Being Pilipino American is an experience that one might view as confusing.
For me, I’ve never really experienced an opportunity where my family members spoke about the Philippines except in the small facets of culture like language, music and food. I was taught that being Pilipino...
People are patchworks. No person is ever made up of one single thing. It’s the several parts that make a whole and all of them are important.
One patch might be race, the other, religion; a patch here, your gender; a patch there, your sexuality; health; body type; financial stability....
“I’m sorry, can you please say your name again?” “Do you have any nicknames, something easier to pronounce?” “Is that even a name?” The majority of my life has consisted of these questions regarding my first name alone, but that’s only the beginning.
After tearing apart...
