Letter From the Editor: October

This might be the latest into a month I’ve ever written a letter from the editor (spoiler: it is) but fuck it, here we are. It’s super weird to be riding this magical wave of constant synchronicities and feel like I’m simultaneously killing it yet blowing it at the same time. Honestly, I never thought it was possible to be this happy. I’m so grateful for all the work and opportunities and people in my life, but I’m also exhausted as hell with too much on my plate and the sinking feeling that I’m not doing anything particularly well. I write this on the Taurus Full Moon, which reminds us to ground. To regroup. That we are calm, we are strong, we can choose to react to challenges on a higher vibrational level. And in my case particularly, to weed out the unnecessary and only focus on the most important things - like the privilege I have to be doing this work with our community, with my sisters, to be a tiny part of the knife that slowly and deliberately chips away at the structures keeping us caged.

“We Are Our Ancestors’ Wildest Dreams” is one of those Insta-quotes that been floating around for awhile (and not for nothing, it’s a good one) - and honestly, I’ve seen and felt things this month that verify this to be true beyond a shadow of a doubt. I’ve witnessed a direct channel to god be cracked open through the power of defiant Pinay women speaking their truth onstage, a massive crowd full of brown people raise their fists in solidarity after Ruby Ibarra and Rocky Rivera tore it down and fucked it up at this past weekend’s Undiscovered. I see how pop culture can be meaningful and can move the people to action. I see us breaking down barriers all over the damn place, taking up space, reclaiming our narratives. Doing the work, holding each other accountable, and supporting and loving each other each step of the way. The synchronicities be poppin off so hard that it’s almost too beautiful to watch.

We are writing history right now.

Earlier this month, while my sister JL was on the west coast facilitating a workshop with FMHI, she spoke on the work that goes into healing trauma and how while we might not heal it in this lifetime, the work is also for the future generations who carry that trauma in their DNA. Similarly, it might not even be us who see this world truly change; it might be our children or our childrens’ children or maybe even further down the line - but it takes real strength of heart to keep pushing forward towards goals we might never bear the fruit of. I believe it’s our responsibility to realize the dreams of our ancestors, and to be ancestors to our future generations. We are doing it for them. We must.

As Rocky spits in her feminist anthem “Turn You”: You think I live happily ever after? / This ain't a motherfuckin’ fairytale - the story of our people is one written in blood and fire. May we continue holding each other down through the struggle to come.

<3 Steph