Last week we released “Blood, Sweat, and Tapsilog”, the sixth episode of Paperless Pulp, our narrative podcast series! A real onion of a story, the episode delved into themes of cultural dissonance and sacrifice, framed in the high pressure world of cooking competitions, and further framed within a (fictional) documentary podcast. It’s our most ambitious episode to date!
We asked Kyle Encinas (writer) and Justine Moral (“Jamie”) to tell us a little more about the piece!
KYLE
I wrote “Blood, Sweat, and Tapsilog” in the midst of a pretty large transition in my life. I had moved across the country and found myself reflecting on my journey in the arts and what it meant to be an artist in a completely new community. I was feeling a little alien in new surroundings and it felt familiar, having cropped up a number of times in my career. As an actor of Filipino descent, I’ve been welcomed onto many projects and productions, but very few that addressed my ethnicity and heritage. It sort of felt like I was hiding an important part of myself just to be allowed to participate in the process.
JUSTINE
For example, when Francis Ocompo says, “You need to be unique, but accessible. Cutting edge but safe. New but not too new.” As an artist of color, how many times do I think of this when I’m going to an audition? A lot. And of course, you push the thoughts away and realize the best thing to do is show up, be true to yourself, and hope for the best.
KYLE
It also feels like there’s a pressure to make your story more accessible, that if you’re too specific, it’s alienating and won’t attract a big audience. It is getting better, audiences are consuming more specialized and specific stories, but I think there will always be pressure on artists of color to be ambassadors of their culture, to be teachers and educators so that they can feel acceptance. It’s exhausting.
I wanted to write this story for those folks, because sometimes just knowing that someone is as exhausted as you are, can be a comfort and give you the energy to keep grinding.
JUSTINE
[“Blood, Sweat, and Tapsilog”] is presented as a podcast, where people have to truly pay attention to what is being said, to listen to the words. I think this is the best way to present the message. This is how we learn about new things, stories, experiences, cultures, people, by listening to one another.
There are so many moments within this piece that truly strike a chord within me. When Francis is working on her Filipino dishes, people make comments about the food, hurtful stereotypes, and I think to myself, ‘How many times have I experienced a similar situation to this?’ Now granted, it wasn’t through cooking, but I still experience moments like this plenty in different aspects of my everyday life. This piece, does a really good job of raising awareness; to be mindful and conscious about actions and words being said, to not just people of Filipino culture but to any culture.
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Check out “Blood, Sweat, and Tapsilog” here! We’re 2/3rd of the way through Paperless Pulp’s first season! Have you listened to it yet? Be sure to let us know what you think!
