Breaking Free Kababae mong tao, bumabyahe ka nang mag-isa. (Loosely interpreted: You, a woman, have some nerve to travel by yourself.) Filipinos can immediately recognize the feeling of thinly veiled condescension and admonition that comes with this statement. Women who traveled, particularly on their own, were used to be viewed either with suspicion, as if […]
The Transformation on Icelandair Flight 623
From what I could tell, the blonde lady sitting across the aisle from me was a local Icelandic woman. I was a Filipino-American visitor to her land of Vikings and volcanoes, concluding a weeklong wedding anniversary trip. As the Boeing 757 lifted off the ground and started to make its way up to the sky, […]
Shopping for home
SHOPPING FOR HOME by Maria Theresa Mendoza Cruz Ten years after I immigrated to the United States to work as a physical therapist, I sometimes seek the familiarity of home in different places in Atlanta. The big Simon malls with their flashy storefronts and trendy merchandise takes me back to Manila’s mega shopping centers. It […]