February 25, 2022

the question of edsa

Hey friend, thanks for opening! How was your February? Just checking in for this month + talking a bit about the 36th Edsa anniversary, because it's that time of the year. Anyway: hope your Feb has been fab :) -K

As columnist Manolo Quezon points out, in 1999--all of 23 years ago, imagine--an SWS survey found that a little more than one in every four Filipinos (27%) chose the "EDSA revolution and restoration of democracy" as "the most important Philippine event of the century". Respondents chose from a list of events that also included the assassination of Sen. Ninoy Aquino, the war against Japan, the spread of OFWs abroad, the eruption of Mt Pinatubo and the declaration of martial law (interestingly, an astonishing 35% of respondents answered that the declaration of martial law was NOT IMPORTANT--which probably explains why we're here today, sksksks)

(Apologies, the SWS site had a weird error so it gave me this sort of washed out table, but it's still readable, I guess? Also that's obviously a typo, because EDSA was in '86)

In any case, in 1999 EDSA marked its 13th anniversary. Of course, as anyone past 30 will likely tell you (lmao) everyone adores you when you're in your teens--you're full of potential and promises that have yet to come to fruition, but let me tell you by the time you hit 30 you start getting blamed for not living up to expectations (cough 2016). The year you turn fifteen (cough 2001), you try flexing what you think you've learned, your values, etc. to oust a plunderer, only to end up installing an equally abhorrent monster (SALOT TO THIS DAY).

And so EDSA turns 36 this year--with a Marcos on the verge, it could very well be the last time we're marking it. And the last few years under Duterte have all but felt like spitting all over it and what it stood for. We've kept harping on it in efforts to invoke a once-fiery passion for good citizenship, I suppose.

Pero EDSA nyo, pagod na.

Ask any 36-year-old.

*

Anyway, I was reading this newsletter from The Atlantic about social media and the impossibility of forgiveness in a day and age that does not allow forgetting:

It’s understandable why forgiveness has fallen out of fashion. For years, powerful people have abused the idea, issuing insincere apologies that effectively replace accountability with cheap grace. But a society that cannot forget and cannot forgive is one that cannot function. A community in which people cannot set aside their grievances is one that will be forever hostage to them.

I agree, of course, but with the necessary nuance: Forgiveness is sought, and forgiveness entails accountability and consequences. None of which the Marcoses deserve, at the very least, so this not really a comment on EDSA and Martial Law but on the generic milieu. Something else that struck me:

My father, a synagogue rabbi and lifelong educator, likes to say that people expand to fill the moral space we expect of them. These days, though, we are doing the opposite. As a society, especially online, we increasingly expect less and less of each other, and compete to fulfill each other’s most mediocre expectations. So much of our online discourse revolves around assuming the worst of people, reducing them to their lowest moment or tweet, and foreclosing the possibility that anyone can become better. But ask yourself: Does anyone really want to live like this? Does anyone want to be treated like this?

THIS. So much this. I am sick and tired of having to assume the worst of people. :(( How do we fix this??

Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.

;;

Hm some other highlights for February? Maybe just some bullets? (Some from priv Twitter, andun naman kayo mostly lol)

• Jihyo's birthday billboard

• Got a haircut to prep for RTO + Krista's grad photo shoot + 1,500 days with C

• TWICE Seasons Greetings 2022 mygod

• 2022 Elections campaign season kick-off

• Robredo for President para magka TWICE III in MNL

• Normalize canceling meetings instead of moving them!!!!

• LOVE AND LEASHES ON NETFLIX. Now na. Trailer -- it's only 1 hour 58 minutes! So well done!!! Ugh.

• TWICE'S US TOUR. Jeongyeon in this airport outfit PLS. Also: JY IN THE US!!! My gratitude journal heard about it.

• TWICE Mina for Metrocity

• TWICE in LA Day 1, LA Day 2, Oakland, Dallas.

• Have you seen the new Florence and the Machine???

Anyway. A couple of interesting reads from the Internet:

• This was insane: Jobfished: the con that tricked dozens into working for a fake design agency via BBC

• This was tender: The Loyal, the Requited, the Tender: Kathryn Schulz on the Pleasures of Love’s Middle via LitHub

• This is a rec: there will come a time to reclaim them by waterpots via AO3, which is, you know. two girls just making the most out of the after. just the right kind of quiet. feels like an overwatered lawn in the middle of a hot summer afternoon. i can't explain it.

ANYWAY kahit magkampihan pa kayo lmao:

Also if you're wondering if we got Jihyo cake for her birthday, yes we did!

Here's to March!

XO,

K