Archive (Page 3) • Notes on a Nation • Buttondown

Manila, 31 May—Just like that, we’re already at the end of May. I remember ushering in 2020 and praying that Taal Volcano’s eruption was not an indicator of...

she-ra and the princesses of power (2020)

Manila, 23 May—I have loved this new She-Ra series on Netflix ever since it first came on with its 13-episode first season in 2018. When its final season...

Manila, 17 May—As our areas enter their respective incarnations of the community quarantine, I’d like to start this entry off with this Very Relatable Cat.So...

Manila, 10 May—Happy Mother’s Day to you and yours! Whether we are quarantined with our mothers or quarantined away from them, this year’s COVID-19 affected...

the half of it (2020)

Manila, 2 May—Where to start with Alice Wu’s new movie “The Half of It” that just got released on Netflix? Warning: Spoilers abound after trailer. Repeating...

a fingerprint like grief

Manila, 26 April—An essay by David Kessler on Lithub makes this distinction between mourning and grief: Grief is what’s going on inside of us, while mourning...

Manila, 19 April—So we marked C’s birthday while in lockdown last week. In lieu of a party, we shared some food with our building frontliners instead. I...

new generations

Manila, 19 April—Finally managed to finish the reboot of The L Word: Generation Q over C’s birthday weekend. I mentioned being excited about this series’...

Manila, 12 April—Happy Easter! What to make of this odd stretch of days masquerading as the Holy Week long weekend no? For many, it’s been the much-needed...

summer in the time of covid-19

Manila, 5 April—Summer’s already in full swing, can you feel it? These days it feels like the heat seeps through walls. This temperature is actually par for...

quarantine week 2

Manila, 28 March—We’re almost fourteen days into this enhanced community quarantine. How have you been, friends? The weekdays bleed into each other, and C...

stuck in perpetual sundays

Manila, 21 March—Six days after the lockdown. Where are you? In our neck of the woods, where it is normally busy, it feels like a perpetual Sunday: Empty,...

Notes from a quarantine

Tell me how you’re keeping sane? (Dumping quarantine resources for creatives here.)

Manila, 14 March—Every time I start a new entry, I make it a point to read where I left off in the last one, and trust me when I say my last post felt like...

here comes march!

Manila, 2 March—February was short and busy! After our trip, I finally had time to focus on the last few edits of my paper for defense—which turned out to be...

i'm seoul into you

February 15, 2020

Manila, 15 February—I sort of hurt my wrist while on vacation, holding on to heavy jackets and miscalculating my attachment to bus handles, so this...

and then we came to the end

February 1, 2020

Manila, 1 February—To say that January felt like an entire year crammed in four weeks is an understatement. I’ve never quite been as glad to have made it to...

the longest month of the year

January 26, 2020

Manila, 26 January—How is it still January?!? This month has been hard on everyone, and I’ve heard many comment that it already feels like an entire year has...

pit senyor! tales from sinulog 2020

January 19, 2020

Cebu, 19 January—That time of the year again! Back in Cebu for this year’s Sinulog coverage. Sending this out on the occasion of my mother’s 61st birth...

new year, new me: 2020 edition

January 12, 2020

Manila, 12 January—The other day, as we were winding down our Friday, I heard one of my co-workers say out loud: I can’t believe we’re only ten days into...

hello there, 2020

January 5, 2020

Manila, 5 January—Happy New Year, friends! One could truly get used to extended holidays like that one, no? If you’re like me and you hauled yourself right...

notes on another year

December 31, 2019

Manila, 31 December—And so we have come to the end. My last entry of the year is mostly a mix of notes for myself—a laundry list of what worked, as well as a...

yearender: 2019 in movies

December 30, 2019

Manila, 30 December—This year, we went to the cinemas and squeed over some really good movies. Hence, I’m making a special segment out of my current 2019...

yearender: 2019 in review

December 25, 2019

Manila, 25 December—Merry Christmas to you and yours, friends! This yearender masterpost is the 50th post for this year—I’ll try to make two other yearender...

capricorn season

December 20, 2019

Manila, 20 December—Feels like I haven’t been on here since forever. Been spending the last handful of weeks trying to tear through my Strama paper—which I...

hello, december

December 1, 2019

Manila, 1 December—I figured I should do a drive-by update because just like that, it’s already December! Wow. How’s your Christmas shopping going?! Mine’s...

portrait of a lady on fire (2019)

November 17, 2019

Manila, 17 November—Céline Sciamma’s French historical drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is perhaps the best movie I’ve seen this year. (Spoilers after the...

jagged little pill

November 9, 2019

Manila, 8 November—Among my earliest memories as a child coming of age is riding shotgun in the morning with my mother on the way to school, turning the...

October 30, 2019

Malay, 30 October—Just dropping this quick note to say I have been spending my after-work hours and entire weekends trying to power through writing...

how's your Q4 so far?

October 14, 2019

Manila, 14 October—In true Q4 fashion, my calendar for the last three months of this decade has been filled. Yes, just like that. Must be a common feeling,...

the last one thousand days

October 6, 2019

Manila, 6 October—It’s my first time to hear of this metric, but someone on Twitter mentioned that it’s time to countdown to The Last 1,000 Days of the...

What's the worst thing this administration has done?

October 6, 2019

Now that we’re on The Last 1000 Days of this admin, maybe this is worth a lookback. After all of THAT—what incidents and issues stand out as the Worst of the...

The perfect pitch

September 30, 2019

Manila, 28 September—How do you introduce yourself first? As far as first days of school go, this is perhaps the one thing I feel most pressured to get...

How would you pitch the current you to a younger you?

September 29, 2019

Scenario: You’re picking up your younger self’s report card and you have ten minutes to spend with said younger self to discuss it. What year would you find...

Martial Law in the Philippines, 47 years hence

September 23, 2019

Manila, 23 September—For a change, I thought of posting this year’s round-up of Martial Law reportage on this day instead of Sept 21, which is the date of...

And we're back (in school!)

September 21, 2019

Manila, 21 September—And just like that, I’m back in the classroom. This afternoon, I went back to class for the first time in three years. If anybody still...

September 15, 2019

Manila, 16 September—Once upon a time, we had amulets. Like, honest-to-goodness red mini-pillows with stitched-on crosses pinned to our underwear, or old...

an open letter to the transphobe down the hall

September 8, 2019

Manila, 8 September—This week has been heavy on the heart for anyone who has a stake in the SOGIE Equality Bill that is currently being discussed in the...

The L Word (and everything after)

September 1, 2019

Manila, 31 August—Nothing brings me back a dozen or so years as hard as Kinnie Starr’s “Alright”. I first heard the song on The L Word, which was a...

the first mayor

August 25, 2019

Manila, 25 August—When I was growing up, the only mayor I knew was Mayor Sanchez. Truth be told, I did not even know who Bacoor’s mayor was at the time, even...

let them pee in peace

August 17, 2019

Manila, 17 August—Filipino transgender woman Gretchen Diez is at the forefront of something remarkable. After being barred from using the women’s restroom in...

a postscript on family

August 12, 2019

Manila, 12 August—Something strange happened to me over the weekend: I witnessed a family showdown. I know I don’t usually talk about my family, outside of...

t.g.i.s. (+ hey queer makers)

August 11, 2019

Manila, 11 August—Coming of age in the mid-to-late 90s is incomplete without television. As a child who lived in the outskirts of Metro Manila (pre-city...

information diets

Manila, 3 August—How does the rain make you feel? It’s been raining nonstop for days, and I’ve been feeling a bit… slowed down by it. It’s been ten years...

we were in el nido

Manila, 30 July—I may not be much of a traveler, but believe it or not, if there’s one thing I do enjoy, it’s traveling for work. Last week, work took me to...

Straddle or swerve?

Manila, 21 July—We caught the Friday night staging of Diana Son’s play “Stop Kiss” at the Power Mac Center Spotlight in Circuit Makati, my first play in this...

The biggest lie I was ever told

Manila, 14 July—But first, I want to open with something true: my teammates and I were in Argao, Cebu to hold a Millenniors program there with their seniors....

one hell of a time

Manila, 7 July—How’s your weekend doing so far? We have been deliberately avoiding Stranger Things Season 3, which is perhaps the biggest debut on Netflix...

pride as protest

Manila, 30 June—It rained hard all day on Asia’s biggest Pride Parade but it did not matter to the 70,000 people who trooped to the Marikina Sports Center to...

Manila, 22 June—One of my favorite moments from last year was attending the Pride March at the Marikina Sports Center. Touted the biggest Pride March in...