WIP: Everything

Dear family and friends,

Please, bear with me.

I know I say I will upkeep better, but it’s a new year! And quite honestly, I have so many ideas right now, I can’t wait to get started.

So rather than excuses as to what has kept me away, I wanted to share some of the things I am really excited about.

1. Ina-Yari. This is a very Emma idea that I think may be a little before it’s time. The physical what it is is ambiguous, so at the moment it is a concept that embodies what I feel closest identifies my heart and soul as an artist. You’ll hear more about it, but to break it down in simplified terms for the moment, ina in Tagalog means mother and yari in Tagalog is the base of the verb to make. I hyphenated the ideas because I wanted a simple way to incorporate the elements that I most identify with: my Pinoy heritage, my American heritage, my love of language, my love of manipulating and juxtaposing existing structures, my identity as being mixed race, my role as a mother, and my role as a creator.
2. The Beaux-Arts Academy in Provo, Utah. I’m hungry for other artists working on similar things. Not that I don’t love Washington DC. I love DC; it will forever be my first home. But I am literally talking to walls about paint drying; there can’t be anyone outside a community of artists who actually thinks that sounds healthy.
3. Psoriatic Arthritis. This is the part where I probably look really crazy (if you didn’t get that from me talking to walls), because I am excited for a crippling illness. Truth be told, I have always struggled to manage my life in a physical way, and my newly diagnosed psoriatic arthritis has been forcing me to actually live the way I know I should. I’m sure I’ll write more about this later, so I wont divulge too much now.

Every once in a while, my journey takes a turn that kinda makes everyone scratch their head and say, “I don’t really get it,” including me! I find myself at the cliched Indiana Jones bridge where I don’t see anything in front of me until after I take that leap of faith. This is one of those times. But it seems like every time I get to one of these points, I have more and more people who just want to see me succeed. My gratitude for you is overwhelming and ineffable. All I can do to say thank you is to keep going and try harder.

I am so excited to the journey to continue, and I am so excited to share it with you!