Quote

Don't say Fili, sister. Say Pili. In Tagalog, pili means to choose. Pino means fine. Pilipino equals 'fine choice.

Jessica Hagedorn

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Jessica Hagedorn
Age: 75
Born: 1949
Born: January 1
Author
Musician
Novelist
Performance Artist
Playwright
Poet
Storyteller
Writer
City of Manila
Jessica Tarahata Hagedorn
Mean
Equals
Sister
Choice
Choose
Fine
Choices
Means

More quotes by Jessica Hagedorn

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My identity is linked to my grandmother, who's pure Filipino, as pure as you can probably get. And that shaped my imagination. So that's how I identify.
Jessica Hagedorn
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But I think there's a genuine joy, too, a sense that no matter what, even if my stomach's growling, I'm going to dance. That's what I want to leave people with at the end of the play. After all this, people still know how to live.
Jessica Hagedorn
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I love writing dialogue, and I think a lot of my writing is visual and very cinematic.
Jessica Hagedorn
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Music is very influential to my writing, as are theater and film.
Jessica Hagedorn
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I'm an underdog person, so I align myself with those who seem to be not considered valuable in polite society.
Jessica Hagedorn
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There is real beauty in my eyes when I lose my mind.
Jessica Hagedorn
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Growing up in the Philippines, I loved all kinds of movies. We had a very healthy film industry there when I was a child. It's now gotten very limited. They only make action movies and hard-core exploitation movies. Women get raped men get shot.
Jessica Hagedorn
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Everything matters. Time is precious.
Jessica Hagedorn
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It's not just NYU. There are days when I feel like I'm stranded in some upscale mall in Pasadena. Don't even get me started on the insidious transformation of Bleecker Street!
Jessica Hagedorn
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I'm preparing for a multimedia theater piece, Airport Music, that's coming up in New York City.
Jessica Hagedorn
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[On The Philippines:] ... eighty dialects and languages are spoken we are a fragmented nation of loyal believers, divided by blood feuds and controlled by the Church.
Jessica Hagedorn
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Adaptability is the simple secret of survival.
Jessica Hagedorn
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The punk scene in NY was so gritty and nihilistic & I was like ooh I want to do that
Jessica Hagedorn
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Becoming a mother has helped make me a tougher, stronger writer.
Jessica Hagedorn
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Life is not simple, and people can't be boxed into being either heroes or villains.
Jessica Hagedorn
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All the fabulous and fearless writers gathered here, whether they are living in Manila, the US, or elsewhere in the ever-growing Philippine diaspora, have a deep connection and abiding love for this crazy-making, intoxicating city. There's nothing like it in the world, and they know it.
Jessica Hagedorn