Asian Heritage Month, Filipino Heritage Month, and The Quiet is Loud

Filipino Heritage Month follows Asian Heritage Month/AAPI Heritage Month.⁠ May and June kinda knock my mixed-race brain around. I sometimes feel like I don’t belong in these conversations – especially as a writer – but at the same time I feel like I deserve to celebrate my heritage as much as any Asian does. So I’d like to talk a little bit about The Quiet is Loud.⁠
⁠
The Quiet is Loud didn’t start out as an exploration of mixed-race belonging, but it’s such a fundamental backbone of Freya’s story now that I can’t imagine the novel without it. It helped me feel more comfortable with the specific way I understand and experience my mixed-race identity, and I can’t explain how major that is.⁠
⁠
Aside from themes of Filipino and mixed-race identity⁠⁠⁠⁠, the Quiet is Loud also features:⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠
✧ Filipino and Norse mythology⁠⁠⁠⁠
✧ Lovingly- and hungrily-written descriptions of Filipino dishes like longsilog and pancit palabok 🇵🇭⁠⁠⁠⁠
✧ Tarot card symbolism⁠
✧ People with enhanced mental abilities including prophetic dreams, hyper-empathy, and catatonia inducement⁠⁠⁠⁠
✧ Lucid dreaming, memory & other facets of the mind⁠⁠⁠⁠
✧ Omens, signs, and superstitions⁠⁠⁠⁠
✧ People finding trust in a society that fears their existence⁠⁠⁠⁠
✧ Unexpected (platonic) relationships and alliances⁠⁠⁠⁠