Noel Alumit's guest appearances

Noel Alumit

Skylight Books Podcast Series

The Death Dhamma Podcast

Chris Ryan

Sean Fennessey

Jason Concepcion

Shea Serrano

Mallory Rubin

Chuck Klosterman

Margaret Meloni

Benjamin Franklin

Jon Hamm

Kate Schatz

Miriam Klein Stahl

Michelle Tea

Matt Bell

Sarah Ruhl

Amy Stewart

OwlTail

Before COVID there was AIDS. And Noel Alumit learned about life, and death, and grief while working as a volunteer in an AIDS hospice. He was only 22 or 23-years-old.  Now it is years later, and some things have changed, and some things remain the same. We cannot touch one another, we are afraid to be around one another. In the 1990s, Noel and his co-volunteers handed out safe-sex kits. Now we hand out masks. Death was difficult then, and it is difficult now.  And still, there is love and laughter and hope. And there are multiple ways that a person, Buddhist or otherwise can navigate grief. Listening to Noel you will benefit from his warmth, wisdom and compassion.

Before COVID there was AIDS. And Noel Alumit learned about life, and death, and grief while working as a volunteer in an AIDS hospice. He was only 22 or 23-years-old.  Now it is years later, and some things have changed, and some things remain the same. We cannot touch one another, we are afraid to be around one another. In the 1990s, Noel and his co-volunteers handed out safe-sex kits. Now we hand out masks. Death was difficult then, and it is difficult now.  And still, there is love and laughter and hope. And there are multiple ways that a person, Buddhist or otherwise can navigate grief. Listening to Noel you will benefit from his warmth, wisdom and compassion.

Noel Alumit: On the Pandemic Path from AIDS to COVID and In-between

Grace Talusan

Born in the Philippines, young Grace Talusan moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she confronts racism as one of the few kids with a brown face. At home, the confusion is worse: her grandfather's nightly visits to her room leave her hurt and terrified, and she learns to build a protective wall of silence that maps onto the larger silence practiced by her Catholic Filipino family. Talusan learns as a teenager that her family's legal status in the country has always hung by a thread--for a time, they were "illegal." Family, she's told, must be put first. The abuse and trauma Talusan suffers as a child affects all her relationships, her mental health, and her relationship with her own body. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. And she discovers another devastating family thread: cancer. In her thirties, Talusan must decide whether to undergo preventive surgeries to remove her breasts and ovaries. Despite all this, she finds love, and success as a teacher. On a fellowship, Talusan and her husband return to the Philippines, where she revisits her family's ancestral home and tries to reclaim a lost piece of herself. Not every family legacy is destructive. From her parents, Talusan has learned to tell stories in order to continue. The generosity of spirit and literary acuity of this debut memoir are a testament to her determination and resilience. In excavating such abuse and trauma, and supplementing her story with government documents, medical records, and family photos, Talusan gives voice to unspeakable experience, and shines a light of hope into the darkness. Talusan is in conversation with Noel Alumit, author of novels Letters to Montgomery Clift and Talking to the Moon.

Born in the Philippines, young Grace Talusan moves with her family to a New England suburb in the 1970s. At school, she confronts racism as one of the few kids with a brown face. At home, the confusion is worse: her grandfather's nightly visits to her room leave her hurt and terrified, and she learns to build a protective wall of silence that maps onto the larger silence practiced by her Catholic Filipino family. Talusan learns as a teenager that her family's legal status in the country has always hung by a thread--for a time, they were "illegal." Family, she's told, must be put first. The abuse and trauma Talusan suffers as a child affects all her relationships, her mental health, and her relationship with her own body. Later, she learns that her family history is threaded with violence and abuse. And she discovers another devastating family thread: cancer. In her thirties, Talusan must decide whether to undergo preventive surgeries to remove her breasts and ovaries. Despite all this, she finds love, and success as a teacher. On a fellowship, Talusan and her husband return to the Philippines, where she revisits her family's ancestral home and tries to reclaim a lost piece of herself. Not every family legacy is destructive. From her parents, Talusan has learned to tell stories in order to continue. The generosity of spirit and literary acuity of this debut memoir are a testament to her determination and resilience. In excavating such abuse and trauma, and supplementing her story with government documents, medical records, and family photos, Talusan gives voice to unspeakable experience, and shines a light of hope into the darkness. Talusan is in conversation with Noel Alumit, author of novels Letters to Montgomery Clift and Talking to the Moon.

Grace Talusan, "THE BODY PAPERS" w/ Noel Alumit