
My research turned up this image from the Howitzer, the West Point’s yearbook. It shows, near the center, my lolo, Maximiano Saqui Janairo (if you can’t find him, he’s the one who isn’t white).
My research turned up this image from the Howitzer, the West Point’s yearbook. It shows, near the center, my lolo, Maximiano Saqui Janairo (if you can’t find him, he’s the one who isn’t white).
Thank you, re:asian magazine, for including me in the “firsts” issue!
The poem touches upon things I’ve been thinking about since grade school when I first read the phrase “benevolent assimilation” as a U.S. description of its colonial policy with the Philippines.
The magazine has also published a photo I took of the home my Lolo — grandfather — grew up in Cavite.
Here’s an excerpt from the poem:
Something like fear structured my feelings around the word
Philippines and whatever it was that connected me to it
Check out the full poem on the re:asian website here and let me know what you think — either here or on the re:asian site.
Thanks to Ray Ortali for publishing my latest short story, Auntie Lovely Says Goodbye, in his eMagazine, We Love Books & Company, which you can download here.