Kapawa Minizine Issue 1, Volume 6

volume 6 • issue 1

EDI S.Y. 2021-2022

KAPAWA

Lou Marcial M. Cuesta Editor-In-Chief Jewel Irish S. Belascuain Associate Editor Nicole Frances H. Sazon Managing Editor Angeli M. Geroso News Editor Francis Exequiel P. Ampil Feature Editor

Ryan A. Rodriguez Literary Editor Giollan Henry P. Demaulo Sports Editor

Joseph Bryant J. de los Santos

Layout, Graphics, and Photos Editor Ana Dominique G. Manabat Creative Layout Editor

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One of the first things we’re taught about our own bodies is their capability to perceive reality. To taste it with our tongue, to smell it with our nose, to hear it with our ears, to touch it with our hands, and to see it with our eyes. These five senses, they tell us, are to navigate a world spinning on its axis, to try and find our own balance within it as it turns and turns. As it changes and changes.

Worldly change is an inevitable fact—something to expect the way you expect metaphors to tell you caterpillars molt into butterflies or storms make way for the rainbow. But even metaphors change; sometimes, caterpillars don’t turn into butterflies and storms don’t preface a rainbow.

Sometimes, the world turns just enough that some things aren’t the same as they were a few revolutions ago.

What wasn’t taught about these senses of ours is that we have more than just five. That one of these many means to access our reality is the perception of temperature, of heat—and therefore, the perception of such change itself.

When summer rolls around, unfurls onto our calendars and pricks our skin as its welcome, we are subjected to the world

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at its most liquid. A moment in time that almost seems altered by the unbearable warmth, as our thermoception floods the rest of our systems. When we itch from the swelter, when we see the warp of a heatwave, when poolside bodies teeter on the edge of melting, threatening to leave behind only the bones of a time that’s liquefied away.

This is a time when change is at its fever pitch, our reality itself softening under the warmth of the sun and the pressure of our touch, moldable into constructs cool for just the summer.

In Kapawa’s inaugural edition of its minizine, we dedicate ourselves to the Zeitgeist, or, as its etymology states, the spirit of the age. An entire space tackling the essence of the season and the subjects of the scorch—whether souls searching for the shade, survivors taking on the simmer, or heat looking to seek and destroy.

These stories inside, and the writers behind them, are the evidence and investigations of the change we’ve been sensing. Have you felt it coming on?

In this climate of ours, how could you not?

Anna Sophia C. Galzote Sam Hervey T. Sabordo News Writers Miles U. Guancia Feature Writer Kyle Bryan T. Palparan Literary Writer

Lou Marcial M. Cuesta Jewel Irish S. Belascuain Joseph Bryant J. de los Santos

Ana Dominique G. Manabat Illustrators Stephanie Anne O. Alolon Photojournalist Rhiznan Faith D. Fernandez, LPT

Moderator

8-9

On the path to (un)professional plant-keeping

The Viral Link

Breaking the Status Quo

10-11

A heart-to-art discussion

12-13

14-15 Is internet love, true love?

ABOUT THE COVERS People availing the services of tarot reading are always wary of one card that may be pulled out of the deck. Death, as it is simply referred to, is the thirteenth Major Arcana out of a grand total of seventy-two cards. Perhaps, it is also the most feared.

Inherently, the card known as Death is often believed to be a harbinger of its namesake, that for whomever it is pulled for, they can assume that trailing behind them is the angel to the afterlife.

An assumption that is wrong. Mostly.

The card’s title evokes a different kind of death than the one coming to mind, not the ones met at fiery collisions or jet-black funerals, but that of a great, insurmountable change. Of the stale persona now—thought to be an immovable object—crashed into by a truly unstoppable force, an image of still life brought into moving, screaming motion.

A death of the current self, necessary to give birth to the newer self.

Simple as a change of clothes even. From your usual dark robes and scythes to something light and breezy.

Just right for the incoming heat.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

4-5 Are the Kids Alright?

6-7

At the mountain top

A wave of gasps rippled across the Liceo community when the Student Activities Council (SAC) decided that it was time to start a new era, giving birth to a new identity: the Liceo Student Government.

As simple as a name change, it was only natural to ponder upon what other new things LSG had in store for the upcoming year. Imperial revealed the ploy to this scheme: “I’d say the structure of government. [But] in terms of how we

4 | BACK TO SCHOOL

Bloody but unbowed

Furthermore, a new reality that they must defy is the relentless spheres of socio-political engagements. Student councils are to be no longer confined with shallow projects, but further act as alternative seats of political power instead. The LSG, for one, is expected to keep pace with how politically engaged today’s generation has become.

“The civic and political e n ga ge m e n t o f yo u n g people is cer tainly in t re m e n d o u s fl u x t o d a y, ” says M a r t y n B a r re t , a p s yc h o l o g y p r o f e s s o r in a United Nations ar ticle.

L i k e w i s e , Solacito airs out similar i d e a s, with emphasis that the LSG is bettering themselves through education.

On the local level, however, the question lingers on pushing agendas inside a Catholic university. “It’s an echoing of the past, and that’s sad because I think why we’re not super open [to] fresh ideas [is] [...] [because] the older generations [...] somehow don’t understand how important some issues are for the youth,” Aruta opines.

Among the hurdles, polarizing issues that have once stepped foot on the community are likened to strike again such as last year’s startling sexual

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RCI AL Illust M. rati on CUE by S AN TA a A DO n d MI NIC NI Q O UE

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Going for the great

“I was the last one to join the team, so it took me a long time,” expressed Veronica Aruta, Liceo Student Government’s (LSG) executive vicepresident for this academic year. “Before the year 2020, I [...] said ‘No, I’m not really [going to] run anymore.’ By then, I was so crushed and depressed all the time. I didn’t think I was doing well in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) council.”

She’s one out of five executive council members interviewed on the subject—with the remaining echoing the same sentiments on why they ran, of figuring out their true capabilities for the job.

For them to tread across the murky thoughts, it was helpful to remember what their purpose was. “It’s [definitely] the goal I’d really like to pursue every time I take on a new position or role, and [that’s] to create an impact,” shared Mark Carlos Imperial, LSG’s executive president.

For James Clarince Solacito, LSG’s executive treasurer, it was a matter of belief. “[....] it was the way to accept the trust they gave me [that led me to run] [....] Kung nakaya man gali ni James, [they said, so] why not trust myself?”.

What began as acts of trust from their peers blossomed into selfconfidence on what they could bring to the table as a new generation of leaders.

will handle information dissemination or how we will engage student activities, there is nothing different.”

They also revealed a new department under their wing to have a much more comprehensive council: the Human Resources Department, which will be in charge of the external governing body.

“However, it’s definitely the structure of the government and the [...] administration that will [change] so we’re currently working on first [...] changing the constitution [....],” he adds.

Likewise, preserving student life culture, despite the distance, is turning out to be a priority for this year’s LSG. With all that, the executive officers believe that rebranding comes with being more centered and notable among the community.

A r e

For them, the summer day begins when the clock strikes 7 a.m. First, to their workplace, with cork boards full of postits and to-do lists; then, to the demanding glow of the laptop screen, cluttered too, but with unchecked emails and files. This scenario can sound familiar to any jobhaving, white-collar adult.

In actuality, however, this is also just the everyday reality of student leaders.

Past the speeches, ceremonies, and formalities, these students—as much as they are like the rest of the Liceo community—feed on a different slice of life, carrying roles and responsibilities much bigger than they realize at second glance. With the youth’s paradigm changing gears at a revolutionary pace, these learners are the ones to step up to the challenge. But before they can, there is the question of why?

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“...but a great exercise, nonetheless, for our fresh faces to redefine what the leadership of tomorrow would look like.” harassment cases. The LSG executives, with a discerning look, talked about how to face potential scenarios.

“I guess it’s just opening a conversation. [....] and conversing […] how we could go about it—in what way we can help and in what way we [can] support,” says Solacito. For Cindy Lou Samson, LSG’s executive public relations officer, it’s through support groups, help desks, and webinars in which serious grievances can be safely tackled.

Wrapping up, Imperial states “Our common goal […] is for the students to feel represented. [....] Hopefully, we’ll do something significant.

Because at the end of the day, anhon mo na ang LSG if they haven’t created an impact on the student body and school?”

student leaders, it’s safe to assume that the shortcomings of the past student councils will not be overlooked as they continue to tread the forthcoming year with greater expectations weighing on their shoulders. This might only be a speck of dust in the fabrics of real-life power, but a great exercise, nonetheless, for our fresh faces to redefine what the leadership of tomorrow would look like.

For some, a spark reignites as we witness the start of something new. Having to live under questionable authority reigning over our country, one may only have wishful thinking for the future of the Philippines—praying that it may as well begin in the walls of Liceo-De La Salle.

As another school year opens, the spotlight closes in on the brand new LSG officers.

A greater bearing Only time can tell if they

With the testimonies will shine underneath it or given by the new set of go blind.

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On the path to (un)professional plant-keeping Text by MILES U. GUANCIA Edited by JOSEPH BRYANT J. DE LOS SANTOS Photos by FRANCIS EXEQUIEL P. AMPIL

What What awaits awaits those those who who dare dare walk walk where where our our local local plantitos plantitos and and plantitas plantitas have have paved? paved?

It’s not far off if you clicked on any social media and saw somebody just having posted about their brandnew potted garden plant. So, unbothered, you scroll a bit more to the wandering depths of the timeline and there it is—another Snake Plant or rare Mayana.

You scroll down just a bit more to make sure that that was in fact an isolated, virtual coincidence. But lo and behold, nope. It’s just plantitos and plantitas all the way down.

Surprised by the countless plant owners rising eastside to westward? Calm now, you’re definitely not alone. Even the best of us have witnessed the sudden, rapid growth of the plant industry throughout quarantine time. Now with the local title having been coined by our netizen plantitos and plantitas themselves, it’s unavoidable to ask—why?

Why have so many people hopped on the bandwagon that is tending to flora? How is a simple, no-sweat activity able to branch out from one person to another? How does it reach a national scale of enthusiasts budding in the comfort of their homes?

The answers may not be apparent at first sight, but they will present themselves to you, much like finally seeing the forest through the trees, or the flowers through the cracks of a clay pot.

friendly hobby to get into, now that many people are working and studying at home.”

Plants, like any other hobby or task out there, require simple time out of your day, fair learning of its maintenance, and consistency as occasionally light as watering. Whether it’s a leafy Begonia or chubby succulent, you will always have something worth spending your time with.

Thought-ed plants

Yes, even science supports that the care of homegrown plants is therapeutic for people. With the leafage’s calming nature, especially imparted to its caretakers, it’s worth noting how various species of plant also have properties that make them antibacterial, antifungal, and antistress. It’s not just the pure influx of oxygen that we could harness from the abundance of olive herbs or fauna, but also a deep, fine breath of mental relief.

This story is true to Zeejiah Macayana of STEM 12-I as she shares her inevitably gratifying experience with plants through her mother’s certified-plantita influence. “I don’t really take care of plants myself, but I can definitely recall how it has made a great impact on my mother. She would often say how taking care of plants is just like taking care of us, her family. And that Plant productivity whenever she tends over to

With academics, relationships, and even them, she gets truly mentally extracurricular engagements, the advent of becoming and physically relieved—like bored just seems so unlikely. But then again, there somehow magically she’s away will be moments where you find yourself either from all stress, negativity, unable to do anything or actively choosing not to. and even technology like While procrastination is a total no-go, parenting a gadgets.” plant or two just might be the best option for you.

Liceo student Alliyah de Leon from STEM 12-P can say the same thing. “I spent the majority of my weekdays at school, engrossed in my schoolwork. But now that I’m spending more time at home, I’m able to be more productive with my plant babies,” she says. “Gardening is a terrific family-

6 | QUARANTINE

“Whether it’s a leafy Begonia or chubby succulent, you will always have something worth spending your time with.”

Plant person, people person

Believe it or not, plants can offer a lesson or two about humans and how to handle them.

You see, diversity is fundamental, widespread in everyone’s character, that sometimes, you just don’t understand how to interact yourself into the bunch. Especially when spread out against the waking world chock-full of people and personalities you may not meld with upon first, second, or thereafter meetings.

Plants, on the other hand, can teach you the skills needed to fit in like a puzzle piece— patience, empathy, and communication. These green friends remind us that growth spends up our time, and no matter how long it may take, the aftermath is always worthwhile if you worked it out with thorough intent.

Whether rare ones in the green nooks of the world or the common kinds in the hands of your mother, no matter their height or color or foliage thickness, plants remind us of a simple thing: It’s not always about us. That no two are the same, just like the people who take care of them, and that, therefore, so are the values and lessons imparted. That their speed of growth varies in so many ways that we simply have to feel for them before getting impatient and annoyed ourselves, requiring us to look inward at our development before looking at that of our chloro-friends.

Communication with both floras and their fans is of the utmost importance to successfully grow, whether talking about our flowery babes or our own green-thumbed personas. So remember, a little effort—into plants, other people, ourselves—is all that’s needed to cultivate our inner plantitos and plantitas, the way a small seed makes way for the mighty oak.

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Breaking the Status Quo How the youth updates their political status, one step at a time, hammer in hand.

Text by ANGELI M. GEROSO and SAM HERVEY T. SABORDO Illustration by JEWEL IRISH S. BELASCUAIN

Looking at the current state of the youth’s engagement in politics, and the circumstances that have cornered them there, it’s no surprise that the masses have a lot to say about the new generation.

With their countless tweets, selfies, and Instagram stories, a fair share of stereotyping is not new to today’s youth. More specifically, assumptions that these Generation Z kids aren’t as politically engaged as the rest of the generations.

However, there has to be more than meets the eye, especially past the filter imposing this image onto them.

Perhaps the youth might not be as indifferent as people say they are.

High hopes

It appears to be that, by the time the new generation was born, the idea of them being the hope of the country has already been shoved into their consciousness.

Having been dubbed as one, a crucial role—to fulfill when it comes to speaking out the concerns of

8 | POLITICS

their compatriots for the common good—falls on their shoulders.

“It is very important for the youth to speak out, … take part in decision-making or debates, [....] [and] to express dissent and recommendation because they know what is better for the uncertain days in the future,” says Joshua Eusebio, the secretariat lead of Bacolod Youth Coalition for Democracy (BaCoD) and the advocacy and external relations manager of Negrosanon Young Leaders Institute, Inc. (NYLI).

He further elaborates that the best thing about being involved is that people could avoid committing the same mistakes as those who have been supportive of traditional politics. As Paul Daniel Serrano, a communications committee member of BaCoD, also points out, “It’s the youth that will

be carrying the nation in the future.

It’s important for us to be included in the decision-making about social economics and political issues because we will be living in this country in the future.”

But when they peak at the period that requires their voices, why does it seem like the ones expecting them to become the hope are the very people silencing them? Every time the youth demand accountability and change from the higher-ups, they do so with a preconceived notion that nearly all members of the older generation are just itching to tag them as rebels.

"Perhaps the youth might not be as indifferent as people say they are."

Maybe some of these conservative folk have long forgotten how the voices of the youth toppled authoritarian regimes; the latter has always had the specialty of coup d’etat in their veins. After all, if one looks back a hundred years from now, their revolution became a seed that caused the country’s democracy to sprout.

Youth (dis)engagement

In retrospect, young people’s engagement in nation-building was a light at the end of a dark tunnel. Contrary to the myths perpetuated by the older generation in public discourse about civic and political participation, the youth have a lot more to offer in bringing democratic values to life.

Taking things at the local level, there are various youth organizations all over Negros Occidental that are rooted in common ground. “To name some we have: Youth Empowering Youth Initiative, Inc., Sowing Legacy Movement, Inc., Youth for Climate Hope, [...] and many more,” Eusebio identifies other movements that pursue youth empowerment apart from BaCoD and NYLI.

However, many people still brand youngsters as apathetic due to their low levels of electoral turnout compared to the older generation. Yet, in reality, the youth view political engagement beyond the confines of national and local elections. Their enthusiasm in civic life is expressed not only in voting but in local initiatives that champion social awareness as well.

This could be why some claims about their political participation may leave shards that could damage the efforts to mobilize their full potential. At worst, it distorts the fact that they are much more engaged than the contradicting narrative says. If their fervor on the ground doesn’t always lead to a high turnout, then

maybe it hints more about the barriers disallowing such an outcome.

An era anew

No doubt that some citizens fail to see the dynamics that contour youth engagement as they neglect the structural and organizational challenges feeding young people’s lack of trust in the existing nature of political practices.

For Eusebio, two reasons contribute to such obstacles: the leaders with their ideas of self-inclusion in policy-making and the manifestation of dirty politics all around the country. “Every time I hear politics, the first thing that comes to mind is the filth that surrounds it, such as corruption,” Serrano remarks. Yet even as they grow up in a dysfunctional system, they still aspire for good governance to thrive.

Now that the upcoming 2022 elections is drawing near, politicians have begun to pull a few tricks from up their sleeves. But as Serrano emphasizes, “We must vote for politicians that will embody the opinions of the community. Not those who only run because of their political agenda, but those who are willing to listen to the problems that their constituents are facing.”

A lot of things have already transpired thanks to public servants’ substandard services, and the red flags they’re waving have been ignored far too long. “I believe that our youth have seen enough, and they already have compelling reasons to vote. [...]

The projected 40-million-youth vote can be a game-changer that can transform the national and local political landscape,” Eusebio adds.

Like all things, society changes through time— with that is the change of perspective and priorities.

Clinging to a single ideal may delay a nation’s progression. It’s necessary now more than ever that a promising generation, whose engagement can be harnessed to better the system, takes over.

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Diving deeper into the abrupt metamorphosis of society and culture during the pandemic.

Text by GIOLLAN HENRY P. DEMAULO and ANNA SOPHIA GALZOTE Illustration by LOU MARCIAL M. CUESTA

The Viral Link

Just because we can’t gather and celebrate, doesn’t mean the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can’t either. On its way to the second anniversary of its identification as a threat and menace, COVID-19 persistently rises to the occasion of changing our lives by its attempts to pause it completely.

Even despite its continuous stride of problematic events in its trail though, the population of Liceo-De La Salle has been at the frontlines of the ongoing disaster, remedying what it can to resume whatever normal there is.

But what intentions to define our normal has now altered in a matter of months. As the pandemic still shows no sign of pinning down a surefire date as a conclusion, people from different walks of life continue to experience and adjust to the drastic changes in the aspects of our reality— which have seemingly evolved into bizarre variants of their own.

Anti-viral turns anti-social

In efforts to further beat down on the spread of COVID-19, city and health officials enlisted the help of the iron fist that is social distancing. Maintaining a six-foot distance with others, limited store capacity, and greeting our friends through elbow bumps are just some of the conditions of this new rule.

10 |SOCIETY AND CULTURE

While alleviating, albeit slowly, this worldly shutdown completely had imprisoned everyone in the four corners of their houses, causing an abrupt decline in the social life chart. However, people from Liceo have found ways to reboot their social lives. Online platforms like Discord, Google Meet, and Zoom became highly demanded by people to connect and have fun through late-night catch-up calls, online game combats, and movie marathons.

“These online meeting apps are confusing at first, but are very convenient and essential,” Grade 12 STEM student Ylla Huyong stated. “[…] I am still able to catch up with my friends through playing and having voice calls through Discord or Zoom.”

Fare thee well to classrooms Furthermore, besides being known best as beacons of interconnectivity, these apps have also become a guiding light for students and faculty alike.

With the prohibition on learning face-to-face in place, the shift towards the new normal of education has forced students and faculty alike to adapt to the new requirements, trying its best to have the youth continue on their path to learning.

Liceo, for one—opting to temporarily abandon classes only attainable in classrooms—has insured its students and teachers in this new corner of education, pursuing lectures on these aforementioned meeting apps, through a concept called “Blended Learning,” a mix of physical classes and some corresponding internet fixins.

“Well, in my case, [...] even before the pandemic, I [had] already added some online elements. This is mainly [because] I am an IT graduate and originally was teaching [Empowering technologies],” says Mary Jade Jakosalem, a Research teacher in Liceo, in an interview regarding her views about the shift. “As for the online tools, [from a] teacher’s perspective, I believe that the 21st-century learners are technologically-adept. After all, they grew up being surrounded with technology as opposed to the older generations.”

Quaran-trends

Aside from school, however, mandates to stay at home for more than a year has not only brought up new ways to socialize and learn, but also served as a chance for new trends and hobbies to surface.

Social media such as TikTok and Facebook have paved a way for people to have a worthwhile quarantine.

From friendship bingos on your Instagram stories,

“But as the pandemic still shows no sign of pinning down a surefire date as a conclusion, some aspects of our reality seem to have evolved into bizarre variants of their own.” to impostor games in Among Us, to even a rigorous Chloe Ting workout, everyone has hopped on one trend or another.

“The pandemic and quarantine period has greatly affected the social lifestyle in a way that has deprived us [of] human touch. [....] However, people have become more creative thinking of new ways to spend time with their loved ones,” says Marielle Judith, a Grade 12 STEM student of Liceo-De La Salle.

The definite date of Liceo’s classes reverting back to the physical setting remains a vague, out-of-reach moment in our present. That said, the things coloring in the time between us and then—social life, education, and pop culture—have modified themselves under the weight of the new safety standards we adhere to, just as we’ve changed our living for that.

Though that day— of things going back to the way they were—is sure to come, the question remains: after all we’ve been through, is what we call normal then, normal now?

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A queer-as-folk conversation with artist Ginoe on small starts, the creative process, and the privilege and politics of storytelling.

Text by FRANCIS EXEQUIEL P. AMPIL Photos courtesy of GINOE Edited by STEPHANIE ANNE O. ALOLON

Usually, you don’t think of fashion when encountering a balaclava, in all its knitted, plain black, full-coverage glory. But the ones on Ginoe’s page will have your train of thought on track where it’s supposed to be, running in circles around one word: art.

Not exactly the usual portraits on canvas hanging on museum walls you’d expect upon hearing the word, but fresher, younger, uniquely queerer forms of it. A click on his Instagram handle will bring you to a rich buffet of his work—merchandise of three-headed dogs and Doja Cat (that’s even better than her official ones); highlight reels showcasing prints and posters of his eye-catching, both in name and look, Pierced Cock (as in chickens); and the aforementioned balaclavas themselves, one adorned in crosses detached from their beads, another decorated in crystal-like teardrop studs.

The messages behind them—of masks acting as both concealment and protection, of sorrow driving us forward instead of back—is only a part of the pull that’s garnered the artist his followers from across the country, kept them waiting for more. But to have such stable, recognizable footing as he does with his work and the meaning behind them, a three-year-old had to have found it first—and that was within the art of drawing.

“I didn’t have a ton of Disney, Marvel, [and] DC stuff [because] we couldn’t afford them, so the only visual cues I had were this 10-piece encyclopedia set,” says Ginoe. “I would copy the [artworks or illustrations] from the encyclopedia so I could show them to my friends [because] my mom [wouldn’t] allow me to bring the encyclopedias outside […]”

Non-stop years of being a creative, always surrounded by people just like him by conjoining himself to a new project, would allow him to have the platform he has now, constantly updated with newly finished works or upcoming project teasers.

12 | HUMAN INTEREST

A heart-to-art discussion

"Regarding the portrayal of minorities such as the LGBTQIA+ community, women, people of color, and more, Ginoe has a simple solution: Stay in your lane."

The latest one at the time of writing this are the dazzling, so-captioned ba(la)kla(va)s— inspired by the Papal Jewelry and Antingeros, as well as Our Lady of Sorrows. Along with his mother and father’s practices in dressmaking and building respectively, and his surrounding community of peers, neighbors, and mentors, Ginoe’s religious upbringing—of Flores de May, Daily Rosaries, Via Crucis, Cathechism—is a main influence in his work. Even the mononym Ginoe reminds one of Aba Ginoong Maria, invoking a kind of modified Catholicism the way Madonna or Lorde do.

Across the three-column gallery of his Instagram page, you’ll find an illustration of thorn handcuffs, a heart in tri-color fabric from scraps, and other ephemera of the sort—holy imagery permeated through by his queerness, as Ginoe says.

“Every work I do is queer work because it’s done by a queer person,” he elaborates. “[Because of how both] my worldview and [the way] the world treats me is queer […] that informs all the permutations of my work.”

Any space Ginoe may occupy, you can expect to be a queered one. Take the digital space, for example: if it’s not stories, tweets, or pictures of his own unique point-of-view through or on art, it’s the showcasing of other queer people’s work.

Although holding the space for other artists—queer or not—is definitely a commendable, noble thing to do, it’s a privilege that some ultimately cannot afford, scrambling to push themselves through that door, while others abuse it entirely.

This talk of privilege— of special advantages usually available to cisgender, straight men—is something Ginoe finds to be a problem in the current art scene, whether local or national, as pervasive as it is in any other industry. But privilege as an artist proves to be an interesting combination when given the question of art being inherently political or not, and when presented with the conundrum if

those currently in the exhibition limelight can step up to the plate and handle that notion—to present their pieces as extensions of themselves that could easily sway or inform their audience, especially when on a pedestal.

For the former, Ginoe stands firmly in the affirmative.

“Art does not exist in a vacuum,” he explains. “[Even] the choice of saying your art is apolitical is already political in nature.”

As for the latter part, one cannot help but remember the recent controversy and discourse brought about by the art show Itaga mo sa Bato, criticized for discriminatory and bigoted messaging disguised apparently as subversive, dark “humor.”

Ginoe was one of many who called out, not only the creator, but the gallery itself, for boosting such culturally insensitive work and a double whammy of a (non-) apology and (lack of) reform.

Regarding the portrayal of minorities such as the LGBTQIA+ community, women, people of color, and more, Ginoe has a simple solution: Stay in your lane.

“If it’s not their story to tell, they should not tell it. [So,] pass the mic to other people […] to those who need to be amplified,” he states. “There’s no other way to go about it, other than [homages or tributes].”

While the quandaries of entering the world of art may prove intimidating to say the least, the fruits to be borne out of it are nothing short of absolutely rewarding. But if any young Pinoy artist out there doesn’t know where to first ground their foot on, let Ginoe show you the way.

“Find what you like—what makes you happy and what you think is fun—and follow it,” he says. “[You can] allow your heart to change course, but never abandon it.”

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14 | LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS

"If in this unstable connection, the compatibility of those involved can clear the fogs clouding up their relationship, then they might have just found their own answer to one of the universe's greatest questions."

to realize the sincerity of feelings. Much so that even in bad terms or good, one can’t really experience and appreciate what’s being transmitted on digital screens. Artemis and her boyfriend are no exception to this common barrier that causes online love to disconnect.

“It’s always shaky and uncertain where the relationship goes after miscommunications, as we can’t prevent impulsiveness and our feelings getting the best of us,” she continues.

Unclear and difficult communication is what typically puts behind relationships, and in a more restrictive space like the internet, it becomes much worse.

However, miscommunication has one obvious solution.

“But because we both understand these factors, we manage and solve it by letting each other cool down and talk after we have finally collected our thoughts about the situation,” she concludes.

An unexpected answer Ask Artemis, her boyfriend, or any other person from all relationship statuses— they’ll tell you love is an immeasurable, complicated thing. Much so that, when faced with the question of whether love is found in traditional faceto-face settings, or the digital space of mobile games or dating apps, no one can really dictate the ultimate answer.

Because feelings—just like perfect relationships (if they

do exist)—aren’t to be measured by consensus, collective calculations, or the space it occupies; love is personal and unique to everyone, and so is the answer to this question.

Whether internet love is true or false is entirely dependent on one’s own experience. If in this unstable connection, the compatibility of those involved can clear the fogs clouding up their relationship, then they might have just found their own answer to one of the universe’s greatest questions.

But, if not, then there are many places elsewhere in the world to find it.

Not all out of love

You may not end up like Artemis and her beau, but just as the definitions and experiences of love there are come plenty and innumerable, so do the people in the world. So, don’t fret; there’s plenty of space and time to cast your love hooks in either the offline or online seas.

While it may seem intimidating, with the question of why always a requirement, never forget to also ask, why not?

Constraining yourself to one of either norms or contemporaries might just restrict you from paths that lead you to what could be the best of your life. But if the road you’re on leads to nowhere—if some things just aren’t meant to be— then at least, one less obstacle is out of the way, and true love becomes one step closer.

ZEITGEIST | 15