you hear about it? I read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates a couple of years ago for a school assignment. That one really stuck with me, so then I just did a little Googling about him and came across this book.

How’d you hear about this place? I just Googled local, Black-owned bookstores in New York City that are open right now. I live all the way downtown in Greenwich Village—I needed exercise, so I hopped on a bike.

What’s the last book you read? Shit. The last book I read and completed was a book by Ben Horowitz, who’s a venture investor a16z. It’s called What You Do Is Who You Are. Essentially, it’s about leadership, by your actions speaking louder than your words, and how, if you’re a leader or a person in a position of power, it’s not enough just to say that, “Oh, at our company we respect people” or “Our purpose is charitable giving.” It’s, like, put your money where your mouth is. Speak up—and not only speak up, but actually take action. Of course his background is working at a very successful tech company and then starting a venture firm, but he pulls in examples from all over history. I just thought that was really powerful.

Are you picking up anything else on this outing? I picked up some coconut water.

That’s it, unless there’s anything else you want to say. No, not really. I’m just excited for another summer in the city. I love Manhattan, I love the people in it.

McNally Jackson

McNally Jackson is currently offering curb-side pickup at two of its four New York locations—on Fulton street in Brooklyn and on Prince street in Manhattan.

Sandy Blanc, 40

What book did you pick up today? The Water Dancer from Ta-Nehisi Coates. I’ve read some of his other books in the past, and I saw him speak years ago at Albertine.

What’s the last book you read? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Now, I’m reading Purple Hibiscus. She’s a fantastic writer.

Are you picking anything else up today? Food.

Robin Amos Kahn

So, what book were you going to pick up today? Robin DiAngelo’s book about white fragility—but they’re sold out.

Yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot actually. How’d you hear about it? Probably on Instagram, or Twitter, or something like that. I think it’s one of the easier ones to start with. I have Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad, but I wanted to read this one first and then read that one.

What’s the last book you read? I just finished reading a book, An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum. She was a young Jewish woman who was living in Amsterdam, during World War II at the same time Anne Frank and her family were in hiding. She ended up going to a concentration camp outside of Amsterdam, and then eventually died at Auschwitz. It’s a beautiful book.

How have the last few months been for you? I mean, what can you say? There’s very little work, so I don’t really have any income. But, on the other hand—knock wood—I’ve been healthy, my family has been okay. But the reality is that it’s been horrible and sad and really disturbing. And then Amy Cooper, then George Floyd, and then all of this is…. It’s not shocking by any means, but just like, Whoa, it’s time.

Are you picking up anything else on this outing today? No, I just needed to get out. I was on a Zoom call and I was like, I can’t stand Zoom, I have to go for a walk.

Newton, 32

What did you pick up today? I got the The Paris Review—the spring edition.

What’s the last book you read and what was it about? I think the last book I read was Giovanni’s Room, the James Baldwin book. It’s about a character living in France who is kind of unearthing their homosexuality in the ‘50s. It was amazing.

Are you picking anything else up on your outing today? No. Just these. I’m getting one copy for myself and one for my friend for his birthday.

Chiara Cortez, 32

So, what book did you pick up today and what’s it about? It’s called Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood—and Trusting Yourself and Your Body. The author is Erica Chidi Cohen. She’s the founder of this incredible fertility center out in the West Coast. She’s been a doula for years, and I’ve been following her online.

Oh, cool. I’m not trying to have children yet, I just want to become more knowledgeable. She’s an amazing woman.

Do you usually shop for books here? Yes. I’m so happy that they’re open. I love this book store. I live in the neighborhood, so I shop here all the time. I’ve just been waiting for them to reopen.

What’s the last book you read? The last book I read is called The Witch Elm. It’s crime fiction. It was really good.

What have the last few months been like for you? That’s a hard question. Honestly, all things considered, I’m very privileged and very lucky to have been able to continue my work, partly. I work for myself, and I have fewer clients than I used to, but I can still work. I have my apartment. I have my partner and we’ve had everything we need. Because my hours were cut in half, I’ve been volunteering at The Bowery Mission, just down the street three times a week. That has really helped structure my time. So, I can’t complain, honestly. People have had it much harder than I have.

Anthony Martignetti, 41

What book did you pick up today? Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud.

What’s it about? Well… civilization and its discontents. I am probably one of its malcontents, but it’s for a talking group that is hosted by Sarah McNally—the owner of this store and a professor at NYU—who’s a great friend of mine. Since we’re not able to do them in the basement, it’s going to be a talking group on the ideas espoused by Freud 100 years ago.

So, do you usually shop for books here then? Only here.

Nice. What’s the last book you read? The last book I read… Well, I went back and reread some Hemingway. I read To Have and Have Not because I thought that was quite apropos. Right now with the societal fear that’s being held up to us as the haves and have nots.

Can you tell me a little bit what that book is about? It’s set during the Great Depression and it deals with one central character who’s a boat runner; and is running people, fisherman, and guns back and forth between Cuba and Key West. It deals with the poor society and Key West, the wealthy people that are also there, and a bit of the beginnings of revolutionary thought in Cuba.

Would you recommend it then? Highly, but I’m not the only one. It’s Hemingway, so…

How have the last few months been for you? I’m in the restaurant business—I own restaurants—and it’s been quite hellish for me and my team. 165 of my employees are out of work. I’ve permanently shut down three of the five restaurants I own.

I’m sorry. Don’t be sorry for me. I’m not worried about buying books, taking online courses. I have some savings. Most of my employees, one of whom I just had tacos with, does not.

Are you picking anything else up? I tried to pick up a book by Merlin Sheldrake that I just read a great review of, but they have to order it from their online division because they haven’t received new books and it’s a new book. It’s called Entangled Life and it’s about mushrooms basically. And how we can learn a lot from them.

For those not able to shop in New York City right now, we recommend Bookshop.org.

The Reading List

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh Just Kids by Patti Smith White Fragility by Robin Diangelo Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy The Girls by Emma Cline Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor East of Eden by John Steinbeck The Force of Nonviolence: The Ethical in the Political by Judith Butler Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi The New Jim Crow  by Michelle Alexander Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A Blackmon Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott Fairest by Meredith Talusan Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James Dominicana by Angie Cruz Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall Until We Reckon by Danielle Sered Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong Another Country by James Baldwin Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson Blueprint for Black Power by Amos N. Wilson Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order by Amos N. Wilson Wounds of Passion by bell hooks The Black Jacobins by C L R James We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates What You Do Is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum The Paris Review Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood—and Trusting Yourself and Your Body by Erica Chidi Cohen The Witch Elm by Tana French Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

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[boundtobesolved]

Josefa Llanes Escoda (1898-1945)

Pictured as a smiling face clad in a Filipiniana outfit, Escoda is one of the two women to appear on the current series of Philippine peso notes.This respect does not abandon justify, as she was an affirmed social worker, suffragette, community pioneer, and war courageous woman. As the eldest of seven kids, she needed to enable her mom to deal with her kin after the passing of her dad in 1918, all while concentrate to get a secondary teacher’s declaration from the University of the Philippines.

Escoda went to the United States a few times to additionally help with her social work. In the wake of graduating, she prepared in social welfare at the New York School of Social Work. Amid that stay, she additionally spoke to the Philippines in talking engagements in the International House and the Women’s International League for Peace. Her second visit to the U.S., which was implied for Boy Scout preparing, she used to prepare young ladies instructors from the general population and private segment to end up Girl Scout pioneers.

At the point when World War II broke out, Escoda’s inclusion in helping detainees of war and stranded ladies and kids prompted her capture, torment, and possible execution on account of the Japanese.

Trivia:As a dynamic individual from the suffrage development of the Philippines, Josefa Llanes Escoda was cited as saying that“The modern woman is no longer the wife that clings; she now helps the husband. The women’s demand for independence is motivated by their desire to help their husbands in governmental affairs which always required the moderation and wisdom of women.”

by Shelney Kheannah Magpayo

Illustration by LAZIR CALUYA

Reference: Gloria G. (2017, June). 5 Filipino heroines who changed Philippine history. Retrieved from http://cnnphilippines.com mso

[lord-writer-blog]

                                                       Prologue

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, 4:40 P.M

    The sirens of guilt blared in the thoughts of Hannah's mind, as she stepped inside the comfort of her apartment, in hopes to escape the deafening noise. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against the doorframe, to breathe in the quiet and comfort of her sanctuary. She kicked off her white muddy boots and sweaty socks, then flipped on the light to find her apartment as welcoming as she had hoped; with the cream-colored walls guarding her against the noise of the bustling city of Norfolk, and the cozy couch and blankets inviting her to join them. She felt like collapsing right there, in the doorway. She thought of letting her white soft carpet soak in her exhaustion, but decided to slip into something more comfortable than her Air Force greens, before turning to such drastic measures.

Hannah's apartment blinds were closed just as she had left them that morning, with the empty cereal bowl still lingering on her kitchen table, opposite of the apartment doorway. She remained on her living carpet, letting her bare feet rub up against it's soft, relaxing fabric. And while Hannah's eyes perused her apartment, an unnerving sense settled upon her, and she knew she wasn't alone. She wasn't one to be paranoid, but lately, her choices had her looking over her shoulder more than once.

Suddenly, Hannah's misty-colored eyes fell upon her mahogany coffee table centered between her couch and armchair. She relaxed, letting her breathing resume a steady course when she spotted a wine glass filled with a scarlet syrup, tempting her with its glistening beauty, sitting on the table. Hannah smiled with delight, taking off her Air Force cap and placing it next to the glass.

    "I knew you would come around." She unbuttoning her dark jade Pilot's jacket and brushed back loose strands of her brown frizzy hair.

She rolled her eyes at the silent reply and picked up the glass of wine to recline in her favorite chair. Her eyebrow raised when she heard in the next room, the screeching of coat hangers as they scratched against the metal pole in her closet.

    "So, where did you tell your wife you were at this time? New York? ...Dallas?" Hannah probed, waited a few moments as she sipped the gorgeous wine, "Awe, I don't care."

The girl relaxed, leaning her head back to rest against the blue, soft cushion of her armchair.

    "This has got to be the most delicious wine that I've ever tasted." After a moment of silence, her eyebrows furrowed, "Where's your glass?"

When no reply came, blood drained from her face, leaving a ghostly pale tint to her Filipino skin. She stood up, a thought trying to navigate through the wild jungle in her mind, as her eyes darted around the apartment. She looked at the glass, paranoia creeping into her sanity. Hannah bent down to return the wine back to its original resting place.

    "Charles?..." Her hands started to shake, and she almost knocked the wine glass over, but when she straightened the shaking stopped. Her eyelids slowly closed and heart quickened, as she heard a sharp click of a gun's chamber slipping back into place. She whipped around to face her intruder, staring wide-eyed down the barrel of a damning pistol. The pace of her heart quickened. All she could think about at that moment were the choices that had brought her to this end. Regret and guilt clouded her thoughts and they caused her to not even flinch, as the hand in which held the gun tightened. The intruder's finger brushed up against the trigger. She knew she deserved this. She knew that she deserved to die.

It only took a little squeeze from the beholder of the weapon, for the bullet to propel out of its chamber, down the barrel of the gun, and out into the air like a missile to claim the nineteenth victim.

[kentonramsey]

What 17 People Are Reading Right Now in New York City

Photographer Jasmine Clarke headed to four New York City bookstores to find out what everybody’s reading right now.

Café con Libros

A feminist bookstore in Brooklyn founded by Kalima DeSuze. Books, coffee, and pastries are all currently available for pickup from Café con Libros.

Whitney Kuo, 28

Which book did you pick up, and what’s it about? Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. She’s a black feminist queer author.

Did someone recommend it to you? I think it’s on the ongoing, queer black feminist book list, so I had it on hand. I actually let my ex borrow it a year ago. I wanted to re-read it, so I asked her for it. She doesn’t want to see me, so she ordered it to Café con Libros because it’s in my neighborhood.

Do you usually shop here for books? I just moved here, so I haven’t been before, but I’m really happy to be here.

What’s the last book you read, and what’s it about? The last book I read was… Why is this so hard? Oh, I just finished Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. It’s another book about a lesbian coming of age, because I’m obsessed.

And what have the last few months been like for you? During COVID?

Yeah. Honestly, I feel like I’ve been thriving; my life is good. I spent a lot of this time journaling, reading, actually watching TV, and going through all that. It’s been a lot of me time which was really good. People think I’m joking. They’re like, “How are you doing?” Because everyone wants to complain. I’m like, “I’m fucking thriving.”

Last question, are you picking anything else up while you’re out? I was trying to pick up Minor Feelings, but that’s  sold out. I may stop on a bench and read.

Prama Verma, 26

So, what book did you pick today? Hood Feminism.

What’s it about? It’s about feminism, but from an intersectional lens, written by a Black woman.

How’d you hear about it? It’s been on my radar for a while. I heard the store was opening again, and I was just, like, “I think it’s time to finally pick it up and read it.”

What’s the last book you read? Until We Reckon. It’s written by the executive director of a restorative justice nonprofit in Brooklyn. And it’s just about restorative justice versus the prisons and stuff.

What have the past few months been like for you? I can’t complain too much. I work for a nonprofit, and I’ve been able to work from home, so that’s been really lucky. I have a roommate, so I’m not completely isolated, but it’s been a little tough to not be able to get out and see people.

Aaron Banes, 24

Which book did you pick today? Fairest by Meredith Talusan.

How did you hear about it? The Strand Bookstore did an interview with the author and another Filipino writer, so I watched a Zoom call about it.

Do you always get your books here? No, this is my first time. I didn’t know about it before quarantine. I was sad that it’s been closed, but here I am, on the first day.

What’s the last book that you read? I’m still reading a book right now called Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. It was described to me as a gay, African Game of Thrones. The main character is a tracker and he just, like, tells stories about his life and growing up, but there’s also magic. There’s a leopard that is actually also a human-were-leopard. It’s a fantasy book.

Is that the genre you usually like? I’ve been trying to get back into it because real life is too scary right now.

I know. I feel like a lot of people are buying fantasy books. Escape is in. What have the past few months been like for you? They’ve been okay. I’m not working right now. I’ve been really getting into tarot.

How’s that going? It’s going really good. I have an Instagram if anyone wants to follow it.

Oh, shout it out. What is it? It’s @misterwitchboy.

Are you picking anything else up on this outing? I found all of these ants on my windowsill….

Oh no. So I have to go find Raid, and I need body soap.

Mmm… Spring things!

Ashley Ahn, 26

What book did you pick today, and what’s it about? I picked up Dominicana by Angie Cruz. I actually don’t really know too much about it, but I’m a teacher, and I teach a majority Latinx population, so I’m always trying to find books that incorporate my students’ narratives.

How did you hear about this book? I heard about Café con Libros from a friend, so I went on their website, and I was just perusing through books and decided to put it in my cart.

Cool. What school do you teach at? Sunset Park High School.

What’s the last book you read, and what’s it about? The last book I read is Minor Feelings. It’s about how Asian-Americans kind of fit into the racial narrative of the United States and how oftentimes Asian people are erased from that narrative. And how by understanding our histories, we can be better allies and just speak up more, I think, in the current situation, and the situation going forward.

You would recommend it? I would totally recommend it, because I feel like there are very few books talking about that sort of narrative.

What have the last few months been like for you? It’s been rough, transitioning into online teaching.

Are you doing Zoom teaching? Yeah. I’m grateful that I have high school students, so it’s a little bit easier to get them onto the computer and have those conversations. But I know it’s really hard to just continue those relationships over the computer. So it’s had its ups and downs.

Books Are Magic

Located in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill, Books Are Magic is owned by novelist Emma Straub and her husband. They’re currently open for appointment-only pickups.

Arianna Cameron, 25

What book did you pick up today? My Year of Rest and Relaxation. I believe it’s about a woman who’s depressed and addicted to Xanax and sees a therapist. The modern woman, I guess.

How’d you hear about it? Through a friend who works in publishing.

What’s the last book you read? Just Kids by Patti Smith—her biography.

Did you like it? I loved it.

Are you picking anything else up on your outing today? I wanted to buy White Fragility, but it’s out of stock right now.

Natasha Guarda, 17

What book did you pick up today? Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. I’m reading it for a book club.

What was the last book you read? I’m in the middle of reading War and Peace, another classic. But the last fiction book I read was The Girls, which is about a cult in the ’60s.

Did you like it? Yeah.

How have the last few months been for you? I’ve been reading a lot more.

Rebecca Strassberg, 28

What book did you pick today? I picked Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby. It’s a collection of her essays. I was just looking for something to immerse myself in.

What’s the last book you read? Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, which I highly recommend. I actually started reading it before the state of the world erupted. It’s a book about this Black babysitter who gets herself tangled up in this—I’m trying to put it into just a few words, but it’s really a story about race and class and people’s intentions. I recommended it to quite a few people. I found it to be an escape but also just very important reading right now.

So escapism, but with a twist. Yeah. It was very cool.

How have the past few months been for you? A little isolating; I live alone. I’m also in the media, so just working non-stop. Obviously I’m just super thankful to have a job. The community has been really great though—there’s a great Facebook group that I’m part of, Boerum Hill at Large. We reach out to people. But yeah, it’s getting hard.

Last question: Are you picking anything else up on your outing today? I bought some plants at The Sill. Basically, there’s nowhere to be outside that I feel is far enough away from people, so I bought a little camping chair, and I just sit outside and read.

Joshua K.

So, what book did you pick? I got Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor. It’s from a British publisher I like a lot. It had good reviews on LitHub, so I picked it up from there.

What’s the last book you read? Oh my God. I just finished one. Give me a sec. Why am I struggling?

Sure. No problem. Take your time. I read East of Eden a little while ago. I’m reading a book by Judith Butler on nonviolence—the philosophy of nonviolence. She’s the feminist philosopher from University of California, Berkeley. It seemed, like, on-the-nose-ish, but I have a bunch of books that I’ve ordered—MLK Jr. Speeches, The Color of Law—and they were saying that racial justice books are back ordered by hundreds of copies.

Oh, that’s interesting. I’m waiting for a month or two to get White Fragility, but I read East of Eden and then this nonviolence book.

Would you recommend East of Eden then? Yeah. It’s top five for me. Really, really good book.

Can you explain what it’s about? It’s a multi-generational tale. I sound like a narrator here. It’s about a family that starts off on the East Coast and migrates to California in the post-Civil War era. And it’s about the dissolution of a marriage, and then the man’s relationship with his two sons—and free will and the ability to make decisions about the people we want to be, and not being constrained by our family and our history. And still having a chance to become good, even if we’ve been bad for a long time.

What have the past few months been like for you? The first couple of months were extremely isolating. I had tried to do a book a week—that was my goal for the year—and I was ahead of pace. Then, despite having all the free time in the world, I couldn’t focus on anything for the first month.

The past two weeks have had a bit of a different tone—it feels like you can’t really do enough. I’m just trying to focus on doing what I can—whether it’s reading or donating or marching or whatever. It’s not a good thing, but it’s nice to feel more of a sense of community. I think it sucks to live in New York and be stuck indoors all day.

I feel like there’s a common sense of purpose right now. It’s been a dark couple of weeks, but it makes me feel proud to live here. I’m not from here originally.

Where are you from? Toronto. I moved here five years ago. And I feel like I’m becoming a New Yorker through all this. I’m proud to live here.

Are you picking anything else up? I asked about the Ibram X. Kendi book How to Be an Antiracist. I’m trying to send stuff back to my parents in Canada as well. My dad watched 13th last week. He was, like, “Oh my God”—he kind of had this awakening. And then I left The New Jim Crow at my house for him back home. I’m trying to pick out things that are going to be easy for them to read and digest.

Brooke Wright, 34

What book did you pick up today? I picked up Slavery by Another Name and White Fragility.

Could you tell me a little bit about them? I don’t know a whole lot about them—that’s why I’m going to read them. For me, Slavery by Another Name seems most interesting just because it’s more about the systemic issue, whereas I don’t really know a whole lot about what White Fragility is about, I’m not going to lie. I get that it was a good one to read so I was like, “Okay, let’s do that.” There are so many books right now that are being really advocated for and I was like, “Let’s go with those two for the beginning.”

Do you shop at Books Are Magic a lot? Yeah. It’s my local bookshop.

What’s the last book you read? Let’s see. I’m really bad at finishing books. I’m normally reading five at a time. The last book that I almost finished—it’s still kind of not done—is a book called Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy. It’s a history book about four women—two on either side of the Civil War. Two are for abolition, two for are slavery.

How have the past few months been for you? They were stressful at first, just not knowing what was going on. I had been traveling abroad with many people from many different countries, prior to coming back for Fashion Week. I was definitely pretty scared for the first month or so. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to work from home.

Sisters Uptown

Located in Washington Heights, Sisters Uptown is a family-owned and -operated bookstore.

Landon Michael, 35

So what book did you pick up and what’s it about? I actually picked up James Baldwin’s Another Country. I originally came for White Fragility, but they’re sold out until the end of the month. So I picked up James Baldwin because he’s one of my favorite authors. I started with Giovanni’s Room, which is one of my favorites. It hits home for me. So, I wanted to continue with this as well.

How’d you hear about this bookstore? Instagram, actually. I think someone posted about the conscious reading list, and I was like, Ah, yes. Perfect.

What’s the last book you read? The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck.

What’s that about? Literally the subtle art of not giving a fuck. It just helps you build that confidence that you need to be able to move through your career paths and your spiritual journeys and things like that.

Would you recommend it? It changed my life. So yeah. Absolutely.

Do you live in the neighborhood? I live in East Harlem—like 120th and Madison.

What have the last few months been like for you? You know, surprisingly a lot of my friends, or a lot of people, are saying this is the end of the world, but I really appreciate this time, because it’s given us a moment to sit back and be able to sit with ourselves. We don’t usually get that time. We’re always rushing around, whether it’s school or your career; you’re always on the go. But now you actually get time to just sit with yourself and reflect, and then be able to move forward. The one thing that I continue to repeat to myself is that I’m going to be stronger after this than I was when I went into it. You know? That’s the one thing that I push to everybody that I speak to. Get something positive out of it. It’s really just about self-care right now, honestly.

Milton Lyles, 31

What books did you buy today? Blueprint for Black Power, and then another Amos Wilson book on Garveyism, Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order.

How’d you hear about those books? I saw the Blueprint for Black Power after I was doing a play one day with New Heritage Theater Group over in Harlem, and then I wanted to get it, but I didn’t have the funds at the time. It’s been on my mind.

What’s the last book you read? Bell Hooks, Wounds of Passion. It’s the last one I read to completion. Then I’m working on The Black Jacobins right now. It’s about the Haitian revolution. Then I just bounce around between books.

How have the last few months been for you? Exhausting. Yeah. Exhausting.

Sam Winslow, 20

What book did you pick today? I picked up Ta-Nehisi Coates’s We Were Eight Years in Power. I suppose it’s about Obama-era politics and that kind of interplay on the Black community. It’s something I’ve had on my reading list, on the back-burner for a while, but with recent shit that’s been going on, I thought, now is absolutely the time to pick this up.

How’d you hear about it? I read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates a couple of years ago for a school assignment. That one really stuck with me, so then I just did a little Googling about him and came across this book.

How’d you hear about this place? I just Googled local, Black-owned bookstores in New York City that are open right now. I live all the way downtown in Greenwich Village—I needed exercise, so I hopped on a bike.

What’s the last book you read? Shit. The last book I read and completed was a book by Ben Horowitz, who’s a venture investor a16z. It’s called What You Do Is Who You Are. Essentially, it’s about leadership, by your actions speaking louder than your words, and how, if you’re a leader or a person in a position of power, it’s not enough just to say that, “Oh, at our company we respect people” or “Our purpose is charitable giving.” It’s, like, put your money where your mouth is. Speak up—and not only speak up, but actually take action. Of course his background is working at a very successful tech company and then starting a venture firm, but he pulls in examples from all over history. I just thought that was really powerful.

Are you picking up anything else on this outing? I picked up some coconut water.

That’s it, unless there’s anything else you want to say. No, not really. I’m just excited for another summer in the city. I love Manhattan, I love the people in it.

McNally Jackson

McNally Jackson is currently offering curb-side pickup at two of its four New York locations—on Fulton street in Brooklyn and on Prince street in Manhattan.

Sandy Blanc, 40

What book did you pick up today? The Water Dancer from Ta-Nehisi Coates. I’ve read some of his other books in the past, and I saw him speak years ago at Albertine.

What’s the last book you read? Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Now, I’m reading Purple Hibiscus. She’s a fantastic writer.

Are you picking anything else up today? Food.

Robin Amos Kahn

So, what book were you going to pick up today? Robin DiAngelo’s book about white fragility—but they’re sold out.

Yeah, I’ve been hearing that a lot actually. How’d you hear about it? Probably on Instagram, or Twitter, or something like that. I think it’s one of the easier ones to start with. I have Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad, but I wanted to read this one first and then read that one.

What’s the last book you read? I just finished reading a book, An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum. She was a young Jewish woman who was living in Amsterdam, during World War II at the same time Anne Frank and her family were in hiding. She ended up going to a concentration camp outside of Amsterdam, and then eventually died at Auschwitz. It’s a beautiful book.

How have the last few months been for you? I mean, what can you say? There’s very little work, so I don’t really have any income. But, on the other hand—knock wood—I’ve been healthy, my family has been okay. But the reality is that it’s been horrible and sad and really disturbing. And then Amy Cooper, then George Floyd, and then all of this is…. It’s not shocking by any means, but just like, Whoa, it’s time.

Are you picking up anything else on this outing today? No, I just needed to get out. I was on a Zoom call and I was like, I can’t stand Zoom, I have to go for a walk.

Newton, 32

What did you pick up today? I got the The Paris Review—the spring edition.

What’s the last book you read and what was it about? I think the last book I read was Giovanni’s Room, the James Baldwin book. It’s about a character living in France who is kind of unearthing their homosexuality in the ‘50s. It was amazing.

Are you picking anything else up on your outing today? No. Just these. I’m getting one copy for myself and one for my friend for his birthday.

Chiara Cortez, 32

So, what book did you pick up today and what’s it about? It’s called Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood—and Trusting Yourself and Your Body. The author is Erica Chidi Cohen. She’s the founder of this incredible fertility center out in the West Coast. She’s been a doula for years, and I’ve been following her online.

Oh, cool. I’m not trying to have children yet, I just want to become more knowledgeable. She’s an amazing woman.

Do you usually shop for books here? Yes. I’m so happy that they’re open. I love this book store. I live in the neighborhood, so I shop here all the time. I’ve just been waiting for them to reopen.

What’s the last book you read? The last book I read is called The Witch Elm. It’s crime fiction. It was really good.

What have the last few months been like for you? That’s a hard question. Honestly, all things considered, I’m very privileged and very lucky to have been able to continue my work, partly. I work for myself, and I have fewer clients than I used to, but I can still work. I have my apartment. I have my partner and we’ve had everything we need. Because my hours were cut in half, I’ve been volunteering at The Bowery Mission, just down the street three times a week. That has really helped structure my time. So, I can’t complain, honestly. People have had it much harder than I have.

Anthony Martignetti, 41

What book did you pick up today? Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud.

What’s it about? Well… civilization and its discontents. I am probably one of its malcontents, but it’s for a talking group that is hosted by Sarah McNally—the owner of this store and a professor at NYU—who’s a great friend of mine. Since we’re not able to do them in the basement, it’s going to be a talking group on the ideas espoused by Freud 100 years ago.

So, do you usually shop for books here then? Only here.

Nice. What’s the last book you read? The last book I read… Well, I went back and reread some Hemingway. I read To Have and Have Not because I thought that was quite apropos. Right now with the societal fear that’s being held up to us as the haves and have nots.

Can you tell me a little bit what that book is about? It’s set during the Great Depression and it deals with one central character who’s a boat runner; and is running people, fisherman, and guns back and forth between Cuba and Key West. It deals with the poor society and Key West, the wealthy people that are also there, and a bit of the beginnings of revolutionary thought in Cuba.

Would you recommend it then? Highly, but I’m not the only one. It’s Hemingway, so…

How have the last few months been for you? I’m in the restaurant business—I own restaurants—and it’s been quite hellish for me and my team. 165 of my employees are out of work. I’ve permanently shut down three of the five restaurants I own.

I’m sorry. Don’t be sorry for me. I’m not worried about buying books, taking online courses. I have some savings. Most of my employees, one of whom I just had tacos with, does not.

Are you picking anything else up? I tried to pick up a book by Merlin Sheldrake that I just read a great review of, but they have to order it from their online division because they haven’t received new books and it’s a new book. It’s called Entangled Life and it’s about mushrooms basically. And how we can learn a lot from them.

For those not able to shop in New York City right now, we recommend Bookshop.org.

The Reading List

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh Just Kids by Patti Smith White Fragility by Robin Diangelo Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy The Girls by Emma Cline Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor East of Eden by John Steinbeck The Force of Nonviolence: The Ethical in the Political by Judith Butler Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi The New Jim Crow  by Michelle Alexander Slavery by Another Name by Douglas A Blackmon Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott Fairest by Meredith Talusan Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James Dominicana by Angie Cruz Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall Until We Reckon by Danielle Sered Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong Another Country by James Baldwin Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson Blueprint for Black Power by Amos N. Wilson Afrikan-Centered Consciousness Versus the New World Order by Amos N. Wilson Wounds of Passion by Bell Hooks The Black Jacobins by C L R James We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates What You Do Is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad An Interrupted Life and Letters from Westerbork by Etty Hillesum The Paris Review Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood—and Trusting Yourself and Your Body by Erica Chidi Cohen The Witch Elm by Tana French Civilization and Its Discontents by Sigmund Freud To Have and Have Not by Ernest Hemingway Entangled Life by Merlin Sheldrake

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[phgq]

DFA repatriates over 327,000 Filipinos in 2020 

#PHinfo: DFA repatriates over 327,000 Filipinos in 2020 

A total of 264 repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are now back home as they arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) on January 1, 2021. (Presidential Photo)

PARAÑAQUE CITY, Jan. 4 (PIA) -- The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) today reported that its repatriation efforts in 2020 briought home a total of 327,511 overseas Filipinos. 

The DFA said land-based repatriates make up 231,537 or 70.7 percent of the total numbers, coming from at least 90 countries around the world.

The remaining 29.3 percent or 95,974 are seafarers from more than 150 cruise ships, oil tankers, and other bulk vessels.

The breakdown of the repatriates traveling or transiting through these regions are as follows:

Middle East -- 228,893 or 69.89 percent

Asia & the Pacific -- 36,868 or 11.26 percent

Americas -- 30,971 or 9.46 percent

Europe -- 28,909 or 8.83 percent

Africa -- 1,870 or 0.57 percent

Since Feb. 9 last year--the day when the DFA mounted its first COVID-19 repatriation flight to Wuhan, China--the department has been relentless in bringing home overseas Filipinos despite the multitude of challenges it faced.

A 10-member team from DFA and the Department of Health personally flew to Wuhan when it was still the epicenter of COVID-19 in February.

The pioneer mission brought home 30 Filipinos from the Chinese city. Also in February, a three-person rapid response team flew to Japan to assist the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo in the disembarkation and repatriation of Filipinos on board the COVID-19 stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship.

This marked the beginning of the pandemic’s immediate impact on the cruise line industry where thousands of Filipino seafarers were working.

When countries started to close their borders in March, the tourism industry was heavily hit and cruise line companies were forced to suspend their operations.

From March to June 2020, the DFA facilitated the daily arrival of chartered flights -- each carrying hundreds of seafarers from cruise ships docked all over Europe, North America, and the Caribbean.

Many of the repatriated seafarers have only been onboard their ships for weeks when the pandemic struck. They had no choice but to come home, without certainty as to when they will be called again for work.

When businesses started to close shop because of the effects of the worldwide lockdown, the repatriation of our land-based overseas Filipinos followed suit.

In April, the DFA chartered flights to Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, and Italy to bring home 1,096 distressed overseas Filipinos who lost their jobs and had no means to come home from those countries.

Calls for repatriation from the Middle East came in May 2020 as the DFA sent its first sweeper flight to the Middle East, via Riyadh and Dammam, Saudi Arabia. This marked the beginning of the mass repatriation of more than 220,000 overseas Filipinos from the region.

In June 2020, the DFA sent a sweeper flight to Africa which stopped by Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya before heading home to the Philippines with 287 distressed overseas Filipinos on board.

In August 2020, the DFA was confronted with two Herculean tasks. First was the repatriation of our compatriots in Uzbekistan where the Philippines does not have an embassy, let alone an honorary consulate.

Through the Philippine Embassy in Tehran and coordination with leaders of the Filipino community, the DFA worked on the repatriation remotely but was nevertheless able to bring home 257 Filipinos.

The second Herculean task was the need for a swift organization of a repatriation flight for the Filipino victims of the blast at Port of Beirut.

The DFA sent a chartered flight to Lebanon and brought home 386 repatriates, many of whom sustained injuries from the blast. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. welcomed the repatriates personally upon their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

In September, the DFA also organized a goodwill mission to Lebanon. Together with the Chief of Presidential Protocol, the DFA traveled to Beirut and brought 5,000 boxes of relief goods for our overseas Filipinos in Beirut.

Medical supplies such as vitamins and face masks were also donated to various Lebanese hospitals and other non-government organizations. On the return flight, another 317 distressed Filipinos were repatriated.

Even as the DFA entered its eighth consecutive month of repatriation efforts, October still marked several “firsts” -- the mass repatriation of more than 500 Agrostudies students from Israel, the first repatriation of 92 OFWs from Benghazi, Libya since 2017, and the first-ever repatriation by sea from Indonesia of 40 Filipino fishermen via the BRP Tubbataha.

In November 2020, nine Filipino seafarers were brought home by the DFA after their shipping vessel was abandoned by its owner at the Port of Djibouti.

The DFA, in coordination with its missions abroad, lobbied hard with the Djibouti representatives in the International Maritime Organization in London, the United Nations in New York, and the Djibouti Embassy in Tokyo to allow the disembarkation of the Filipino crew of MV Arybbas on humanitarian grounds.

They arrived safely in Manila last November after being stranded on board their vessel for more than 14 months.

December marked the highest monthly total of repatriated overseas Filipinos at 51,770 despite the cancellation of several flights as a precautionary measure to the spread of the new COVID-19 strain.

Sweeper flights were also organized to bring home distressed overseas Filipinos from Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, in time for the holiday season.

“While these are some of the highlights of the DFA’s repatriation efforts for this year, let us not forget the tireless dedication of our DFA front-liners who facilitated the return and provided airport assistance to hundreds of medical repatriates, victims of trafficking-in-persons, unaccompanied minor children, and senior citizens who were repatriated by the DFA this 2020.” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said.

“As we start a new year, the DFA remains committed to its assistance-to-nationals mandate and renews its promise to bring home every Filipino who wishes to come home,” she added. (PIA NCR)

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References:

* Philippine Information Agency. "DFA repatriates over 327,000 Filipinos in 2020 ." Philippine Information Agency. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1062950 (accessed January 04, 2021 at 01:25PM UTC+08).

* Philippine Infornation Agency. "DFA repatriates over 327,000 Filipinos in 2020 ." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1062950 (archived).

[phgq]

Grounded: Travel bans and the nCoV outbreak

#PHnews: Grounded: Travel bans and the nCoV outbreak

MANILA -- The 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has infected more than 20,000 people worldwide, with most cases from China. As of Tuesday, its death toll climbed to 427 with two deaths from outside the country of origin, one each from Hong Kong and the Philippines.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the authority that supervises global health concerns, has recommended against any travel or trade restrictions. However, since the United States imposed a ban on flights from China, other countries have followed suit.

With governments around the world racing against time to contain the virus through measures, including the closure of their borders, questions were raised as to the stand of the WHO on the matter.

Tarik Jašarević, WHO spokesperson, said in a press interview in late January that “travel restrictions may intuitively seem like the right thing to do, (but) this is not something that WHO usually recommends.”

“This is because of the social disruption they cause and the intensive use of resources required,” Jašarević added.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “travel restrictions can cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing, medical supply chains, and harming economies.”

Experts say travel and trade restrictions make it more difficult to track cases and their contacts, and disrupt the medical supply chain, potentially fueling shortages of drugs and medical supplies in areas hit hardest by the outbreak.

These also send a punitive message, which could contribute to discrimination and stereotyping against Chinese nationals.

What went before?

Amid the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, Canada imposed a quarantine on some 25,000 residents in the greater Toronto area where millions were screened at the airports.

"The pilot thermal scanner project screened about 2.4 million passengers. Only 832 required further assessment, and again none were found to have SARS. In other countries, the yields for airport screening measures were similarly low," read an excerpt from the report titled Learning from SARS: Renewal of Public Health in Canada.

A 2006 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences used a mathematical simulation to predict how travel restrictions might affect the spread of avian flu in the United States if the virus evolved to pass easily between humans.

The study concluded that restricting travel was ineffective.

“Our simulations demonstrate that, in a highly mobile population, restricting travel after an outbreak is detected is likely to delay slightly the time course of the outbreak without impacting the eventual number ill,” the authors wrote.

The study continued to note that the action is expensive and it is nearly impossible to seal off the borders of a country. “People will inevitably move — even indirectly from the countries that are quarantined,” it added.

“Travel bans typically don’t work because if people want to travel, they find a way to do so,” said Steven Hoffman, director of the Global Strategy Lab and a professor of global health at York University.

“That actually undermines the public-health response because it makes it harder to track cases in an outbreak,” he added.

In Manila, about hundreds of overseas Filipino workers, bound mostly for China's special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau, were stranded Monday, following the temporary travel ban.

Public pressure

Catherine Worsnop, a health expert who studies international cooperation during global health emergencies at the University of Maryland in the US, said: “travel bans as a response to an outbreak make it more challenging.”

“From a public health perspective, there is limited effectiveness. And then there are a host of other reasons why they can actually be counterproductive,” she added.

On Saturday, #OustDuterte has trended on Twitter with comments that the “government has a relaxed approach to the novel coronavirus scare.”

President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday banned travel from the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, and soon expanded it to also ban foreign travelers to and from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. Some countries, such as the Bahamas, Mongolia, and Singapore, have banned all travel from China.

"People want their government to do something when these outbreaks are happening, and adopting a border restriction is a visible policy that people think works," Worsnop said.

Any effort and money spent crafting and enforcing travel and trade restrictions also take away already-stretched resources from public health measures that have been proven to be far more effective, the expert said.

Those measures include providing assistance to countries with weaker health systems, accelerating the development of a vaccine or rapid diagnostic test, and communicating with the public about when and how to seek care, she added.

Government efforts

WHO representative to the Philippines, Dr. Rabindra Abeyasinghe, however, has commended the government's efforts to prevent the spread of the 2019-nCoV across the country.

“We are satisfied so far with the measures being implemented by the government of the Philippines,” Abeyasinghe said in a Laging Handa press briefing in Malacañang on Monday.

“WHO commends their actions taken by the Philippine Government to strengthen its preparedness, to build capacity to detect cases,” he added.

On January 29, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III bared that the Philippines has its own capability to detect 2019-nCoV within 48 hours.

Duque said the Japanese counterpart of the Philippines' Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) gave the RNA (ribonucleic acid) primer to be used for confirmatory testing of the virus.

With this development, the turnaround time will be cut by 50 percent since the acquisition of the primer would eliminate the need to consult Australian experts.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año has also ordered all barangays nationwide to form Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) to help the government address the crisis brought about by the 2019-nCoV within their respective communities. He said each barangay must be adequately informed about the disease and prepared to adopt protocols in containing it. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Grounded: Travel bans and the nCoV outbreak." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1092880 (accessed February 05, 2020 at 05:28PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Grounded: Travel bans and the nCoV outbreak." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1092880 (archived).