Just Some Write-Ups

This paper was originally presented at NaturaLit: Being in Nature, Living with Literature, a conference held via Zoom on November 11, 2021. It was eventually published in the second volume of Tugkad: A Literary and Cultural Studies Journal (August 2022). * * * I. Introduction: Ciudad, Seafront City, and the Nation-State’s Drive to Develop Motorists who frequently traverse Gov. M. Cuenco Avenue are all too familiar with a squat one-story house-like structure designed in a style one can only describe as a hybrid mix of upper-class colonial meets modern-day bungalow: white coral stone facade, red Spanish roof tiles, capiz shell windows, all layered over a refurbished trailer. The structure sits somewhat aloofly on what is perhaps one of only a few remaining unpaved plots of land along the major thoroughfare, and it’s a rather curious, if peculiar, sight overshadowed by the IT Park high-rises looming behind it. A brief dig into the online news archives will reveal that both structure and ...