Start With A Why Not

I start this blog (and newsletter, depending on your choice of viewing) for a number of reasons.

First, the many ideas, thoughts, and experiences that I've been keeping to myself have to be shared with other women in Asia and beyond, who may find them useful and worth exploring. These ideas are only percolating in my head most of the time, helping and entertaining noone but myself and people close by.  I have not engaged in social media for the past year and have no intentions of going back for the meantime. More on that later, but effectively -- there is a responsibility to share and contribute, and I'll likely have fun in the process.

Second, there is a need for more Asian female writers in my inbox that I can relate to, so I decided to be one for other people.  I see and read a lot of Western women of all races online, and I love them and can relate to them, but not fully. I am Asian and I live in Southeast Asia, gratefully Level 4, like people in Western countries, but shaped more or less by different forces. We Asian women need to occupy our space and people out there need our voices.  Level 4 Filipinos are influenced so much by Western media and there's a disconnect between that and how we actually live. For example, yes a big aim of my pleasure-seeking life is always to feel cozy. It's from reading a lot of childhood books where the kids are always playing in the snow and the families are relaxing by the fire. It's funny if you live in Manila which is a daily steaming soup of hot humid air. Which is why we need a lot of air conditioning and then that's when we can be cozy. [Torn on this point because of sustainability reasons.] Anyway, I find the disconnect between prevalent Western culture and our Asian lives as a sort of funny/sad elephant in the room.  

I love Filipino thinkers and creators who observe and make sense of this disconnect, who produce wow-moment pieces and products that speak to us.

Third is a selfish reason, everyone needs a creative outlet and old-fashioned blogs are just the best. It's wonderful to be googling some topic and then stumble upon an entire blog on it by someone who absolutely loves what they're writing. Cancel culture is alive and well, but anyone who's doing anything will have occupational hazards. Freedom of expression in my country is, by all metrics, being slowly suppressed. I want to exercise what I have for our good and I'd like to encourage everyone to do the same.

Finally... live from New York, it's Saturday night!