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Roma Panganiban

@romapancake

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Extremely near-sighted and trying my best.
Literary agent elsewhere; mostly just hanging out here.

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Proof of life/proof of living by @romapancake

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5 months ago

With Zohran as Mayor, it'll be Libra season all year 'round by @romapancake

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a year ago

World's worst María Clara

[Cinéma vérité courtesy of a thousand family group chats] taken in Philippines by @romapancake

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a year ago

Cousins will always be cousins—through diapers, awkward teen phases, and years of vague secondhand updates about each other from our moms, until suddenly the second youngest of us is at the altar with a new cousin-in-law to add to the family, and our group photos are a little bigger and a lot prettier than before.

Congratulations, Tony & Rica Anna—until next time, always. taken in Ilocos Norte, Philippines by @romapancake

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a year ago

I didn't go to church today, but I went to a repurposed industrial warehouse in Williamsburg and sang Eric Whitacre's "Sleep" with the original Robert Frost verses, a few hundred strangers, and Eric Whitacre, and it was one of the holiest experiences I've ever had. by @romapancake

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a year ago

This time four years ago, I baked a cake to celebrate the dawning of what I thought might be a slightly brighter future for my country and all the people in it whom I love. Over those four years, the last year especially, I've gone through multiple stages of grieving over the loss of that naive hope: disappointment, rage, cynicism, despair. I'm angrier now than I ever have been, and I've really never not been angry that this world isn't what we were promised when we were brought into it.

I also feel more loved than I ever have, including by people I never could have imagined would become so dear to me, and it's made me more loving in return. That love wouldn't exist without that anger, because that anger is born out of love and the desire for us all to be safe and happy together. After all, what is safety, what is happiness, if only some of us get to have it? I'm furious, for myself and for all of us. I'm frightened. I'm weary. I baked a cake alone last night while the consequences of this hateful, racist, self-serving, fucking inadequate society we've built made themselves quantifiably known, and I went to bed feeling nothing, because I didn't need election results to tell me about all the ways we've failed each other.

Then I woke up this morning and carefully packed this cake to celebrate that someone I love has existed on this earth for another year, and I've gotten to exist alongside them. The cake was shared among some other people I love, some I like a lot, and maybe a few I like a little less. I left the rest of the cake in the office kitchen, and at the end of the day, every crumb was gone; someone had washed the container so I wouldn't have to.

I don't think kindness alone will save us. I think we need our anger—the anger that I and others were born with, the anger that some people are only now beginning to find stoked in themselves. As much as I want us to all sit around a table eating cake and laughing together, I want us all to stand and fight together, too. If we finally, finally take this terrible inflection point as a sign to effect the change we deserve in the only world where we all exist together, then we'll have something to celebrate. by @romapancake

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2 years ago

Until next time, Denver taken in Denver Botanic Gardens by @romapancake

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2 years ago

Oh, dip! Pillboi!

(Thank you for being so chill, @eugcordero—I hope you got the crispiest lumpia at @philippinesfest) taken in Smorgasburg Prospect Park by @romapancake

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2 years ago

Happy 20th birthday, @kundimanforever, thank you for the best #AWP24 party ❤️‍🔥 by @romapancake

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3 years ago

When I was 21, I was still a senior in college, until I wasn't. I was running off to Pittsburgh on a school night with too many people in one car to see bands I'd discovered through music videos and mix CDs. I was brushing my hair straight, since no one had pointed out yet that it was kind of curly. I was so excited to have helped elect Obama, and look how that turned out. I was doing feminist theatre productions, one of them in an English accent that was honestly pretty good. I was walking around in ballet flats with zero arch support, even when my next class was uphill through an inch of snow. I was wearing those little rectangular glasses, but in my defense, so was everyone else. I was visiting grad schools over spring break, because I really thought I wanted a PhD. I was in a long-distance relationship that made me so happy, even 3,000 miles across the ocean. I'm still friends with a lot of my friends from back then, some even better than before. I don't have the boyfriend anymore, but I still have that hoodie.

[No it's not my birthday, everyone's doing the "show a picture when you were 21" thing—but thanks for thinking I'm 31] by @romapancake

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3 years ago

On the one hand, my carbon footprint in 2023 was probably higher than it's ever been. On the other hand, I got to travel for business and for pleasure, by myself and with friends, revisiting familiar places and discovering new ones. I went to Carl's Jr. at 2:00 a.m. and Powell's Books three times in two days. I slept in queen size hotel beds, one bunk bed, and on a friend's couch. I bought two new suitcases. I kept forgetting to pack my travel pillow. I walked so many miles! I rewore so many outfits. I ate a life-changing raspberry croissant.

Eight states last year—maybe eight countries this year. by @romapancake

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3 years ago

In fall 2023, I decided to become a NYT Crossword person, I guess. by @romapancake

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3 years ago