A BLOG also lends itself well to fiction and other literary pieces. An interesting example of this is Shiksa from Manila, a series of stories from Brooklyn-based Filipina writer Sophia Romero about a fictional character/online persona named Amapola Gold.

Romero is the author of “Always Hiding,” a 1998 novel whose main character Viola is the daughter of a wealthy Manila socialite who has fled the Marcos regime to live as an illegal immigrant in New York City. Viola’s father, a government official, decides to send Viola to live with her mother in New York to escape the political turmoil, unaware that his daughter plans to bring her mother back to the Philippines.

I haven’t read the book, but the description of Romero’s first novel has certainly piqued my curiosity. For now, I’m glad I’ve stumbled upon the fascinating stories on her blog. By the way, as her blog explains, a “shiksa” is a “term used to describe a woman who is non-Jewish. Usually meant in a pejorative way.”

Here’s an excerpt from the latest story on Shiksa from Manila:

My name is Amapola and I am the shiksa from Manila…

A hyphen is a small bar that looks like a minus sign. The dictionary further describes the hyphen as a punctuation mark used to divide or connect two words; to describe a person who performs more than one function; to describe a unit of mixed or diverse backgrounds.

To me the hyphen is all that. For something no bigger than a period, it means so much more. It describes the life I lead: a life that straddles two worlds, the tight rope that connects me to both, maintaining the delicate balancing act between the life I had before and the life I have now.

Romero also has a blog on the Parents’ Blog Network of NY Metro Parents Magazine called Mom After-Hours.