munting tinig

i had mentioned that friends and i have started a book club. our first meeting was just this last saturday, feb. 18. six people talked for six straight hours, from 6:30 p.m. till almost 1 a.m. if you're talking about "america is in the heart," then you have reason to talk for six hours straight. and it was our first meeting. (and it was at anna and nina's beautiful 45th floor riverfront apartment, two blocks from the house of blues... ok nevermind.)

there were several other book clubs in the past, but what we liked about this club was that we all already knew each other, and the ones we just met jumped in and participated.

what we didn't anticipate(1) is just how widespread the news would become regarding the book club! first of, ed tumlos rules coz he broke the news first by including it in his weekly e-mails. and then "thoughts on transitions" and "mamazilla" blogged our announcements. a reporter from fil-am media outside of chicago had also somehow gotten wind of our club, and had e-mailed me about info. *thanks so much!*

... sorry, though, that it had to be the same night as battle of the bamboo @ uic(2). heehee! we didn't know. we weren't included in those e-mails. boo. ahahaha, anyways.

and then the queen of all chicago filipino organizations asked us if we could hold our club in their center.

normally, this is an organization's dream come true - a solid, stable venue so all we have to worry about next is a date and who's going to bring food. everyone, even nonfilipinos, knows where this venue is. you think chicago + filipino = this venue.

my partners and i decided we should keep it at anna's house. we'd like to keep the club independent of any affiliations. that first meeting, we already learned a lot about being filipino in the u.s. just by sharing personal experiences.

we could totally learn a lot more if there were more voices present.

i told the friend who offered the center and its vast resources to us that we'd like to discover what themes are in the pages that actually reflect our lives here. we want to assure writers that we are reading their works - not just buying their books. i'm sure they don't mind the buying part, ahaha. but if i know writers, they often prize the read part over the buy part.

and then i thought we must be really high, or on to something, if we turn down invites to assured comfort, fame and glory. ahaha.

but... yanno. we'll see. we understand what it means to band together in a society where you're considered the minority. we have yet to accomplish meeting no. 2.

the next meeting of MUNTING TINIG will be march 11, 6:30 p.m., at anna rosete's place, 345 N. LaSalle, Suite 4504, Chicago, IL 60610.

we will remain with "america is in the heart," with contributions from pintig cultural group. the theater troupe had performed carlos bulosan's autobiography some years ago, they're sure to provide valuable insights.

you are more than welcome to join our yahoogroups, or peep our blog. and we'll update that blog... soon. ahaha. if you have questions, please email me, ulanmaya@gmail.com.

thanks for reading!

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footnotes:

(1)
oOoitslesLie (9:13:36 PM): antisipated
ulanmaya (9:13:41 PM): anticipated
oOoitslesLie (9:13:45 PM): thanks!
ulanmaya (9:13:48 PM): sure!

(2)
University of Illinois at Chicago  ¶ 2/23/2006 11:47:00 PM