20060218
america is in the heart
friends and i got together for our first-ever book club meeting. our first book is "america is in the heart" by carlos bulosan.
and what can we say. truth is, only one of us had finished the book, the one eager person hadn't read it, the other didn't care at first, the married couple hadn't read it either, and i had only gone till chapter eight. i kept reading coz i realized i was still romanticizing the countryside. hehehe. i somehow can't get it into my head how hot it can be in the fields, how backbreaking farming can be, no matter how modernized it's evolved.
but i had an arsenal of articles about the seminal demi-god of filipino activists in the u.s. rereading the articles, i found a couple interesting quotes:
to the government, this is the best, most accomodating deal they can come up with that will make everyone on their side of the fence happy. to the immigrants, not one letter of that law is fair. i'm exagerrating, of course.
i'll bet mark twain was also seething when he wrote "huckleberry finn," i don't think anyone one can write about an incomprehensible injustice if they didn't understand it well enough to make fun of it. twain, i read somewhere, was a member of a group of writers and artists that opposed the u.s. buying the philippines, cuba, puerto rico and guam from spain for $20 million. not sure if he and bulosan ever met. it would have been quite a meeting.
i'm on chapter 26, out of 49. i'm actually blogging this at about 1:30 a.m. monday night, i can finish this tonight! ¶ 2/18/2006 02:43:00 PM
friends and i got together for our first-ever book club meeting. our first book is "america is in the heart" by carlos bulosan.
and what can we say. truth is, only one of us had finished the book, the one eager person hadn't read it, the other didn't care at first, the married couple hadn't read it either, and i had only gone till chapter eight. i kept reading coz i realized i was still romanticizing the countryside. hehehe. i somehow can't get it into my head how hot it can be in the fields, how backbreaking farming can be, no matter how modernized it's evolved.
but i had an arsenal of articles about the seminal demi-god of filipino activists in the u.s. rereading the articles, i found a couple interesting quotes:
In 1944, he came out with "Laughter of My Father." Reviews said the book was written in the comic spirit of Mark Twain and other humorists, but Bulosan said he was full of anger then. [ "Remembering Carlos Bulosan" by Frank Cimatu]and also:
"I want to interpret the soul of the Filipinos in this country," he told her. "What really compelled me to write was to try to understand this country, to find a place in it not only for myself but for my people." [ "Revisiting the life and legacy of pioneering Filipino writer Carlos Bulosan," The Seattle Times ]which made me realize just how misunderstood filipinos are in this country. maybe that's why no matter what version of immigration act the senators debate right now (currently, it's HR4437), it'll always come across as wrong to all immigrants no matter their ilk.
to the government, this is the best, most accomodating deal they can come up with that will make everyone on their side of the fence happy. to the immigrants, not one letter of that law is fair. i'm exagerrating, of course.
i'll bet mark twain was also seething when he wrote "huckleberry finn," i don't think anyone one can write about an incomprehensible injustice if they didn't understand it well enough to make fun of it. twain, i read somewhere, was a member of a group of writers and artists that opposed the u.s. buying the philippines, cuba, puerto rico and guam from spain for $20 million. not sure if he and bulosan ever met. it would have been quite a meeting.
i'm on chapter 26, out of 49. i'm actually blogging this at about 1:30 a.m. monday night, i can finish this tonight! ¶ 2/18/2006 02:43:00 PM
