Today (July 7) is Blackout Day, a movement encouraging blacks and people of color (BIPOC) and their allies to come together in solidarity and end systemic racism through their economic power, by refusing to spend a dime at any business unless Black-owned. How did Blackout Day begin? According to Wikipedia, the event was conceived in 2015...
A couple of years into the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, declaring “that all persons held as slaves” in the states engaged in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Two years after the proclamation, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, was...
Manila, Philippines: It’s the season for civil unrest. As millions of people in and outside of the United States stand with the black community and scream for systemic change, the Philippine Senate has just passed a senate bill to repeal the Republic Act No. 9372 commonly known as the Human Security Act of 2007. The...
“He won the lottery by being born Big hand slapped a white male American Do no wrong so clean cut, Dirty his hands it comes right off Policeman, policeman, policeman Police stopped my brother again…” I sing this verse from Pearl Jam’s W.M.A song from 1993 as I watch a white cop kneel on George...
I didn’t get into the habit of minding my ‘flow’. I don’t even know anybody who tracks their cycle unless they are either trying to fall pregnant or trying not to. We just weren’t programmed to embrace or embody our inner cycle. All we know is that it comes every month and we can’t wait...
We don’t need to go through a door to enter a different realm. We don’t need a witch’s broom to fly us away. A good book alone can accompany us during self-isolation. A beautifully spun tale can bring us places. It serves as our portal to a different world. All we need to do is...
We find freedom in traveling. Every grain of sand that we step foot on at pristine coasts; every masterpiece hanging at an arts epicenter that we soak in; every foreign culture we absorb from people at the fringes and intersections of life, adds another layer to our ever-evolving self. We take in the wonders that...
We have been living in this wild pandemic jungle for months now where the canopy of coronavirus blocks any light of the future from our views. But even amidst the hard lockdowns, a semblance of normality is on the horizon. Currently, there is a mad scramble of schools and universities to look for the right...
Manila, Philippines: Fashion Revolution Week was celebrated across the globe even when almost all the countries around the world are under quarantine. Fashion Revolution teams from different countries organized virtual events to commemorate the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse and demand transparency, ethics and sustainability in fashion. Despite much of the world being on lockdown,...
We imagine garment workers hunched over their sewing machines in an overcrowded factory inside a crumbling tenement somewhere in China, Bangladesh or India when in fact, many of these garment workers are actually working in their own homes. About 20 million in India and 30 million in China are homeworkers. As few of them have...
If you’re trying to save some dollars and implement eco-friendly parenting habits, this time in quarantine may be an opportunity to start reducing disposable plastic nappy waste by switching to reusable diapers and potty training your kids. Potty training can be quite a chore (I speak for myself here as a mum who is raising...
Since governments are asking citizens to stay at home to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, it is only natural to want to create a safe and beautiful space for ourselves and families. Here are some ways to design a comfortable, sustainable bedroom while continuing to give Mother Nature a chance to recover and...