The Story before the Story
January 26, 2021 7:00PM PST
by Allie Gagalang, Christian Reasonda, Dani Nakpil and Jancy Nicolas
Before a story begins, there’s a huge chunk of narrative that we don’t get to see. They’d be scattered on nuances and flashbacks that add flavor and richness to the present story. We experience its subtle energy on dialogues and elements surrounding the protagonist. But in this piece, we share with you the tales behind Hiraya Media’s mise-en-scene. Four Filipino storytellers in various stages of their respective journeys are brought together by a global crisis to finally bring out the stories simmering inside them.
A Call to Adventure
My mom used to complain a lot about how chatty I was even as a toddler. My dad, mom, and I would travel from Pasig to Quezon City a lot back then to visit my mom’s side of the family. The whole ride, I would be the only one talking and my parents would just listen. My grandpa used to say it’s because I’m smart. I digress.
Over time, I found ways to express myself other than opening my big loud mouth. I started writing short stories that turned into novels and posted them on Teentalk, Candy Magazine’s forum for young girls. I wrote about a myriad of things but mostly about romances. In college, I had a short stint writing about college basketball so I learned how to analyze the game. But every time, I thought it wasn’t enough because deep inside, I knew I always wanted to talk about Politics – my Politics, to be exact. I thought about creating a YouTube channel and let loose but I thought it was too controversial and would hate being confronted about my beliefs. I’m not a confrontational person, I’m a Virgo after all. So I let it rest.
About six months ago, however, I’ve been living in the US for quite some time and been working a nine to five job for the last three years or so. I was suddenly hit by the overwhelming sense of being stagnant. My world felt gloomy with no chance of sunlight. I asked myself, “What do I need to do to get that vibrance back?” The answer was HIRAYA. Hiraya is helping me get my creativity back and at the same time, reclaim my voice. I realized I still had so many things to say! I still wanted to talk about my Politics, this time, armed with the knowledge I didn’t have in the past. I also wanted to talk about my identity as a Filipino living away from the Motherland because being away and interacting with people from different races and ethnicities made me appreciate my culture more and more importantly, I have learned that as significant it is to express my own hiraya, it’s just as important to listen to others’. Hiraya Media is exactly that – a safe place where you can tell your stories through any form of art but it’s also a place where you learn. It’s where we reshape the narrative around the Filipino diaspora and encourage intelligent conversations.
Welcome to the fruit of our hopes, dreams, and aspirations.
Welcome to Hiraya Media.
Allie Gagalang
Co-Founder/CEO
SF Bay Area, CA
Crossing the Threshold
I refuse to be called a writer. I am a storyteller. I have always been.
I tell stories of people, and places, and adventures. I tell stories of pain, of joy, of political unrest, of silence but not of peace, of grassroots athletes, of those who run the system, of those who are run over by the system, of philanthropists who refuse to be written about, of farmers, of independent artists, of love, of loss, of life.
I recently left my job as a full-time journalist but I figured that I will always live my life telling stories, whether of my own pursuit of eternal things, or of this world, and the people we encounter along the way.
Hiraya has given new meaning to storytelling. It has opened a brand new world where life, in all its depth, can be talked about, free of censorship from powerful figures and deceitful names. It has become a safe space where every Filipino’s story can be told, and be retold.
It has extended my power to tell stories through conversations, written articles, poetry, and everything else that is beyond traditional media. It is in itself, the realization of one’s dreams and aspirations.
Hiraya’s message of hope says that we can dream again and try again because we are capable of doing so. This is what we are made of, and we will not let anything or anyone tell us we are something less.
Danielle Nakpil
Managing Editor
Mandaluyong
Dark Night of the Soul
"What inspires you?" is such a stale question for artists and people in a creative field. It's so worn out I sometimes go blank when I'm asked that question.
How about we try this one for size instead: What FRUSTRATES you?
I don't know about you but the dark and messy a**hole-ness of "frustration" sparks more light inside me than the bright, sunny, straight outta Hallmark (or Papemelroti so its Pinoy) vibes of the overrated "inspiration".
Don't get me wrong. I love me some woo woo, Super Soul Sunday sh*t. I need my daily dose of Oprah and Chopra (Deepak, not Priyanka). But what surprises me in our world is that despite solid evidence of the normality of discomfort, we tend to skip and resist the “ugly” chapters of life. But from the get-go, life never pretended what it was. It is humans who pretend that life must simply be a walk in the park. Adults despite their adultness rant about their misfortunes or find ways to deny it through food, alcohol, or Feng Shui. But life has always been pretty clear that it's a space for both good and evil, love and hate, day and night, sunrise and sunset, success and failure, yin and yang.
Let us all be reminded that if not literally for the discomfort of birth PAINS we wouldn't all be here. They say it is the love of two people that brought a sperm to fertilize an egg. We are old enough to know that it isn't always the case, right? More than love, what's more certain about the story of our conception and birth was our mother's agonizing labor. Pain was our gateway into this world. So why the hell deny the very reality to which we owe our existence?
And so, Chan Reasonda’s overseas call offering an editorial position could not have come at a better time. Not because I was inundated with inspiration but because I was teeming with so much frustration. I was undergoing intense birth pains because a #NewMe is emerging amid all these crises around me. Without batting an eyelash, I said yes to Chan. I jumped off the cliff with the entire Hiraya team trusting that that would make us earn our wings on our way down. Hiraya held a new space for me to seek the truth of life and not escape it. I saw it as a conduit to honor both the light and darkness happening in my personal life, in my country, and in my world – all of which helped me ask the questions that truly matter and re-align myself again with my own truth. And it is only in honoring your own pain and truth that a storyteller can truly honor the pain and the truth of others.
I am here with Hiraya because I am telling stories of frustrations and I hope we turn them into an ACTUAL inspiration - not forced, not fake, not shallow, not feigning an enthusiasm that is just not there.
“Nakakapagod nang maging Pilipino. Wala na tayong pag-asa.” I’ve been hearing these words since forever. And I’ve heard it more and more from friends since the shitstorm that is 2020 started. I hear ya, friends and countrymen. I'm not here to inspire, remember? I'm here to frustrate. And I'm not even going to attempt changing this mindset. Go ahead. Feel it. With every fiber of your Being.
We’re here in Hiraya to remind you to not be frustrated about frustration and stop waiting endlessly for inspiration. Inspiration is fleeting and entitled. She just shows up when she feels like it. She has been abandoning us lately, can I just say? Inspiration is the elitist GGSS who is so full of herself. Do you wanna be friends with that kind of gal? (GGSS is Gandang Ganda Sa Sarili. For our FilAm friends, please ask your parents to translate it for you.).
And frustration? She’s been with us all along. She shows up NOT just when she wants to. She shows up WHEN IT MATTERS. She is a teacher. She is your truth-teller friend who will not sugarcoat things for you. She’ll give it to you as is but with so much love. Her tongue is merciless but her heart is always in the right place. And she doesn’t care if you hate her for it because she knows that when inspiration stops hanging out with you (as that bitch always does), you’ll come crawling back to her, embarrassed. And you’ll thank her for being in your life. Because truth is, I believe that frustration is a more reliable friend. If you use it well, frustration really is the path to HIRAYA.
There's no real hope without hopelessness. Crucifixion comes before resurrection. There’s no rebirth without death. A hero is nothing without the obstacles thrown by its villain.
I know, it's exhausting. But let me remind you., the first few years of our millennial-ness were pretty fantastic. Social media. The glory of the Internet. Fast-evolving technology. Breaking societal norms. Marrying later in our lives. Piso fares left and right. Unlimited travels, unlimited everything – rice included. The world was ours for the taking. But we actually took too much from the world and now we’re here (Boomers equally guilty for this! ‘Kala niyo jan ah.). Perhaps it really is time for us to let go of the paradise of our past, roll up our sleeves, and get to work. And maybe the wounding of our generation is the path to the literal and figurative healing of our world.
And one more thing. When we say #WeAreHiraya, that WE includes YOU. I am just excited to be frustrated with you and from that safe space, let’s change, challenge, and claim our New Narrative in this New Normal.
How's that for inspiration?
Jancy E. Nicolas
Editor in Chief
Tondo x Kyusi
Return with the Elixir
What happens when artists get stuck in their homes during a pandemic, with access to the internet, with imaginations so potent and free-flowing and energies, ever-burning, to tell stories? The result is Hiraya (an ancient Filipino Tagalog word that means vision); a digital media platform for Filipino storytellers around the world.
“You cannot change the world if you cannot imagine what a better world is”. This is civic imagination according to Henry Jenkins, a media scholar that I look up to ever since I came across his studies in 2016 when I was finishing my undergraduate thesis in the Philippines. Since then, I’ve had the chance to understand fully and deeply how media is a catalyst for change.
I moved from Manila to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2017 then to the City of Angels in 2018 to pursue my passion in producing and creating for the media and entertainment industry. I realized my art isn’t very visual, but structural so I did all that I can to help create and produce this platform. The result is a group of Filipino creatives from all around the world leading a disruptive storytelling entity in the digital space.
The time the pandemic started was just weeks after my graduation from the Los Angeles Film School. I graduated on top of the class and (allegedly) the first Filipino with the highest honors in the Entertainment Business program - I had high hopes of working for media and entertainment companies here in Los Angeles, a laser-focused plan to pursue more education and experience, and a grit ever so strong to push for Filipino representation in Hollywood, but every and all was halted by the mandatory distance and isolation. What can be done? Where will I go? How am I going to create? I asked myself all those and a lot more for roughly half a year. Just when I was about to accept that I cannot do anything and retreat to the darkness, a friend sent me a random message that fueled the once dying flame. The next thing I knew, Hiraya was born.
“Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form to another”. Growing up, my engineer dad has always blurted outlaws of science constantly and I have never made sense of it all, even after spending two years in a pre-medicine degree, until now. Nothing can destroy energy, it can only be transformed. This digital media platform is our collective energy, although individually bruised but made whole by collaboration and creation, transformed into something tangible to be a conduit of stories and storytelling.
We are here to tell stories and we are here to listen to your stories. We are here to let you understand and realize that we can do so much for our communities through storytelling. We are here to spark those civic imaginations so we can imagine a better world for all of us and our families and friends. We are here to help transform those creative energies into something bigger and brighter. #WeAreHiraya and we want you to know that we are here.
Christian Reasonda
Co-Founder/COO
Los Angeles, CA