Bastille's Story: From the Frontlines to Midlife - Is 50 Harder Than War?

Filipino writer Marga Ortigas brought her new book, WTF?! Woman Turning Fifty, to the 2026 Hong Kong International Literary Festival (HKILF), where she engaged readers in a dialogue about growth, aging, and life. A former war correspondent, Marga, shared her feelings and experiences over the years on the battlefield in an interview with Bastille Post. In her eyes, many of our life's trivial annoyances are, in fact, enviable privileges to those trapped in the crossfire of war.

Marga Ortigas, Photo by Bastille Post

Amidst Disasters, Living is a Blessing

As a former reporter for CNN and Al Jazeera, Marga has covered numerous natural disasters and war zones, where the situation constantly shifts, and no one can predict what comes next. A school standing today can be reduced to rubble overnight by shelling. In the face of such relentless calamities, simply being alive becomes the greatest blessing. "That kind of environment makes you realize how insignificant we are," she reflected. "We're like tiny grains of sand on a shore, easily swept away by the waves." In that light, she added, all those worries and anxieties about gains and losses suddenly seem so trivial.

Marga reported the Zamboanga crisis in the Philippines in 2013. Photo source: Marga Ortigas's personal website

Marga reported the devastation caused by Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines in 2012. Photo source: Marga Ortigas's personal website

Marga loved words and stories from a young age. With her mother working as a literature teacher, their home was always filled with books of different genres and themes. Surrounded by stories, Marga grew up with a yearning: to build a fantasy world with words. As a child, she would capture story ideas on a tape recorder or in a notebook, and "grab" family members to be her captive audience. With a passion for storytelling, she became a journalist as she grew up.

Marga interviewed a massacre survivor on Corregidor Island in 2009. Photo source: Marga Ortigas's personal website

Marga reported the hit of Typhoon Parma in the Philippines in 2009. Photo source: Marga Ortigas's personal website

Her years reporting from war zones taught her a lasting lesson: face life with detachment and peace, for no problem is truly insurmountable. That wisdom now infuses her new book, WTF?! Woman Turning Fifty—a collection of essays drawn from daily observations and reflections, offering readers an invitation to embrace life's uncertainties with grace.

Group Therapy: Building Resonance in Words

50 is a turning point in life, marking the beginning of the second half, no longer youth. In WTF?! Woman Turning Fifty, she reflected on the questions that come with middle age: what it means to age, to mature, to lose, etc., turning the book into a collection of essays she hopes will resonate far beyond any single demographic.

Marga Ortigas's new book, "WTF?! Woman Turning Fifty", Photo source: Amara Communications

"It's not a feminist book," she said. "It's for people who are questioning their positions in the world and where they want to be next, or indeed how they got to where they are." The book's topics are everyday experiences we all encounter at different stages: from social media to LinkedIn, from the way we use language to the age crisis, etc. By weaving in diverse social factors, Marga creates a portrait of life that is both personal and universal.

Marga hopes to use her own life experiences, packaged in words, as a key to healing for readers, letting them know that we are just like each other, and that we would never be alone in facing life's challenges. Such an emotional resonance built through words is what Marga calls "group therapy"—a way for everyone to see themselves reflected in the words and draw motivation from the stories of others.

Moreover, Marga mentioned she hoped we could focus more on our own personal experiences and feelings, both in daily life and in story writing, rather than indulging in virtual content on our phones or social media.

Marga Ortigas, Photo source: Marga Ortigas's personal website

"Be present and be you." In Marga's view, writing down the daily shining moments of our own life is indeed creating a good story with narrative value. The first step on any creative journey, she believes, is simple but essential: write from the heart, and stay true to ourselves.

Three family members assaulted a journalist who writes for a conservative organization during a protest against immigration enforcement operations in Minnesota, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.

Christopher and DeYanna Ostroushko and their daughter, Paige, were each charged by a federal grand jury with one count of assault. The indictment additionally charges Christopher and Paige each with one count of interfering with a federally protected activity.

Christopher Ostroushko also faces state charges of misdemeanor assault, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

Attorneys for the Ostroushkos said they will mount a strong defense, emphasizing that an indictment doesn't mean the family has been convicted of any crime.

Community members have continued to protest in opposition to immigration enforcement efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration in the weeks since federal officers’ presence in the Twin Cities was dramatically scaled back. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has used the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling as a short-term holding facility, and the area out front has become a hub of anti-ICE activity.

Widely shared video taken by Turning Point USA contributor Savanah Hernandez outside the Whipple building on April 11 begins with Paige blowing a whistle close to Hernandez’s face. Video from other vantage points shows Hernandez with her hand protecting her face, sometimes pushing back against Paige. The two then tussle.

Hernandez says, “Get away from me.”

Paige pushes Hernandez, who falls back against a fence.

In the moments after, DeYanna and Christopher separately confront Hernandez, as does Paige again.

Christopher Ostroushko “forcefully shoved the victim in the back, head first to the ground," the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in its statement. It also said there was insufficient evidence to bring state charges against the others involved.

Throughout, others on the scene tried to de-escalate and separate them.

After the April 11 incident, Hernandez said her glasses were broken, she was concussed with a sore neck and back, and her legs were scraped, according to posts on the social platform X. She wrote that she was talking with police about pressing charges.

James Cook, an attorney representing the family, said the videos that have circulated don’t show everything, and he believes the family will be able to provide a “vigorous defense.”

“We think that there's a lot of things in the videos that provide a means to exonerate," he said.

The family was regular protesters at the Whipple building to provide “a voice and a demonstration against Metro Surge," Cook said. He added the Ostroushkos have since been threatened online, and DeYanna and Christopher have both lost their jobs.

“They wish they could turn back the clock,” Cook said. “They wish that things didn’t turn out how they did.”

The Ostroushkos were summoned to appear before a federal judge on May 12.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Wednesday that the Department of Justice will always “punish unhinged acts of political violence.”

“Hernandez was allegedly surrounded, physically assaulted, and shoved to the ground — simply because she was identified by the defendants as a conservative journalist,” Blanche said. “That is NOT ‘peaceful protest.’”

Hernandez said in a post that she was “incredibly grateful to see our justice system at work.” Hernandez did not immediately reply to a request for comment via email or direct message.

FILE - Protesters gather outside the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building, Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Tom Baker, File)