“Churva” was first introduced to my vocabulary by a bunch of gay college friends from the University of the Philippines in Diliman.  At that time, i was taking several subjects for my masters in economics and was dabbling still with campus politics.  I was fortunate to be part of a political party/alliance which had at that time as a member Babaylan, the first ever gay and lesbian organization in campus.  Being exposed almost daily to openly gay individuals had its profound effects on the awareness and acceptance of everyone regarding gender preferences, gender equality…  It became most evident when everyone, including hardy frat boys, began talking in swardspeak – gay lingo.

Among the first words everyone learned and used regularly was “churva”, derived from chuva, chuvs, chen-chen, chenelyn, jennylyn, (and many other variations).  The word refers to a persons view, perspective, thoughts and ideas.  The word is neutral to any kind of judgement. What you have to say is neither judged as good nor bad, it simply one person’s outlook. And everyone’s churva was welcomed.

The most accurate translation of the term I can think of is — one’s story to tell.  The word, however, has an implied connotation of truthfulness and honesty although embellishments for dramatic purposes are allowed.  Churvas cannot be based on lies or else you will be labelled as hanna, hanna barbera or hanna montana which means the stories you tell are fiction or without basis.

This obviously is the reason for the title of my blog.  My stories, my views, my thoughts, my words, my churvaness.