Kultivating Kapwa

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This is Kultivating Kapwa, hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig and Olivia Sawi. In our FIRST series, we sit down and ask Auntie Leny questions about her life, her work, decolonization, academia, ethnoautobiography, her relationship to nature, the land, and all living beings, and her views of the future. In our SECOND series, we have conversations with members of the community and explore how decolonization has manifested itself in their work, and how they cultivate kapwa in their own lives. In our THIRD series, we discuss decolonizing parenthood. We explore how decolonization shows up at home and in family, relational to our collective children. We delve into the intergenerational healing that exists in parenting the next generation, that ripples into our relationships to our elders and ancestors, our community, and all parts of our lives.

Episodes

Sunday Nov 06, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.27

Sunday Nov 06, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.27

"Becoming a Mother - Becoming Your Truest Self"

In this episode, we are joined by Joanna La Torre. We discuss being a new parent as a queer, single, PhD student, how having a child during the Pandemic has shaped how she moves with her child in the world, how becoming a mother has helped her become her truest self, and more.

Joanna La Torre is a genderqueer, queer, multi-ethnic, community-embedded, Filipinx scholar-praxavist and settler from occupied Ohlone territory in California’s Bay Area. Jo is an indigenist researcher and social work practitioner whose work seeks to uplift sovereignty of Indigenous peoples around the world. Joanna’s practice has focused on young people highly impacted by carceral logics and systems including those imprisoned and/or surveilled by criminal legal and child welfare systems.

Currently, Jo is a PhD student and Research Assistant at the University of Washington’s Indigenous Wellness Research Institute and is working on a study about the health and wellness of Native American youth at a residential boarding school.

@marunggay_medicine has been involved with the Center for Babaylan Studies for over ten years and has served with the leadership core since 2016. Joanna’s research is situated within the movements of decolonizing Filipinos and aims to bolster community-driven, culturally-grounded interventions addressing disproportionate mental health burdens of Filipinos in diaspora.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

You can listen to this podcast on the Center for Babaylan Studies website (centerforbabaylanstudies.org/podcast), Spotify (https://tinyurl.com/KultivatingKapwaSpotify), PodBean (centerforbabaylanstudies.podbean.com), Google Podcasts, or Stitcher.

Make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to the podcast! If you want to contact us, email kultivatingkapwa@gmail.com, or add us on Instagram at @kultivatingkapwa and send us a DM. If you would like to donate to help us continue this podcast, please do so here: donorbox.org/kultivating-kapwa-podcasts.

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday Oct 23, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.26

Sunday Oct 23, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.26

"Raising the Family Lead by the Honoring of Our Emotions"

In this episode, we are joined by Jaisa Sulit. We discuss how an injury led her to a path of mindfulness and decolonizing how she has moved forward in work, how her own self care affects how she parents, the understanding that children are more intelligent than we personally observe or think, seeing her son as a co-creator, and more.

Jaisa Sulit (she/her/siya), her partner TJ Lim, and their son Jasper gratefully live together in Tkaronto, which is on the territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Tkaronto is also home to a diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.

Jaisa is the only child of Jaime Chiu Sulit and Luisa Santos Baello. Jaime is from Quezon City with lineages from Los Banos as well as Canton, China and Luisa is from Caloocan with lineages from Bataan. Jaisa acknowledges her privileges as an immigrant-settler and is humbly learning how to integrate acts of reconciliation into the daily lives of her family.

Jaisa worked as a neuro-rehab occupational therapist for five years until she sustained a spinal cord injury in a motorcycle “accident.” This put her on the inward journey where she discovered parts of herself waiting to be held. As such, Jaisa went on to become a practitioner of medical qigong, reiki, Chinese Shamanic Medicine and a teacher of the Mindful Self-Compassion and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction curriculums. In 2018, she published an Amazon best-selling book “Purpose in Paralysis: From Chronic Pain to Universal Gain” which tells the story of how Jaisa learned to walk and stand in her truth.

Since Jasper’s birth in 2020, Jaisa has been focusing full time on motherhood, respecting Jasper as her co-researcher in the learning of life here on mother earth. Until she returns to work in a year or so, Jaisa will be continuing to learn how to meet her own needs in the ways that she meets her son's.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday Oct 09, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.25

Sunday Oct 09, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.25

"In Good Relation - Grounding Together in Rhythms and Rituals"

In this episode, we are joined by Jen Maramba and Alex Punzalan. We discuss their practices in finding ways to connect with their children, and also to cheer and champion them, building family rituals, their discussions around discipline, and more.

Jen Maramba (she/they) & Alex Punzalan (he/him) along with their ‘suns’ Kawayan & Kaleo form the Punzaramba Artist Family.

The Punzarambas currently reside on the treaty lands and territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit and acknowledge their ongoing learning to embody allyship with Indigenous Kin and All Living Beings.

Jen, a Decolonizing Energetic/ Healing Practitioner and Alex, a Music Producer & Digital Projection Artist started their journey together by connecting deeply through the questioning, unlearning and playful co-creation as Filipin@/x artists. Jen and Alex continue to build upon their Filipin@/x identity through arts, culture & healing practices to guide them in their ways of learning + unlearning what it means to be in guardianship and parenting in these times.

@jenmaramba / jenmaramba.com
@l3xjunior / lexjunior.com

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday Aug 28, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.24

Sunday Aug 28, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.24

"The Returns of Parenthood: Returning Home, Returning to Each Other, Returning to Ourselves"

In this episode, we are joined by Kai Kai Mascareñas. We discuss raising a child in community, her process of learning how to claim her needs and boundaries surrounding her child, tending to her child while being chronically ill and disabled, and more.

Kai Kai Mascareñas (she/they) is a queer, chronically ill + disabled, organizer and educator, and most importantly, mother to Diwa Uju Kalayaan Mascareñas-Lee (28 months old). Born and raised on the ancestral homelands of the Potawatomi people (Chicago, IL), Kai Kai is now based in Washington, DC, which sits on the ancestral lands of the Anocostans (Nacotchtank), and over time neighboring the Piscataway and Pumenkey peoples. Kai Kai is the daughter of Angela "Ging" Agustin and Ramon Mascareñas, and granddaughter of Salome and Procopio Agustin of Bicol and Bulacan, and Josephine and Benjamin Mascareñas of Nueva Ecija and Marinduque. Kai Kai is currently the Program Coordinator of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Maryland, College Park, where they engage and support the largest racial minority group on campus. Kai Kai is dedicated to fighting for national democracy in the Philippines and is a founding member of DIWA - the DC chapter of the International Women's Alliance, a global alliance of grassroots, anti-imperialist women’s organizations. Kai Kai finds joy in movement, dreams about a future in herbalism and body work, and is excited to begin her martial arts journey in kali.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday Jun 12, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.23

Sunday Jun 12, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.23

"If You Trust the Children, They Will Be Trustworthy"

In this episode, we are joined by Chris Sabile Gunn. We discuss different ways of communicating to allow freedom, building trust and the complexities involved, modeling intergenerational boundaries, and more.

Chris Sabile Gunn is currently sheltering on the peninsula between the Nich'i M-Wána and Wallamt Rivers that is the land of the Kalipuya, Clackmas, Multnomah, and Chinook and many other peoples now known as Portland, Oregon. She was tubong (born in) Quezon City, Luzon, Philippines. Chris was moved from the ancestral lands and waters of the Tagalog, Ilokano, and Kapampangan peoples to the lands of the Kiikaapoi, Jumanos, Tawakoni, and Wichita peoples at the age of nine. As a 1.5 generation settler on Turtle Island, Chris seeks to be at the service of people who have been impacted by imperial colonization either through settlement of lands or forced economic migration policies that seek to separate people from their embodied ancestral knowledge and sovereignty.

Chris, along with their partner Alan, are the proud parents of Mori Sabile Gunn. Mori is a recording artist under the moniker Baby Soling - an homage to their maternal Lola, Soledad, whose nickname is Soling. Mori's debut album, Evergreen is available here: Evergreen, by Baby Soling

Chris is currently serving as the Special Advisor for Grid Innovation and Justice at the U.S. Department of Energy with the goal of promoting energy justice and addressing systemic impacts on frontline communities during the clean energy transition.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday May 29, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.22

Sunday May 29, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.22

"Loosening and Tightening the Knots of Intergenerational Relation"

In this episode, we are joined by Karen Buenavista Hanna. We discuss various blessings and challenges of having grandparents involved in her child's life, wanting to become a mom to understand her own mom better, wanting positive rather than transactional relationships between her child and her parents, and more.

Hailing from a diverse and loving lineage of ancestors, including those of Hiligaynon, Masbateño, Pangasinense, and Teochew descent, @sophiethecat27 (she/they/siya) is the daughter of Ben and Marlo Hanna and granddaughter of Flora and Florentino Buenavista of Bacolod, Negros Occidental and Tingseng Eng and Sai-Tiang Tang of Chiangmai, Thailand and Guangdong, China. She is also the proud mother of 1-year-old Florentino "Tino," who was born at home after 15 hours of active labor with skillful midwife Andrea Diamond, doula Myla Flores (and Janeé Aiken in spirit), birth assistant Shalawn Facey, and partner Victor Sta. Ana by their side. Together with Victor and Tino's maternal and paternal grandparents and a village of immediate and chosen family, Karen raises Tino and cat Sophie on the lands of the Lenape (Queens, NY), Eastern Pequot, Mashantucket Pequot, and Mohegan people (New London, CT).

Karen, who identifies as queer and chronically ill, is a long-time educator of nearly 20 years and is currently Assistant Professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectionality Studies at Connecticut College. There she teaches courses on social movements, migration, queer and feminist theory, and critical disability studies. Prior to her doctoral studies, from 2003 to 2011, Karen was a New York City public school teacher, pre-GED instructor with the Brooklyn Public Library, and community organizer working alongside Filipina/o/x immigrant youth as a member of Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan and the domestic workers of Damayan Migrant Workers Association. These experiences inform her approaches to research and pedagogy, which center the collective resistance of marginalized people in determining their own liberation. She is fiercely devoted to building queer- and trans-inclusive self-actualized spaces of healing and solidarity for womxn and femmes of color. Karen founded Brown University's first women of color student organization, the Women of Color Writing Circle, in 2002, and co-founded UC Santa Barbara’s Women of Color Circle in 2012.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday May 15, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.21

Sunday May 15, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.21

"Raising my Children through the God in Me"

In this episode, we discuss the awareness of raising children as free, without the burden of the ancestors, the consciousness of reclaiming the strength and beauty of the ancestors, following the spirit of God within the self, and more.

Cisa Payuyo is the daughter of the late Vicente Andaya Payuyo from Isabela and the late Irenea Parong Duque from Nueva Ecija. Born in the Yangna Village of the Kizh Nation, Cisa grew up in Echo Park near Downtown Los Angeles, close to Historic Filipinotown.

Cisa is an ordained minister in the Disciples of Christ church, a progressive Christian denomination that ordains women, and people from the LGBTQ Community. She serves at Chapman University as chaplain and a spiritual mentor to students from across the campus.

Before her call to campus ministry, Cisa served as a case manager for Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA). SIPA is a non-profit organization near Downtown L. A. that advocates for and addresses the needs of people of the global majority in its surrounding neighborhood. She also volunteered with the Filipino American Library in various capacities.

Cisa is mother to three adult children – Donovan Buhawi, Nikolas Salatan and Nina Antikena Amihan, and Lola to Nina’s child Kennedy. Her beloved spouse is Ed Ramolete. They have been together for over twenty years.

Decolonization a spiritual practice for Cisa. Some of the ways it manifests in her daily life is in the way she reads and interprets sacred scripture, and in her work as an Anti-Racism trainer for clergy and churches in her denomination.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday Apr 24, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.20

Sunday Apr 24, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.20

"Moving Away from the ME, Understanding and Growing from the WE"

In this episode, we are joined by Jyn Rose Aguas Romualdez. We discuss her desire to be a grandmother while being a new mother, and her desire for reparenting in order to bring the knowledge back to her child, her journey with co-parenting, how she wants her child to experience the world, how she has changed most as a mother on her decolonial path, and more.

Jyn Rose (she/her/siya) was born in Makati, Philippines and settled in the U.S. with her parents at the tender age of three. She is the daughter of Mercy and Johnny Aguas, sister to Julian and Jamie, life partner to Martin and recent co-guardian/mama to Marcelo, who is her first born and greatest teacher. Her ancestral lineage includes the provinces of Batangas (mom's side) and Pampanga (dad's side). She currently resides on Ohlone land, specifically the unceded Ramaytush Territory, commonly referred to as San Francisco, California.

One way Jyn is cultivating a healthy, evolving relation to being a new mama, is welcoming the support of her doula, Romina @anakdoula who helps her navigate postpartum life with weekly soul-full connections. Also, with care and guidance from Jen Maramba through womb ceremonies both prenatal and postpartum, alongside sisterhood from all the mamas of the Mother Circles facilitated by JL Umipig and co-faciliated by JL, Jen and guest mothers, Jyn feels seen, heard and held in ways that western modalities cannot offer. Jyn is determined to pass on these teachings to her son and future descendants, trusting this not only will continue generational healing but will grow beyond survival, to thrive.

Jyn is always a student first. She is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, poet @pinaypoetree, and aspiring (nature) photographer. Jyn currently works as a clinical program assistant in the mental health field, supporting a team of therapists, case managers and consultants to serve children and families within the homeless population. She is committed to and shares the work of decolonization with family and her communities open to listening, as it provides her a sense of healing, expansion and spirituality. Jyn’s kapwa is comprised of her immediate family, extended relatives and chosen kin, human and non-human, as well as known and unknown forces such as her most benevolent ancestors and guides, all who offer direction and protection of her heart, spirit, and whole being.

Jyn is in deep gratitude and inspired by the Love of her kapwa. Giving thanks to Olivia Sawi for introducing her to the Pilipino concept of “kapwa”, which was the beginning of a life transformation, recognizing interconnection with all and the start to embody decolonial practices. She is constantly learning, unlearning and re-membering.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday Apr 17, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.19

Sunday Apr 17, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.19

"Tending to the Mental Health, Healing the Whole Child, Healing the Whole Family"

In this episode, we are joined by Jamie Pesquiza Cardenas. We discuss embracing the full spectrum of experiences, how many things have many truths, how making medicine for herself as an act of survival led to Magpie Alchemy, how not one thing fixes everything, especially with medicines, and more.

Jamie Pesquiza Cardenas is an interdisciplinary artist, herbalist, and cultural worker located on Unceded Nisenan Territory. She also is the heart and hands of Magpie Alchemy - an apothecary located in Sacramento, CA/Nisenan land. She is a first generation Filipinx-American and Ilokana. Jamie is a proud mama to Margaret Aminah Cardenas Ives, distiller, natural plant dyer, weaver, potions maker, and film photographer. She is the daughter of Jaime Galinato Cardenas and Angelita Pesquiza Cardenas. Both sides of their family comes from Santa, Ilocos Sur, Philippines. She comes from a line of stewards of the land, of healers, weavers of Abel Iloko, and storytellers. She shares her gift of fiber arts, plant medicine and healing from her Grandmother's ancestral knowledge in hopes of supporting her community with healing, fortifying and celebrating their skin, and helping them stay in touch with their body, lineage and senses with the magic of plants.

Jamie’s love of fiber arts and plants comes from a deep longing for connection to one's self and others. She loves exploring textures and colors, especially the color blue. She sees it as both the color and the feeling. It elicits a very emotional response in humans, much like the pull to look at the deep blue ocean, or up at the beautiful sky. There’s a connection. Jamie sees weaving and natural plant dyes, especially Indigo, as a bridge between her ancestors and those in the diaspora longing to connect to their heritage. And in their studies as a weaver, she has discovered that the symbols and colors used in the art all have specific meanings. Through the learnings of these symbols and motifs, Jamie has come to realize how connected we all are, not just in the archipelago or diaspora, but everywhere. Jamie especially honors her grandmothers, Maria Asuncion Galinato Cardenas and Victorina Borje Pesquiza, who were the very best of friends, and weavers in Santa. Their love prevails even in this realm. Jamie recently learned that their middle name means research and last name means blue. This is no coincidence.

At the core of all of their work is a reminder and remembering, much like in whole plant medicine, we must embrace the full spectrum of being. We are complex, and so are our emotions and experiences. To share our love of community care, she launched The Ayat Project, a sharing of research and musings of plant magic, radical love, art and an affirmation that healing really does happen in community. With The Ayat Project, our goal is to share the science and stories behind what it really looks like to heal in community through tending to our nervous systems and co-regulation. On a biological level, we need each other to not only survive, but thrive.

When she's not in circle with her weaving sisters and community, making plant medicine or in front of her big Mama Indigo Vat, you will find her remembering to find space for joy in the form of cooking for her loved ones, foraging for fungi with Maggie, dancing and singing with her family to Soulection, or roller skating.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik

Sunday Apr 03, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Episode 3.18

Sunday Apr 03, 2022

Kultivating Kapwa: Decolonizing Parenthood Episode 3.18

"The Will to Change: Becoming Your Self Again and Again in Motherhood"

In this episode, we are joined by Vanessa Ramalho. We reflect with Vanessa about what she has learned over this past year of her life in transition, how she has learned to prioritize her well-being and values, how she is manifesting her desire for her children to see her in her fullness, embodying unlimited possibility, and more.

Vanessa Tulop Ramalho is a settler on the lands of the Nanticoke Lenni Lenape, aka South Jersey. She is a multiracial woman, the daughter of Joseph Francisco Ramalho, Jr. and Corazon Tulop Ramalho. Her ancestral lands on her father’s side are Cabo Verde, the Portuguese colonized islands off the West Coast of Africa. Her ancestral lands on her mother’s side are Samar in the Visayas region of the islands known as the Philippines. She is the mother of Talia (7), Enzo (5), and Inara (2), and bonus mom to DJ (18), who she helped raise since he was 6 years old. Vanessa currently raises her three children in an intergenerational household in her childhood home alongside her parents while also navigating coparenting with her children’s father, Daniel Rodriguez.

Vanessa is a community educator with a focus in sexual and reproductive health and a wide range of social justice issues and a background in public health advocacy, sexual and reproductive rights, community organizing, and activism. She has also been a birth worker for going on 6 years: She is a Full Spectrum Doula trained through Ancient Song Birth Services in Brooklyn, a Postpartum Care Specialist trained through the INNATE Traditions, a Childbirth Educator trained through Birth Arts International, and a Certified Lactation Counselor through the Academy of Lactation Policy and Practice. Vanessa is also an artist, jewelry designer, student harpist, aspiring farmer and herbalist, and has found a new love in pole dancing. One of Vanessa’s primary goals as a parent is to discover how one can be their fullest, healthiest, most whole and authentic self as a person, and how that expands, enlivens, and deepens her capacity as a mother. She aims to have her children witness her as a multifaceted human being who is alive with thoughts, needs, desires, interests, boundaries, faults, and divinity...and in turn create the space for them to be their fullest, most whole and authentic selves as well. Her biggest inspirations right now are adrienne maree brown and Tricia Hersey of the Nap Ministry, as their work around pleasure activism and rest as liberation respectively have been critical to her healing journey over the past year.

Vanessa is also a Core Organizer for the Center for Babaylan Studies and is immensely grateful to her CfBS family for their unyielding love, support, wisdom, care, and for inspiring her in innumerable ways.

*Episode Notes: This episode contains brief instances of profanity.*

Hosted by Jana Lynne Umipig//
Produced by Olivia Sawi//
Co-Produced by Annie Aarons-Sawi//
Music by AstraLogik