There Is Real Beauty In

[on The Philippines:] ... Eighty Dialects And Languages Are Spoken; We Are A Fragmented Nation Of Loyal Believers, Divided By Blood Feuds And Controlled By The Church.

We Didn't Have Television Until I Was About Eight Years Old, So It Was Either The Movies Or Radio. A Lot Of Radio Drama. That Was Our Television, You Know. We Had To Use Our Imagination. So It Was Really Those Two Things, And The Comics, That I Immersed Myself In As A Child.

I Love Writing Dialogue, And I Think A Lot Of My Writing Is Visual And Very Cinematic.

My Identity Is Linked To My Grandmother, Who's Pure Filipino, As Pure As You Can Probably Get. And That Shaped My Imagination. So That's How I Identify.

Don't Say Fili, Sister. Say Pili. In Tagalog, Pili Means To Choose. Pino Means Fine. Pilipino Equals 'fine Choice.