(c) Jena T.

(c) Jena T.

11/6/15. I can’t remember the last time I took a walk around the campus alone. Oh how I cherish these moments of solitude and quiet.

(c) Jena T.

Several months ago, I interviewed my friend Issa Rodriguez for a speech case study. After that interview, I was super stoked for her especially because she said she was just a few months away from launching her music. And now, the long wait is finally over. She was able to release her first single, “Misteryoso” last February and its music video just last Saturday! Go, Issa! 

I went to see her music video launch at The Brewery in the Palace in BGC, hence the photos. While watching her sing live, all I could think was, damn I’m so proud and happy for this girl. It’s so amazing to see friends become their confident selves and doing what they’ve always dreamed of doing. It’s amazing too to see how my other batchmates have grown since we graduated high school. This is also one of those rare moments for me when I appreciate facebook because it helps make sure I am still updated of my peers’ lives.

If you want to check out Issa’s single, it’s on Spotify! Her MV isn’t on youtube yet but I’m sure it will be up soon! 

**Update: Her music video is up now! Check it out here.

(c) Jena T. 

“There is no blue without yellow and without orange.” - Vincent Van Gogh

(c) Jena T.

Shots of Boston, MA 
- Dec-Jan 2016

JFK Library & Museum, Old South Church, Boston Public Library, Trinity Church, Museum of Fine Arts, & CambridgeSide Galleria

Year 2016

One thing has become clear to me as I look back this past year: it’s that I have to stop giving into it –  to self-doubt, to sorrow, to pain. 

There are so many instances in my life in which I allowed myself to fall and be bruised. I let myself be broken. I let myself be paralyzed by failure in fear of having to go through it all over again. Our society seems to think nowadays that it is completely okay to romanticize pain and nestle it in our hearts – and so we do and stay broken. But here’s the shocking line that not all of us take time to realize, and only this year did I learn; being in pain is not a way to live. We have to be smart enough to rise above that pain. 

Earlier in the year, I had someone who I genuinely loved walk away from my life. The first days of grief were the hardest. It was an incredibly difficult concept to accept that some stories of love only exist for a certain period. It isn’t his fault nor mine. A failed relationship isn’t a reflection of who the individuals involved are as a person. It’s just that no could have predicted the future and no one could have known that it was simply not meant to be. Both parties were only doing the best they could at the time, and he and I both owed it to ourselves to take a leap of faith. Of course I learned all these in hindsight. But before it sunk in that was truly over, I carried the pain and what I believed then to be a defeat with me for months on end. I thought it was only natural to do that and therefore, okay. They say a good cry is what you need after a break-up — but crying and thinking about it longer than you should? No. To berate and lose yourself in regret and self-doubt? No.

What I failed to factor in in all this wallowing was myself. Showering someone with love and care may be beautiful and noble, but I have to bestow these qualities upon myself too. I deserve to give myself the same love that I keep giving to someone else. Hanging onto negativity and self-pity only hinders me from growing. Blanketing myself with sadness only tears me down, not build me up. Pain and sadness are not armors to wear until I become strong again. Strength, I now fully realized, is gained when one rises above and overcomes all these miseries.

This coming 2017, I hope that I stop being hard on myself. I should let light flood in and loosen my grasp on the pain that I’ve held onto for so long. I hope to embrace happiness when given it and treat myself with as much kindness and care that I keep on insisting I be able to impart to others. Loss, in any form, shouldn’t have to be an indication to doubt ourselves but a revelation to love ourselves better.  

March for Climate Justice

(c) Jena T.

March for Climate Justice Philippines - November 28, 2015

In the Philippines, to see people marching on the streets with colorful costumes, streamers, and banners, followed by a band playing loud and upbeat music, signify that there’s a fiesta going on. On the other hand, to see people gathered by the roads, chanting protests, would mean totally different - there is a rally. This time, however, it was a little bit of both.

Last November 28, 2015, many people flocked Quezon City Memorial Circle to march for climate justice. This was held in line with the Global Climate March happening in 150 other countries prior the COP21 in Paris. COP21 refers to 21st Conference of Parties, wherein global leaders discussed and agreed on actions to take in the future that will prevent climate change from reaching catastrophic levels.

Spearheaded by the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice, the march in Quezon City is just one of the many staged marches across the country; other sites (in Luzon only) were in Semirara Island, Batangas, Occidental Mindoro, Laguna, Bataan, and Zambales. Given that the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, it is paramount for people here to stage a nationwide mass action. It is time everyone in the world considers more seriously and carefully the negative impacts of carbon emissions and our reliance on fossil fuels.

Many people from different sectors of society came together, may it be religious groups, labor unions, youth organizations, even groups of foreigners, just to name a few. Hearts all beating as one, we lobbied for Climate Justice around the 25-hectare QC circle. 

Among the themes that echoed during the protest are energy transformation, right to food, land, and water, justice and reparations for affected people, protection of our common home, jobs and just transition, and youth. I was part of the Cut it Deep, Cut Now group demanding the increase in global temperature be limited to 1.5°C. Whether it’s reducing exposure to severe drought, flooding, spread of disease, intensity of typhoons or sea level rise, scientific studies conclusively say the damage will be profoundly reduced by staying within 1.5° of warming --- which was actually SUCCESSFULLY agreed upon in COP21 a few days after the global march! YES, you read that right!

For the first time in COP history, representatives to the COP21 finally reached a universal and legally-binding agreement on climate change last December 12. One of the agreed upon terms is that developed and developing countries will ensure and are required to limit their emissions to relatively safe levels - 1.5°C. Finally! If you want to see list of other agreed terms, check this link: http://www.c2es.org/international/negotiations/cop21-paris/summary.

COP21, as well as the March for Climate Justice Philippines, were momentous. I’m really proud to have been part of this grand, festive, and historic march. However, this is just the first step in the battle against climate change. There’s still a lot to be done, one of which is standing by the agreement. I hope the Philippines, the government and its people, act and contribute to this fight as it is our homes and lives that hang in the balance.