Interested in joining the sexiest growing family on the web? Check out our open calls or email a writing sample to:

newslangteam [at] gmail [dot] com

Aurora a.k.a Rory Morales is a professional adventurer, part-time teacher, graphic designer, and freelance web developer. She is arguably at her sexiest when her eyes roll into her head because–according to her claims after she snaps out of it–she’s “imagining the code”.

She graduated in 2006 from the Ateneo de Manila where she majored in MIS and French. She is currently handling all the web work for New Slang and The Edge Media, the local arm for United Christian Broadcasters. More samples of her web work can be found here.

Jaton Zulueta was once an editor of New Slang, having managed issues no. 5, The Future and no. 8, The Workplace, as well as playing vital roles in Grade School for Yuppies and the Sound of Music Sing-Along. He now works full-time making your hair straight and smooth (this is not a joke), but his heart is in promoting literacy in depressed areas by managing the A-Ha Learning Center in Makati. He enjoys red hotdogs, all you can eat buffets, and writing to his future self. He tumbls here.

He has written about drifting away from a childhood friend, how first love makes the man, and relegating oneself to the friend zone. He has also contributed playlists about taking it to the next level, the elections, and relationship bickering.

Carl Javier is still trying to finish his MA in Creative Writing from UP, where he graduated with a degree in English Studies. He has been a fellow of the Dumaguete National Writer’s Workshop (2003), UP National Writer’s Workshop (2005), and the UP Advanced Writer’s Workshop (2009).

His first book, And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth, was published by Milflores publishing. He has another book out on Central Books entitled, The Kobayashi Maru of Love.

He has written for New Slang about “Sobriety and Its Inverse Correlation”, and an imagined future of getting around via hoverboard. He has also contributed his editing chops to Issue 9: TV Time.

Paolo Jose Cruz lives online, and googles everything. He is a cultural studies geek and an atypical Capricorn, who’s once again renegotiating his complicated professional relationship with the outsourcing industry. He’s also a quiz master for GeekFight trivia night.

Pao has written about losing his religion to the alternative nation, about Africa, Africa, and the limits of first contact via pop media, a mixtape for douchebag redemption, about the consumption of the Class Crowd, and written a descriptive guide to office politics.

Mikey Abola is a full-time technical writer for a major corporation based in the country’s premier business district. Yes, we know how sketchy that sounds. To make up for it, he continues to save the world from bad taste by playing bass for The Purplechickens and Arigato, Hato! (among others).

He has written about Eurodance having no limits, seeing his father cry, and how behind every great leader is a great douche.

He is also the contributing editor for Issue no. 3: Douchebags.

When Nice Buenaventura is not taking care of her Grac, she makes art (her most recent collection, Adventures in Paper, was exhibited at Heima and Starbucks 6750), spins indie pop, and writes for various magazines.

Her work can be found here.

She has appeared in these pages with essays about being a mother, her experiences teaching grade school English, and a story about reconnecting with the love of her life.

Oward Bodie is an animal rights activist and a nomad passing through Manila. He has contributed mixtapes about bittersweet years and disco prayers, and about Detroit and the future of techno. He has also written about his experiences with the people he’s met in his endless treks across the globe.

He believes that Veganism, Pot, & Electronic Dance Music are all proof that God loves us. Feel free to ask him anything here.

After risking her dignity through a few unfortunate drunk texts, the soundtrack for which can be found here, Kathy Gener has hopefully learned to control her alcohol intake.

She is the manager for Ang Bandang Shirley, a rabid indie rock fan, and one of the two minds behind Attraction! Reaction productions.

Yagi Olaguera is the lead singer of the testosterone laden heavy metal act, Cog, one of the few bands that can simply walk into Mordor.

When he is not moonlighting as a contributor for New Slang or as a ghost writer for women’s fashion magazines, he is guiding foreign students through the many nuances and intricacies of English as a second language by day and editing an international men’s magazine by night.

He has written about the awkwardness of not sharing a love interest’s taste in music, the consequences of physical violence in a romantic relationship, being at war with the Friend Zone, and made a mixtape for those times when you need to fight.

David Loughran—always funny and occasionally poignant—may carry his carefree attitude like a gunslinger, but is really a softie on the inside.

On most days, David daydreams and wonders how far he can go in life doing things ‘just for kicks’. His latest attempt at finding a path to lead him out of the middle of things is his stint as Deputy Exhibition Manager for an art gallery here in Manila – a job which he really, really enjoys.

He has enlightened us on the awkwardness of the bitch vs butch coin toss in gay dating, and the future breeds of sexual ambiguity.

Regina Bautista recently abandoned a cozy corporate day job, churning out puns for an ad agency, to write and draw her life in comic book form. Rough drafts of ruminations on her daily existence can be found here. In case it hasn’t become dead obvious at this point, she loves comics.

In the little free time she has, she can be found baking and macking on cupcakes (usually in that order). They also happen to be delicious cupcakes.

She has given us her two cents on playing the game as well as illustrated Ria Redulla’s story of high school life spent in a back brace and Joel Darwin’s drunken soundtrack for the angry and the sad.

Miao Ramos-Olivar is a hip hop artist in hiding. These days she spends her time immersed in Nintendo DS games, playing board games with her friends, and taking her MS in Library Science.

Once upon a time, Miao worked in Malacañang at the Office of the Press Secretary, and writes for The Philippine Online Chronicles and various other publications in her free time. She also maintains a blog consisting of playlists, illustrations, video game and comic book reviews, and the occasional actual life update.

She has written about awkward encounters with high school friends, and her love affair with Hip-Hop.

Ria Redulla is a hyperactive, curly-haired Cebuana with a bottomless pit for a stomach. A typical island girl, she is determined to live by the beach someday. This dream came true recently, as Ria now works in Boracay.

She believes in God, love, and saving the environment. Her current affairs include wandering around in her VW bug and hosting a music show on a local TV channel in Cebu.

She has written about road rage, her awkward years spent in a back brace, and her mother’s battle with Cebu’s legal system.

Cat Juan was the beauty editor of Metro magazine for two years. During that time she told women that whitening products were evil and sunblock was more valuable than fairy dust.

She currently lives in Sydney, works as a teacher, and wouldn’t want to be anybody else. She tumbls here.

She appeared in these pages with a story about achieving a flawless exterior.

Irene Sarmiento is an Occupational Therapist, an award-winning fictionist, and a children’s book author. Her first book, Spinning, a story about a boy with autism, was published by Anvil.

She is currently the main curator and archivist behind The Open Time Capsule: Things We Want Our Children to Have, stories and artwork encapsulating 2010 for the children of the year 2020.

She has written for New Slang about hypothetically speed dating the Presidentiables, followed by a marriage proposal to the winner of that last race.

Meiya Mie (pseudonym) is a pop culture critic and preschool teacher. She is also a coffee-cup consultant for young adult relationships, and solemnly swears to be just as sensible with herself in the next relationship, whenever that is. Meiya is a contributing writer to several publications, in print and online.

She has used these pages to exorcise her addiction to douchebags.

Celie Kitty (another pseudonym) is a man. He is fond of many things, most of all his friend M. You can contact Celie at celiekittymomma [at] gmail [dot] com.

He has contributed a narrative strategy guide to getting rid of the douchebag addiction.

Carina Santos has recently joined the ranks of the unemployed. She spends her time looking for odd jobs, quoting Harry Potter and watching television. This is where she spends most of her time.

It should also be noted that, if she is completely honest, she never really quite got over Jordan Catalano, as evidenced in her piece about stealth douchebags, a playlist about the possibilities of us everywhere, and the awkwardness of steering a potential relationship into a minefield of jokes.

Tatin Yang is a full-time makeup artist and sometimes has enough words to form sentences to form paragraphs to form material for some publications.

You can find her in the company of her favorite gadgets and her non-douchey, super cute pups.

She has written about the female equivalents of douchebags, here.

Melanie Lee spends a large part of her time writing sensibly for sensible income. This is not one of those days.

She is not from Manila but try not to hold that against her.

She has written about how The Sound of Music changed her perspective on life and her inner conflicts with talking about her day job. You can find more of her non-sensible, slightly mopey ramblings here.

Erin Sinogba is a full-time professional do-gooder, part-time online volunteer-er, and one-time wannabe singer. She geeks out over anthropology, development issues, music, and anything related to third culture kids. Her favorite weird talent is being able to name when pop music singles were released.

She has written about Third Culture Kids in New Slang’s issue on Roots. She sometimes shares her long-winded thoughts here and helps people figure themselves out here.

Maria Lorena Cleto is currently finishing her MA in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Philippines Diliman, where she also works as a researcher. She is now in the field writing her Master’s thesis on waste management practices in Benguet province in the Cordillera.

Her spare hours are typically spent at the gym, outdoors doing outdoorsy things like running trails and climbing mountains in inclement weather, or at home with a pile of Korean dramas by her side.

She has contributed an album and songbook of her memories of Macliing Dulag and growing up in the Cordilleras.

Marguerite Alcazaren de Leon is still a copywriter for a hospital. Her short fiction has seen print in various publications, from FHM to the Philippines Free Press.

She lets off steam at http://hustleroseprose.wordpress.com, and was a 50’s housewife in her past life. She has written in these pages letters to her future spawn and to the toxic Manong Guard at her place of work.

Miguel Sevilla is a writer and director shuttling back and forth between Hong Kong and Manila.

He shares the same dark-tinted view of tomorrow along with the rest of the world but keeps his fingers crossed in secret. He also expects the worst of the future but hopes to be sorely disappointed. He has written about these feelings here.

Bong Sta. Maria is an ex-full-time news writer, ex-preschool teacher, ex-churchgoer, and ex-Valium fan. She posts photographs here. She’s currently working on issue # 3 of her zine called “Soup.” She will be a milkmaid someday.

Before her days of pulling udders, she wrote us a lovely piece about fights that never happened.

Chiara Cui is a freelance writer and graphic designer who in her free time, which is, who are we kidding, all the time, likes designing packaging for made-up products, eating copious amounts of cilantro and avocado, and making food for her friends. She is currently working on a zine called “Idiosyncratic Routine,” which she will hopefully finish in a few months.

She has written about the damage caused by harsh words for New Slang’s issue on fighting, and about accidental TV discoveries and her love for LOST.

Melay La Pena is an accidental journalist, who is this close to finishing her MA in Creative Writing from UP.

She gets distracted by parallel universes, and looks almost okay in photos edited by people who think normal photos don’t do justice to how they see her. She likes run-on sentences and gets cold a bit too easily.

She has spilled her feelings about non-relationships and needing to be validated by labels and about this whole parenting thing.

Migs Marfori is 25 years old, and spends most of his days as a copywriter at an ad agency. Like your typical agency creative, he collects toys and comics, and watches too many movies and TV shows. He believes in true love, coffee, beer, and the Force.

He has rambled about his experiences as a former fighter here, and pared intimacy down to six words here.

Pol Doble is a professional stage manager for live events, but he is defined more by his likes than by his job or the things he has done. He likes good music regardless of genre. He likes altruistic hedonism. He likes long conversations over beer. He lives in Los Angeles but his heart belongs to Metro Manila.

His contributions to these pages area eulogy for its editor and his ruminations on the infinite, as prompted by a Craigslist ad.

When he is not busy being mildly pretentious, Cholo Mercado is busy being fairly uncomplicated. This involves finishing a degree in literature at DLSU-M, reading, writing, playing video games, and general debauchery. At the moment, he is working on a thesis about ethical subject positioning in contemporary video games, which he enjoys tremendously.

Aside from having contributed essays on the cruel theatrics of gay crushes, and pretending to know it all by watching copious amounts of TV, and a catalog of various friendships formed in high school; his life, thus far, has not been very interesting or eventful.

Michi Ancheta is still (and will always be) a dork. And is sorry this statement does not come with a link that will redirect you to anywhere cool.

Her contribution to these pages is the story of an awkward first date.

Redrum is a full-time marketing copywriter and a freelance features writer who has yet to overcome the fear of attaching her real name to her non-work-related essays, a good example of which can be found here. She enjoys long trips out of town and even longer trips inside her head.

Bobbie Sta. Maria works for a sexy, pretty Quezon City based NGO called Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (SALIGAN), a job she has written about in these pages. She wishes people would stop thinking of her work as a hobby. She tumbls here.

Joel Darwin is an English teacher who seeks to neutralize your accent and to arm you with skills to take over the next world order. When not clapping in delight over Glenn Beck losing his eyesight and budding designers crying in Project Runway, he is preparing for his audition tape for the reality show Top Shot.

He can often be found downing beers at the nearest pub and he has mapped out a soundtrack to accompany those unfortunate nights you end up sobbing and wanting to throw a chair through a window.

Tara Cabullo is currently undergoing quarter life crisis, a crisis, according to her mother, has been happening since she was five. She is often mistaken for a Tagalog-speaking Koreana and has been told she’s the queen of all quirks. Most of the time, she advocates beauty and love for oneself here and brain vomits here.

She has written about finding love in the time of facebook.

Mika Santos is a typical middle class Filipino citizen who grew up in Metro Manila yet longs to one day move to the province.

A former National Team athlete turned cheap travel junkie, and an absolute nature and outdoors lover. An extrovert and/or introvert depending on her mood, where she is, and who she’s with. Today you’ll find her either out salsa dancing or in the water struggling to catch a wave on her surfboard. And she LOVES to travel–in and outside of herself, around the country, and one day the world.

Her contribution to these pages is about finding meaning in the pursuit of happiness for New Slang’s Workplace Issue.

Bea Davila is a Politics graduate but is currently the writer for an art gallery. She hopes to be a diplomat one day.

Her contribution to these pages is a look back on the television shows of her youth.

Neobie Gonzalez is prone to disappearing acts, possibly due to her ongoing search for wormholes. However, she usually resurfaces to fulfill FeaturedFeatures duties, if she isn’t busy building her metaphysical igloo.

Though she is still stuck floating around an office, she manages to write fragments of fiction that others might someday see. Her contribution to these pages on her life as a celebrity skinning corporate zombie (unfortunately) is not fictional.

Lukas Velunta writes when he can and teaches English in UP Diliman when he must. Unless, of course, the communicator on his wrist beeps that familiar tune, upon which he teleports away in a flash of green light. He figures Zordon will let him retire in a couple of years.

If you do not understand these references, it’s because you have yet to taste the rainbow.

Liz Loungbourn (obviously a pseudonym) once had a panda-face from staying up to watch those goshdarned World Cup matches.

She still insists that it was not from having her heart buttsexed by a boy who wanted her to wear a burkini.

Hanna Krishna S. Callora gets by as a freelance writer, who dreams of coconuts and watches movies in her head-world. She loves cake, music, movies, books, random trivia, new notebooks, thrift stores, coloring books, Post-its, and silly rabbits.

She also enjoys telling stories through playlists which can be found here and here.

Francesca Ayala has worked as a freelance writer since 2003. Her column for the Philippine Star won her a Lifestyle Journalism award in 2006. She interned with Agence France-Presse’s Hong Kong bureau and wrote several features and wire stories which were published internationally. It is her dream to work as a foreign correspondent. She speaks English and Filipino fluently and can pronounce the names of Italian dishes perfectly when she orders at a restaurant.

For New Slang’s Intimacy issue, she unearthed the heartache that accompanies disappearing from the one you love.

Feanne is an artist who believes in humanity, and a human being who believes in art. And above all, she believes in love. At twenty-two she has big dreams, awesome family, friends, and boyfriend, three fluffy cats, and too many websites:
Portfolio, Official Facebook page, Art blog, Healthy happy living blog

Julianne Pascual is a soon-to-be senior at UP Diliman. She’s usually preoccupied studying the psychology of life.

When she’s not overanalyzing details about humanity, she can be found munching on whatever’s edible in her refrigerator.

Karla Bernardo is a nineteen-year-old college junior from Manila who gets through the hard life at UP Diliman with a pen in hand, and an ice cream cone in the other.

She loves breakfast food, Jane Austen, bookstores and doodling on the backs of her notebooks. Her iPod’s name is Portia. She tends to fall in love with fictional characters, making it no wonder that she’s taking up her BA in Creative Writing.
She can also curse in Italian.

Andrew Seely works in new media, creating videos for the internet. He hates writing bios for himself. He can most often be found on twitter: @andrewseely. When not playing video games and tinkering with the latest tech, he can be found in the kitchen making some amazing homemade pretzels. Check out his blog at www.andrewseely.com

He contributed a list of things that should have gone differently in 2010.

Ala Paredes was born in a town in California, USA, and since her first days of life, has never returned to her birthplace. Showing that she is destined to always leave her origins behind, she migrated from her hometown of Manila to Sydney, Australia and celebrates her 5th Migration Anniversary this year. She is still deciding where she wants to live next.

Adi Lopez is a video production accounts manager She has written in these pages about her adventures in this profession.

Gwen Foster likes to make lists of things to try. She’s currently taking gig pictures and reading books while Tweeting too much. Her bucket list includes seeing the penguins of Antarctica and touching the nose of a shark.

Erin Emocling is underweight, has myopia, and claims that Marla Singer is her alter-ego. She brews photographs, inoculates proems, and devours books & films in between. She is in love and she dwells in a place where strangers are welcome to like or loathe her musings.She presently works with Lomography’s international web team. She runs her own collective analogue photo project called Whilst We Wait.

Betti Roc is a fresh English Literature graduate, with skills and talents that cannot be placed in a resume. She enjoys watching an inordinate amount of TV shows, lurking around the Internet, and complicating her shelf-space problems by buying more and more books. Given the opportunity, she would love to write for a living.

Further discussions on these grievances can be found here.

Glenn Tuazon is a law student, former debater, part-time copywriter, part-time bassist, and full-time dreamer.
He’s a self-professed Beatlemaniac and Brit-pop fan, and is in constant search for the perfect indie dance song.

His contribution to these pages is the perfect playlist on hate.

Paige Occeñola goes to UP Diliman, where she is taking up Clothing Technology because she likes clothes (most of the time). On good days, she’s probably reading something or using Jedi mind tricks on people.

When she’s not busy playing mommy to a baby red-eared slider, she spends most of her time running around in heels and finding ways to improve her grammar. She prattles here and some more on Tumblr.

Her contribution to these pages is a personalized answer to Betti Roc’s question.

Niña Cayaban is not an asshole. Apparently she had trouble writing this piece because, like Anne Frank, she genuinely believes in the goodness of people. We are not sure if she still feels the same since completing this assignment, but she persists in her awesomeness which you can find documented day-by-epic-day here: http://epicyearproject.com

She lives in New York with her blue guitar and has a degree in polishing turds (aka graphics) from Parsons: The New School for Design, of which we are legitimately jealous.

Edu Ibazeta plays “physical emotions” for the “stupidest, most excellent band in the world”, Halik ni Gringo.

Aside from working part-time as a host on Cge TV, his days are devoted to bear wrestling and bare wrestling. He is on call 24/7 to punch a hole in the universe whenever you need him to. The shocking details of his exciting life are painstakingly documented here.

Despite being a hunk of burning love, he has never dated any of these aforementioned skanky whores.

Regina Layug-Rosero has been writing for as long as she’s lived and breathed, both for money and for all that emo self-expression crap. Half the time she ends up writing about being a biker scout in the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers (501st.org and pinoy501st.com). The rest of the time she writes about her seven cats, life with her stormtrooper husband, population and development, books, and food. She helps run NewWorlds.ph and MulatPinoy.ph.

Her premiere contribution to New Slang was a digression on why following rules and being nice are good ideas.

Illustrators

If you’re interested in contributing a cover for an upcoming issue, or if you need words to go with your pictures, hit us up at the same address. Look for Marla!

William Conrad Javier is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, runs a glicee printing service, helps out in his family’s printing press, makes and sells sketchbooks, and apprentices under artist Jason Moss. He barely leaves the house and hates the sun. On the nights he goes out, he sings for punk rock band Boy Elroy and plays guitar and bass for a variety of other bands.

Please stop calling him Hiro Nakamura, Heroes isn’t even popular anymore and he’s not as fat.

He drew for the second part of New Slang’s Illustrated Guide to Douchebags, as well as the covers for Issue no 5: The Best is Yet to Come and Issue no. 6: Fight, Fight! FIGHT!!!.

Frances aka Franny Alvarez runs an illustration blog called No Bees, No Honey which you can find over here. She did the covers for Issue no. 7: Now that we are Alone… and Issue no 10: Book of Friends.

The cover for Vol. 2, Issue no. 2 was done by Anastasia Regina Layhnn from Jakarta, Indonesia. While she harbors pipe dreams of leaving that place, she’s pretty sure she’ll just end up in a glass case with a sign saying: “HERE’S THE DUMBEST BROAD WHO EVER LIVED–SHE SHOULD HAVE LEFT JAKARTA A LONG TIME AGO AND WAS TOO SLOW TO GO”.
More of her work can be found here.

An Estrada works with the family’s real estate company six, sometimes seven days a week. During her free time, she photographs interesting people. She always takes pics on film because she likes surprises and anticipation. She doesn’t believe in favorite colors, only color combinations.

She has contributed a gallery of her own takes on election campaign materials. She also runs a travel blog and photography service with her twin sister, which you can find over here.

Peter Raphael Mutuc gets by as a freelance illustrator who also reviews video games for Playground magazine. Easily amused, he enjoys comics, rhum, Batman, suspenders, rhum, and the company of strangers.

He drew the first part of New Slang’s Illustrated Guide to Douchebags.

Bunny Luz illustrated our feature on “Workplace Wushu for Beginners”. A Bunny of all trades and a master of none, so long as she stays within the realm of books, she is one happy camper. A spin doctor by day and an artist by night, Bunny is also known for geek debates, intense wanderlust and a sad but justified addiction to coffee and donuts. More of her art here.