Today marks Arkipelago’s first program director Susan Quimpo’s first birthday since she passed away last summer. To honor this first birthday in heaven, we wanted to share a prayer dedicated to her from her NYC memorial written and shared by Edwin Ramoran, one of Arkipelago’s previous program directors. May her memory be a radical inspiration for us all.
Novena for Susan (Spirit of us as her heaven)
O Filipinas, Ate / Manang Susan proclaimed this planet is our heaven. It is here on earth as it is in heaven as it is on terra as it is in langit.
From the tropical archipelago of LuzViMinda to the island of Manhattan and back and forth then to our personal, private islands, we speak and whisper and text and scream in acronyms
OCW
TNT
NPA
PNP
LFS
GNP
GDP
OA
Remain progressive. O Susan, keep us on a path against extrajudicial killings, fascists, demagogues, dictators, tyranny against the poor and downtrodden.
Remind us of our colonial and revolutionary ancestors. O Susan, we invoke you today as you have invoked our predecessors who gave us problematized nationality during legacies of oppression and imperialisms, wars, and holocausts.
Who’s a Fil-Fil and who’s a Fil-Am, anyways?
Why does it matter?
Black lives matter. Brown lives matter.
Because if we didn’t have these limiting terms, we wouldn’t be able to gather in unlimited masses, we can take our island chains and make a single link
Gifted
Unbreakable
Empathic
Uncompromising
Sustainable
Action
Relentless
Fierce
Aloha
Artivism
Kindness
Erupting
Intergenerational
United
Nurturing
Unusual
Curious
Remembering
Subversive
Intentional
Barangay / Barrio
Bahay / Balay
Lugar / Pasyar
Exilic
Grounded
Joking
Coffeed-up
Stomach filled up with merienda
Intersectional
Thoughtful
Breath
Humility
Resistance
Bayanihan
Atmospherics
Mabuhay
Rise Up
Loving
Solidarity
Kapwa
Moral insistence
Community
Rabble-rouser
Reduplicated
Reduplicated
Rabble-rouser
Mentoring
Healing
Laughter
Soul
Theatrical
Bat-Ha-La
Activism
Giving
O Filipinas, mother country full of diversity, diasporas fill you and diasporas leave you and return and return and return. Return. Balik na balik. Back and forth. Back and forward. A lily feeding towards the ground or lotus floating in deep space. Maraming Salamat po, ate / manang kapatid / kabsat Susan. Thank you for your direction and continued guidance. We wouldn’t be here without you. Agbiag ti tao. Agyamanak. Mahal kita. Amen.
Dedicated to George, Sarita and Rian.
Arkipelago 