Posted on September 30, 2010 by jazmin2009
‘sadto amo’ is a phrase in Bicol-Baao (the language spoken in Baao, Camarines Sur, Philippines, a variant of the Bicol language) which means, roughly, ‘in our place’ or ‘at home’.
Here in this public place, a blog site, ‘sadto amo’ queries the idea of ‘our place’ or ‘home’ at a time of virtual realities and displaced homes, which is also a time of constant travel for many, willed or forced, because of economic necessity or career directions/choices and the need to find ‘a place’. This is a place for speaking of an always displaced place, always a ‘there’ in relation to a ‘here’ that in itself shifts: sadto (there) vs. sadi (here). At the same time, this is an exploration of the samo (our), a feeling of the lines that define ‘our’ from ‘your’ or ‘their’ to see if these exist or how they exist or how blurry indeed they become when I begin to try to look at them or feel them.
The time is not quite right to start (or restart) a blog. My calendar says I have no time for this. But perhaps there is really no right time and I’ll just have to squeeze this in. I will try anyway. Cheers.
This was written in 2010 when I first attempted to write a blog and failed. I’d like to still start with this, ten years later, rather poignantly, when the world has stood still and all travel plans have been canceled and the mobility of people constrained because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I am also now still far away from ‘home’, like then, and so I continue to say ‘sadto amo’ with a longing for the ‘sadto’ and the ‘samo’, even as I enjoy the warmth of present company, here and now.
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right here, right now 