Lualhati Baliwag Reyes Perseveranda: Aka Nati, Mom, Superwoman! ❤️🫶

-

Flashback with this beautiful lady, my mom.

I remember when we still lived in our first house. I was 13 so it was our first year in Vallejo. Mom was doing somthing in the kitchen. I was watching TV in the family room.

Mom wasn't the "sit-down, let's talk" type of person like my dad. 

As I sat on the couch in the family room, watching either sports or cartoons, she walked through the family room.  Right when she walked in front of the TV, she said: 
"Go as far as you can in your education... and don't be promiscuous!"
I got the first part; I totally agreed.  But the second part made me nervous. It was the first time I'd heard the word 'promiscuous.'

When she had left the room, I jumped out of the couch to grab the dictionary. I quickly found 'promiscuous' in the dictionary.

I thought to myself:
"AWWW MOM!"

That's my mom!  That's my superwoman! 

Nati. Vallejo, CA. Edited with Photoscape. 


 

Edited with Adobe Lightroom Classic. Auto settings. Sharpening = 40.

Comments

Post a Comment

Hi! Thank you for dropping by. Please leave us a comment. Sige na!

Popular posts from this blog

H.E.R.'s Mom Is a Nurse. Her Dad Built Things. In Vallejo, We Know That House.

-
Image
Vallejo, CA • September 2026. H.E.R.'s Mom Is a Nurse. Her Dad Built Things. In Vallejo, We Know That House. h.e.r. jennifer hudson show, gabriella sarmiento wilson, h.e.r. filipino mom nurse, h.e.r. vallejo, forgotten island h.e.r., filipino american nurses, empire of care, the makings of curtis mayfield, cabanatuan nueva ecija, fil-am working class family, 9/25. Vallejo, CA • September 2026 H.E.R.'s Mom Is a Nurse. Her Dad Built Things. In Vallejo, We Know That House. On The Jennifer Hudson Show, the Vallejo-born star traced her art back to family and the Philippines. Behind the Oscar is a Filipina nurse from Cabanatuan, a construction worker who introduced her to Curtis Mayfield, and a story thousands of Fil-Am homes already know by heart. PinoyBuilt illustration: a stethoscope, a hard hat, and a guitar by the door of a working Fil-Am house. Not a still from the show. In my family, the white uniform...
Read more

Critics Loved Forgotten Island. Now It Needs Filipino Americans in the Seats.

-
Image
USA • October 2026. Critics Loved Forgotten Island. Now It Needs Filipino Americans in the Seats. forgotten island box office, forgotten island opening weekend, dreamworks filipino mythology movie, januel mercado, h.e.r. vallejo, liza soberano, lea salonga manananggal, filipino american history month, fahm 2026, support filipino film, 10/1. Forgotten Island • October 2026 Critics Loved Forgotten Island. Now It Needs Filipino Americans in the Seats. A Fil-Am director from Stockton made a studio film out of the stories our lolas told us. Audiences gave it an A. Then it opened fifth. This weekend is when we decide what Hollywood learns from it. PinoyBuilt illustration: an empty seat, a capiz-window screen, and one ticket waiting to be used. Not a still from the film. I was supposed to see Forgotten Island on Tuesday with my bunso, Chesca. That was the plan. Then the plan met a better offer: on Tuesday she was on a flight to Burbank, and on Wedn...
Read more

The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning

-
Image
Hiddenbrooke, CA • March 2026. The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning. forgotten island dreamworks, filipino mythology animation, H.E.R. liza soberano, lea salonga manananggal, nakali island, filipino american diaspora, pinoy pride, fil-am identity, filipino folklore, dreamworks animation 2026, joel crawford januel mercado, filipino culture film. FILM & IDENTITY • MARCH 2026 The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning The first major animated film rooted in Philippine folklore asks the question every immigrant carries: What do you lose when you leave? A PinoyBuilt analysis of the most important Filipino cultural moment in animation history. DreamWorks Animation's Forgotten Island features a voice cast led by H.E.R., Liza Soberano, and Lea Salonga in a story root...
Read more

Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry

-
Image
Vallejo, CA • March 2026. Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry. hiraya manawari meaning, ancient tagalog phrase, filipino manifestation, reach your dreams filipino, baybayin tattoo hiraya, decolonize filipino identity, pre-colonial philippines language, hiraya manawari tv show abs-cbn, filipino words of power, fil-am cultural reclamation. DECOLONIZE • MARCH 2026 Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry How an archaic Tagalog phrase meaning "may the visions of your heart come to pass" survived colonialism, powered a beloved 90s TV show, and is now reclaiming Filipino identity — one tattoo, one graduation caption, and one whispered prayer at a time. There are words in every language that carry more weight than their syllables suggest. In English, we have "freedom." In Japanese, ikigai . In ...
Read more

'Madonna of the Slums' by Vicente Manansala

-
Image
Manila, Philippines • March 2026. Madonna of the Slums: The Soul of Post-War Manila. Vicente Manansala, Transparent Cubism, Filipino modernism, post-war Manila, National Artist Philippines, Thirteen Moderns, heritage, art history, diaspora identity. Art History & Heritage • March 2026 Madonna of the Slums: The Soul of Post-War Manila Vicente Manansala's 1950 masterpiece reimagined the sacred Madonna as a Brown Filipino mother in the wreckage of post-war Manila — and in doing so, changed Philippine art forever. Seventy-five years later, it still speaks directly to us. Madonna of the Slums (1950) by Vicente Silva Manansala. Oil on Masonite, 86.5 cm × 61 cm. National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila. A cornerstone of Filipino Modernism. There is a particular kind of gravity that settles over you when you stand before a painting that refuses to look away. Vicente Manansala's Madonna of the Slums , complete...
Read more

The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: The Philippines' Oldest Written Record and What It Means for Every Filipino

-
Image
Philippines • April 2026. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: The Philippines' Oldest Written Record and What It Means for Every Filipino. laguna copperplate inscription, philippine history, pre-colonial philippines, tondo kingdom, baybayin, decolonization, antoon postma, 900 CE, namwaran, kawi script. Philippine History • April 2026 The Laguna Copperplate Inscription: The Philippines' Oldest Written Record and What It Means for Every Filipino On April 21, 900 CE — 1,126 years ago today — a scribe inscribed Old Malay, Sanskrit, and Old Tagalog onto a sheet of copper in the Kingdom of Tondo. What he created is proof that Filipino civilization was literate, legally sophisticated, and globally connected six centuries before Magellan ever set foot on our shores. The Laguna Copperplate Inscription, dated April 21, 900 CE — the oldest written document ever found in the Philippines. National Museum of Anthropology, Manila. When I was a ...
Read more

UC Irvine Received 153,025 Applications for Fall 2026 — What Filipino-American Students Need to Know

-
Image
California • March 2026. UC Irvine Received 153,025 Applications for Fall 2026 — What Filipino-American Students Need to Know. uc irvine admissions 2026, filipino american college, uci fall 2026, california university admissions, fil-am students UC, anteater, orange county. EDUCATION • CALIFORNIA • MARCH 2026 UC Irvine Received 153,025 Applications for Fall 2026 — What Filipino-American Students Need to Know Before you chase the admit rate, understand the community waiting for you. At UC Irvine, Kababayan is not a club — it is a 50-year institution, a family of 600, and the reason Fil-Am students have been calling Irvine home since 1974. There is a version of the UC Irvine conversation that Filipino-American families across Southern California have been having for a generation — the one about admit rates and whether it's a "target" or a "reach," about how it compares to UCLA, about whether...
Read more