Author Archives: Kamuning Republic

Notes on graving

The image of Dr. Nicolas Auguste Gay-Bellile’s grave, a massive head perched on top of a skyscraping tombstone, reminds me of Dune and the way director Denis Villeneuve showed the corpulent menace, Vladimir Harkonnen, using Holtzmann suspensors to rise and allow the baron to seemingly nullify gravity. The image of the sculpture is from aContinueContinue reading “Notes on graving”

Watch over us, Tita Mercy

This piece came out in abs-cbnnews.com on 25 May 2020. Tita Mercy’s passing hit so many families, groups, and individuals whose lives she touched because of her tireless work on women’s health and reproductive rights. Just thinking about her now, that Tita Mercy is no longer with us, it makes my heart sink. But weContinueContinue reading “Watch over us, Tita Mercy”

Dreaming Colombo

Placeholder text for a post on Place Stories. Capital of Sri Lanka. A dreamy place. Humid, lush, alive. One night I headed to the Muslim area for street food. Then I went to the public wholesale goods market, which was bustling. The scent of spices wafted throughout the alleyways. Colors splashed everywhere. The red mosqueContinueContinue reading “Dreaming Colombo”

Wyatt Earp

This is my loyal horse, my companion, the bicycle that brings me great joy, on which I discovered the way I cycle is closer to the cerebral and emotional rhythms of walking rather than cycling. I stop frequently, I like having destinations but I am not bound by endings. I meander. I putter around. IContinueContinue reading “Wyatt Earp”

Defending the Future: Steve Sawyer

“There are salacious rumors going around saying our planet is burning and that you are no longer around. Only the latter is false. Along Rue de Dunkerque I passed by Terminus Nord the other day and paused, remembering when you walked in by chance, with lovely Shruti, and later Athena joined. Sze Ping and IContinueContinue reading “Defending the Future: Steve Sawyer”

Jeff Woodke, the Ransomed Poet

My good friend, Jeff Woodke. We first met in the climate negotiations sometime in the first decade of the new millennium. I was with Greenpeace International then, and he was with Tearfund, a non-profit set up by evangelicals, which was quite surprising. Jeff had a wicked sense of humor; we laughed often, at others, atContinueContinue reading “Jeff Woodke, the Ransomed Poet”