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Lynn Lopez

Author: Lynn

  • Just shut up and look pretty…?

    Every now and then, you see someone posting a graphic or some quote declaring that she’s not a princess, but a queen, suggesting that princesses are sweet and well behaved and need taking care of, but queens are strong and empowered and rule their own lands.

    That’s why it’s pretty funnythat Miss Philippines Earth 2025 Joy Barcoma is catching some heat for her answer during the Miss Earth 2025 Q&A. I didn’t even think she said anything controversial when she called for prayers for the people affected by the typhoon in the Visayas and that the government should be creating policies for the good of the people. That all seems pretty commonsense to me. And yet there are people saying she took too much time and that it wasn’t the right time and platform for her to be talking about those things.

    What do you mean that’s not the right platform?! She was competing to become Miss Earth, and she was asked a question that she was able to relate to what’s currently happening in the country she is representing. Do people think Miss Earth should be just about tree planting and promoting recycling?

    Anyway, it’s great that Barcoma’s not taking all this sitting down; she comments directly to critics and says that she doesn’t regret speaking up about those issues even if it cost her the crown.

    “Gusto niyo mag-smile smile ako sa stage kahit alam kong ang daming namamatay, ang daming nawawala, ang daming nawalan ng kabuhayan, ang daming hindi makauwi sa bahay nila . . . Gusto niyo manahimik ako? … If that’s the thing that costed (sic) me the crown, it’s worth it. Aanhin ko ang crown if it’s for the glitz and glam, pero kung kailangan magsalita para sa bayan, hindi ko ginagamit.”

    It’s fantastic and refreshing to hear a beauty queen talking like this, because people expect them to make nice and keep peace with the fans and the organization they want to represent because apparently, what actually really matters is securing that crown, forget about having principles, strong opinions, and a brain.

    That’s the unfortunate fate of beauty queens here, I think. Not only do they have to squeeze, fill, trim themselves to look the part, but people also want them to have a brain and have something substantial to say about social issues.* Yet when they actually do speak up and take a stand, they get criticized for it.

    I’ve always thought it takes a brave woman to get into pageantry here in the Philippines, yet many still do in hopes of a better life, greater influence, and opportunities. To get there, however, it seems like they have to conform, kiss so many asses, and bite their tongues a lot. Speaking up and being frank about issues is the least they could do, and yet some people couldn’t even let them have that.

    *Just look at how much people CRUCIFY beauty queens when they can’t formulate a proper response during Q&As or when they don’t have progressive views on issues.

  • Remembering my dad

    I was sick for most of October, and because I was coughing incessantly, that meant IT WAS PEI PA KOA TIIIIIIME.

    I like to joke that taking Pei Pa Koa when you have a cough or a sore throat is the best advice he ever gave me. Okay, I say “joke” but I’m … not really joking. We didn’t have the best relationship. It took me a couple of years after he died to really think about why that was: we were both pretty stubborn, he wasn’t around much and let my mother take care of us, I didn’t like the way he treated my mother and how he favored his siblings, and he probably really didn’t want to or was prepared to be a father and never learned along the way. That’s all fine now. There’s really not much I can do about stuff that happened a long time ago with a parent who died more than a decade ago.

    So no, I don’t have very many warm memories of my father. But I do hang on to the few I have:

    • him bringing me a box of cookies* that ended up becoming my favorite
    • waking me up from a nap to tell me that we have Japanese corn for merienda
    • him joking that he was just holding a piece of chalk when I chided him for smoking
    • his excitement when he passed an important professional exam
    • him thanking me for giving him what turned out to be one of his last meals
    • his anticipation over delivering a speech pushing for automation in his workplace

    None of them seem like a lot, but I imagine I would have seen more of those moments had we both taken the time to get to know each other better and stopped being so triggered by whatever the other one said. I know, the dead don’t care, but I’m still here and from time to time, I still wish things had been different.

    *Dare Ultimate Fudge Chocolate

  • Anybody remember Sideblog.org?

    There used to be a website called Sideblog.org, which allowed you to make extra blog posts on a miniblog that appeared on the sidebar of your site’s front page. All you needed to do was sign up and add a snippet of HTML code wherever you wanted theminiblog to appear. Thinking about it now, it seemed kind of like a precursor of the original Twitter, letting you share posts that didn’t deserve a full-length blog post.

    Looking at Archive.org, it seems that Sideblog.org didn’t last that long (or maybe the site wasn’t crawled enough?), because the available version is from 2006. Feels like an idea that was ahead of its time, but I remember how nice it was to have a little space where I could just post things like “I’m hungry” or “Ugh” and not interrupt the flow of my main blog.

  • Just write, people

    Sometimes, blogging makes one (and by one, I mean me) feel silly and self-conscious, or feel worried that writing about nothing or random things is too indulgent or self-centered, or just generally feel unworthy of having their voice heard because the world’s already loud enough with millions of opinions and do you really need to add to the noise?

    And then tweets like these pop up

    and remind you that, you know what? Just write what you want, you don’t even have to have an audience for it, and we’re all here for such a brief moment in time*, so make as much noise as you want.

    *Somehow, I always circle back around to the topic of mortality. Cannot be helped, what with my age and recent goings-on in people’s lives.

  • Taho my beloved

    I have tons of good memories associated with taho: having it for a snack while walking around the UP Academic Oval, heading out with my mother and carrying insulated tumblers to buy taho from the guy just outside our village, enjoying a cup or two after a fun run, warm glasses of taho on cold mornings in Baguio—I could go on and on about it. Today brought another nice memory: My boyfriend bringing a cup of taho for me while I’m working.