“These two diverse and compelling collections represent the finest talent in contemporary writing and editorial guidance in a world where homeland is mutable, distance is relative, identity is fluid and exile is never far away.”
Read the full article here.
“My husband had written me that Philippine horses and Philippine cockroaches were just about the same size.” page 94
Manila Noir Review mentions The Unintended, novel in progress
Excerpts from The Unintended are in Jessica Hagedorn’s Manila Noir
Haunting.
I bought this stereo card by bidding on it. It went quite high—up to forty-five bucks—but look at it. It is haunting.
Valeriano Abanador, hero of Balangiga, in August 1901 with American soldiers of Company C. In September he masterminded the plan to kill them.
Jacob Smith inspecting Balangiga, 1901
Caption from waterboarding.org:
“Soldiers of the 35th U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiment either demonstrating or administering the ‘water cure’ during the Fil-American War (Philippine Insurrection) of 1899-1902.
Found in the U.S. Army Signal Corps photographs at the National Archives by Gregory J Urwin while researching The United States Infantry: An Illustrated History.”
I also refer to the use of the water cure in Note 157, Entry #15 of my novel, The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata, admittedly reported by the fairly nutty Estrella Espejo:
“Note 157. By the way, I’m not joking when I mention the august use of waterboarding in the G.I. jails of the Filipino-American war! In The Ordeal of Samar, written by an American journalist, Joseph L. Schott, about events in 1902, the ‘cure’ is explained with explicit candor, instructive to us all: ‘Major Glenn was highly commended by his superiors for his good work. The major was a relentless interrogator. As an aid with uncooperative officials, he used a method of duress called ‘the water cure.’ The uncooperative official was spread-eagled on his back and the end of the hose was run into his mouth. The other end of the hose was connected to a water faucet. Water was poured into the victim until he swelled up and thought his guts would burst’ [Schott 28]. The admiring Schott goes on to say: ‘American Army surgeons later testified that the water cure was not lethal in itself, although they did admit the victim might expire from heart attack or sheer fright during the procedure.’ (Estrella Espejo, ditto)”
The book The Ordeal of Samar chronicles the court-martial and subsequent acquittal of an American officer, Colonel Waller, for his role in genocide in Samar in 1901. Major Glenn, much admired by the chronicler Joseph Schott, was also court-martialed. Unlike Waller, for his use of torture Major Glenn was found guilty.
Gina Apostol 