Origin~ALL 3/3: Plant Stories

While applying for DACA I had to find my birth certificate and being the person that I am ~

An undocumented writer, artist, third culture kid longing for more about anything from the Philippines and my origins (amplified by not having the legal right to go back… yet),

I studied this document and took the information to heart. The plant and paper~ception was impeccable.

I learned that we lived on a street named after a tree through one of the pieces of papers that acknowledges my life and the fact that I was born.

So you may be asking, what’s in a plant name?

Molave’s Scientific name is:

“Vitex parviflora Juss.

SMALL-FLOWER CHASTE TREE” (StuartXChange)

I’m struck by the words small, flower, and chaste because of how these words echo in my life and culture post-colonial. More on that later.

This tree is one of the toughest in the country. It is has been over harvested and if I can borrow from my friend at Stuart X Change here’s some info about the molave in a chart I made above.

These photos on the left are from: Manila Old Timer.

As names, images, people, plants, and lands unfold and reappear around me both in real life as well as through what I read in books, online, and stories from others, I reflect on what it means to have lived on Molave St. This is part of my diasporic wonderings ~ what does it all mean?

Why do these names comes up? Why did I draw Soultree from my Aries brother Elgin Smith aka DJ L O Kari calling me Sultry Stephanie?

It may seem like I am going on a tangent on creating meaning, but truly what else do we have in life if not to make meaning and purpose out of the symbols and communication being transmitted to us right now or whenever we can?

I encourage any and all who read this to tune in to the names that appear before you ~ find their meaning, where are their origins, and ask yourself your connection to that name?

Or perhaps consider if that name is needed or relevant any longer? I think about street names and monuments named after people who have caused harm & trust that etymology, empathy, compassion, and our spiritual compasses will guide the way on that moving onward.

Like the molave, I would like to be a strong wooden bridge between me and my culture again. In Tagalog bridge means “tulay” ~ & I aim to be a “tunay na tulay”, a true bridge - one that ebbs, flows, sways, shifts, burns, crosses, and is rebuilt again and again through the lessons I learn with the world around me. The true culture - the one I am part of and can reinvent/recreate as needed based on the times, experiences, & revelations of the now in relationship to all/the oneness.

Mahal na mahal,

Soultree

Photo by Mikayla aka “Swiper” Delson

Design by Nicanor “Inkanor” Evangelista

Please check out their websites hyperlinked on their names and support their powerful, cultural, and spiritually guided community and creative works.

Maraming Salamat! Thank You Very Much! KomMol Tata!