Hello, hello! A belated Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. I spent it in Bulacan, with J and my family. I gave my mother a Strawberry Cream-scented lotion and body scrub that smelled so good I was, for a brief moment, tempted to just keep them and give her a blender instead.
Just dropping by to say that you can now buy a copy of Moment of Change from Aqueduct Press. Included here is my poem, “Prayer”, which first appeared in Stone Telling.
Shameless plug: And of course, my book, Lower Myths, is still available. Check it out if you have the time.
I compile links over here, but I want to share this now: Rochita Loenen-Ruiz’s guest post, “Decolonizing as an SF Writer“.
Mark Twain, in his essay, To the Person Sitting in Darkness, speaks out against the Imperialism of the United States and in particular against the actions taken by the Americans in subjugating the Philippines and appropriating the victory of the Filipinos against the Spanish colonizers.
Mark Twain writes in his essay about the mindset of America in those days: We have got the Archipelago, and we shall never give it up.
When I read this essay, I can feel the bewilderment of the patriots who had fought and won the war against the Spanish, and I feel utter sorrow in knowing that our supposed allies painted us as being uncivilized and not fit to rule our own country. I also feel indignation on behalf of the soldiers who fought against the Spanish and who realized that they were facing another, more insidious enemy. The thing is, where Spain very clearly presented themselves as conquering overlords, America presented itself as a friend. It was an excellent strategy which confused us completely because what they did to the Filipino was a betrayal of that word “friend”.
And for something fun, read madmacarta. It’s my daily pick-me-up. Bonggey!
Eliza Victoria 