Scout: 2017 March-April

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on the cover

The dynamic #Benchsetters on their next big adventures this season

Interview by ROMEO MORAN Photography by JACK ALINDAHAO Styling by GRACE DE LUNA

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THE MERCURY steadily rising means one thing: soon it’ll be time to pack our bags and head off somewhere far (or not-too-far). Summer is for traveling to places anywhere but here, to get away from the doldrums of life made worse by the growing heat.

If anyone’s got any wanderlust they don’t know how to vent yet, then you’re in luck. We’ve teamed up with the #Benchsetters—that lively set of millennials you’ve seen out and about the metro—to get to know them a little more, and to get the best ideas for that next great summer adventure waiting for you.

What are you waiting for? Let’s go join Angel, Arisse, Emil, Mathew, and Neil on those trips.

2:27 PM 28/03/2017 3:26

ANGEL MANZANO @angelmanzano

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD? Even if I've never been to the place?

Well, to be a bit more general, I guess my favorite place in the world would be the beach.

No specific beach naman, but any place where there's sand, the ocean, coconut trees. I spent my childhood going to the beach with my family, my whole clan, with my lolo; I think we'd go once every two months, so I really was a beach baby. I learned how to swim even before I was 1.

EVEN BEFORE YOU WERE 1! My parents would bring me to the ocean even before I turned 1. So I really grew up on the beach. What would be my favorite thing is to travel the world and see the best beaches out there.

WHAT ADVENTURE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON THE MOST? So I'm planning this after I graduate college, but I really wanna go backpacking around Europe. I know that's everyone's dream, but I just really want to. One of my favorite classes in Ateneo was Western History, so I learned a lot. I really wanna see the sights, the culture, try the food, meet people.

ARISSE DE SANTOS @arissedesantos

WHAT'S YOUR MOST FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD? I'd love to visit Paris, because it's the most romantic place. And I guess because of the culture, also. I've been traveling alone; I don't wanna get stuck in Manila. I just want a different feel.

WHAT ABOUT PLACES YOU'VE ALREADY BEEN TO? I think I'm most at home in the States, because I have relatives and friends there, so it's easy to get around and just do adventures together.

WHAT ADVENTURE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON THE MOST? Traveling alone more. Just bring myself and get lost, in a way.

EMIL KHODAVERDI @emilkhodaverdi

WHAT'S YOUR MOST FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD? I would have to say New York would be top bill for me. I visited New York back in 2012, and from then on, the moment I stood on Times Square, it was just like what you see in movies, that feeling. Definitely New York.

WHAT ADVENTURE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON THE MOST? Well, I only have a year of college left, and I'm really planning to explore the States right after I graduate. Mainly LA, because I was born in LA. Ever since I moved to Cebu, I've never been back to LA. I wanna experience the American life, see how it is, and that's basically what I wanna do.

MATHEW CUSTODIO @mathewcustodio

WHAT'S YOUR MOST FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD? Real or fictional? Obviously, first would be space. It's every traveler's, or dreamer's dream. Second would be a real place; I think it would be Boracay. The first time I went to Boracay was when I was 14. It was a batch Bora. I was with all my friends, my barkada, my teammates, and we had a blast. So we decided that every year, we're gonna do this. We're gonna make it our friendly tradition.

YOU COME BACK EVERY YEAR? Yeah, we come back every year! I haven't missed a year, actually!

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WHAT ADVENTURE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON THE MOST? I think I'd continue doing my passion for my sport, being able to travel playing football.

Recently, I've been to Spain and England, and just to play football in tryouts, they were sending me everywhere, that's my personal dream.

That's my goal in life.

from left to right: Emil Khodaverdi, Angel Manzano, Mathew Custodio, Arisse de Santos, and Neil Dy

NEIL DY @niggydy

WHAT'S YOUR MOST FAVORITE PLACE IN THE WORLD? So far, it's Japan. I love Japanese food, the people there are so nice, and there are a lot of things to explore in Japan: fashion, different tourist spots. I've been to Japan thrice already, to different places.

WHAT ADVENTURE DO YOU WANT TO GO ON THE MOST? I think I wanna explore more of the Philippines. I wanna go to different beaches.

The simple things. The cheap thrills. I just wanna spend like a month traveling the Philippines.

Hair and Makeup by BENCH FIX SALON Stylist’s Assistant JULIA PETALVER

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in this issue

#SCOUTTRAVELISSUE

6 MUSIC

ta-ku

8 PROFILE

millennials with a cause

10 ESSAY

the world through books

12 BEAUT Y

like a rock star

16 FICT ION

mass transit

18 ESSAY

korea

20 FASHION

gabbi garcia

26 FOOD

healthy road snacks and asian beers

28 ON T HE COVE R

khalil ramos, ethan salvador, jameson blake, and jasmine curtis-smith

36 FEAT URE

fa

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FASHION

down on the coast

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38

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38

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44 FICT ION

mapcrunch stories

48 ART + DESIGN

heaven is a place on earth

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w h o ’s y o u r dream travel buddy?

W W W . S C O U T M A G . P H

GROUP PUBLISHER

BEA J. LEDESMA

EDITOR IN CHIEF

ROMEO MORAN

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Nimu Muallam

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Denise Fernandez

GRAPHIC ARTIST

Grace de Luna

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Lex Celera

COPY EDITOR

Patricia Romualdez

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Chryssa Celestino, Tracey dela Cruz, AJ Elicaño, Bea Mariano, Nico Pascual, Cedric S. Reyes, Juno Reyes

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS

Lee Caces, Jer Dee, Ryan Melgar

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Koji Arboleda, Danica Condez, Julo Cope, JL Javier, Shaira Luna, Cenon Norial III, Patrick Segovia

CONTRIBUTING VIDEOGRAPHERS

Kyle Quismundo, Niccollo Santos, Petersen Vargas

CONTRIBUTING STYLISTS

Ryuji Shiomitsu, Florian Trinidad, Matt Panes

CONTRIBUTING HAIR & MAKEUP ARTISTS

Slo Lopez, Pam Robes, Bullet Reyes, Peps Silvestre, John Pagaduan, Avril Seguin

INTERNS

Colin Dancel, Alexa Mascenon, Julia Petalver, Aaron Silao

EDITORIAL CONSULTANT

Ria Francisco-Prieto

BOARD CHAIRPERSON

Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez

FINANCE ADVISER AND TREASURER

J. Ferdinand De Luzuriaga

LEGAL ADVISER

Atty. Rudyard Arbolado

VP/GROUP HR HEAD

Raymund Soberano

VP & CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER

Imelda C. Alcantara

HR DIRECTOR - SHARED SERVICES

Chuchi A. Gracia

SENIOR HR MANAGER

Ma. Leonisa L. Gabrieles

HR SPECIALIST

Reynalyn S. Fernandez

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT/ EDITORIAL CONTENT PLANNER

Jullia Pecayo

HEAD OF OPERATIONS AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Lurisa Ann Villanueva

SVP & GROUP SALES HEAD,

Felipe R. Olarte

AVP FOR SALES

Ma. Katrina Garcia-Dalusong

KEY ACCOUNTS SPECIALIST

Angelita Tan-Ibañez

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Thea Ordiales, Abby Ginaga

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Charm Banzuelo, Andie Zuñiga, Liza Jison

SALES SUPPORT ASSISTANTS

Rechelle Endozo, Manilyn Ilumin

MARKETING & EVENTS MANAGER

Jellic Tapia

EVENTS SUPERVISOR

Bianca Dalumpines

BRAND MARKETING SUPERVISOR

Ina Rodriguez

EVENTS ASSISTANT

Merjorie May Young

BRAND ASSISTANT

Nicole Uson

MARKETING SENIOR GRAPHIC ARTIST

Roi De Castro

BUSINESS & DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Rina Lareza

DISTRIBUTION SPECIALIST

Arnulfo Naron

LOGISTICS SUPERVISOR

Nancy Baybay

DISTRIBUTION ASSISTANT

Angela Carlos-Quiambao

SUBSCRIPTION ASSISTANT

Blue Infante

CIRCULATION ASSISTANT

Princess Martinez

PRODUCTION MANAGER

Jan Cariquitan

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Maricel Gavino

FINAL ART SUPERVISOR

Dennis Cruz

FINAL ART ASSISTANT

Argyl Leones

INQUIRER GROUP OF COMPANIES

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“My boyfriend and I never actually traveled in the 14 years we’ve been together.

He hates planes.”

“Who needs a dream travel buddy when I’ve already found one in Shintaro Lopez IRL?”

“Michael Cera because he’s Michael Cera.”

“Kylie Jenner because glam team, cool music on the road, and paparazzi.”

SHAIRA LUNA Down On The Coast (p.38)

RYAN MELGAR Drive Slow, Homie (p.6)

PETERSEN VARGAS Video, Futuresque

JULIA PETALVER La-La Land (p.18)

“I’d like Conan O’ Brien to take me to his remotes before anyone else does.”

CHRYSSA CELESTINO La-La Land (p.16)

“Myself. I’ve been wanting to try traveling on my own.”

KOJI ARBOLEDA Futuresque (p.28)

@scout m a gp h s c o u t m a g p h@g m ail.c o m

4F Media Resource Plaza, Mola cor. Pasong Tirad Sts., Brgy. La Paz Makati City

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

ON THE COVER

On Ethan: NICOLE PINEDA parka, GIORDANO turtleneck, TENEMENT shirt, ADIDAS jogging pants

T

he moment I realized I actually loved traveling was on the third or fourth night of a Southeast Asian backpacking trip my girlfriend and I went on last December. It was our first night in Malaysia, and we’d missed the last bus from Melaka to Kuala Lumpur. We had a hostel reservation at the capital, so I insisted on taking a taxi to drive us the entire 122 kilometers to the city. The driver, a nice Indian man I was still wary of because the girlfriend told me Malaysia was sketchier than Singapore and because it was a frickin’ taxi, charged us 200 ringgit (P2,000) for the two-hour trip.

We ended up agreeing to it, and I spent the whole two hours watching his playlist of Bollywood and EDM music videos through his headrest monitors, unable to sleep for fear of waking up in the middle of nowhere without all our stuff. But we did make it to KL at around 11 p.m., the whole thing dispelling the fear I’d built up from midnights on Makati streets. We hadn’t really set out to “find ourselves,” whatever that means, but I did discover something about myself in a more primal way: turns out I loved traveling because I loved the thrill of staying on my toes in an unfamiliar land.

While they might not share this exact same reason, millennials love traveling. A lot. My social media feeds are full of friends sharing photos they’ve taken both here and abroad, inside the city and outside of it. I know I’ve contributed to the collective wanderlust myself, and I’m proud of it, too— not only because I can say I’ve been to this province or that country, this mountain or that beach, but mostly because I could help encourage people my age to spend on travel (if/when they can) over material things. (But you do you, man.)

And if anyone’s ever flown out just to “find themselves” or figure out what to do next with their lives, that’s okay, too. Sometimes it really does take immersing yourself completely in a place you’ve never been before—or a place you love to keep coming back to—to reorganize the files in your head and keep on keeping on.

If it’s a cliché, it’s because it is rooted in reality. Nobody knows this better right now than one-fourth of our cover peeps, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, who’s making her Scout return after her December 2015-January 2016 cover. Jas and I caught up partly about her popular indie movie Baka Bukas directed by Sam Lee, and mostly about her surprising two-and-a-half-monthlong vacation, a length of time that’s a bit unheard of for local stars hustling hard to make a name for themselves ’round these parts. But that’s exactly why she had to push for this retreat: while the hustle of young people is admirable, it does take a mental, emotional, and sometimes physical toll on us. For everyone’s mental health, she suggests that everyone disconnect whenever they can.

And the boys of Petersen Vargas’s 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten had their own journeys as well. Lead actor Khalil Ramos has been around for a while, but for his castmates Jameson Blake and Ethan Salvador, it’s their first time working on something like this. They went all the way to Pampanga to shoot the movie and find out just how capable they are as actors, how much more they could push themselves. Ethan himself traveled all the way from the US just to try his luck chasing his dreams. You could even say that it’s the reallife, modern day hero’s journey.

So now that the days are getting longer and the responsibilities might be getting fewer (for most of you, I assume), it’s time to start hitting the road. We’ve stocked this issue full of things to inspire you to book your next ticket—you can start with our little feature on beer from around the region, for one.

To those without any plans, now’s the time to draw ’em up. To those of you heading somewhere, anywhere soon, we’ll see you out there in the sunshine.

On Jameson: PONY shoes On Khalil: ADIDAS jacket and jogging pants On Jasmine: FOREVER 21 track jacket, pants and earrings, GUESS vest

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ROMEO

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6

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music

28/03/2017 12:44 PM

music

7

d r i v e s l o w, homie Regan “Ta-ku” Mathews proves that the key to living a multi-hyphenated life is taking your time

By NICO PASCUAL Illustration by RYAN MELGAR BEATMAKER Regan Mathews, also known as Ta-ku, knows that he always has to stay ahead of everyone else. His stage name is taken from a Maori word—a part of his heritage as he’s half-Filipino and half-Maori New Zealander— which changes depending on how you use it and what it means to you. But for him, his adoptive namesake means me and myself— and Ta-ku has shown no one but himself in his creative pursuits.

In the world of producing beats, Ta-ku has made quite a name for himself, especially in circles that enjoy the slow-burning hip-hop instrumentals of his musical predecessors J Dilla and Nujabes. But rather than devote his life to it, he stresses the importance of taking one’s time with their passion by allowing some room for growth. Before he became a beatmaker, he had a full-time job selling health insurance until he decided to quit to focus on his numerous creative projects, which go far and beyond the confines of the music scene.

Most musicians or artists would identify themselves with one category or another, but Ta-ku prefers to reinvent who he is every single day.

His growing resume is impressive, and a bit enviable to say the least. He has released multiple EPs, he’s one of the founders of the popular Team Cozy and Create & Explore Instagram brands, he is co-owner of Westons Barbershop located in his hometown of Perth, and is a regular contributor to Street Dreams magazine, a quarterly photography magazine based in Vancouver. It makes me wonder how one can perform such a balancing act, but when I look at what he has accomplished in such a short span of time, it’s hard not to take notes.

Musically, Ta-ku was a late bloomer, and he said that he’s still playing catch-up since he only started making beats after college. When he was starting out, he mentioned that the only way to get into DJing was to actively collect vinyl and listen to more music. But it wasn’t until he heard the J Dilla-produced song for Slum Village called Fall in Love that he felt like doing this for the rest of his life. Like Ta-ku’s own music, the instrumental track hides a deeper, more universal message: “To fall in love/with the things you do/don’t sell yourself.”

Being a new producer in an oversaturated market isn’t the easiest thing; one glance at popular musical platforms such as Soundcloud affirms that claim. But Ta-ku knew better starting out, and rather than rely on fancy marketing,

he let his intricate music do the talking for him even though it was tough going at first. When he started making beats, he resorted to giving them away for free because he felt he wasn’t good enough.

But when he was 20, he was invited to the prestigious Red Bull Music Academy in Barcelona back in 2008, and his two-week stint there left an indelible impression on the young musician. In addition to fine-tuning his skills as a producer and musician, Ta-ku picked up on the importance of friendship and the alchemical power of collaborations. “It’s not about who has the best technical knowledge, or who is the best musician here. It’s about getting together

as a cinematic soundtrack for anyone going through any form of heartache. The follow-up, “Songs To Make Up To,” was a deeply personal work and a tribute to self-love. For him, it was about learning to be okay again, despite the circumstances.

His most recent EP “Median,” which was released with his Future Classic labelmate Wafia last August, was a major breakthrough for Ta-ku as a musician. The five-track EP, which deals with family issues intertwined with his usual themes of love and moving forward, looks like another solid effort by the beatmaker, but upon first listen you’ll notice something different from the get-go.

From the first track onwards, Ta-ku’s newfound voice confidently meshes with Wafia’s wispy R&B vocals and the result is a melding of two artists who aren’t afraid to put each other’s intentions first.

Despite being on the cusp of mainstream success (his full-length album is still in the works), he’s been keeping himself grounded by fine-tuning his other passions, most notably his love for photography, which he continues to hone despite his colorblindness. His photography injects his love for multi-layered stories into his emotive portraits of urban life. When I first saw his pictures, it wasn’t the visual aesthetics that impressed me, but rather his initiative to turn his passions into creative communities where everyone is free to voice their own ideas. There is an authenticity to Ta-ku and his work that draws people to him, and the numerous brands, artists, and musicians that frequent his creative spheres are a testament to this.

This drive to realize his creative potential while being true to himself and others has been the common thread unifying his life and career. His mantra of “doing what you love, and loving what you do” may sound old-fashioned and clichéd, but it holds a semblance of truth for him, who sees every day as an opportunity to pursue the various creative projects he is currently working on at the moment.

It has been a long and slow ride for Ta-ku so far, and what’s next for the multifaceted creative is still up in the air. But one thing that will remain the same is the humble and collaborative way he approaches his creativity.

It is this characteristic that helped him grow in his music and his photography, but more importantly, it will serve him well in his next endeavor, whatever the future may hold. n

“It’s not about who has the best technical knowledge, or who is the best musician here. It’s about getting together with like-minded creatives and musicians and making whatever you can.”

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with like-minded creatives and musicians and making whatever you can,“ he mentioned during a 2015 Red Bull Chronicles interview.

Afterwards, he launched his first major mixtape projects, “50 Days For Dilla” and “25 Nights For Nujabes,” which forced Ta-ku to make one beat a day as a tribute to his musical heroes. The beats were raw, but with each passing day he refined his method of splicing beats from several different songs into a coherent and relatable whole. The popularity of these releases paved the way for more complex personal works, namely the EPs “Songs To Break Up To” and “Songs To Make Up To,” which were released in 2013 and 2015 respectively.

Ta-ku first released “Songs To Break Up To” while going through the aftermath of a breakup, and he found out that the process of writing these songs was therapeutic for him. The songs are densely layered and could easily serve

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8

profile

i t ’s all good

Millennials are often stereotyped as lazy, selfcentered, and narcissistic, when they actually make the most efficient and dedicated humanitarians, regardless of age. Meet the young visionaries who are working for legitimate change

By DENISE FERNANDEZ Photography by JL JAVIER

CARLO DELANTAR, 24 COUNTRY DIRECTOR AT WAVES FOR WATER PHILIPPINES The aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda pushed 20-year-old Carlo Delantar to establish a Cebu-based headquarters for a certain non-governmental clean water organization. After meeting with individuals from Waves for Water, Carlo grew immersed in the work and was entrusted with helming a local branch. Waves for Water is an organization whose aim is plain and simple— to distribute clean and healthy drinking water to people in need of it. The organization, which has already helped over 80,000 individuals, currently has a DIY volunteer program for travelers who want to help out called the Clean Water Courier program. They can simply purchase a filter, connect with nonprofit organizations in the area, or set it up themselves, all for $25 a filter. “The work is very lean here and we make as much effort as we can to distribute. As millennials, we have the necessary tools to do as much as we possibly can, be it technology or whatnot,” Carlo says. “A lot of millennials prove to be really advanced with humanitarianism in the Philippines in terms of standards and capacity building than a lot of other Asian countries.” http://wavesforwater.org/couriers info@wavesforwater.org

JULIENNE JOVEN, 24 VINCENT PEREZ, 25 CO-FOUNDERS OF FENNEL You know the guys and girls behind Fennel mean business when you read their tagline: “We help do-gooders do good-er.” Fennel is a strategic communications agency for social good, working with various organizations to help them with branding and messaging, project development services, social media management, and more. Julienne Joven and Vincent Perez are two of the four who make up Fennel, all graduates of Ateneo de Manila University. The idea came from a conversation Julienne had with a former Jesuit who shared her sentiments that most NGOs in the Philippines lack proper branding, design, and strategy. Both Julienne and Vincent are huge believers in empathy and getting to spend time with communities in order to effectively reach them. “The development sector is so different. It can’t be similar to whatever you do for the corporate sector. The audience is different, the people you work with are different, your interaction with the community is different,” says Vincent. “It’s vital to work with the community and empower them—talk to them and figure out their values and needs.” Fennel has worked with organizations such as the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, Gawad Kalinga, and even One Million Lights Philippines. http://wearefennel.com hello@wearefennel.com

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profile

9

MARK LOZANO, 22 CO-FOUNDER OF ONE MILLION LIGHTS PHILIPPINES It was when a high school-aged Mark Lozano attended a youth conference in New York that he realized many of his generation had more than just the capacity to lead a movement and change the world, despite lacking the proper resources. Teaming up with a few of his high school friends, Mark looked at what the Philippines needed and realized that causes in line with things such as capacity building or even water were all in need of some sort of specialization. Then a (literal) light bulb popped into his head. Around 15 million people in the country did not have access to light, while an additional 7 million people couldn’t afford it. He and his friends decided to get in touch with One Million Lights (Mark notes that they were the only organization that believed in partnering with such young people) and established a branch of the organization in the Philippines. One Million Lights is a movement that aims to replace toxic and hazardous kerosene lamps with solar-powered lights that are clean, safe, and affordable.

As of press time, One Million Lights PH has currently donated around 13,000 lamps to a number of locations and communities without lights. Mark’s goal is to reach not one, but two million lights. facebook.com/onemillionlightsPH http://onemillionlightsph.org

EMANUEL BAGUAL, 24

Makeup and grooming by BULLET REYES

ADVOCATE AND TEACHER AT DYNAMIC TEEN COMPANY, CHAMPIONING COMMUNITY CHILDREN

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Making change in the government isn’t enough for University of the Philippines Diliman graduate Emanuel Bagual. The Commission on Higher Education Department employee aspires to do more for the sake of local youth and poverty by being a member of various groups such as Dynamic Teen Company and Championing Community Children, two organizations that focus on empowering the disadvantaged and educating them on their rights as citizens, where he is a teacher to the kids he meets. Em also founded an anti-bullying campaign called Being Bull Ain’t Kool, which focuses on fostering an anti-abuse environment and keeping the youth away from the influence of violent gangs. Em, who empathizes with the disadvantaged youth and grew up in the streets of Cavite, thinks that there is no better time than now to get involved in different charitable causes. “I’m helping out because I see myself in the children I work with. Better to help now because we’re at our prime--[people our age] have a lot of energy. Because we’re young, we also think out of the box,” he says. “Malaking bagay na we have the strength to do a lot of things. And everything that we do today is a huge investment for tomorrow.” http://dtc.org.ph pushcartclasses@gmail.com

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10 essay

the world in chapters THE DOPEY BOYS, the boys with the hair that stuck out like blades in the front, the arms that were always sticky with some thing or another; they had the gym. The jumpy girls who wagged their tongues at the dopey boys stayed away from the gym and its concrete floors and dry dirt. I call them jumpy because they would greet each other with shrieks from afar and jump and jump and jump until they were face-to-face, locking arms to keep jumping, propelled by the bated breath of boys who were looking. The jumpy girls had the immaculate halls of the Girls’ Bathroom. There, they plotted the trajectories of their own careers and those of the others, all at their mercy. The Girls’ Bathroom was shrouded in mystery. I avoided the gym like the plague. In search of my place in a confused grade school disarray, I found the library.

There were no dopey boys or jumpy girls there, barely anyone, really. It became my home not by choice as much as necessity. I was welcome only in a place where there was no one to tell me otherwise. In the pink library cards I exhausted, I found sequence; in call numbers and John Dewey, order; between the high-stacked shelves, peace. It was there that I first experienced nuanced emotion, variations to happy and sad. I was disappointed when I learned that photocopying couldn’t replicate the colors out of a National Geographic. I was thrilled whenever some Goosebumps paperback I hadn’t yet seen appeared on the shelves. I was terrified when I witnessed the librarian, a wrinkled woman in her mid-50s who moved at a gingerly pace, accost a little boy for allegedly lying about having already returned some book. I was next in line, visibly shaken, and she told me, “I knew he wasn’t telling the truth. Couldn’t look me in the eye.”

I could never spend enough time sitting on the pleated mats of the library, never walked out of my own accord. After the recess bell rang, I and other reader freaks had no choice but to file out, one by one, back into messes someone else probably made. Thus starts the countdown to lunch, the next chance to retreat.

I loved the library because it offered me escape. Reading books let me slip away, quickly and without need for permission. Reading steeped me in the thoughts and experiences of someone else, so that for a few pages I could quit trying to force sense out of my own. Persistent attempts to escape my own mundanity brought me through thrillers and love stories and comics digests. Choosing one book over the other was distracting, because as I read, I was always wondering about the books

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SPACE TRAVELS A short list of reads that’ll take you places

Between airplanes and hardbound books, our worlds can tell the same story

By CEDRIC S. REYES Illustration by LEE CACES

I wasn’t reading, the trials being surmounted and the choices being made under those titles.

I was distracted all the time. In spite of verbally abusive librarians, the library was my world, and I wanted to see all of it.

Overwhelmed as I was by the size of this world, it didn’t occur to me until much later that the world, the rotating, revolving third planet, the one we live on, was exponentially larger. It’s a little rougher and much less neat.

Out here, the repercussions of our actions are more than a slap on the wrist from an old lady.

Unlike books, the world doesn’t stop when we turn away. But it does give us a chance to tune in, to thumb through its pages when we travel.

Though different in their consequences, reading books and seeing the world through travel are alike in their earnestness. They both allow us to escape, but they also teach us to be just a little kinder.

The ability to go beyond borders, unquestioned and protected by the rule of law is a privilege that many of us should be grateful to have. It’s a privilege because travel gives us the chance to experience life as someone else entirely. Not everyone gets to do this.

Some might say that travel is a selfish exercise, but I think it’s the opposite; few things test your empathy like traveling does. We fly to get away, but in flying, we become closer to people and cultures that are different from ours. We speak a little more softly, listen a little more attentively, ask for help humbly. In foreign lands, tourists are at the mercy of locals, who not only outnumber, but also outsmart even the most well-researched traveler. It’s like hopping into the narrative of a book and hoping it doesn’t smother you.

Reading books and going places afford me perspectives outside of my own, a rare commodity in the age of the selfie. While picking up a book and zipping out of time zones in aircrafts are two very different things, they’ve taught me the same simple lesson−other people won’t always look like I do, speak like I do, or think like I do. But the world is as much theirs as it is mine. Most books can mute out the voice in my head and replace it with someone else’s, but good books can transport just as tangibly as planes can. These are the books that paint a picture of the world with both its characters and its readers depicted. These are books about the world as we share it, as it might be if we let each other in. I had none of these books in the library of my youth, but their stories might have given my damp little spirit some fresh air. n

MOUNTAINS BEYOND MOUNTAINS Tracy Kidder Kidder presents a biography about a doctor’s medical missions and scorching passion for his patients.

EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED Jonathan Safran Foer This best-selling novel talks about the lengths we’ll go to find out where we come from.

HOW TO BUILD A GIRL Caitlin Moran A girl reinvents her entire identity after publicly embarrassing herself on local television.

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS Hunter S. Thompson What started as an assignment for Rolling Stone ended as a commentary on '60s counterculture.

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essay 11

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school

12 beauty

We gathered four of the local independent scene’s most promising frontwomen and had them channel famous rock legends and their most iconic makeup looks

Photography by JULO COPE Makeup by SLO LOPEZ Hair by G MANDE Produced by DENISE FERNANDEZ

An icon of 1970s punk rock, Runaways frontwoman Cherie Currie owned the stage with her provocative, striking looks while frequently donning heavy blush and sparkling eye makeup.

of DOLLY WINK eyebrow mascara in Milk Tea

DEE CRUZ RUN DOROTHY

LORAC PRO palette with glitter on top

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beauty 13

ALY CABRAL OURSELVES THE ELVES

KISS’s many makeup looks were just as famous as Gene Simmons’s long tongue.

Their most iconic black, batlike design was called “The Demon.” Rhythm guitarist Paul Stanley admitted to being blinded a number of times by their eye makeup.

OFRA liquid lipstick in Bronx

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rock

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14 beauty

No one can ever forget the late David Bowie’s legendary alter ego. His Ziggy Stardust character makeup has become a pop culture phenomenon that many people wish to recreate.

ISABELLE ROMUALDEZ FOOLS AND FOES

FLORMAR neon eyeshadow

SUGARPILL pressed eyeshadow in Kimchi

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beauty 15

ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS lipstick in Sad Girl

GABBI BUENCAMINO Though The Cure disliked being lumped into the goth scene, Robert Smith’s famous big hair/smeared lipstick/dark eye makeup combo is a look many goths still wear today.

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MOONWLK

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16 fiction

i fall in love during times of transit

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“Time seems to fold when you’re in transit. It’s like the world is a map folding into itself, just for you to see the horizon run its course, while you remain in place.”

On finding beauty in passersby during rush hour in the MRT

By LEX CELERA Illustration by JER DEE

I BELIEVE I am part of the minority when I say I love commuting. I like taking the jeepney in the early afternoon. Or maybe I’m standing on the curb, waiting for a bus a few minutes after sunset. Or better yet, (as I have experienced this the most) I’m surfing the morning rush inside the MRT station in Araneta-Cubao. Time seems to fold when you’re in transit. It’s like the world is a map folding into itself, just for you to see the horizon run its course, while you remain in place.

Commuting by train stands out compared to other modes of public transit. The jeep waits, the bus lingers, but the train comes and goes as it pleases. In jeeps and buses, your eyes can only reach as far as the bumper of the vehicle in front of you. Manila ceases to become a sea of bumpers and red lights when your vantage point is several dozen feet above ground.

Down below, on the street, the cars’ horns wail and the smoke burdens with suffocating fog. Above, trains navigate the metro through fixed points with ease. You can see the landscape, the house behind the big white walls, and the surviving trees dotting the horizon.

Stand in the middle of the overpass of the Magallanes MRT station during afternoon rush hour and you will see what I mean. It’s not like looking from the top of a high-rise. I’m afraid of heights, but being in the train doesn’t make me feel afraid. Maybe it’s because I’m not looking down but looking at what’s in front of me. I can be looking at the landscape that I was talking about. But most of the time I observe the people around me.

It’s 7 p.m. on a Friday, and everyone’s personal space is reduced to skin contact. No space to check your phone. No space to do anything remotely productive. It’s down time and everyone is quiet. The world outside the train’s windows fades as we go underground and for a brief moment the inside of the train is as dim as it can get. I wonder, what’s on everyone’s mind as we collectively wait to get to the next station? To wait in line in front of the security checkpoint, only to wait in line again behind the turnstiles and finally perpendicular to the train tracks—what do people think about during those times? Are you thinking about someone else on the train? Are you also in love?

I find myself falling in love during times of transit. I fall in love with strangers around me, because that is the least harmful thing that I could ever do to them. I fall in love with them because I can imagine the little stories their

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lives have, and how, just maybe, we can find a connection in this ungodly rush hour.

Imagine this: we stand opposite each other in the MRT station. It’s raining and the February weather gives us the opportunity to layer up. A faux-leather jacket drapes over your white, long-sleeved cotton shirt. I have a jacket wrapped around my waist. My jeans are rolled up. It is late afternoon, but the evening rush hour is ending, so the station is a little bare. I take a look around the station, scanning left to right, but turn my head just a little bit slower when I see you. The train should have been here five minutes ago.

You look at your watch but you notice me staring at you and I quickly check my phone for a nonexistent text message. I look back and we find each other locking eyes. I see a faint smile and you see my mouth slightly agape.

The train arrives and we part ways.

Or would you rather that I gather all my courage and strike up a conversation with you? I’d begin with what I know (“Are you studying in UP?”) based on what I see (your UP Fighting Maroons pin on your backpack) to what I don’t know (“Can I have your number?”) based on what I can’t be sure of (your interest and willingness to share your personal information).

But I don’t think I can bring myself to do that. I am just another stranger waiting for the train, after all. This moment will pass.

I will forget what you wore and what mannerisms you had and all the rest of the small details I have observed. I will forget your face and your smile and the way your hair is parted. I will forget you. But I will not forget that I have only the fondest thoughts of you. I have only thought the best of you and wished the best of you and hoped that in the infinite moments after our time together has passed you could be the best you can be.

But the kindred time we have spent together carrying the same burden of mass transit is ours. These are the fleeting moments I can cherish.

There’s just so much beauty made apparent when I see all these people in the train, all these strangers with their own worlds and their own problems and burdens. In the train, I feel like I am truly alive, truly present in the world.

The problems we face can only be solved once we leave the station. The burdens we carry can only be lifted once we step our foot out of the train. But it’s nice to know that we are not alone in carrying burdens. In mass transit, we are in a kind of suffering. But we are suffering together. There is still beauty to be found in us despite our tired faces and wet shoes and heavy backpacks and frizzy hair and wrinkly dress shirts and empty pockets and missed deadlines and heavy, heavy minds. We are all strangers on the train, living our daily lives in patchwork. We are all beautiful strangers. n

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18 essay

la-la land CHRYSSA CELESTINO travels to a city she’s only seen through rose-colored glasses.

Spoiler alert: the glamour never fades, even when you’re there.

ILLUSTRATION BY JULIA PETALVER THREE DEGREE CELSIUS weather in Seoul usually calls for hangouts indoors with a space heater. But on this particular day in November, my friend and I rail-biked along the repurposed tracks of Gyeongchun Line at the Gangchon Rail Park, at a height where the wind crept around our necks and numbed our faces like a free Botox treatment. We pedaled our four-seater car with David, our Korean tour guide, into one of the attraction’s tunnels, where a remix of Gangnam Style played. Funky strobe lights cut through this stretch of darkness and in here, it was easy to forget we were uphill, overlooking a province, but much easier to imagine we were being sucked into a vortex where life is as glamorous as Big Bang’s music video sets.

Outside this tunnel was a bigger fantasy. At the foot of this land and miles away from it were clean, hyperconnected cities with subway toilets that included an emergency call button (which I stupidly pressed once thinking it was a hand sanitizer box), streets safe enough to grab spicy rice cakes from at night, and three-story beauty shops themed like hotels complete with lipstick buffets and a bed.

People here—the urbanites, at least—wore this year’s Pantone colors and paraded their pert, healthy perms. Never a dyed hair out of place, and if there were, beanies and sleek fedoras hid them from view. If a facial flaw suddenly seemed inhibiting, plastic surgery clinics offered cheap cosmetic solutions for one’s dwindling self-esteem. Ads for the clinics were plastered in subway stations, calling out to my less-than-sharp nose and hormonal chin acne. Food, too, got a makeover: burgers were stuffed with breaded mozzarella patties—fried cheese, you guys!—and sparkling water sometimes came with rose petals and a pink hue.

South Korea, like what K-pop taught me, is a pretty dream asking to be lived. You don’t even have to fantasize about kimchi.

Aside from being one of the perfect times to visit the country—fall here was red, as Taylor Swift would sing—this time around November was when Donald Trump won the U.S. elections and Ferdinand Marcos was sneakily buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. SoKor was the perfect place to start forgetting. Or at least, block out all the bull that was happening beyond it.

When we pedaled our way through the tunnel’s exit, leaving PSY, the lights, and our K-pop star fantasies, we were asked to hop off at the nearby station and wait for the train that would take us back down to where we started. This stopover offered a sweeping view of the land down under: a light fog blanketed the province below, the gray-blue sky looked icy but calming, and yellow-green trees stood proud in the cold.

Beside the tracks at our station was a small, active waterfall, which David told us to use as a backdrop for a selfie or two.

“Why aren’t you taking photos?” he asked us, approaching my friend and me in the middle of a cheeseball snacking session. “Don’t you find this place beautiful?”

Beautiful. The word registered like the first time we saw the grounds of Ewha Womans University. My friend took me there on our first day. Before reaching its campus halls, visitors like us were greeted by its famous “Campus Valley,” a long slope of gray pavement dipping then rising to the other end of the strip. Golden trees, flame-red shrubs, and a few green plants framed the manmade vale. Students in their pastel-colored autumn garb scurried in and out of the scene as they took out their fleece-lined hoodies and sought the nearest shade. The rain poured and the clouds cast a grayish tint much like a Gingham filter muting real life’s color palette. In front of us was a moment so VSCO-worthy, no sharpening and saturating were needed. It didn’t matter if walking here was tiring. Screw comfort, we’re getting likes for this!

This was South Korea, aesthetics’ alternative address in Asia, where places like the Dongdaemun Design Plaza—a four-story atypical structure designed not to look like one that exists in Jung-gu—came off more Instagrammable with its quirky curves from the outside than the exhibits it housed. This was where recycled shipping containers found their calling and were erected into a hip shopping mall complex called Common Ground.

Koreans’ reality, it seems, was a photogenic ultramodernity they crafted in just 40 years; we were all damned if we didn’t notice it. Like someone fresh out of a successful rhinoplasty, they might consider it a fail if nobody found them prettier than yesterday.

Maybe looking good here was as much a national duty as it was a choice.

When in a land where skincare and cosmetics flow, there’s no resisting the

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(cleansing) milk and honey (masks) that we’re blessed to use. A trip to Myeongdong, one of Seoul’s primary shopping districts, was an exercise in beauty know-how and self-control. The road shops that lined its many alleys reflected the promises they made to the thousands of tourists flocking to avail a sale. Say, when Etude House sold Lolita imagery through screaming pink interiors, white frilly decors, and a poster of the usually cold-looking Krystal Jung smiling coyly out of character. Or when Laneige’s pristinely clean aesthetic almost convinced us that Song Hye Gyo’s whiteness was achievable for someone pretty yellow.

A culture of appearances loomed and like shopping in this populated space, it was easy to get lost. Easy because the pressure existed like our mothers nagging us to get dressed every morning. Once, when my friend and I were shopping for W4,000 (around P180) concealers, the shop’s saleslady went up to us and offered their latest snail products.

Snail mucus filtrate was holy grail status in any Asian beauty believer’s book but that day, we were happy with the makeup we got.

The saleslady seemed determined to sell and quickly pulled us to the corner where the snail serums were. Brushing her bangs aside to reveal her forehead, which was as white and clear as the rest of her face, she started demonstrating in broken English how to use the products. She swiped some of the serum onto my palm and as she rubbed it dry, she looked up and started pointing to my acne. “This, this, this—disappear!” she said, deadpan. Great. Now my troubled skin felt even more foreign.

The pressure to look good seemed to extend to other habits. Couples were a sight in Seoul. We got a glimpse of Korean lovey-doveyness on Pepero Day, their version of Valentine’s with a side of cookie marketing.

At the Itaewon station, a guy dropped to his knees to tie his tall girlfriend’s shoes. She was perfectly capable but her boyfriend was apparently more right for the job.

On a different day, on our ferry back from Nami Island, a girl seemed tired of standing and instead of plopping down on the floor and staining her blue coat, she used her squatting boyfriend as a human chair. She happily sat on him, though I could tell from a distance it wasn’t the most comfortable position. But hey, they oozed #relationshipgoals and oldfashioned chivalry was easier on the eyes than a couple eating their faces out for us to see. K-dramas might not have been that far off when depicting cheesy cringe scenes—or maybe it set these expectations for couples to follow because they looked romantic.

Whether the matter was storefronts or gorgeous couples or personal care, citizens and every nook and cranny maintained the image their country seemed conscious to uphold: being a superfluous daydream we couldn’t snap out of.

“Korea’s so beautiful,” we finally told David on our way back to Seoul after a full day in Nami. He nodded with a straight face, either expecting the praise or maybe pausing to let the compliment sink in. Sitting on the front row of the bus, David looked past the windscreen before confessing with a shrug, “Korea is just… eh.” He turned to us and added, “I want to go to Boracay before I go to the army,” hinting at the mandatory military service every Korean male goes through. “They say the water there is so clear, unlike here in Korea, where it’s pretty dirty.”

I wanted to warn him that Boracay wasn’t what it used to be. That the island was now too populated and polluted, even to locals used to crowded places and dirty environments. But that would be a buzzkill. I remembered that fantasies were personal; they were realities we craved when real life failed to meet our dreams.

South Korea, to me, was both distraction and escape, both wonderland and rabbit hole. While it gave me something to believe in— yes, it was possible to catch up to developed countries in just a matter of years, with some discipline—it also gave me things to ponder. What do you sacrifice to look this good? What do you give up as a nation to become better? Why can’t someone look frumpy for once and still belong to this nation of cool?

I had to stop myself as soon as I asked. Fantasies shouldn’t make sense most of the time. They were felt, thought, dreamt, but not understood. I’ll wake up to reality next time, but for now, I’ll close my eyes the way I did when I pedaled through that tunnel and imagined joining G-Dragon on his throne on the set of Fantastic Baby. n

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ne look frumpy for once and still bel

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to look this good? What do you give up as a nation to become better? Why can’t someo

ong to this nation of cool?.” “What do you sacrifice

essay 19

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next 20 fashion

Photography by CENON NORIAL III Styling by RYUJI SHIOMITSU

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fashion 21

feat. GABBI GARCIA

(Opposite Page) BENCH sweater (This Page) BENCH T-shirt, JOEY SAMSON jeans, EDIT. sunglasses

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22 fashion

BENCH hoodie, EDIT. socks

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fashion 23

JOEY SAMSON top and shorts, BENCH socks and slip-ons

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24 fashion BENCH sweater, JOEY SAMSON trousers

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fashion 25 JOEY SAMSON shirt and trousers, CHEETAH RIVERA gloves

Makeup by JASON DELOS REYES Hair by MARK ROSALES Stylist’s Assistants JL CRESPO and JOA ILONAH SANTOS

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26 food

YUMEARTH organic lollipops from HEALTHY OPTIONS HONEST JUNK cookies

h t l a he on the

By DENISE FERNANDEZ Photography by PATRICK SEGOVIA

Chips, chocolate, and other junk don’t have to be unhealthy. These travelfriendly snacks are both tasty and great for your body

go DOWN TO EARTH kale chips

HONEST JUNK gummy bears

FOUNDING FARMERS veggie crisps DOWN TO EARTH mini fruit COCO DOLCE milk chocolates from ECHOSTORE

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brews control TSINGTAO MADE IN China IS a pilsner; there’s an OG brew made with springwater, and a more typical brew.

ABV 4.7% ACTUALLY tastes great despite the intimidating giant bottle. Not strong, but the sheer amount of beer to drink in one bottle will get you lit faster.

If you’re gonna go out and drink in the heart of a nearby Asian city—or even right here in Manila—here are the beers you need to go try

SAPPORO PREMIUM MADE IN Japan IS an American-style pale lager that tastes a little fruity.

ABV 4.90% PICK THIS OVER THE OTHER JAPANESE BRAND IF you want a Japanese beer that tastes a little different, although beer taste can be subjective.

TIGER MADE IN Singapore IS a pretty common pale lager that’s really popular around here, if you’re going for a foreign brew.

ABV 5% HOW GOOD IS IT? So good it’s won awards around the world, and our taste test (up on Scoutmag.ph) proves its universally loved, and well worth the hype.

CHANG

MADE IN Thailand IS a light pale lager that goes down easy. Like that light pilsen you see most nights around here.

ABV 6.4% PERFECT FOR getting buzzed with friends without spending too much on the way, if you’re drinking it abroad.

Here, though, the bottles are smaller, so it isn’t as treacherous.

ASAHI SUPER DRY MADE IN Japan IS a common Japanese rice lager (yes, it’s made of rice, but that’s normal in Asian countries).

ABV 5% PICK THIS OVER THE OTHER JAPANESE BRAND IF you want your Japanese beer to be a no-nonsense drink. In that case, you better be drinking it in Japan; otherwise, you probably should be getting a local beer.

BALI HAI DRAFT

By ROMEO MORAN Photography by PATRICK SEGOVIA

MADE IN Indonesia IS a lager that’s a little more on the bitter side.

ABV 5% BEST ENJOYED during a warm evening on a beach that’s pretty close to the equator.

Watch our friends try all these beers on Scoutmag.ph.

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28 on the cover

You’ve seen these four up-and-coming actors take over the theaters lately. We got them together to talk about youth, fame, creativity, and true talent

fu-tu re-sq uePhotography KOJI ARBOLEDA Styling by FLORIAN TRINIDAD and MATT PANES

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on the cover 29

made man For Jameson Blake, the road to adulthood and the road to fame are one and the same— and it’s not just all about him

By LEX CELERA

(Opposite Page) On Khalil: ADIDAS jogging pants and shoes On Jasmine: WEDNESDAY shirt, WIGO overalls, FOREVER 21 earrings On Ethan: GIVENCHY suit and pants, WEDNESDAY hoodie, FOREVER 21 beanie On Jameson: PONY shoes

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JAMESON BLAKE might not say it outright, but he knows his potential−a much needed but rare trait in this day and age of confused millennials pressured to become someone, something too soon.

Jameson plays Maximilian Snyder in 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten. The performance garnered him a Best Supporting Actor award at the Cinema One Originals Film Festival last year. Prior to 2 Cool, Jameson entered the world of show business in his teens. Jameson was (and still is) performing on live television as part of It’s Showtime’s all-male dance group, the Hashtags. Before that, he was part of Pinoy Big Brother: 737 for a time. “Nag-audition ako sa PBB and then nagcommercials. Everyone was telling me, ‘Uy, may potential ka.’”

2 Cool marked a change in Jameson’s career.

It was his first acting stint, and sure, he won an award for it, but the afterglow that he wears on his sleeve is more the general audience’s reaction to his performance than the accolades that came after. Jameson made the shift from acting in television commercials to acting in a feature film look easy.

There’s a particular scene in 2 Cool (you know what scene it is, if you’ve watched it) that some may deem brave—or controversial. It was a scene with little nudity and lots of sexual tension, and so there were headlines right after that focused on that particular part as a review for the whole movie. For Jameson, doing that particular scene was just a matter of staying true to character. “I was just really thinking about how to pull it off more than the actual doing. I didn’t want to overthink.”

He and his character, Maxim, share a number of similarities—both live in Pampanga, both have a parent overseas. Both wanted to leave the Philippines; Jameson was born and raised in Hong Kong until the age of 10. “The first two years I was here gusto ko talaga bumalik.

But if I went back to Hong Kong I wouldn’t be where I am [right now].” The 19-year-old FilipinoAmerican carries a tinge of a Kapampangan accent in his Tagalog speaking voice, and the back-and-forth switching between smooth English and harder Tagalog is definitely not an acting trick, just his conversational tone.

For many young actors, the path to growing up coincides and intersects with the path to becoming a celebrity. Attached to fame, sometimes finding yourself means finding yourself in the face of the public eye when you’re a young actor like Jameson. Does it help when you’re exposed to so many skills at the same time? Dancing, performing, and acting seem to be the staples of becoming a celebrity today, but we forget that these are skills that take time and effort to develop, let alone matter. It’s no joke.

While his family life grounds him to his comforts (he finds time to come back home to Pampanga and hang out with his family and friends) Jameson’s work life offers him platforms to know more about himself. And in many ways these efforts to become a better dancer and a better actor lead Jameson to become a better adult. His foray into dancing gave him the confidence to perform on stage, and his acting stints helped him break out of his shell. “When I joined the Hashtags, they’d call me #quietboy.

Ngayon comfortable na akong maging artista.”

Yet for someone who considers himself both an extrovert and “very shy,” Jameson is someone beginning to know himself, and more than that, beginning to be comfortable with who he is. “I believe in the saying na you won’t know your talent until you discover it.” Although he says he’s too old to learn breakdancing, he takes it up anyway just because he wants to learn it.

Even 2 Cool taught him some things.

“There are really some people who don’t know their sexuality until they discover it,” he says.

“And there are really people that can’t define their sexuality.”

Leaving adolescence and being at the cusp of adulthood is something that Jameson is prepared for. Whatever he’s setting himself as (he wants to play a Dave Franco, bad boy-nextdoor type in the future), he may not be ready for it now, but he’s ready to put in the work and earn it. The main difference between Maxim and Jameson would probably be their approach to growing up: while Maxim escapes the burden of responsibility that comes with age, Jameson is braced for it. “I’m the breadwinner of my family,” he admits. “It’s all on my shoulders na. I’m working and I’m supporting my family [already].”

The Responsible Son of Pampanga, as PBB once introduced him, says all of this in earnest — this responsibility with family, this tight balancing act with friends and work, this need to better himself. He considers the Hashtags concert the moment he believed himself to be an artista, but the road still stretches far ahead of him, considering how young he is.

“I’m a fast learner naman,” he says with gusto. He may be a long way to making it big, but something tells me that he knows how far he can go. All it will take for him to get there, and for us to know when he gets there, is time. n

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30 on the cover

whiplash The critics were right when they dubbed him one of his generation’s finest young actors—Khalil Ramos is definitely not BS-ing his way through showbiz

By DENISE FERNANDEZ

I WAS 16 THEN, a junior in high school, when I was forced by my classmates to join the annual fair’s singing contest. Because I’d never even attempted to join such a competition before, I nervously sang a mediocre rendition of Frankie Valli’s Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You, with both hands clutching the microphone as I limply swayed along to the music in one spot the entire time. Among the other contestants was a 13-yearold freshman whose name had been much talked about by the entire high school. He was clad in a black leather jacket and when he sang he took on the stage like he owned it, putting my trembling, petrified form to shame.

To nobody’s surprise, Khalil Ramos bagged second place without even breaking a single drop of sweat. Simply put, he was a natural.

The spotlight has loved Khalil, performer and actor, since he was young. He sits across me, eight years later, now more recognized as a rising actor than a singer.

Despite his passion for the stage and music being his first love, Khalil never actually saw himself pursuing the life of a performer. He considered studying Information Systems in college and becoming a software engineer. It was his spontaneous decision to audition for Pilipinas Got Talent that paved the way for what would become his career in local show business. When he won second place at 15 years old thanks to his background in singing, his parents finally advised him to see where the industry would take him. Khalil signed on with Star Magic after a year and officially tried out acting through his first television role in a primetime series with industry sensations Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo, but it was only when he grasped more serious projects like Kid Kulafu and Honor Thy Father, that he began to truly fall in love with the profession.

All throughout his near six years in the business, Khalil’s riskiest move was what garnered him wide critical acclaim both here and abroad—taking the leading role in LGBTthemed coming-of-age film, 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten.

The movie was awarded Best Film at the 2016 Cinema One Originals Film Festival, with Khalil earning a nomination in the Best Actor category.

Film enthusiasts, directors, and critics named him a revelation of sorts, calling his portrayal of the anti-social, closeted Felix Salonga a performance with believable disillusion, longing, and subtle restraint. Co-star Ethan Salvador mentioned that Khalil used method acting to prepare for his role, distancing himself from his

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co-actors for a time to get into the mindset of social outcast Felix.

“In a way, it gave me much more motivation to improve my craft in the years to come. It was like a verification that this is my true calling,” Khalil shares. “[Homosexuality] is a very touchy subject especially in our country, so I had to be very careful with what message I wanted to relay to the audience. It was a huge challenge that I

had to take and I wanted to take it. Personally, I seek challenges. I realized that I have to be even more open to learning, to more perspectives.

The film gave me different perspectives in regards to my profession and work ethics.

It’s also one of the films that pushed me into creating better content as an actor.”

And like an earnest student of his passion, he has a lot to say about the art form he’s more than eager to learn about. He oh-so-naturally throws around terms like Stanislavsky and Chubbuck as if he was a film studies major (I took a number of film and production classes in college and even I was once again put

to shame). I’m nowhere near done with my interview questions and here I am instead having an honest-to-god conversation with Khalil about Indonesian action films, the world’s top movie industries, and the makings of a cult classic. I can tell that this kid is not winging it—he knows his stuff pretty damn well. Heck, what actually makes him one of the brightest young performers of the new film era isn’t just his talent; it’s his raw dedication to studying the art of acting and content innovation.

Another fun fact and even more proof of Khalil’s dedication to his craft? After taking filmmaking classes in Benilde for a brief stint, he cofounded Limitless in 2015, a creative house that specializes in online content creation, event coverage, and social media management. “It was a product of ideas from two of my friends and I, who all took a leap of faith into doing something that we love—creating content. We’ve been working with Philippine Airlines, Star Music, and other companies here and abroad. We also want to produce films in the future.”

Khalil’s work, passion, and ideals speak for himself. He is the epitome of a bright young talent filled to the brim with potential and the wits to play his cards right. While many celebrities his age are still learning the ropes bit by bit, Khalil is dead set on the goals he’s set for himself and is carefully planning his ascent to icon status. And it’s easy to notice that he’s on the right path.

He says, “My end goal is to be a well-respected, glorified actor who brought innovation into the industry, which led to a contribution into society.

Right now, my goals for the near future are expanding my range as an actor, grabbing more opportunities here and abroad and mastering the art. We’re always striving to be better. To be different. To create something that the future generations would look back at. That’s it. That’s one of the reasons why I’m here—to innovate and reinvent.” And probably be a rock star on the side while he’s at it.

His road manager is pulling Khalil away so he can catch up on a guesting to promote 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten. Five minutes, I plead.

“I want to embrace the inner rocker in me that’s been in there for the longest time,” he adds at the very last minute. “We want to bring back the era when alternative rock bands were the biggest artists in the Philippines, like Callalily, Hale, and Cueshe!”

One step at a time, Khalil. You’re getting there. n

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on the cover 31

On Ethan: FILA jacket, FINGERCROXX shirt, TOPMAN shorts

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32 on the cover

On Ethan: NICOLE PINEDA parka, GIORDANO turtleneck, TENEMENT shirt, ADIDAS jogging pants On Jameson: PONY shoes

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on the cover 33

breaking in The odds seemed to be against him at first, but Ethan Salvador likes taking risks, which got him to where he is today THE FILM 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten introduces Filipino-American transferee Magnus Snyder to a high school class that immediately bursts into whispers and excited laughter, their murmurs ecstatically comparing his looks to those of international ’90s boy bands. To the main character, Felix, and the rest of his peers, Magnus is an enigma waiting to be discovered, to be known. Much like the character he plays, the same can be said about the introduction of newbie actor Ethan Salvador to the world of show business. Who exactly, the audience asks, is this guy?

Born and raised in Las Vegas, Ethan grew up as an only child with his mother, surrounded by Filipino relatives. As a kid, all he really wanted to do was have fun, getting into multiple sports like swimming, parkour, breakdancing, and martial arts. Regardless of the varied interests and misadventures of his adolescence, Ethan’s secret passion had always been acting, even before he eventually found out that his estranged father, ’80s Regal actor Emil Salvador, was in the very profession he’d always wanted to try. Ethan recalls pestering his mom about his desire to act and his interest in taking acting classes and joining theater productions. However, she never indulged him due to her strained views on his father and the industry. Ethan would then record home videos as an outlet to play characters shot on his digital camera. “I had to make up a lot of scenes and ‘friends,’” he laughs.

Ethan only considered pursuing his dream career at 16, after he reconnected with his father, who suggested he try out show business in the Philippines. “At 17, I got my own job and paid for my own acting classes. I was originally going to go to LA, but it was getting really expensive. Life in America was kind of routine and I was getting really tired of that so I decided that I wanted to experience my culture in the Philippines. That was half the battle,” Ethan says. “After a year, I was working two jobs. I really wasn’t happy where I was and wanted an adventure—to meet new people and see what it was like in my country.”

Though his mom pleaded with him not to leave, Ethan took a gamble and flew to Manila to try his luck in the industry. One would think that a tall, well-spoken, and good-looking FilipinoAmerican whose father was also an actor would easily have an acting or show business gig fall onto his lap. Despite his lineage, Ethan still had to work to get noticed.

After failing the Star Magic auditions twice, Ethan was finally accepted on his third try. His first venture into showbiz came in the form of the reality competition Pinoy Boyband

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By DENISE FERNANDEZ

Superstar, which he joined to get rid of his stage fright. He then immediately nailed one of the lead roles in indie film 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten while he was barely a year into the industry. In the movie that he never expected to become a part of, Ethan portrays the aforementioned Magnus Snyder, one of two mysterious siblings who move from the US to a small high school in Pampanga. His role earned him a nomination for Best Supporting Actor in the 2016 Cinema One Originals Film Festival. “This was my first movie so I was like, ‘This is harder than it looks! This is tiring work!’ There’s a lot of effort that you’ve got to put into it,” he says. “I regret not putting enough studying while creating the character.

We’re never really satisfied with our end results.

I could’ve put so much more into it. For the next roles that I might get, I’d really want to work so much harder, especially after watching [Khalil Ramos] and seeing how hard he works.”

And 2 Cool has in fact opened more doors for Ethan, with many praising his portrayal for having the right amount of nuance and charm to complement Khalil’s performance, and thus complete the onscreen chemistry between the couple—a notable feat of the film itself.

Despite a good head start into his acting career, it isn’t difficult to notice that the 21-yearold is still very new to his work; he himself admits that he’s got so much more to learn. Ethan quietly adds “po” to his English sentences and is easing his way into the Filipino language to not get typecast in American roles, which he notes is his biggest fear. During the end of our conversation, he scratches the back of his head and smiles apologetically. “I’m sorry,” he says.

“I’m really not good at doing interviews.”

At the shoot itself, our graphic artist teases him about his Filipino: “Mag-Tagalog na lang tayo ngayon, ha?”

He laughs and gamely responds, “Sige.”

Ethan’s dreams are nothing but honest, and he’s making sure he’s taking the right steps (with just the right amount of unpredictability) to achieve his goal of becoming Hollywood’s first leading Filipino actor. Grounded and hopeful, he’s got bright aspirations for not just himself, but the local industry as well.

“My teacher always taught me that you’re only as good as your last work. I just want to keep challenging myself and pushing myself to the limits with each role that I take—to keep climbing and developing my craft,” says Ethan. “I want be able to give something different, aside from the romance and the love triangles and the soap operas; they’re beautiful, but there’s so much potential for this country to expand to different areas. It just takes a little bit more inspiration to get people to step out of that and not be afraid to try something cool. There are so many cool stories the Philippines has to offer.” n

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34 on the cover

fly away Jasmine Curtis-Smith is back from a much-needed break away from the beating heart of the city, all set to be the actress who wants to do nothing but advance the artistic side of her craft

By ROMEO MORAN ANYONE following Jasmine Curtis-Smith’s Instagram account would easily be able to spot the difference between her feed and the typical local celebrity’s in the past few months: where the usual artista’s timeline would be full of selfies, endorsements, promotions, and events, homegirl’s was much, much more chill. Enviably chill. There’s a lot of the Pacific Ocean, a lot of Australia, a lot of the Curtis-Smiths, and love all around. For a stretch in the first quarter of 2017, the fact was simply this: the Baka Bukas star was living the life.

Stars and celebrities going on hiatus is not unheard of. They’ve got the right to take a time out as much as anyone does, but to be away for that long? It’s admittedly a little strange, especially for this generation that believes they’ve got to hustle as much as they can to leave their mark on the world to be taking that much time out. In the local industry, a vacation longer than a month would be the sign of someone who wanted to lie low, put the brakes on their careers, and figure out what to do next, if they want to do something else with their lives.

I assumed it wouldn’t be for someone like Jasmine, who I thought would only want to keep pressing forward on her newfound momentum on the backs of acclaimed works like the aforementioned Baka Bukas, JP Habac’s I’m Drunk, I Love You where she played a supporting role, and her YouTube rom-com series Forever Sucks, where she’s been playing a hundred-year-old vampire for two seasons now. Hell, I’ve gone on twoweek vacations where I’ve been low-key freaking out, worrying about the work I’ve left behind—what more two and a half months?

Well, as it turns out, Jasmine’s vacation was premeditated. And joke’s on us: she was supposed to be gone for even longer than that.

Here’s the thing. This generation is so used to hustling and grinding for the cash money, for the fame and the buzz, for eventual legacies—because relentless, passionate hard work was the only thing taught by previous generations. They didn’t realize that it would also take quite the toll on our mental well-being, and if any of them did, there seemed to be relatively few of them. The last time Jasmine was in these pages some year and a half ago, we touched on how the weight of her work was bearing down on her. Late last year she was smart enough to realize that she needed a real break. And the kicker was that unlike some of us, she was brave enough to insist on it.

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Jasmine took a break mainly because she had a chance after her contract with her previous network ended, but she also pretty much admits that mental health was a huge factor. “That’s also why I went away,” she says. “I was like, ‘I need to fix that.’ If I wanna work, if I wanna do well and give my all, I have to be able to manage it. It’s such a taboo thing, to be anxious or to be depressed, and people are still kinda apprehensive talking about it. So it was just a time for me to reset, to push the reset button.

Like yep, you know what, this (gestures to head) is important, don’t wanna lose that.”

And she approached the whole time off with

a rather Zen-like attitude, never worrying about what a vacation like that would do for her career and whatever her standing right now is in the entire showbiz game. It’s something the more anxious and nervous among us could probably learn from.

“I’ve been so used to having two lives functioning,” Jasmine says. “Every time I go back to Australia, I get a sense of, ‘You know what? I could come back [to Australia] and do what I want

here also.’ I could study again, I could apply for a part-time job. I’ve never been really threatened to the core in like, ‘Shit, ‘di na ko relevant pagbalik ko.’

“I don’t make it my life, compared to other artistas, where it’s really just what they do every day, day in and day out. They wake up at 5 a.m., they go home the next day, and I can only take so much of that. I wanna invest in my relationship.

I wanna see my sister. I wanna Skype my mom. I wanna hang out with friends. It may not be a lot of time that I need, but I wanna feel that I have the time, at least.”

And the whole thing seems to have worked wonders for her. She is really chipper during our shoot, cracking jokes left and right, down for everything she has to do. I figure that it also helps that she’s become a little pickier and more assertive with the projects she takes on—in a good way, of course, which fortunately has paid off pretty well for her and her management.

The aforementioned movies and series Jasmine’s been in? That makes her happy, the same way we like to put our hearts in things we actually enjoy.

And believe in. Baka Bukas had been an interesting coup, but also a bit of a tough sell—you know how this country works—but it all worked out in the end.

“I’m just gonna keep talking, I’m gonna stand my ground, I’m just gonna talk my way through this,” she says when I ask her what the most important lesson she’s learned since we last spoke was. This insistence isn’t really full-on defiance or rebellion; it’s a mark of a woman who knows exactly how she works. “I know what I want. I know where this is gonna go.

And if I didn’t, I wouldn’t talk. So I just kept talking, and that’s why I got my three-month vacation. And that’s why I’m back here, I’m setting my contracts straight, making sure I’m involved in the right things, and I’m not pressured by competition. This business runs on competition, and if you’re competing, it’s gonna kill you faster.”

It’s one step, the first of many, toward progression. For Jasmine, the promising, hardworking but sometimesor-most-of-the-time-exhausted creative; for society, which needs her and the rest of us to push for the change, quality, and representation we keep demanding; for us, a generation that needs to figure out how to make everything we want and need work without killing our own souls. She’s glad that the people supporting her are finally starting to see things her way when it comes to what she wants to make. We can only hope to say the same thing one day. n

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on the cover 35

(For Khalil and Ethan) Grooming by PEPS SILVESTRE (For Jameson) Grooming by BULLET REYES (For Jasmine) Makeup by JOHN PAGADUAN Hair by AVRIL SEGUIN On Jasmine: THE FRESH PH sweater, FOREVER 21 earrings

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Photographer’s Assistant MIGUEL MANZANERO Stylists’ Assistants SANDRO DELA PEÑA and FRANZ MEDINA

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36 feature

WE HONESTLY never thought it would come to this one day. But it did, and it’s great—what started out as a germ of an idea late last year actually turned into something real, tangible, material enough to hold in our hands and wear on our bodies. You’ve seen it online, you’ve seen it on the cover of the previous issue of Scout, you may have already seen your friends wearing some or all of it. Presenting: the Scout x Proudrace “Trust” capsule collection, a line we’re mighty proud of. Cop the pieces if you still don’t got one over at Scoutmag.ph/shop or call 403-8825 loc. 302.

TRUST THE SCOUT X PROUDRACE CAPSULE COLLECTION

Just on the off chance that you might have missed it: we teamed up with Proudrace to bring you a capsule collection that’s totally worth it, if we do say so ourselves

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down on

38 fashion

Photography by SHAIRA LUNA Styling by GRACE DE LUNA

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fashion 39

the coast

SLAVES ØF LIBERTY coat, MADE IN MANILA hat

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40 fashion

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fashion 41

(Opposite Page) FLOAT SWIMWEAR maillot, PENSHOPPE skirt and sandals (This Page) PENSHOPPE hat, FLOAT SWIMWEAR bikini

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42 fashion

(This Page) FOREVER 21 bikini, VIVIENNE WESTWOOD RED LABEL top (Inset) FACTORY FOR HIRE jacket, PENSHOPPE sandals (Opposite Page) FOREVER 21 bikini VIVIENNE WESTWOOD RED LABEL top

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fashion 43

Makeup by PAM ROBES Shot on location at THE CIRCLE HOSTEL, ZAMBALES feat. SHERLAINE

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wish you

44 fiction

Four young writers go around the world without leaving their doorstep Illustrations by AARON SILAO WORLDS WITHIN WORLDS within worlds. That’s what we have currently in this virtual reality-inclined climate we have today. Remember those old 3D games that gave us a virtual tour of say, the Great Pyramids, or an old castle out in Europe? It felt like we were there. Today, we can readily immerse ourselves in different universes more deeply than ever before.

There’s this website called MapCrunch that makes a game out of Google Street View and Google Maps by taking you to a random location around the world with the goal of finding an airport to “go home.” The rules are simple: you can only navigate through what is given to you—no markers on where you are, no precedent for where you’ll end up.

The whole experience feels like backpacking across a foreign country.

Like a blank slate walking across the frontiers of unknown horizons.

But the game has its limits. Everything is rendered in 2D, and in frozen perspectives of only one panel.

We tasked four budding writers to play MapCrunch and write about what they make out of their experience, and much like the game itself they had free rein for what they would write about. The resulting pieces ponder the tech-inclined future of travel, the necessities and limits of the game, and the feeling of going to certain places without actually being there.

off the road

By TRACEY DELA CRUZ

INSTRUCTIONS TELL YOU to go home. Navigate the map, find the airport, and head back. You aren’t supposed to be here anyway, a location randomly chosen, South Africa just as likely to have been Peru, or Thailand, or Germany.

Open the map, this is where you are, the roads have been drawn, your directions anticipated. You can only go forward or back, only through known roads, whether dirt or pavement.

No cutting corners or running through fields. No making trails of your own. Follow the map, you already know where it leads.

You begin in what appears to be a deserted town, on an unnamed road in Lesotho.

Move forward. There are stone houses, built close to the ground. You’ve read somewhere that houses are designed this way in places where storms are common, around so often that life has been built around their constant presence.

You come across a local, a woman wearing a long blue skirt and a striped shirt. You wish you could speak to her, confirm if there are as many storms here as there are where you live.

But she’s a picture on a screen and you are miles away, across the world. You probably don’t even speak the same language. You move forward.

Dirt gives way to concrete. You open the map. The airport’s still far but the directions are simple enough. No confusion when you can only go two ways.

The screen freezes. The game shuts down and you have to start over.

You choose where you want to start now.

Somewhere you’ve always wanted to go, so you begin in Bolivia, dropped in the middle of a maze-like suburb. Here, the way back is more complicated, the map a labyrinth you can’t cut through. Too many turns to make and you of little patience refuse to play the game. What’s the point of having the omniscience of gods if you can’t do anything about it?

Instead, you open the map with the intent of dragging your avatar to the airport itself and moving on to better things. But as you do so, you catch sight of the ocean. It’s just a blue “____” on the screen, but you still can’t resist the call.

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You drop yourself onto the national highway and walk forward. You’re not playing the game anymore. Your eyes are hungry instead for the road that will show you fields of green with rows of red flowers, dandelions on either side of where you walk, the blue of water in the distance, the mountains even farther still.

Walk forward. You’re almost at the pier.

If your feet can’t take you there then perhaps this will do. Imagine the scent of grass, the sound of an unknown language rolling off the tongues of strangers, the tang in the air as you approach the water. Look at all that beauty happening somewhere in the world as you are happening now.

The game stops. You click but you can’t get any nearer to the pier. This is where the road ends. You can only turn back.

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we re ther e fiction 45

vacation

By BEA MARIANO

TURNING RIGHT to Highway 54, said a man inside the box pod walls. They don’t name the streets after people anymore.

You probably weren’t born yet, but there was a time when there were still cars and trains and bicycles instead of these boxes. No sleek, streamlined surfaces: stack more, save space. The roads are the same. Though there is really no need, I close my eyes out of habit.

In my generic pod, I have no windows. Openings belong to sturdier box pods, which someone lowly in The Fact Industry like me cannot afford. I have my wearables anyway so I can look at whatever. I have no uses for windows.

To pass time while I commute, I look at my feed, which they have expertly curated. I choose non-toxic as a default, though I can choose surprise mode, which really means angry mode. I’m currently on my way home from a team-building activity in the sticks. Yes, there was green and sun and it cost an arm and a leg and our tunnel was all windows. I don’t understand why my associates looked so amazed.

After the thing, we were dropped off in our offices. I went straight to my box and went home. I really wanted to get out of there. I just wanted to use my device.

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In the beginning I was drawn towards the glitches. With my forefinger I swiped air to look at the next image, pinching and squinting to see more data, feeling pleased at the mistakes up close. Sometimes the Content Providers would insert in my feed something they thought I would like. At first they would last for a few centiseconds and when you tried to swipe left, they’d insert the ads in intermittent milliseconds. Some people don’t notice but I do. Of course you can also opt out of these interruptions but it would cost a toe, and I’d rather use my remaining real toes for unlimited data.

It wasn’t just the glitches I found curious; sometimes I would be taken to streets that would make my chest feel warm. One of my earliest memories was of a woman asking me what I want to eat for breakfast and every time I remember this, I ache. Some of these streets look familiar though I know they’re not in our region.

Interesting, though, the banana trees, the graffiti on the walls— they paint so and so was here, unpaved roads, a goat—no, a cow, unfinished structures, pre-today.

The man from within the walls tells me I have arrived home.

A still of two women mid-stride appears. The sea. I swipe left, left, left.

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46 fiction

what they don’t tell you about getting lost

By AJ ELICAÑO

YOU WAKE UP in the middle of an unfamiliar road, and your first thought is that this is nothing like The Hangover. There is nothing funny or sexy about finding yourself in a strange place and having to make your way back home, damn what Hollywood says. Maybe all that wine as you arrived at the airport was a bad idea. At least you’ve still got your clothes.

You regret not owning a smartphone. (You regret a lot of things.)

You look around and realize that, fittingly, you’re on a blind corner.

This is as on-the-nose a metaphor as any, and you would appreciate the complete lack of subtlety if it weren’t so inconvenient. You’re beside a low stone wall with a hedge atop it, and between that, the sharp curve of the road, and the absence of signage, there’s little way to guess where you might be. The few visible houses are low, no-frills, and done in muted colors; the horizon is clear of skyscrapers. Wherever you are, it’s probably not an urban center.

The sky is gray and overcast. You start walking before it opens up.

Cities have an order, a sense of where things go and how things move, such that even if you were a newcomer to the jumble and chaos of Manila, you might be able find your bearings by following the thrum of the traffic jams and the pulse of the pedestrians until you found a mall. That’s how Manila works—cars and crowds and shopping centers—and most cities can be navigated the same way. You just have to learn what makes them tick.

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But you are in the countryside in what appears to be the late afternoon, and very little is ticking. The roads wind and twist upon each other, and you pass many of the same junctions twice, thrice, before throwing up your hands and sitting on the pavement. If there is a “right way,” you haven’t found it, and you’re not sure you can.

Darker now. What the hell. You stand up again.

Instead of navigating, you just start walking. Instead of taking unfamiliar turns and accidentally doubling back, you pick a road and follow it. If where you are isn’t working, the trick is to not worry so much about where you might end up, and concentrate on getting Somewhere Else.

The first road sign feels like a benediction. “Glenwood Park Crescent.”

They speak English, but that’s not as important as this: there’s a sign.

You’re getting somewhere.

(You will later learn that you’re in Bermuda, which is another tooperfect metaphor, really. Of all the places to get lost…)

A little further, you see the first cars. You ask for a ride from one. They turn you down, but there are others. Oh heaven, there are others. You may not be home yet, but for the first time, you can imagine getting back to it, and this—this is the moment, you think, when you really stop being lost.

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fiction 47

(fig. a)

things remembered while away for two weeks

By JUNO REYES

THE ENGINE WHIRS its sympathy in descent: it worries me that going home worries me. After all, is this not all the same: departure and return both having been decided upon a whim.

Just choose a spot and book it, words still fresh in memory. Do not think. Just go. As if to keep one’s mind busy long enough to leave would be enough to disentangle oneself from the intertwining streets that bore witness to growing up together.

You’ll be on your way back when you’re ready. (fig. b)

They say a city shrinks when you’re trying to avoid someone. What they failed to mention: the skyline never disappears no matter how much distance you put between yourself and the horizon of the familiar. It only obscures.

At first: I guess I’ll stay in (fig. a) for a year or two, get back to writing, maybe work on my graduate degree before I come back.

Less than a week later: perhaps it would be better to settle in a small town, like (fig. b), Before one even has the chance to go through all the clothes he has packed: perhaps I shall stay on the road (fig. c). Like a pilgrim. Perhaps I will find my Cid. Eventually, the restlessness catches up to you, lingers to your clothes like the stench of urban smoke. A familiar weight falls on your shoulder and sits there until you shrug it off. Or try to look back. You do, and all is new behind you.

(fig. c)

Routines are underrated.

They say a breath of fresh air helps. Again, the details they neglected: away from home means away from the support structures that, although was never quite enough, were always familiar.

Conversations with foreigners, or perhaps more accurately, as foreigner, always felt like switching scripts whose major plot points never seemed to coincide.

And yet ultimately, all plays had their similarities: ● My character flaw (hamartia, even, perhaps): I still wanted to talk to you ● Everyone else’s: they were never you

I do not know why I am coming back so soon. This far away, Manila at night looks the exact same way I left it: houses huddled in vigil as if having gone from praying my safe voyage straight to praying for my safe return passage.

I left all my things behind because I didn’t want to have to take a cab back home. I would have even though I didn’t have my luggage with me. But isn’t this why I had to go away in the first place? n

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48 art + design

Words from Heaven Is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle. Art by NIMU MUALLAM for Scout

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