Kaia & Crip Art Collective exhibit at the Textile Museum of Canada, in Secret Codes

@textilemuseumofcanada opened “Secret Codes” by @banns1992 on Saturday, featuring miniature tactile interpretations of quilts on display by members of @cripartcollective .

It was a joy and an honour to witness the beautiful community David Woods has nurtured through fostering Black arts in Nova Scotia. These quilts tell incredible stories, through time and textile.

I loved creating a miniature version of @3rdstoryworkshop Amelda’s Prayer, based on David Woods’ sketch. In Amelda Soars, what bursts beyond the confines of the quilt binding is up to your interpretation. Whether in dreams or in waking, Amelda’s Prayer soars larger than life, in miniature.

Thank you to @armando_museos and @raveneleuthera for this amazing opportunity.

Video description: A slideshow of the opening of Secret Codes at the Textile Museum of Canada, showing Crip Art Collective, Kaia Arrow, a series of quilts, and Amelda’s Prayer interpreted in miniature quilt as Amelda Soars. This quilt shows a dark skinned woman, hands folded in prayer, surrounded by bursts of colour and light all rendered in fabric.

Pre-order Magdaragat today!

A drawing of a long-haired person reading a book with the cover of Magdaragat pasted on the front. The title reads, “I’m in a book!” and continued, “Pre-order Magdaragat to support me and my communities, if you have the means to do so! Magdaragat features 50 Filipino-Canadian writers, including mixed poetry & prose by Kaia Arrow, writer of The Willow’s Work. LINK IN BIO.”

PRE-ORDER MAGDARAGAT HERE! After all these years writing for The Willows Work, I’m proud to announce that my piece, “Dreams of Pinoy Joy: Decolonial Rage and Disabled Resistance in the Diaspora” will be in the upcoming anthology of Filipino-Canadian writers, “Magdaragat”. 

Dreams of Pinoy Joy is my first published non-academic writing as an adult, and it sits very close to my heart. 

If you have the means to do so, it would mean a lot to me if you pre-ordered a copy at your local bookstore and checked out what Filipino-Canadians have to say in 2023.   

MAGDARAGAT: An Anthology of Filipino-Canadian Writing

Edited by Teodoro Alcuitas, C.E. Gatchalian, & Patria Rivera

Coming out November 2023

Available for pre-order now: https://shoplocal.bookmanager.com/isbn/9781770867178

Welcome 2000 followers! REALITY CHECK on how I run this account while chronically ill

ID2: The same background with black text, the same as the image caption, with the title “REALITY CHECK!” ⁣

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ID1: Yellow glowing text reads WELCOME 2000! And black block text reads, “How (and why) I REALISTICALLY run The Willow’s Work while chronically ill. There is a circular photo of Kaia (a Filipina woman with long hair) hugging her partner and smiling into the camera in the top left corner. The background is green and orange clouds. ⁣

HOW (AND WHY) DO I RUN THE WILLOWS WORK? I’m Kaia, a neurodivergent, queer, sick & disabled Filipina-Canadian. I have a degree in social work and 8 years experience in research. Here at The Willow’s Work we chat about chronic illness, health systems, and how they interact with our social structures! ⁣
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I thought for 2000 followers I’d do a quick reality check on how I manage this account. ⁣
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1. I write this account for fun! I tend to write in bursts based on when it feels fun or helpful for me to process my experiences through the lens of biopolitics. I focus on theory and community building because I like those best! ⁣
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2. I only post once a week because scheduling posts is exhausting for me, so I tend to schedule in batches. I ALWAYS back-up my posts to WordPress just in case (link in bio!). ⁣
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3. I take multiple photos whenever I go out, and I’ll use those for literally years. I don’t leave the house often enough to have fresh photos for every post. ⁣
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4. I don’t engage with my account if it feels like a chore. I often get tired from cross-posting on Fridays so I don’t tend to respond to comments or DMs until later.⁣
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5. I LOVE taking, sharing, and receiving #SpoonieVision (videos of nature for when folks can’t get outside) but I loathe actually posting and backing it up- so I post that in stories more often. I should make a highlight…⁣
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   If I had more energy, I’d definitely post more often. This is how I keep this account sustainable and fun for me- what would you change to work better for you? ⁣

Our first wedding anniversary!

A photo of Peter and Kaia on the beach at sunset. Peter is a Jew-ish man with curly brown hair and a full beard, he gazes lovingly at Kaia with his hands on her face. Kaia is a Filipina woman with long wavy hair, she smiles as they stand nose to nose, her hands cheekily on his butt. The sky is streaked with pale pink and orange and yellow.

Cheers to you, my love. One year married!

📷@simplybphotos_yeg

Happy 30th Birthday Bunny!

A dreamy photo of Bunny posed lying in bed with her paws under her head, alongside a pink tulip. Bunny is a white polyester stuffed animal with a pink bow with pink scrunchie, pink nose and black eye circles, pink dress, and pink bracelets. Her long fluffy ears are invisible (lost to time).

Today my sassy, confident, stylish, and wise Big Bunny turns 30 years old! She’s been my best buddy and constant companion since she was born in a gift bag in 1992.

I first saw her on a clearance rack from my stroller. My parents coordinated to buy her in secret ($19.99 after 50% off in the post-Easter sales) and surprise me on my second birthday. She’s still the best present I’ve ever gotten!

(I’ll post her best present ever in my stories, but she hasn’t gotten it yet!) Photo taken on the fly by @simplybphotos_yeg , obviously.

We got married!

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WE GOT MARRIED!

Yesterday, us, our officiant, and our two witnesses (plus of course, Bunny) met in a park on a beautiful day to sign some papers and take this next step in our relationship.

For us, it felt like a mix of the momentous and the everyday. We have been committed to building a future together for years now, but there was something about standing in the sunlight and making these same promises out loud that was very special.

Together, we are at our best. We have never stopped growing and changing and fighting for our little family. We have always been partners, but we are now privileged to be husband and wife too.     

But have no fear–To us, it is very important that we affirm our relationship in the presence of our communities, and so a proper wedding ceremony will happen, at some point.

Thank you to:

Elysse, my Maid of Honour and best friend- and also our wedding photographer!

Izumi, Peter’s Best Man and best friend- and our videographer! 

Dan and Wendy, who offered these wonderful flowers that were such a lovely finishing touch.

Thanks to our wonderful vendors:

@TheMarryingLady for her wonderful personal touches and gentle guidance

@tiny_flower_baystreet for our beautiful flowers, right down to the willow blossoms!

@tala.toronto not only for our kamayan dinner, but for the joy you shared when I came to pick it up

@cambio_co / @sinta_co for jewelry tied to our pre-colonial past and our anti-colonial futures

Let’s talk Intersectional Healthcare on Wednesday, May 26!

A stylized orange and yellow image designed to mimic instant messages. The text reads: Join #NewDemoChat and @TheWillowsWork to discuss systemic barriers to care, discrimination and bias, communication, and more! LET’S TALK INTERSECTIONAL HEALTHCARE! Wednesday May 26, 7-8pm EST on Twitter: tag and follow #NewDemoChat! With Special Guest Kaia Arrow @TheWillowsWork. There are two circular message icons: a photo of Kaia, a young Asian woman smiling gently towards the camera; and a graphic orange with the text NDC #NewDemoChat overlaid on top of it.

This Wednesday May 26th, I’ll be joining @NewDemoChat on Twitter to talk about Intersectional Healthcare! We’ll be discussing systemic barriers to accessing care, discrimination and bias, communication, and more- all my favourite topics.

Come join the discussion from 7-8pm EST by following @NewDemoChat and @TheWillowsWork on Twitter, and tagging your tweets with #NewDemoChat!

NewDemoChat is a grassroots collective of NDP folks, but everyone is welcome to join in on the conversation regardless of political affiliation or involvement. Wednesday chats feature conversations on under-served communities with an equity seeking and intersectional lens.

This degree was a fight- and I’m still not sure it was worth it

A graduation photo with text over a backdrop of green grass, with a digital frame. Kaia smiles directly into the camera, with this text overlaid on top, WE DON’T WANT TO GRADUATE STUDENTS LIKE YOU. Kaia wears a navy blue graduation gown and gold-fringed hood, with a bouquet of red flowers.

I wanted and deserve this degree. #SocialWork needs sick & disabled and racialized workers, but we’re most likely to drop out of programs that are overwhelmingly white and shockingly ableist. It took me eight long years to finish this degree, and it took a toll on me- as did 10 years of being undiagnosed.

For the first five years, I pushed my body beyond its limits with the aid of (legal) stimulants and pressure driven by wellness culture. Even after that, when I had accepted my illness and my health started to stabilize as a result, I knew my determination to finish was eating at my remaining functioning.

It was obvious that my body was strained during the school year, and even more obvious that spending my “free time” self-advocating for accommodations and consulting with human rights lawyers was not restful. But without that effort, I would not have been able to finish. Not only have I finished a Bachelor of Social Work, I’ve gotten a crash course in disability policies, human rights law, community care, decolonization, and the medical industrial complex. It was an enormous burden.

I was told they didn’t want to graduate “students like me” because remote learning wouldn’t be enough, that I shouldn’t have enrolled if I knew I needed accommodations. The same accommodations that became available nationwide within a week only a few years later.

I’m still considering why finishing was so important to me. There’s the obvious- completing a professional degree gives me more job opportunities. But it’s also possible that if I hadn’t finished, I’d be more able to work. That if I hadn’t spent these years bending my body to the rigidity of schooling, I’d have more to give at the end of it.

University education is a privilege, and it’s not right for everyone

A photo with white text, “University education is a privilege, and it’s not right for everyone.” Kaia is a young Asian woman, smiling while leaning on her cane. She wears a black mortarboard, a grey t-shirt, and a purple and gold saya- a traditional Filipino skirt.

I’m going to make an assumption, which is that some of you saw this grad photo and thought, “If she can do it while sick & disabled, I should be able to too.” I do the same thing with other people in our community, and I’m still working on unlearning that reflex to compare and put myself down in the process. 

Here’s what you don’t know:

• I am chatty and not very shy, and that contributed to building a strong supportive community among both faculty and friends who actively advocated for me with the administration (this is the big one!) 
• I live in an area where I can access free disability-specific legal advice without which I wouldn’t have gotten accommodations
• My parents, government grants, disability benefits, and scholarships covered my tuition, medical bills, and living expenses (this is also big!) 
• My partner has been cooking meals for both of us for 2 years, so I did not have to do food prep to eat
• Toronto has 3 universities, I was well aware that if I didn’t get accommodations I could transfer to a program without a placement component 
• I often have mental energy when I lack physical energy
• Honestly, school suits me. I don’t love-love it, but I really do have endless curiosity and I enjoy writing. 

I can’t quantify how sick I am so we can compare, and though quantifying can be useful I don’t think it is in this case. There are so many other factors- like how my illness manifests, and what supports I have that mitigate those effects. 

So no, you “should” not be able to finish a degree just because I did. You don’t have to want that for yourself if you don’t.

I have a Bachelor of Social Work!

An animated photo with white text, “I’m a BACHELOR OF SOCIAL WORK!” The photo shows Kaia, a 30 year old Pinay woman kneeling and holding up a mortarboard. She is wearing a grey t-shirt that says Disability Justice is Love tied up at the waist, and a purple saya- a traditional skirt from the Philippines. She leans on a cane. White animated fireworks pop over the photo.

It almost doesn’t feel real. I’ve been “studying social work” for eight years now, though I first entered the field 13 years ago as an eager teenager and not much experience.

At the moment, I feel relief. I’d like to get to know my body without the constraint strain of school. I also feel a sense of spiteful glee- for every friend who believed I would find a way to finish, there were several people who did not, and quite a few who worked against it. Most of all, I’m proud of myself and grateful for my communities.

It has been a very long and bumpy journey. I started at 22, doing night school courses before I was even accepted so I could keep my course load lower. My health took a nosedive after 5 years of pushing my limits- five years in which I did not identify with disability, where I was convinced that I was “temporarily embarrassed” and just needed to find the right kind of harsh discipline to become well again.

Once I recognized that I was sick and not getting better, I took better care of my health. I dropped my course load from “punishing” to “realistic”. I fought for accommodations, and it was a fight.

At the same time, I was building strong and supportive communities with faculty and friends. These communities sustained me, and their active advocacy made it possible for me to finish the program and graduate at long last. COVID changed the stakes too- suddenly the accommodations they fought so hard against were not only standardized, but excellent learning opportunities- they don’t mind us graduating now.