image description/ alt text: gradient text reads as, “calcipher” & “@n”. illustration of pilipinx version of Calcipher from Studio Ghibli’s animated film, ” Howl’s Moving Castle”. A gradient red-orange-yellow calcipher cooks 3 spams, 2 longanisa, & 2 eggs with a black cast iron on top of their head while eating 6 cinnamon sticks.
By n.
“calciphers breakfast” [circa 2023] was created within mind – Star and inspired by n’s beloveds who they are in constellation with. n’s relationships (e.g. platonic, familial, romantic, etc) have been/are mutually nourishing in one or more ways/ “servings”. In n’s ilocanx household and culture, food has been a changing staple either as result of the impact that comes with colonized food systems and or the availability of ingredients native to where we are now in the diaspora. n acknowledges the residual flames of both our living and our dead as reignited hope in order to build again, anew, and always outside current projected imaginations.
n (they/them) is a Program Manager and alum of Public Allies Los Angeles. b. sidereal placement of virgo, luz; lives on Tongva land in so-called “los angeles”
This piece is part of Public Allies’ campaign to highlight voices in our ecosystem in honor of Asian, Pasifika, Desi-American (APIDA) Heritage Month.