Writing from the Context of my culture

The Influence of Words

Long ago, someone said this in defense of my work: "She is writing from the context of her culture and from her own experience."

I had gone to my first ever meeting with real writers. The woman who said those words was a professor from the University of the Philippines and she said those words in response to criticism that said my work would never be good enough for a US audience.

It's funny that I should think of those words at this time when the words that chased after m...