Talusan

Talusan’s grandmother would always say: ‘”Those other kids aren’t white like you,”‘ writes Talusan.

Perceived as white in the U.S., Talusan would go on to Harvard but required a navigation through complex spheres of race, class and sexuality until she found her own place within the gay community.

A special tribute was given to the late painter Edgar ‘Egai’ Talusan Fernandez whose painting “Kahapon, Ngayon at Pangarap” became the maiden issue cover of the revived Philippines Graphic on June 18, 1990.

Talusan promises — but when she goes to the bathroom to scrub her face free of make-up, she cannot, eventually collapsing crying on the floor.

Ms. Talusan is a writer.