Zana’s Reviews > Nest of Tongues > Status Update

‘“I know every Pinay with hand-tapped tattoos , a sage kit, and a TikTok account is calling herself a babaylan these days, but I have a good feeling about her. Calls herself Tita Tia.”

...

“Does she see patients in, like, the back of the Jollibee or something?” I ask, reaching for a bit of levity.’

👁️👄👁️

“Everything I’ll never get to do flashes through my mind as I stare vacantly at the fire’s dying embers....

Creating my own comic—under a pen name—which gets made into a movie with several sequels and a series of video games that becomes an entire sprawling universe that overtakes Star Wars.

Adopting a cat or six.

Traveling the world with my cat entourage.”

Lol wtf

‘“This, from the woman who told us Santa wouldn’t give us any Christmas presents if we didn’t pray to Jesus every night. Who told me if I went to bed with wet hair, I’d wake up with a migraine. Who had me pinching the bridge of my nose every day to make it straighter—which is some real colonialist bullshit, by the way.”’

👁️👄👁️

“Even though I understand why we’re being shunted across the country, the abrupt change of situation takes me back to last year when Mom told us she was going to the Philippines to study remote indigenous precolonial writing systems and didn’t know when she’d be back.”

Mom did what

‘“Have I ever told you about life in the Philippines under the first Marcos regime?”

Oh no—a historical preamble. Another bad sign. My dread magnifies. “Opo,” I say, nodding.’

Lol damn

‘“Emails?” Lily says as she rounds the corner. “Are you an elder millennial or something? Nobody emails anymore...”’

Lmao

“My brother hesitates. He draws a deep breath through a grimace, like a white person working up the courage to try balut after being informed that a duck embryo waits within the steamed egg.”

Lol