For me, from a storytelling point of view, that was daunting. So much of it is rooted in slavery, and there are people better equipped to tell that story. I was having a hard time figuring out how to tell the history of care work in America. You just keep opening doors in a way that is refreshingly hard.ĪG: As I was reading new research about Filipina nurses coming over to the United States, I felt these studies in my body.
There’s so much to tap into with the expansive opening of the larger discourses you’re entering into: the feminist literature, the poetics, the personal experience. SF: You’re so graceful at moving between sharing and offering opportunities for learning. I didn’t really think about what it would be for white people they can do what people of color do all the time, which is make a little effort to see themselves in something. I know there are people for whom this book will resonate on a deeper physical and spiritual level.
But it’s not a secret if you’re Filipino, all of this makes sense on a different level. I’ve learned you have to be prepared for that. There was definitely the question of legibility for me, and I was prepared to defend every choice like that. Early on in this book I decided I wasn’t going to do that: no italicizing Tagalog words, no explaining Filipino dishes. I have been explaining myself and my family’s culture to white people my entire life. Instead of trying to completely undo that, I am trying to call people in. So the way I express myself as a writer, I fear, is in some ways a reflection of deep internalized whiteness. I bought in so early to the idea of being a good writer, being eloquent and clear and grammatically correct.
But there’s some level on which I cannot separate the part I’m trying to write to please white people. People of color are often told, “Write for yourself, don’t worry about anyone.” Which is great, theoretically. Are there parts of this book that you feel like you feel particularly protective over? Specifically, that are not for white people?ĪG: Certainly, but if I were to put myself under the lights and try to scan for internalized whiteness, I’m not sure I could tell.
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