Filipino Americans

"To my fellow Asians — please recognize how our status as a model minority is weaponized against the Black community."

"It’s an honor to represent the province I grew up visiting my lola and lolo."

"La Union is where I fell in love with the Philippines and developed my dream of building a life here."

"I am now also honored to represent my Elyucana identity and ancestral roots by carrying the title of Miss Universe Philippines – La Union."

"We don’t inherit the world from our ancestors; rather, we borrow it from our children."

"The challenges facing our world are great."

"Seemingly allergic to pentatonic scales and harboring an aggressively defiant swagger, Filipino-American indie hero Joey Santiago broke in with the Pixies in the late '80s. As originators of the loud/quiet/loud dynamic that would be perpetually mimicked in the '90s, Santiago and the Pixies should be considered true precursors to grunge."

"…I act like a hopeful person, but I think that hope is based on having zero expectations. I’ve never expected anything out of life, so I’ve never been disappointed…"

"I like to write about modern instincts that are in some way good. And also in some way dangerous."

"The whole ‘girlboss’ realm, actually. Anything that is treating the magnification of a personal brand, or the acquisition of wealth as the ultimate prize, is just fully out the window. The way those books treat little girls as if they’re generic? I get sent so many self-help books that are about like, ‘perfectly imperfect’, ‘badass feminists’ that ‘don’t give a fuck’, but then the fuck is bleeped out? You know what I mean?"

"…there are individual ways that we work our way through all of these systems that are corrosive and inescapable. But if there is a solution to the system itself, it’s at a collective level. It’s the level of policy and politics, it’s not at the level of individual choice."