Marikit 🇵🇭💜
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mataraykween.bsky.social
Marikit 🇵🇭💜
@mataraykween.bsky.social
Ph.D. Comparative Literature. Diasporic literature, Filipino literature in English, postmodernism, postcolonialism, gender studies 🌈 Ally. Assistant Professor, University of the Philippines. Married with kids ❤️

https://open.substack.com/pub/taraykween
Wholesome stuff to be happy about: Got my PhD, got family from the US vacationing in the Philippines, and my son graduated from university. Whew. That’s a lot in one month! It’s been busy.
July 9, 2025 at 7:51 AM
This is so important Filipina female jiujitsu practitioners, who have won international awards and some of whom have become World Champions, being recognized by the Philippine Government! 🇵🇭🇵🇭🇵🇭🥋🤼‍♀️
March 18, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Mondays, man.
February 24, 2025 at 12:29 PM
It’s funny because I feel shy telling people in my other socmed platforms that I won a special prize for writing a critical essay. But because I feel safe here, I’ll say it. I am happy to say that I won an award for “The Brown Pacific: Mythographies from the Philippine Diaspora”. Yay! 🥳
February 20, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Broke my personal record today! Deadlifted 100 kilos! Not bad for a 47 year old hahaha. That’s my coach watching from behind haha. Cheers to all the strong women out there. The first step is you have to BELIEVE 🐝
February 18, 2025 at 12:41 PM
RESIST!
February 18, 2025 at 7:03 AM
“It’s a little bit funny
This feeling inside
I’m not one of those
Who can easily hide…”

My feelings with almost 7,000 followers after 3 months here!

“I hope you don’t mind
I hope you don’t mind
That I put into words,
How wonderful life is
That you’re in the world!”

Thanks BlueSky 🦋
February 17, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Thank God for the weekend.
February 15, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Here’s hoping you find islands of rest and recovery from the madness of the world. Cheers.
February 15, 2025 at 2:46 AM
We have to create our own happiness now.
February 13, 2025 at 8:35 AM
Reminder.
February 10, 2025 at 7:32 PM
show me 4 pictures in your phone that have your energy but aren’t selfies
February 6, 2025 at 7:35 AM
This is too real. I did not anticipate this when I started writing my Substack two years ago.
February 5, 2025 at 11:39 PM
In other news, I got the results of my health tests, and they’re not as bad as I thought. We celebrated by going out and having some seriously good sushi.

Remembering BTS and their song, “Permission to Dance,” singing even in the midst of the pandemic.

I’m finding joy wherever I can 🍣
February 1, 2025 at 6:51 AM
In sports news in the Philippines, our jiujitsu team got three players to represent the Philippine National Team. Spots of joy are few and fleeting nowadays, so I just wanted to share news that sparked joy.

May we share as much joy as we can. Life is short and the world is going sideways.
January 27, 2025 at 6:09 AM
So my youngest son showed me his finished project from school that he labored many hours on, which is embroidery of characters from his favorite video game, “Hollow Knight”. He was telling me it was so strange that he was the only one who embroidered video game characters and everyone else 1/2 🧵
January 22, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Some light reading tonight.
January 22, 2025 at 11:24 AM
#OnlyBeautifulThings to cancel out the ugly
January 21, 2025 at 1:24 PM
The quiet joy of taking a much needed nap
January 20, 2025 at 4:58 AM
Cats remind us that rest is part of the circle of life haha
January 19, 2025 at 8:54 AM
I used to teach this to university students, but this lesson is now for high school students in my country. Obviously they don’t know logical fallacies anymore, because flawed thinking is now the norm in Philippine politics, ads, and daily conversations! I wonder if it’s the same in other places?1/2
January 10, 2025 at 3:26 AM
I had to tell this to a teacher, as one of her mentors, because she was afraid to teach what she was taught.
January 9, 2025 at 1:33 AM
I used to think Mary Oliver only wrote about the natural world. Now I know she writes about it because she rejects the modern one. This poem seems to have seen everything: the past, the present, and the future.
January 5, 2025 at 12:18 AM
What’s up, 2025? We living on the edge haha 🐈‍⬛
January 4, 2025 at 1:15 AM
I let this poem slide several times on my feed before I finally read it. It turns out it was a gem. “Joy is not made to be a crumb”. By Mary Oliver, in her book, “Devotions”.
January 4, 2025 at 12:19 AM