Latest / Petty and Unbothered / #14 - Colonialisms and the Pettiest way to end a war
Transcript
- Tita Lors: Okay, here we go. Yay! Okay, here we are. We're here. That doing that just reminded me that I am going to see Elenium this summer. Robin Axline: Yay! Hey! What's the...Hellenium? Tita Lors: Wait you know, my God. So he's like a DJ, producer, artist thing ⁓ like EDM music. And I'm super stoked. I'm not big on EDM, but I really like Elenium's music. it'll I'm super stoked. It's going to be at the Sphere and it's like this all. Yeah. All around, like you could see it. And I'm like. Robin Axline: Ugh. ⁓ what? Tita Lors: It's gonna be beautiful. Robin Axline: ⁓ that sounds incredible. mean, EDM at the Sphere would be like really fun, I bet. Tita Lors: I know, I, yeah, I'm so excited. So, you know, I'm escaping my kids, because I'm going to leave them. So Ryan's actually going with us finally on the vacation. So I get to leave the kids with him and my family. And I'm going to hop over to Vegas real fast for like maybe 48 hours. and then come back down because it's like I'm trying to come down so we can have Fourth of July with my family because it's on it's on the third so I'm like yeah Robin Axline: ⁓ wow. Are you gonna fly probably? ⁓ Tita Lors: I don't know. It depends if I can get a car. My friend is going to that. So my friend out here, she was like, oh, what are your summer plans? And I told her, I'm like, we should go to Disneyland because they're having promotions right now for kids. Yeah. So I was like, OK, the tickets are cheaper. Let's go. I think we should probably buy our tickets soon, So we're going to do that. My mom has a timeshare in Anaheim. We're going to stay at the timeshare. And then she's like, well, a Lenny is going to be in Vegas. Do you want to go to Vegas? I was like, do I? Yes, of course I do. So. Somehow. She's going to she's going to fly to Vegas. I'm going to exist in Vegas at some point, somehow either flying or driving, and then we have to come back together. So it might be a good idea to drive. It's only like a four hour drive. Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah, it's not that bad. Tita Lors: Yeah, it wouldn't be that bad. we'll see. Robin Axline: Depending on how fast you drive, I suppose. Also. Tita Lors: Yeah. Robin Axline: I used to pride myself in getting from like Santa Barbara to there in like six hours flat or something like that, which was kind of insane. I take this out. No, I'm just kidding. Tita Lors: Oh gosh, yeah. I'd be like, yeah, I used to do the same thing. I did the same thing. I would be like, it takes, it's supposed to take like four-ish hours to get there, unless you're me, then you do it in three to three and a half hours. You just gotta know where the police stretch is, where they usually hide. Yep. Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, just don't get too cocky or too crazy. Tita Lors: Exactly. Yeah. Robin Axline: Yeah, but the flights, mean, some can be really cheap, all I was gonna say. Sometimes if you find a good one, you might get like $30 flight. Something like that. But if you got a buddy, you can make it a road trip. Tita Lors: Yeah. That's what I'm thinking. I think it'll be a good opportunity for us to like get closer. I don't know that we've ever spent just like four hours just us alone together. She's a newer friend that I made when I moved out here and we're close. I don't think we've spent like that much time together. So road trips are revealing. Robin Axline: ⁓ yeah, yeah, you really get to know a person if you can handle them in the future. Tita Lors: Yeah, yeah, right. It says a lot. I've definitely gone on road trips with some people where I've been like, love you, but we're going separate next time. Robin Axline: Yeah, not... Yeah, yup, yup. Been there, done that. Tita Lors: Yeah. Okay. Any losers, happy Philippine Independence Day on the 12th. Woohoo! Yay! I was going to sing the national anthem, but I actually ⁓ don't feel good. And I don't know that I remember it. Robin Axline: Anywho. ⁓ Woo woo woo! Yeah, let's do it. Aw, extra credit, I would have learned it for you, but I didn't know. Tita Lors: Oh man! Hold on, let me actually look at the lyrics. I think I still know it's like, Oh my god! I had to... Robin Axline: Maybe next up, we could do a duet. Tita Lors: here it is. it is. Yeah, maybe next up. I know. We'll just... ⁓ figure it out. ⁓ Or like, I'll just add it. I'll add a video or a clip of like... ⁓ there it is. Bayang magiliw perlas ng silanganan had ⁓ to learn that. ⁓ I got the chance to learn it and sing it in college and it was really fun. Yeah. Speaking of culture, I don't think I've ever asked you, or if I have, I'm a horrible friend and I've forgotten, what's your cultural background? Robin Axline: I, it's, it's, ⁓ it's really a mishmash of things, to be honest. my family is kind of like Scottish, ⁓ British, a little German, ⁓ just European in general, I think. ⁓ Tita Lors: ⁓ huh. Mm-hmm. Robin Axline: My mom always talks about her grandma having like a Scottish accent. so, ⁓ yeah, I mean, I, thing is like with my parents, they get really into like different cultures and some of our family friends actually, well, my godfather and his family are Jewish. so we, Tita Lors: Cool. Robin Axline: have seders and Passover dinners sometimes. And I've been to like bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, that sort of thing too. But my overall, like my parents are just kind of like, they kind of adapt to a lot of different cultures, I guess you could say. Tita Lors: ⁓ huh. Wow. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's really cool that you got to have such a broad cultural experience. wasn't just because some people are like, oh, I'm white end of story. And I'm like, boring, but that you actually have an understanding of your history and your background. And then beyond that, too, that your parents allowed you to experience other cultures. Robin Axline: Yeah, for sure. Tita Lors: in to fold that into your childhood. How cool. Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Part of my ⁓ education was ⁓ my parents would, they told all of us to pick a country and get like really into it and mine was India. So I like got really into learning about that and cooking Indian food, etc, etc. Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. ⁓ cool! Uh-huh. Uh-huh! Robin Axline: which was kind of neat. And then my dad ⁓ would put Italian flashcards around the house on everything and hope that we would just absorb Italian. I don't know how much that worked, but anyways. Tita Lors: ⁓ huh. ⁓ huh. Through osmosis of the eyes. Especially if you can't read yet, that's hilarious. Robin Axline: Yeah, I know, like the door had the... It's wild. Anyway. Tita Lors: Yeah, that's so funny. ⁓ My big, I realized that she had somehow learned Spanish on her own. And I was like, what are you watching? You're learning Spanish. Because she asked for agua one time and I was like, what? ⁓ And then I was like, ⁓ that's right. You watched Dorothy Explorer and you watched Diego. And you, there's PBS Kids has so many shows that are where they speak a combination of Spanish and English. And I'm like, this is so cool. You, it's not through osmosis, just through, through press, what is it? Representation. ⁓ Representation, I guess, yeah. Robin Axline: ⁓ yeah, yeah, that's a, yeah. Tita Lors: Yeah, because it's just there and it's normalized and it's like, it's like any English word for you to learn. It's a different way to say water. And so I was like, OK, well, repetition then too, right? Yeah. So PBS Kids also has a Filipino show. ⁓ Yeah, it's ⁓ my God, I don't remember what it's Belly? No. Is it belly? No. something bean and pogo something and pogo anyways it's so cute there's a lola i remember when i first saw it i was like ⁓ on the brink of tears because I think I just lost my Lola or she was like, we knew she was passing and that she wasn't, you know, there's just a lot of stuff around that grief and to see that, to see the relationship and it was so beautiful and it's so such a great reminder of my experience with my Lola and how loving and ⁓ how loving at least my experience. It was a duality of experiences with her now that I think about it, there were loving parts ⁓ to my relationship with her. it was just so great. And I love that that exists now for my kids, that we don't have to specifically buy like the Filipino channel or whatever. Like it's just on regular smugular programming that they can watch it right there. Yeah. Or like, Robin Axline: Yeah, that's great. That's really cool. I was gonna say my nieces ⁓ watch a lot of that too. And it's just nice that they know that there's other cultures out there. And they actually do say agua and a few other words and then their parents repeat it back to them. So it's like a repetition. Like when they asked for olives, they say the Spanish word or grapes or just I was really surprised last time I saw them. Tita Lors: Go ahead. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So good. Yeah. ⁓ huh. ⁓ that's so cool. I love that your ⁓ siblings are doing that because that just kind of cements it for them too. Robin Axline: Yeah, totally. But yeah, they're PBS Kids kids also. ⁓ that's awesome. ⁓ yeah, me too. I just didn't have the app or whatever. Tita Lors: Yeah. Me too! I know, seriously, we had to wait through the commercials and like specifically go to the correct channel. And then and then sit and watch, whereas they could just ⁓ watch whatever they want to. I know, and they could pick and choose what they get to watch. They're so lucky. Robin Axline: I know... Jelly. Tita Lors: I know. Jelly! Jelly Bean and Pogo! Jelly Ben! Jelly Ben and Pogo. Nice! We did it! That's the name of the show. Robin Axline: We did it. Yeah, that's our new show. Welcome to We Did It. Tita Lors: Yes, seriously. with our powers and brain cells combined. We'll get there. Robin Axline: Yeah. ⁓ Tita Lors: ⁓ man. Robin Axline: Wow. That'll be a long show sometimes. Tita Lors: waiting for our brain cells to catch up with each other. ⁓ man. Okay. So I obviously identify as Filipino-American. ⁓ A question I wanted to ask you as someone who is like white presenting and identifies with white culture. I know for me, in like, there's that immigrant culture thing that's very obvious of not. feeling enoughness, like I'm not American enough, I'm not Filipino enough. Like how did you come to an understanding if ever, if it ever was a thing for you of like your identity and culture and background? Robin Axline: I guess I'm fortunate to not have like that specific of an experience. I think maybe sometimes I didn't, I think just because of just being a white person, white presenting, I didn't kind of know like what my background was all the time. Like it just kind of felt like, I guess I'm just this, but I don't have anything interesting to say. Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Mmm. Yeah. ⁓ Robin Axline: sometimes. ⁓ But I'd say I hardly, to be honest, I don't think I really like went through my mind, especially growing up. I just was like, that's who I am. And that's it. Period. ⁓ And also, think, luckily, I was aware of a lot of other cultures. So I respected that element as well. But yeah, definitely not the same. Tita Lors: you Mm-hmm. What did, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So side story before I get into it. elementary school, I had convinced people that I was half Filipino and half American. And that's what it meant to be Filipino American ⁓ I was ⁓ Filipino, but I was raised American. And so in my elementary school brain, that meant that it wasn't through genetics ⁓ was passed down. It just was. Robin Axline: you Tita Lors: And I said it so factually that I convinced these kids that I was half Filipino and half American. And somebody was like, that doesn't make sense. Like, how does that make sense? And I was like, it just does. They're like. Okay. And I went my entire elementary school career believing that that's what that was. Robin Axline: Huh, just had like a weird ⁓ unlock when you're saying something is factual ⁓ and this kind of like ⁓ but ⁓ for some reason I remember this pretty clearly as ⁓ it like an school ⁓ Tita Lors: Ah, here we are. Yeah. Robin Axline: I said something that was kind of factual like that where I just remember saying that my like great great great great great great great grandfather was a Caesar in Rome. Tita Lors: Ha You Robin Axline: And everybody like believed me and then they're like, well, what was his name? then it was like, yeah, it was like, who cares? Yeah, I was like, well, it's Caesar. And then I just used my last name or something funny. And like, I remember like some of my friends like thought that was just hilarious because we're like kids. But it was one of those things where I just said it like, ⁓ yeah, my. Tita Lors: Name Shmain! Who cares? It's just true! Hahaha! See ya. Robin Axline: far off relative was a Caesar in Rome. I'm like, why did I make that up? But anyway, that's the only like cultural made up thing I can think of. Yeah. So weird. Tita Lors: Yeah. Because we're kids! That's so funny. I have a similar story, but we're gonna save it for later. Robin Axline: know, just came up. was like, ⁓ yeah, that was like, I thought that was so funny when I was a kid. ⁓ Tita Lors: Okay, anyways. through, you know, obviously I knew the Philippines was colonized by the Spanish, ⁓ but I it from like a Filipino-American lens and didn't know stuff. I didn't take the time to actually. do the research or to learn more about, more in depth about that cultural aspect of it. And also I've always like, just because school, right? You learn about Roman and Greek mythology through like other stuff. I learned about Norse mythology, a little bit about Gaelic mythology. And I know about like the spooky monsters and stuff in the Philippines, but I didn't know about like the creation stories and the mythology behind that. But I knew, I knew why, how the Greeks believed people report, right? Like I knew all of that. And I was like, huh, man, I should know these things about my own culture. ⁓ That part's going to be saved for another episode. They're really actually pretty. I've learned some cool things about creation stories, because it's not just one story. Right? Like, the Philippine Islands is an archipelago of islands and stuff, and lots of different cultures and different belief systems that was influenced before they were united into the Philippine Islands. They were influenced by a lot of different surrounding cultures. So there's a lot of... and stuff, that was an interesting thing to learn. But for today, what I wanted to focus into, because it is the week of Philippine Independence Day, I wanted to talk about colonialism and how some of the ways that ⁓ it changed our culture. And because it's also Pride Month, I added a little bit, just a little bit, tiny bit of that into here. ⁓ Robin Axline: Haha. Tita Lors: So that's what we're gonna be talking about today. And I have like an uplifting story as well for you. So that's what we're getting into. Yeah. Okay. So I found this article by Jose Pascual. It's called Hidden Voices, Re-examining the Conquest of the Philippines. I got a lot of my information from this first part, from that article amongst... Robin Axline: Awesome, let's go! A lot of stuff on tap. Tita Lors: a of other things too. ⁓ They're all compiled in a file, I swear. I'm, I'm paraphrasing. This is obviously not my knowledge. It's knowledge that I've learned from other people. So we're going to start in pre-colonial Philippines. Before they were colonized, ⁓ because there were so many like separate islands, It wasn't a, there was no centralized power. There wasn't like the unit of the islands. It was just the archipelago, And there were several different societies and hierarchies and chiefdoms So some people might argue that the Philippines was colonized several prior to the Spanish colonization. ⁓ But actually, the Philippines was not a united group of islands people until they were colonized by the Spaniards. ⁓ It was again, right, like various different chiefdoms and stuff and interactions and trade. ⁓ and travel from other communities and other cultures like China and Japan and Pacific Islanders ⁓ and like that. ⁓ So pre-Hispanic Bisayas and Tagalogs, ⁓ they societies that were divided into three different groups, Datu, Timawa, ⁓ and ⁓ or if you're a Bisaya and it was Oripin. So the Datu were the leaders of their societies and then the Timawa, I should have looked up how to say that They were in charge I think they're like the resources, that one I didn't look too much into. Okay, let me try again. So Datu, Timawa and Alipin or Oripin. Datu were the leaders, Timawa, they were in charge of something separate, it was, you know, to be helpful. ⁓ then the Oripin, ⁓ were like, kind of like indentured servants, but not, not exactly slavery. So it was like, ⁓ you indebted ⁓ to place, either through birth or through, like, through war, basically, right? ⁓ And if you could prove yourself in battle or whatever, then you could work your way up in ranks at some point. it was different from basic Western slavery in that way. So something in Pascal's paper explored how the Philippine culture was impacted by Spanish colonization. ⁓ A few of the major ways is how we value women and transgendered men in the community. So in pre-colonial Philippines, women and transgendered men were a lot more valued and they held prestigious roles, prestigious religious roles within their communities. For Tagalogs, there were transgendered men called Bayug who were an important aspect of religious functions within the community. And in the article, it talks about their mannerisms and their dress and ⁓ lot of judgment ⁓ ⁓ Catholic Spaniards. But ⁓ I right? ⁓ But you could see an understanding ⁓ and of, I guess, a little bit of respect for ⁓ the that they had in the communities. You're like, don't know why they would give these people that roles, but this is, you know, where it is. And then so that's the the gaulocks. then for the Bisayan. Bisayan spiritual practices were called ⁓ Maganito. and they were performed by Bailanes and by Baisanas. Again, I should have looked up how to say that. Bailanes and Baisanas. Thank you. So they're the men and women who were considered witches and enchantress by the Spaniards. So they were like the spiritual leaders and healers of their communities. But again, in the passages of the, ⁓ called the Codex. Robin Axline: You're doing great. Yeah. Tita Lors: they were described as like praying to their devil and, you know, and trying to get healing through those practices because of course, if it ain't Catholic, it ain't right. So I think my little side note that I wrote here is that, One, when I was little, had, or even as an adult somewhat, I had this understanding or this belief that culture, our Filipino culture was very matriarchal because of the strong presence of like my Lola in my family and Lola's in other families and mother's in other families. So I always felt, I had this feeling of a matriarchal society where women held power and where women's voices were important. I found out that they've always been a patriarchal society. However, women were actually important within the communities. Traditionally, if we go back to pre-colonial Philippines. So that was an interesting thing to learn. Something also that was, it's kind of annoying now because I had to grow up and hear the way my uncles talked. so degradingly about transgendered men and tomboy's and like the gays or whatever, the baklat. You know, if you're gay, you're baklat. If you're a girl, you're a tomboy. But like the way that they would talk about them, how they're like disgusting, I can't believe this or that or whatever. But then to know that traditionally, actually, these are the people who held high positions of power people actually went to for spiritual healing who guided their spiritual practices. So it's wild that this other culture just comes in and steals that and takes that away makes it so, ⁓ disgusting for you to ⁓ your ⁓ And like, now it's so ingrained in the culture to believe those things, you know, 380 years of colonization by like four or five different. communities or whatever. and it was just all in the name of religious ⁓ political expansion, I guess. So we'll get into that part later. Yeah. Thoughts, feelings ⁓ so far. Robin Axline: well, I mean, there's already a lot of things I didn't know. and is really unfortunate or, or for lack of a better word, that the colonizers ⁓ would change like the dynamic of a culture that seemed to be just fine. Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Yeah, well they were considered like, the word? What's the term? They used it for indigenous tribes here in America too, where they were like... Robin Axline: ⁓ big time, big time. ⁓ I know like the Chumash, like Native Americans were colonized by the Spaniards and did some horrible, horrible things, but that's a story for a different day. Tita Lors: Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. But the way that they viewed them is just like animalistic and like primal or like there's like a specific word that I can't think of right now. ⁓ bet you with our two brain cells combined, we'll figure it out later. ⁓ ⁓ they thought so lowly of the indigenous people and their ways of being, because it was a lot of like war time. stuff and then the Spanish came in. ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ Robin Axline: And then also like I didn't know that much about the archipelago of it all like all the different ⁓ places is kind of Tita Lors: Yeah, so there's like over 7600 different islands. And I know, yeah, and they're split into like three different regions. So it's, think, like Luzon. Oh, my gosh. What are they? I looked it up, too, but it was at like three o'clock in the morning. I should also just know this by heart. I see it in my brain, but I can't like three parts of. Philippines. Yeah, I was gonna be right. I should have just trusted myself. So Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. Yeah, so they're like separated into these three specific cultural representations, north, central, and south. But yeah, ⁓ I was researching the origin, ⁓ story, because each of the different parts are influenced by different types of culture, like Muslim culture ⁓ pervasive in a lot of the creation stories. ⁓ And also is ⁓ present ⁓ creation So it's very interesting. ⁓ to, very interesting to hear these like pre-colonial ideas about creationism and how like humans came to be and how the earth was made. I'll have to do like specific ones for each region because it's influenced by so many different things and it's really interesting. I think I got just really overwhelmed. ⁓ Robin Axline: I mean, yeah, I mean, it's hard to narrow it down when there's that much info. Tita Lors: Yeah, I like, choose something you can't do at all. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So that was a weird sound. All right. So colonizing the Philippines, the Philippines was colonized, I think, from manipulation. But because, you know, have you ever heard the saying that history is written by the winners? Robin Axline: Mm-mm. No, I haven't heard that one. I mean, it sounds, mean, that's true. Tita Lors: Yeah. I've heard it a few times, but I think in this case, it's so very true. Like history is written by the winners because there's not a lot of pre-colonial information about what Philippine culture was like, the different tribal cultures were like. either erased or was like kept or a lot of the understanding is through the codex. ⁓ and the descriptions of what Hispanics saw when they arrived. And ⁓ in how they write it, they talk about how like, ⁓ these people were willing, they ⁓ helped us to subjugate everyone else around. ⁓ wanted to be a part of this process of like uniting the Philippine islands and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Pasquale kind of argues that ⁓ actually very likely that through manipulation and threats and false like pretenses or false promises, they were able to get the essentially ⁓ coercion to the local tribes into like raiding other villages and uniting. Right. So I was like, ⁓ that saying is never more true than it is here. They used, like earlier I talked about the Alipin and the Oripin. ⁓ ⁓ those people obviously don't want to continue to be subjugated or indebted to anyone, ⁓ would enlist and then they would join the army of the Spaniards. And then ⁓ like was the Pampangans, which is like a specific tribe there, or Barrio. I'm not sure which one I probably... should have been paying more attention at four o'clock in the morning. Yeah, used a lot of their already ingrained rivalries with other local tribes and Barangays and the culture of ⁓ resource building, in the there was, a lot of resources to be taken, be harvested, I guess. But what was lacking in a lot of the tribes is the human resources to do the labor. And that's why there was a lot of servitude and indebtedness, ⁓ you needed laborers to do the things so that you could have the resources ⁓ your barangay. or like your society if you're the Dato and you're you're leading your barangay So the Spaniards kind of ⁓ used and took the slaves if you will and Put them into their their armies with you know probably false promises of what they would get or avoid and then ⁓ they use these war practices didn't tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth and made false promises to those Tatu. ⁓ And that's they were able to ⁓ go and ⁓ These people already their rivals. They're already going to want to conquer them. And now I have the Spaniards to help me conquer them. Woo woo, right? But that's not. Robin Axline: Thank Tita Lors: That didn't end up being what it was. And then I went from there and it just kept spreading. And so that's how the Spaniards united and colonized the islands. I mean, it's like an oversimplified way, right? Yeah. So ultimately, they ended up removing or attempting, I guess, to remove the Datu from their places of power and replace them with, I cannot say this, but we're going to try anyways, Alcads and Goburud- Robin Axline: Yeah, for sure. Tita Lors: governor Dorcios. Basically politicians, people who are voted into place into positions of power, rather than like, this is your birthright. But despite this, the Dato still remained in their positions of power as upper class people. And they just would take turns every election year of who was going to be the the ruler of that year, I guess. And then they repositioned the distribution of resources so that it would primarily, instead of it going to the Datu, and the Datu would be the ones who allocated the resources to their Barangay. They would manage then the laborers and then the resources would be given to the Spaniards. now they've. Yeah. So what do you fucking do? So now, a moment of lightness here. Have you ever noticed that many Filipinos have Hispanic last names? Yes. Okay, I'll tell you the annoying thing and then I'll tell you my funny story. So traditionally Filipinos didn't have last names and that then made it very difficult for the Spaniards to have a census and to collect data. So they made a list of approved Spanish last names or Philippine, yeah, or Filipino last names that were Spanish Spanishified spanglified then these were the approved last names that you had to choose for your family. Everyone had to have one Unless you could prove that your you had a family name that has been passed down through I think like two generations It was the only way that you were allowed to keep your last name Robin Axline: you Tita Lors: Yeah, right? Crazy. So not only are they taking resources from people, they're also taking their cultural identity and imposing upon them an identity, a Spanish identity. Which, what the fuck? Robin Axline: Huh, wow, didn't know, I mean, I always wondered what that, I mean, I'm figuring it out, but wow. Tita Lors: Yeah, so when I was younger, I was fully convinced I was a I was a Filipino princess of some like barangay somewhere or whatever, because my last name means of the kings. And. Yeah, and my parents want before my dad died, they were going to change my name to Princess. So it would have been Princess Lora Robin Axline: Okay. Tita Lors: instead of just Lora. then he passed away and then my mom never got around to doing it. But on my baptism certificate, it says Princess Lora. And I So I was fully convinced that I was a princess and that the only reason why I hadn't yet been swept away and taken my castle is because my dad died and they didn't know where to find me. ⁓ Robin Axline: Wow. Tita Lors: Yeah, I had a very active imagination. Robin Axline: That's funny how you like developed a whole reason why. Tita Lors: ⁓ huh. Why? Like, we're suffering. I'm suffering in quotes because my family, my royal family has no idea where I am. Robin Axline: Dang, that's crazy. Yeah, I could totally see why. Tita Lors: So I hold a little bit of that still. Yeah, also, I had heard from someone that if you had Delos, so of the, instead of just like the last name, so like Reyes, then that meant that you had family that was ⁓ more class, right? So if you had like Delos Reyes, then that was upper class and then Reyes was just whatever. I tried looking that up to see if that's true. I don't see any proof of that being true, but I had heard it when I was younger and it made me even more uppity. Robin Axline: ⁓ my god, just adding to your imaginative brain. Tita Lors: Yeah, exactly like doubling down on the fact that I am a princess or I have like rank or whatever. Robin Axline: Yeah. Well, I do know a princess, so that's funny. Yeah. ⁓ someone named her. No, I'm sorry. I don't know an actual princess. Tita Lors: ⁓ yeah. That's cool. I, like, an actual princess or someone named Princess? went to school with a princess. Yeah, she was like, I think I forget specifically of where, but it was like a Southeast Asian tribe and she was the princess there. And she was part of like one of my clubs that I was in. Robin Axline: Ow. That's interesting. Tita Lors: Yeah, I didn't like we didn't know each other like personally and didn't always talk to each other. But, you know, I at least I knew of her. So that was pretty cool. Anyways, so that story and I doubled down again on being a princess. ⁓ man. ⁓ Thank you. ⁓ Yeah, that's ⁓ because big wants to be the princess, so I have to be the queen. But if you ask my... Robin Axline: I mean you still are. Well now you're a queen. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ Tita Lors: Right? No, but if you ask my little, she's the queen. And I'm the princess. man. Robin Axline: That's so cute. You got knocked down a few pegs. Tita Lors: Right? is. I did. I do. She knocks me down several pegs every day. I'm like, when you become a teenager, we're going to have it. It's going to be rough, I know, because we can't have three of my attitudes in this house. ⁓ Bad for Ryan. It's going to be rough. Robin Axline: We're gonna figure something else out. Tita Lors: Okay, so something else that I learned and I've not that it's been like top of mind a question, but it was interesting because again, there's so many different dialects and cultures in the Philippines. And yet the Tagalog became the most prominent language and primary culture that everyone defers back to. So that I learned that was interesting is that the Tagalog culture was so similar already to Christian faiths and beliefs, it just kind of lent itself to that. And that's how it became so easy to convert the Tagalogs into like Christianity and into like Spanish culture. Like there were similar practices. So where other societies, believed in multiple gods. that the Galag's believed in one God. they, ⁓ think they had like, yes, that one God who, you this, but they didn't know where that God came from or whatever. And so ⁓ Christians came in and filled in the blank spaces and ⁓ them how to believe and all of that stuff. that that was an interesting tidbit for me that I didn't realize or know about. All so all of this information, right? Yeah. Anyways, so that's pre-colonial Philippines. Why do you think Spain colonized the Philippines? Robin Axline: That's a good question. ⁓ Sure, mean, I guess cause... Yeah, I don't know, I give up. I was trying to like, cause this, cause this, I don't know, they were just sailing around and stopped there. Tita Lors: ⁓ yeah. Yes, no. Robin Axline: okay. Tell me! Tita Lors: ⁓ So I've always known that the Philippines is very strategically. placed, I didn't fully understand it. I read somewhere in one of the articles, I can't even pinpoint which one anymore, that it was the 3 G's, gold, glory, and God. So the archipelago is very well positioned that made it so that if you held control of the Philippine islands and you held control over the spice trades. Robin Axline: Okay. Tita Lors: Yeah, especially from like Australia up into it's called Maluccas. Where did I put it? I put it somewhere. But an island that was like somewhere in between and it was known as like the Spice Island and a lot of like the it was part of the original spice trades ⁓ there. So if you held control there then ⁓ the Philippines, ⁓ you held control of how the spice was traded. through to China and then through to like Portugal and all the other, like, and to the Americas. So it was very strategic. These Spaniards wanted to have control over industry. ⁓ They to also spread and expand their culture ⁓ and religion into China. That didn't happen, obviously. ⁓ yeah, that ⁓ the main So it was gold, glory, God. Because I can. Because it makes me money. Because God said so. Robin Axline: Right, sure, doesn't make sense. A little checks out, yeah, okay. Tita Lors: Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah. So why did they think they could do this? Apparently, the Spaniards colonized the Americas in 1492 and they thought to themselves, which again, I'm totally oversimplifying this, that somebody thought, hey, it worked out so well for us. Let's do it again. we're gonna do it here. So then Magellan arrived in 1521, but they didn't actually have a strong foothold until 1565 when Miguel Lopez Villegaspi arrived. So he's the one who ultimately was able to convince the Pampangan locals to assist in defeating their rivals and conquering other neighboring barangays and like spreading out. ⁓ right, we're getting to the end here, people. ⁓ So ⁓ information is coming from history.com this day in and few other ones, but primarily history.com. So June 12th is like a ⁓ representative ⁓ kind of Independence Day, just for ⁓ independence from the Spaniards, but also independence from the Americas. The Philippines has been colonized more than once. was colonized for 300, ⁓ 330 years by the Spaniards. And then ⁓ because because they didn't want to feel shame, because they were, ⁓ they ⁓ I'll into it, but because they didn't want to feel shame, they ceded the islands to the Americas. ⁓ And then that's another 50 years of colonization through the Americas. And then briefly, there was the Japanese during the World War II. ⁓ Briefly, Japanese, ⁓ held Philippine islands. And then again, ⁓ very, very ⁓ during the Years War, the British tried to. ⁓ They were as successful. ⁓ But like the main were the Spanish and the Americas. And some people might argue that the Americas is still kind of, at least culturally colonizing the Philippines. They're still very, very present ⁓ I ⁓ have done research, probably do it another time. But like, there's a long time where American military was still very present ⁓ in Philippine islands. And I I feel like I have a memory that they were recently kicked out. But I could be making that up in my head. So it's just a lot of years of having other cultures kind of define ⁓ the islands for what want it to be, which is ⁓ annoying. Yeah, so I'm gonna briefly talk about like really really fast and not in depth. I'm have to save the in-depthness for maybe next Independence Day. But ⁓ just a lot of information. So the Philippine Independence Day or Philippine Independence Day ⁓ or it's called in the Philippines, Araw ng Kailan, ⁓ my god, Kalayaan. ⁓ I can't even say that word. I can't get my mouth to say what it needs to say. I need to drink more water. Being sick is dumb. So it's celebrated on June because Robin Axline: Red leather, yellow leather, red leather, yellow leather. Tita Lors: During the Spanish-American War, Filipino rebels were rising up. Long story short, the leaders of the Philippine rebellion ultimately worked with US authorities to assist in winning the Spanish-American War. And so then they ⁓ ⁓ 1892, June 12, ⁓ the Philippines was independent of Spain, and they established their own provincial governments. ⁓ However... And I quote from history.com after some like backdoor dealings and the Spanish not wanting to feel the shame of losing to these like indigenous peoples. On August 8th, the Spanish commander informed the United States, this is a quote, ⁓ August 8th, the Spanish commander informed the United States that he would surrender the city under two conditions. The United States was to make the advance into the capital look like a battle and under no conditions were the Filipino rebels to be allowed into the city. On August 13th, the mock battle of Manila was staged. and the Americans kept their promise to keep the Filipinos out after the city passed into their hands. So they created a fake battle because the Spanish pride couldn't handle that they had been defeated by the peoples that they had colonized for over 300 centuries, yeah, 300 years, three centuries. Yes. ⁓ where we get to the petty part of it, right? So they ceded the Philippine islands to the United States and thus ended the Spanish-American War with a mock battle. Ugh. Robin Axline: ⁓ jeez. Tita Lors: I know that pissed me off. so they got together in the room where it happens and they decided what was best for the ⁓ for the Philippine people and it not to be ruled by their own governments. many insurrections later, over 50 years of American colonization, the Philippines was finally granted independence by the United States on July 4th, 1946. And then they remained in the country, I know, they remained in the country for another 10 years, presumably to help with the transition their government and blah, blah, yada, yada. So, yes, it is a day of celebration because it is a century ⁓ long process of trying to get out from under the boot of other people who are kind of coming in and telling you as a culture what's best for you. And basically you should be so lucky. we're here or whatever, which is interesting because I guess similar things are happening right now. There are people of a certain culture coming into a very specific part of the islands and creating communities of their culture and like demanding that people be like them and like perpetuate their culture in the islands and they're not respecting the Philippine local communities or anything like that at all. And they are actually saying you should be so lucky that we decided to bring ourselves and our culture to this hoedunk of a place. Yeah. Robin Axline: Why can't they just be left alone? Their cultures has been muddled for just ages. Let's just stop. Tita Lors: Seriously? Yeah, yes, no, for sure. The Philippine people, the Filipinos are not having it. There has been a lot of protest and people like definitely... What's the word? Fighting back. Yeah, so go us, right? Like, I wanted to get into like the Bayanis, the heroes, and the people who were so vital to the, you know, the independence of the Philippines, ultimately, I figured that could be for another time and like, they could have their little one-offs of like each hero. could have their one-offs and I could talk about them because I think that it's important. I mean, it's important for me and I'm really enjoying this and I'm just kind of subjecting you to this learning experience. Robin Axline: No, I'm enjoying it because I love to learn and I didn't know like this much already, so fabulous. Tita Lors: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, people of the Philippines, if I got anything wrong, if there was something that you learned in school that I haven't learned, or if there's anything that you, you know, as Filipino Americans, you didn't know that you want to know more. There's lots of resources out there for you to go and learn yourself. I'm going to definitely add some stuff where I found things. It's really hard to find. At using Google, if you don't do like an in-depth search. to find Filipinos writing the history. It was a lot of like you know history written by the colonizers ⁓ perspective. having Robin Axline: if you want to call in and talk to us about it, that could be a fun ⁓ time as well. ⁓ Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Yeah. ⁓ so that's that's my my stuff. at least for that, you ready for my story time? ⁓ Robin Axline: I need a story like yesterday. Let's go. Tita Lors: Yay! Okay, so yeah, after doing all that research, of left me in the place of needing something feel good. I didn't really want to go in and find like a petty story of ⁓ something. because like I put in, I think sometimes Filipinos can be very petty in like a very passive aggressive way. There's a lot of passive aggressiveness in our culture, because like ⁓ you're not you know, we're known as like one of the most friendly cultures. And we're very like kind. Because we kind of had to be right like our there's ⁓ I know. ⁓ That's side tangent. ⁓ But I was trying to find like, ⁓ quirky stories of like Filipinos being petty, but then there was a lot of like not nice things that people were saying about the culture. And I was like, ⁓ fuck you. ⁓ So, you looked for a feel good story instead. So on Reddit on r slash advice pH, somebody asked, what's your love story that hurts? Not because it's bad, but because it's beautiful. And I thought, yeah, and it's so this is such a like Filipino drama coded question because it's ⁓ so there's so like if you ever watch a Filipino movie, there's a lot of like drama unnecessarily, but like the yearning and the loving, it's so wrapped in like ⁓ and like suffering that this is so ⁓ This question just makes a lot of sense to me that somebody would ask it. So this was posted two years ago. ⁓ my God, I did not read this name, but I'm so excited to read it to you now. a cockamamie. Load a cockamamie. Robin Axline: ⁓ my gosh, I can't wait. Okay. Tita Lors: ⁓ my gosh. ⁓ was with somebody ⁓ ⁓ 2019 and we split because I was such an anxious person. My anxieties and dysregulation affected him and our relationship. Our last goodbye was a walk around ⁓ mall and having pizza and beer at Kubow Expo. sorry, sorry. From when we started talking up to the end, he reminded me of how amazing and beautiful I was. I did my best to let him know to how beautiful and great he was as a person. Despite the craziness, I think we made each other feel that we are good people deserving of love in this world. Years later, I burned the letters he wrote me because I thought it was time to move on. I still have ⁓ I know right. I still have that one sketch he did on our first date though haha, wala lang. Wala lang is like it's nothing. He's amazing. I hope he's still kind and loving. He's one of the reasons why I never give up on love despite it being so hard to find. Robin Axline: That was so sweet. Yeah. Tita Lors: Right? I love this so much. I love so much that like, there's so much self-awareness here and so much love in this relationship that they could say, this is not working. And I love, I love our relationship enough. And I love us enough that the best thing is to end it before we hate each other. Robin Axline: That's a pretty mature, mean if you're certain, you know, there's nothing left for ⁓ that's ⁓ way to do it for sure. Tita Lors: Yeah. Or even like beyond the certainty that there's not you can really really love this person and want like beyond all wants for this to work out But there's so much work that you have to do for yourself that if you stay in this place right like if your anxiety is so big and your mental illness is so big that it's impacting the your partner and not the best way and It's impacting your relationship and not the best way sometimes we do it's so hard because we want to heal in community But sometimes we need to take the time and the space to heal the community and not in a relationship. so that we're not, that person isn't because they love you so much that they want to, to help you and they want to be there and support you. But in doing that, they're not taking care of themselves, right? And they're not showing up for themselves. They're giving it all to you. And then that becomes ⁓ so healthy either. ⁓ And so to see they have so much love for each other that I want you to heal in your anxieties and in your mental illness and your dysregulation. And I love you so much that I don't want your, you to stop taking care of yourself. That you just, you separate so lovingly and so generously. It's just. Robin Axline: I know one one thing that comes to mind is ⁓ Dan Savage's ⁓ thing that he brings up a lot is leave the person in a better place than where you found them and I feel like that's like a good example because they didn't want to harm each other they probably grew a little bit from the experience and learned so I think Tita Lors: I know. Ugh, yeah. That's such a good, yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Robin Axline: Yeah, that's a good example of leaving somebody better than how you found them. Tita Lors: Mm hmm. Yeah. And even once you've grown and once you've become the better version of yourself to not to have the willpower to not go back and be like, I'm better. right, and fall back into potentially like toxic patterns. I mean, it's not, not saying it's not possible to have a second go round in love, but with the same person as different people. But sometimes it's better to just let it be what it was and how beautiful it was where it was. ⁓ Robin Axline: Yeah. And even the burning the letters, even though that's kind of like sad, it's also like probably healthy just to be like, well, I'm moving on. not like dwelling in this past experience. Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever gotten letters from someone before? Robin Axline: I can only think of like maybe one person that I kind of did that with. But it was a long time ago. Tita Lors: you Yeah. Same. Yeah, same, same. I have like, I had all the letters in ⁓ this envelope that I would keep and everywhere I move, I was moving a lot in my like early 20s, mid ⁓ I would just take it with me everywhere I went. And then sometimes I would like open it up and read it and open up the wounds again and like the love again and remind myself how much I love that person, how much they love me ⁓ like the hurt and wishing and wanting the yearning of like, well, why couldn't it have worked? Like it's obvious it's on this paper. We love each other so much. Like, why didn't it work out? And like the hurt of that, I think I just got to a point. ⁓ And like, he was still in and out of my life too. And it's so, it was like, I could see the love here, but whenever we would try to make it work, it just wasn't there. It wasn't enough. Like, I I got to a point of like, I can't keep these. Like these need to be burned because it's just kind of making me believe in something that's not. Robin Axline: tangible or like, yeah, happening. Tita Lors: Yeah. Yeah. And it made it really hard to like move on or want to be with other people and just all of that stuff. So I like the way I kind of really resonated with that idea that she had to to do that. I got rid of. I have pictures and stuff, but they're like in a folder that's like away they're not there's nothing physical and. all the gifts and things, had to like throw them out. And there's a part of me that wishes I still had some of it or at least one thing, like she has the sketch or whatever. Yeah, so I wish I had held on to at least one thing or one letter, but it's, I think it would have been hard to get to the place where I am now with kids and married if I had held on that tight to those letters. Yeah, right. And everyone out there too, like, I get it. Like, it's grief, right? We don't recognize it as grief because we just say get over it a lot when it comes to breakups. And whether it's like a ⁓ one week, one month, one year, one decade long. relationship you can still experience a similar amount of grief and so it's okay to grieve that and to feel what you have to what you feel and to do what you have to do to get to a place of healing however long that takes. Yeah. And on that note, what are your glimmers? Robin Axline: ⁓ my gosh! Okay, well, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up something that ⁓ recently. There's so many glimmers in this, but I'm just gonna pick one today. ⁓ I to ⁓ Montreal my brother's family. He has two... Tita Lors: Okay. Robin Axline: great little girls, one of them is my godchild as well. And my nieces had been kind of... Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Robin Axline: raised listening to ⁓ Rafi because of having like a millennial parents who were raised by it. And they found out that he was doing some, he's Canadian and he was doing some concerts in Montreal. So that was kind of the purpose for the trip. And I was invited, which I felt super grateful about that I was thought of. And because I do remember some Rafi songs as well. And Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. ⁓ huh. Hehehehe Robin Axline: like glimmer is singing with my niece and she wanted to sit on my lap and we were just singing at the top of our lungs at the rafi concert just like pure like bliss and it was so fun yeah and you could see like Tita Lors: Aww. Mm-hmm. ⁓ that's so cute Robin Axline: parents all over the place probably in their 30s give or take with the same kind of age children and they were all just like sing it like nobody was worried about being judged or anything at all everyone was just having a good old time Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's so cool. They're probably like, what a fun experience, I think, to access your childhood memories and then to share it with your child. Robin Axline: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I mean, I was surprised he was still going. So. But it was indeed a treat. It was great. Yeah. Tita Lors: NNNN Yeah, aww, how cute! That's so sweet, I can't wait to hear more of the story later. Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah, I have a lot more. But I also listened to a podcast like this was kind of in the height of, I'd say the panini. uh, when there's just a lot of random podcasts and there was one called Finding Rafi and it kind of made me appreciate him a lot. He's like an activist. He's very smart. He appreciates women and doesn't put up with a lot of garbage. So I already was like, wow, he is cool. And then just to see him live was pretty awesome, especially with my nieces. What about you? Tita Lors: Hmm. ⁓ huh. Mm-hmm. Hmm. Mm-hmm. Yes. ⁓ what a beautiful experience. What is mine? OK, first, beautiful. Love that for you. I feel like. I don't even know who it would what concert I would go to where I would have that experience with my girls, but just take them to Disneyland and watch the electric parade. ⁓ that would be dope. So Mike ⁓ Robin Axline: That would be incredible. Yeah. Tita Lors: this week is that I because I haven't been feeling that well I made arroz caldo which is a Filipino dish it's basically like porridge with chicken in it and I remember when I was younger my tita and my lola they would make it for me or they would make it when I was sick and I just I kept thinking to myself like I miss home because if I was home I could just go to my tita's house and like and ask her to make me soup it would be delicious and I would love it. And I was like, okay, what can I make here? How do I make that work here? And I came across Tita Becky, who has an Instagram where she like recipes or helps you make or teaches you how to make traditional recipes, but with like American, not American spin, but with American, I guess, ingredients. that you might have in the grocery store, right? So she's like, here's how you can make it with rotisserie chicken. So you don't have to like go through the whole process of making it. That's even longer. Yeah. So I was like, I can do that. This is not a lot of ingredients. I could totally do this. So I got to make it it was just like I remembered. And I was like proud of myself that I made this and it was delicious. And Ryan liked it. My girls obviously didn't. ⁓ Yeah, well, they're they're not into chicken right now. It's it's beef or pork for them at the moment. So it's OK. I did make I also made this like soup that from proud of myself again that like almost basically from scratch, I didn't like have a recipe and I don't think of myself as like a chef or a cook or anything. just. Robin Axline: Oh, I didn't know that's where you're going with that, but... Tita Lors: but I knew that I wanted a soup and I had like, this is what I have on me. And so here's an idea of how to make it and hopefully it turns out well. then just kept going to the grocery store and adding things to it. And I was like, oh, this is how you exist. Like how you make things last when you don't have enough. And I was like, oh, that's interesting. also I was adding more vegetables to it. And again, reminded me of like, what it was like to grow up in my family house or my Lola's house because it wouldn't just be one singular meal on the table. It would be like multiple and you got your choice and you would have like your main dish and then you had all of your side dishes that you could choose from. And there was vegetables and meat and like soups and fish and rice, of course. And it was just really f- fun to have that in the house and to know that, I actually could do that if I wanted to, if I had the energy or the brain power and I wasn't doing other things. I could do that. I could be what my Lola was for me, my Tito was for me. I could be that and I can bring that culture to my kids, which I was like, ⁓ am I going to do this? How am going to teach them? ⁓ don't even know how to eat. the food, they don't know anything about it because I'm not making it. And then I made this very traditional meal and ⁓ just felt really good to do. ⁓ Yeah, yeah. ⁓ for me, it's for sure comfort food. was very like, ⁓ if I'm sick, because arroz caldo has a lot of ⁓ ginger in it. And so, like, I remember one time I had a cough or whatever, and I bit into a piece of ginger, lost my voice immediately, but the next day I was fine. Yeah, was like, okay. So from now on, every time I'm sick, this is what I'm eating. Robin Axline: Interesting. Tita Lors: Yeah, it is. It's so good. Whenever you come, just come with a bag of rotisserie chicken and I'll make it. Robin Axline: Okay, well, you can eat that one and then I'll make the vegetarian version. No, I'll bring some seitan or something. Yeah. Tita Lors: ⁓ yeah, you can't have... Yes, ⁓ my god, I'm so sorry, my bad. We'll make it with like vegetable... Yeah, we'll make it with like a vegetable stock and not a chicken stock. And it'll be just as good. It'll be fine. ⁓ Yes. Okay. Do we have a call to actions? Anything like we want to hear from the peoples? let's see. What go in like the uplifting story trend? I think what we were talking about earlier before we started recording is that, yeah, we're talking about petty stories and we're bringing it petty stories. And that's a big aspect. But I think our goal. primarily is to be empowering to people and uplifting and that we want to create that here. So I think it'd be also really cool to get uplifting stories from people in the comments or in the T-line and stuff. how are you? What's your glamour? also like, tell us of, right, what was the question? A love story that hurts not because it's bad, but because it's beautiful. Robin Axline: Yeah, I'd really be interested in that. Or just tell us how your day is going or your week or your month or your year, even your year. Tita Lors: Yeah. Hahaha! I'll be there for you. That's so funny. Robin Axline: So yeah. I just realized what I was saying. was like, Tita Lors: ⁓ my goodness. All right, everyone. That's all we've got. you enjoyed hanging out with us, please, please, please, please, please subscribe. We're an Apple podcast, Spotify Deezer. as said before, other listening avenues, streaming avenues as well. don't miss our next episode. ⁓ And until next everyone, ⁓ fuck it. Robin Axline: Stay petty. Bye! Tita Lors: Bye! ⁓