Kuya Cassette

I never called my brother “Kuya,” the Tagalog honorific for “older brother.” Despite seeing each other every day and crossing each other's paths in our tiny house, we have an estranged relationship. We never bonded as children and rarely speak a word to each other to this day. Although he is now 22, he still uses my parent's Apple ID. As I scrolled through my parents' music catalog, I noticed various albums and musicians I loved. There’s no way my Catholic parents enjoyed Slayer or Black Sabbath so I knew they were from my brother. Music is a way for us to vicariously bond. I drew a cassette tape with our names labeled. The tape tangles out of the cassette, but hidden in the mess is the word “Kuya.” In tribute to him, I added pictures of us when we were kids. Though we never had a proper sibling relationship, we connect through our love of loud, headbanging, heavy metal music