Colonial trauma: Grieving urban systems of harms while being crushed by societal collapse

Mayari was a female stray orange tabby cat who endured a decade of Metro Manila’s catastrophic stray crisis before succumbing to kidney failure last week.

I met her several months ago, a bag of bones with one good eye, one remaining tooth, severe chronic kidney disease and a grumpy old lady “get-off-my-lawn” personality. My household took her in and gave her safety, security, veterinary care, and the possibility of health, which she achieved after several months in spite of her…