been away from this space, and not because i’ve been at it elsewhere, as there has been stretches of times with no more words to use for helplessness and sadness and anger. the twice a week radikalchick column is still happening in The Manila Times, and that seems to have been enough of words, along with FB statuses, and reliefPH.com.

November 13: On government’s lack of compassion.

November 16: Government spin versus the people’s voices.

November 20: On Bayanihan and criticism.

November 27: On Lucy Torres-Gomez as one voice of credibility.

November 30: Stop That Caravan!

December 8: on Ping as rehab czar, and Chiz’s call of soup kitchens.

last week was spent in Tacloban, feeding kids in San Jose, Tanauan and Palo, as often as we could, which meant going once to a place and leaving with pots emptied of arroz caldo. Mama Sita did a specially formulated and fortified arroz caldo mix specially for Rambie’s soup kitchen project. we left much of the mixes with Kusog Tacloban — a group of Taclobanon volunteers who are making sure relief goods get to where they must, and people get the rebuilding materials and assistance that they need. KuTac housed us and supported the soup kitchen from the get-go.

i also saw what it would be like to kick-off the first-person narrative project that i want to do in relation to this storm, something that i thought would just be about Tacloban, but now realize that the experiences were different for every province in Leyte. it was also clear that people needed to be more comfortable before they would spill their hearts and their stories of survival.

i tell anyone who asks about Tacloban that it is 10,000 times worse than what we see on TV. and that is true. and while i gather the words that will do justice to the spaces and people i’ve seen, let the words that i’ve already used suffice for now. also, here are photos from someone who captures how things are far far from normal.

PS: will / should get back to theater reviews in a bit, just gathering the energy for it too. coming up: on Grease, Maxie The Musicale, and The Producers.