ulanmaya

MY CELL PHONE IS OUT!

2006-06-26T13:54:00.000-05:00

i dropped it into the water. i'm sorry. please contact me at 800 8 HOSTEL or e-mail me at ulanmaya@gmail.com or leave a message here. maraming salamat!

bunk'd

2006-06-26T13:51:00.000-05:00

i am sitting in shorts and a 5-year-old san francisco souvenir shirt whose yin and yang design has bled into the back part = my pjs. my brown rubber slippers - flip flops - were new when i bought them a couple of weeks ago, but now i can imagine what it feels like to walk barefoot in the sleepy sloping streets of this island.

nothing here opens before noon. i tried looking for a nearby place to eat sunday, but i had walked to the corner of market and main and there were only the gas stations that provide the usual sodium and sugar in cakes, chips, coffee, drinks and booze. i did find one that sold spam and rice wrapped in a strip of seaweed for $7.95 or so. (i took the one that offered a strip of fish because i had the spam the other day. mmmm.)

since arriving in hawaii i had eaten only two restaurant meals, the type that bursts your tummy and makes it hard, the type where you eat every grain of rice and every strip of sauce, but i had never been hungry. yesterday morning i went looking for food because i wanted something to keep in my cramped hostel room in case, as in chicago, my stomach announces emptiness and it is time to eat.

it's only been six (out of 15) days, but i had never yet been hungry. yay! i'm guessing the hills, streets, roads and activites have kept my body busy enough so that it feasts on body fat instead. hehehehe.

two hostel guests are giving me their frozen pizza, which might last me for a couple of days. they are leaving with the 9:40 a.m. shuttle today and had overpacked food. they live on oahu, the island of honolulu and tall buildings. i took their number because i want them to find us another local place to eat one of these days.

we met at the beach tour yesterday, little beach in makena, i think the beach is called. it is a small enough private beach where people go naked to celebrate... the sun. (you don't have to strip if you don't want to.) there is a circle of percussionists and a guitarist that pound out a relaxed rhythm that travelled across the island. a slim woman comfortable in her nakedness danced facing the surf, her crown of brown and blond swaying in the breeze.

you had to climb a sharp stoned, jagged rock jutting from the sea floor to join little beach. the rock towered three stories high, dividing the beaches and forming a natural barrier from the rest of the island. i met one of these rocks during my last visit with family to the island of guimaras - we secured a beach cove with the large rocks, leaving before the tide rolled in. i hated the kind of scraped this kind of rock gave. in little beach, the cliffs are decorated with trees, or at least their branches, that snake rooted from the cliffs into the beach. natural benches for all.

i met oahu locals ann, holly and the brit jay when holly decided she was hungry. i heard they were going to get food, and stood - no introductions because we were too busy navigating nudists, the surf, the soft brown sand with stone, wood chips and leaves, and the large, jagged rock. we had one of the longest dinners i have had the opportunity to have at fred's mexican restaurant, because the waitress misplaced our ticket. she bought a round of free drinks for us, but i thought we deserved more than just one round.

last night a man with a bloody face joined us at the corner a couple of houses from the hostel, he said someone threw him a bottle because he owed them money for drugs - ice, or crystal meth, or methamphetamine, is staple in these parts. two hours later or so, maybe because i was willing it because i had on these stupidly short shorts i bought at a local mall and one of my favorite tank tops; exposing too much skin; the cops came. they rode with two blue dots on the squad's roof. "you live in the hostel? time to go home," he said.

hawaii

2006-06-24T16:48:00.000-05:00

all is well.
panicking.
will update soon...

2006-06-20T19:49:00.000-05:00

Omigosh omigosh omigosh i'm in hawaii!!!

crunch time

2006-06-19T04:53:00.000-05:00

ambigat-bigat ng maleta ko. three weeks lang naman ako dun. sana maayos na yung laptop kong isa. natapos ko nang magpack para sa summer gimik ko this year, pero parang babaguhin ko pa. sabi ng doctor ko, superdry daw yung eyes ko. yung isa, may ngiti sa dulo ng mga mata niya. sabi niya, ok lang daw ako gumala. gusto ng mom ko, uwi ako agad. ako naman, ayaw pa. syempre, malayo yata yun. kumakain akong mint cookies and cream chocolate malt balls na kulay green speckled with brown. crunchy.

starstruck mama

2006-06-18T05:12:00.000-05:00

(yo ulanmaya),

Sorry we will be in __________ that weekend for our cd release party on June 24th at Pipeline Cafe to celebrate the release of our brand new album "__________" and to celebrate our win for the Reggae Album of the Year 2006. Those days you will be here will be our resting days (hahahaha) so we'll just be chillin. Maybe you can catch us in __________ on the 24th, if not no worrys... we'll catch you another time. Have a safe trip when you come to __________ ok. Much love always from __________!!!

__________ ,
Lukela

---
AH! AH! AH! THEY WROTE ME BACK! THEY WROTE ME BACK! SUMULAT SILA!!! ahahahaha!

blanks (__________) for added suspense.

but i am so in __________ on the 24th...

look! up in the sky!

2006-06-16T04:08:00.000-05:00

it's a bird!

it's a plane!

fighting evil and injustice in the land of lincoln!

KAPOW! WOOOF! BAM! THWAKKKK!

dredging muckrake under the silver speakers of the taxpayer-owned millennium park!

WOOSH! ZOP! BOFFF! SPLAT!

who could it be?

it's the signature spectacles! come to save the day! hooray!

---
i got new glasses and i achieved the superhero look. hehehe -

ipagpaliban sa sama at hamak

2006-06-13T23:02:00.000-05:00

last week a friend of mine was asked to recite this petition for mass. here is a photofinish translation of what she said:

ORIGINAL: for those in our military, who risk their lives, in the service of our nation, and all those affected by the war, may they be protected from evil and harm.

TRANSLATED: para sa ating militar, na nagpapaibang-bayan sa serbisyo ng bayan, at sa lahat ng biktima ng digmaan, nawa'y ipagpaliban sila sa sama at... at...

ulanmaya: ano'ng filipino ng harm?
aiko: hindi mo alam?! oh, no... (begins to look distracted)
ulanmaya: hamak kaya yun?
aiko: i don't know!
ulanmaya: hmm... hamak?
aiko: ate...
ulanmaya: sige, ito na lang yung sabihin mo. tama na yan.

TRANSLATED: para sa ating militar, na nagpapaibang-bayan sa serbisyo ng bayan, at sa lahat ng biktima ng digmaan, nawa'y ipagpaliban sila sa sama at pahamak.

ahahaha... sana tama...

happy neoindependence day!

2006-06-12T22:50:00.000-05:00

at happy anniversary kina je and d! isang taon na! gling naman. ahahahaha

welcome to manila

2006-06-11T16:59:00.000-05:00

the plane landed and seemed to bounce like five times. ahahahaha!

first time i went home, i was shocked about everything. my thought was, after only four years in the u.s., DON'T CALL ME BALIKBAYAN!!! i wasn't yet too hot, but i rounded a corner and there was this photographer who took photos of people who had just arrived. lucky me, he swerved my way and walked backwards to suffer my eyes with this HUGE flash - i haven't showered or fixed my hair in 23 hours, you freaky photog of tired people! nearing baggage claim i saw this booth and a photo of my surprised, confused, UGLY face cried in front of me!!! yuck!!!! i was sweaty, my hair was standing, my clothes wrinkled. i looked like i ate something bad. I WAS SO FAT I LOOKED LIKE A WHALE!

handlers teased me because i had written my first name all over the balikbayan box for my relatives in iloilo. i penned that name onto the box the night before without thinking. it helped me calm down that i'm returning to the homeland by myself. but now everyone in the airport knew my name!

i was apprehensive going outdoors because my name was all over the balikbayan box and i was hot and i had to watch my suitcase and box and there's NO PEOPLE at the waiting shed where relatives send off their wives abroad, and i hadn't arranged for a ride to any of my cousins' houses!!!

all i know's that they know i'm coming. and i had their number but i had no clue how to use those big silver pay phones anymore. i noticed the sun really gold but the sky kinda gray, and a festive vibe to the air. i was just getting used to the vibe when my uncle walked from my right and laughed at what i had just done:

i flew from chicago to manila on my own! yay!!!

before i can't even go to shoppersville on my own.

at the end of my trip my cousins bought me our favorite greenwich pizza - delivery! i think they wanted me to feel safe and comfortable in my now unfamiliar surroundings. at first i thought the pizza was extremely small and the crust too hard, but when i had finished my fourth slice with coke, it was time for storytelling and laughing, just like what our parents had done.

---
salamat, eugene!

sexual violence town hall meeting

2006-06-10T16:38:00.000-05:00

there was a town hall meeting saturday about an incident that three women can't talk about without crying. i can't talk about it because i'm still too shocked.

i've heard about this issue a couple months ago, but my magnificent magic memory for missing refused to work this time. it stuck in my head and i totally didn't know how to respond to what i've just heard. i wanted to ask people, but i've been taught not to ever rock the boat with unnecessary issues.

but this isn't an unnecessary issue.

i went to the meeting late because my wonderful body loves to tell me to wait, i can't move as fast as you yet. i should have asked for a ride.

the room was split in two big groups and everyone was allowed to speak freely. i was told to join the smaller, quieter group. one counselor said that people who choose to do that have already lost any sense of morality for the moment and they become offenders. that the act cannot be called otherwise but a crime. the circle seemed to be wholly in support of the survivor.

i was confused because i knew the so-called offender, not closely, but near enough to notice he's changed a bit last december, and near enough to notice that he had been struggling with some issues. another close friend of his that i knew wasn't at the meeting.

i hope neither of them will think the organizers are being optimistic. i think everyone's already heard some form of gossip regarding this issue, and the leaders want to admit their ignorance as well, so they sought counselors and a time to meet to understand an issue that's unfortunately runawayly common among asians in the u.s. or elsewhere.

there are some suggestions that filipinos should have their own forum because we supposedly have a totally different history from the rest of asia. (i think they forgot about indonesia, china, korea, vietnam, laos, cambodia and india, some countries also invaded and taken for the west.)

later, the groups broke into a big circle with some young girls totally for the survivors and almost neglecting the offender, as if he's worthy of being beaten to a pulp and left for dead on kimball avenue. we're meeting again sometime in july to think again.

what i liked best about the ideas mentioned was that asia, particularly the philippines, have a colonial past. this might contribute to the taking power and hurting and silence among filipinos.

the issue has evolved to why did the man do this, to what are we going to do about it. the subjects have seemed to vanish into the thin ozone summer chicago air. i'm just glad there's this forum to address concerns.

a couple of months ago the man blast texted a gig he was having at a wine bar that saturday. i always love getting texts from people about anything, options for the weekend included (i try to go to all of them, and woohoo, i wonder why my body gave up on me).

i had changed phones and lost everyone's number except for a few, and i'm assuming that number was his. i've already forgotten what i said to him in reply. but i remember him not ever texting me back.

i've been taught to stay out of things, but the community is doing something different now. they wouldn't have the open town hall meeting if people wanted things to stay the same. back home, i remember silence would be the rule, that the issue would be relegated to the few concerned, to keep it clean and focused. but perhaps this is why evil deeds, actions and issues perpetuate. prize gossip morphs into incredible, unmanageable monsters. but in this case, ideally, with an open invite for everyone for everyone to learn, things will be different.

so, bergamot wine bar, i hope you had chanced to read us online. i hope you are doing well. if you really did it, you had escaped the justice you had to pay. we are thinking and praying for you. ingat.

---

i've been asked to look if there were places and sites that help out offenders in case they actually realized what they've done. i hadn't had a chance to copy these, so here they are, i'll also email these out.

organizations:

Adler school of professional psychology
312-201-5900
has offender counseling
65 e. wcker place on 22th floor
www.adler.edu

human effective living program
HELP
417 S DEARBORN
ste 1100
312-939-6633

ulich
midwest family resources
217 n. jefferson
second floor
312-575-1280
after hours: 773-353-1369
http://www.ucanchicago.org/programs/community/

web sites:
http://www.takebackthenight.org/resources.html
http://www.nycagainstrape.org/
voicesandfaces.org
http://www.911rape.org/

law:
VAWA 2005 (Public Law No: 109-162), the Sexual Assault Services Program (SASP)
http://www.rainn.org/policy/sexual-assault-services-program-2006.html

whe-e-e-e y -- ?

2006-06-09T14:53:00.000-05:00

"whe-e-e-e y?" is how it sounds when koreans ask each other "what?" in suprise. ahahahaha. because i had to stay put in the house for almost a week - three last week and two this week - i found something else to occupy my time: k drama. heee.

it's so wrong.

there's a new drama out, "hotelier," but i still like "rooftop room cat," the one previous to that because i haven't started it. my tummy twisted when my mother practically predicted "hotelier,"'s end: "ah, this girl will end up with her old nobyo. nobyo nya sin-a sang una pa. korean drama, kasi, always end up with the one they grew up with."

bo?!

e"L"evated verse

2006-06-05T02:00:00.000-05:00

the CTA is featuring the poems of 25 CHS students on posters on 50 rail stations in the city, all the way to suburban skokie and evanston.

sweet.

(dem li'l grayde school kids get tuh shayne 'afor der tayme. lard haf mercy. dem antichrist closer'n we think!)

par example:

HOMEWORK
by Jonathan R.
Moos Elementary
Locations: Central, Purple Line; Armitage, Brown and Purple Line

My work has been done
to experience the city.
The big city sits in
land. Far away from Chicago
sits Texas. To day
dream far away in a
land of big. Bigger than an
ocean. My eyes fold to
see a suprise so big.
I start to think I own
that place. I feel like I've
even been there.

*hay.* but you know that it's bad when instead of BIGGER you read BLOGGER. ...

back

2006-06-04T04:05:00.000-05:00

i had staggered back to the housestead happy and all in one piece. thank you all for eating, desserting, talking, laughing and clubbing with me. sorry i can't drink yet, but i still had fun, ehehehehe -

a woman has the age she deserves. - coco chanel

2006-06-03T16:59:00.000-05:00

so, one of my friends asked me how old i'm turning today. i wanted to laugh, "i'm 21 because it's my first time at the sound bar."

Old age is the most unexpected of all the things that can happen to a man. - Trotsky

in third grade - i think it's in third grade - our english teacher made us gather a list of quotes and bind them together into a little book the shape and size of our choosing.

One of the signs of passing youth is the birth of a sense of fellowship with other human beings as we take our place among them. - Virginia Woolf

i forgot what exactly quotes i gathered, but of course one of them was "a rolling stone gathers no moss." i think we also had a section of filipino quotes, but my memory seems to be playing tricks on me. i don't know how unlikely filipino quotes would be considered in my elementary school lessons.

I am long on ideas, but short on time. I expect to live to be only about a hundred. - Thomas Alva Edison

i wrote my quotes in brown mimeograph paper in blue ink. to save paper, i would fold them in four crosswise, cut and then write on them. and then i would paste the rectangle pieces, one inch from the left, on top of each other, creating sturdy binding and a book about a centimeter thick. i took some scratch manila folders and cut them to fit a cover. i had created a 3 by 8 book one centimeter thick.

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age. - Robert Frost

i was so proud of it because i was so sure no other classmate would have the same quotes. we owned this huge, harbound, two-volume dictionary that seemed to have everything - including a thesaurus and the entire pantheon of greek gods - that my mother ordered from an american publisher.

In the American metaphysic, reality is always material reality, hard, resistant, unformed, impenetrable, and unpleasant. - Lionel Trilling

that summer, i stacked my qoute book in my parent's book case because i didn't know what to do with it anymore. oh, the innocence of a 9-year-old.

Age does not protect you from love, but love to some extent protects you from age. - Jeanne Moreau

working at a media company, quotes are everywhere. the good ones are elegant, timeless, make sense, offer insights, often funny, true, repeated and hella cheesy. ahahahaha.

Live your life and forget your age. - Norman Vincent Peale

it's my birthday!!!

2006-06-02T22:37:00.000-05:00

hi, all -

it's my birthday, it's my birthday, happy birthday on saturday, june 3, tomorrow.

i'm just celebrating with a couple friends tomorrow, so please feel free to come:

8p to 10p~ _ great seas chinese and korean restaurant, 3254 W. Lawrence Ave., lawrence and kimball. park at the plaza on the corner.

10p to 12 mn~ _ zephyr cafe, 1777 W. Wilson Ave, hermitage and montrose. park at the lot across the cafe.

12mn to ~ _ sound bar. finally. goodness. 226 W. Ontario St., franklin and ontario. i dunno parking here coz i've never been there before. hehehehe.

yes, i am sick (i was hospitalized last week), but i think i can do this and still stagger back to the homestead in one piece.

if you can't make it, it's all good, like all hortillomama events where birthday celebrations are claimed for at least one whole month, there's always next weekend.

dinner and dessert are on me! ;-)

i wish i knew korean

2006-06-01T02:37:00.000-05:00

rooftop room cat spoofs. i'm sorry. ahahahahahaha!!!

lord knows what i've spilled here

2006-05-31T19:33:00.000-05:00

i have blogger blogged for precisely

two years
and two days

from may 29, 2004 to may 31, 2006.

thank you for tuning in.

mmmm... food

2006-05-30T16:03:00.000-05:00

one of the symptoms of this undiagnosed illness that i have that i think i inherited from my parents is that you're hungry all the time.

mmm... yogurt. haaa.

hotness 93

2006-05-28T17:22:00.000-05:00

ohmigulay. ang INEEET!

pinikpikan!!!

2006-05-27T02:43:00.000-05:00

@ levi's saturday night with everyone... and cocktail shrimp. YUM.

trabaho

2006-05-25T22:54:00.000-05:00

today i went back to work. blah.

rest

2006-05-24T01:23:00.000-05:00

today, i just sank into the couch and watched TV. the 'star trek: next generations' was a little of a waste of time, but 'lost' was interesting, even if i didn't get to start it. i wish i could regularly remember to tape it so i can watch it later in the day. time for tivo! ahahahaha

bagong hirang - joey ayala

2006-05-23T20:23:00.000-05:00

the lovely awesome filipino lyrics of the 'star spangled banner.'

Nakikita mo ba
sa bukang liwayway
ang liwanag na sumilay
sa aking paglisan
pag-asang wagas
at kaligayahan
kalayaang umunlad
sa bayang payapa
sa tulay ng digmaan
kita’y tumawid
nagsumikap
nabuhay
at umibig
tayo ngayon ay
naririto
mga dayong katutubo
at sa lupang
bagong hirang
kasaysaya’y
pinapanday

umahon

2006-05-21T03:35:00.000-05:00

umahon
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

went volunteer phone banking today for a very needed candidate for alderman. it was great - they had ordered pad thai, chicken bamboo stew, chili chicken bamboo stew, panang beef curry, and pop. the almost 20 calls today lasted me one hour. and we only got one person each! except for two people who got four each. we exceeded our goal of 150 today - 161. down from 300, to 200, to 150, out of 25,000 residents of that ward.

but it's ok. it's only a volunteer thing. i might have a nightmare if we had to call every 25,000!

i finally downloaded all my cellyofon pix. the phone feels lighter. i downloaded copies and kept originals in my fon for my viewing pleasure anytime during my chaotic days. hehehehe.

here's the sweeeeeeeetest thing in the whole world! UMAHON. i finally got to see her at barely two weeks old. a question was posed over the kulture and liberation workshop, something you'd expect from forward-looking people:

in this society and in the philippines, "what's left for umahon?"

kulture and liberation blues

2006-05-20T03:27:00.000-05:00

jan
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

a very enthusiastic new friend dropped by the hamlin house saturday for the kulture and liberation workshop. he was randi's friend.

after one workshop jan went to his house to change, and that later, offered to be the night's storyteller. "ay, di ako maruning magluto ng adobo," he said.

"adobo! pero yan yung pinakamadaling lutuin sa lahat ng pinoy dishes!"

"pero marunong akong magluto ng sabaw ng bato."

tgif

2006-05-19T03:31:00.000-05:00

Thank God I'm Filipino.

2006 kultural night of resistance

2006-05-18T04:27:00.000-05:00

COMMITTEE ON PILIPINO ISSUES
Chicago, IL

For Immediate Release
May 18, 2006

Contact:
Romeo Maguigad
knr@pinoyissues.com

Committee on Pilipino Issues
http://pinoyissues.com
Chicago

2006 Kultural Night of Resistance
One hundred years of moving forward

CHICAGO, Ill. 2006 -- Invisible. Ms. Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Mail-order brides. Sweet Table. Manongs and daughters. May 1 immigration rally. Lechon. Curfew. Dust, heat, picturesque city. Dinuguan. Sapin-sapin. Doctors and nurses. Couples for Christ and its Family Ministries. Las Haciendas de Luisita. Jose P. Rizal Heritage Center. Fil-Am Community Builder. Ruby's. First Quarter Storm. Depression and schizophrenia. The 1986 EDSA Revolution. Pinoy Monthly. Megascene. Pete Lacaba. Piolo Pascual.

These are just some of the things that Filipinos in Chicago ponder.

Or not.

Lawyer turned realtor. Gloria Magapagal Arroyo. Ramon Magsaysay. Corazon Aquino. Ferdinand E. Marcos. E. San Juan Jr. DH. A house in the suburbs. TNT. A free countryside. The Blossoming of Bongbong. Wisconsin Dells. US$142 million debt in June. Jun-Jun. Plaridel papers. Rice everyday. Bagoong. Bino Realuyo. September 21, 1972. University of Chicago. Batasan 6. Pintig Cultural Group. University of the Philippines. Gawad Kalinga. Literatura. Filipiniana. Imperialism. Colonialism. Philippine Student Association. Overseas Filipino Workers.

Scattered. Diverse. Feuding. Forgotten. Filipino.

Many of these issues will be addressed in the Committee on Pilipino Issues 2006 Kultural Night of Resistance (KNR) on Saturday, June 17 at 7 p.m. at Insight Arts, 1545 W. Morse Ave. Tickets are $15. The venue is accessible by the Morse stop of the Howard Red line. Parking is limited. Food will be available. The event also serves as a fundraiser for the Committee on Pilipino Issues' workshops with the youth.

CPI is also holding Kulture and Liberation, a free workshop for Filipino youth and their friends to discover facets of themselves in the backdrop of one of the most diverse U.S. cities. It will be held on Saturday, May 20, at 1 p.m. at the Hamlin House, 4438 N. Hamlin, on Hamlin and Montrose streets. The House is accessible via the No. 78 Montrose bus westbound to Hamlin. Walk a half block north to address. Parking is limited. Food will be available, but participants are encouraged to bring something to share. Workshop participants will be prepared to receive performances highlighted in KNR one month after. Some will also be asked to perform.

KNR is an intergenerational showcase of Filipino poetry, spoken word, dance, song, theater, multimedia and more. Participants will address their Filipino heritage in the backdrop of Chicago, one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. They seek to answer questions of invisibility and belonging, understanding their parents, their newly arrived cousins and their accent, their shock at them knowing hip hop and clubbing just as well or even more than them.

They will assert their heritage as a child of two worlds, two nations, living in the U.S. but aware of that other mother nation that refuses to let go.

The elders will unveil concerns of perceiving their children growing up away from them in a land they deem extremely liberated. The Ilonggo, Ilokano, Pampango, Moro parent will acknowledge, "Why didn't I teach them my language?"

Participants will mention concerns in the U.S. and the homeland, such as corruption that allowed seven worker protestors to be killed at the gates of the Central Azucarera de Tarlac sugar refinery in Las Haciendas de Luisita, a vast sugar mill occupying two-thirds of Luzon owned by the family of President Corazon Aquino. In a twisted turn of fate, Aquino happens to be the wife of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., President Ferdinand E. Marcos' most vocal opposition.

Marcos declared martial law in Sept. 21, 1972. In the 60s and 70s, thousands of professional Filipinos had been fleeing Marcos' iron rule for the U.S. to start lives and families. In the U.S., immigration laws had been weakened from decades before against the Chinese, making it easier for all immigrants to enter the U.S. Martial law was the last straw and the deciding factor for many Filipinos to move.

This is connected to the present poverty in the homeland and the steady stream of Filipinos who choose to leave the county, either for work or because they had heard of the quality of life elsewhere. These dizzying chain of events have left many Chicago Filipinos confused, many families do not understand each other, and it is simply easier to set aside disturbing, disconnected thoughts and move on with life.

These are just some of the issues KNR hopes to address with intentions of airing them out, and possibly, ambitiously, solving them. Perhaps it will lighten each audience and participants' path to creating a better Filipino, a better Chicago, a better Philippines.

Contact:
Romeo Maguigad
knr@pinoyissues.com

Committee on Pilipino Issues
http://pinoyissues.com
Chicago

####
this piece is written by ulanmaya.

this is supposed to be a press release. the event is real, CPI is real, KNR is almost a decade old, the history is only off the top of my head. but damned be i if i know how to write a convincing release. AND y'alls who regularly read this blog should know why i left out my name... my real name... hehehe.

galatea resurrects #2

2006-05-17T15:36:00.000-05:00

hear marjorie evasco recite this poem: KAOS 89.3 FM cross cultural poetics: ochre tones

In English:
There is a season to this ripening,
the way sap of tree rises to fulfill
fruit of the topmost branch,
or the motion of jasmine
climbing trellises to show off
a single blossom at new moon tide. ...

Reason for this ripening.
You are goldened by my tongue.

In Cebuano:
Adunay panahon alang sa pagkahinog.
Sama sa pagtaob sa duga sa kahoy aron mopalumoy sa bunga
Sa kinatumyang sanga sa kahoy, o sama sa
Sampagita nga mosalingsing sa kinatas-an
Aron ipasundayag ang nag-inusara niyang bulak
Niining bag-ong bulan sa tingtaob. ...

Diya hinungdan kining pagkahinog.
Gibulawan ka sa akong dila.

[ more ]

---

when you're singing karaoke,
really singing from the center of your being,
in whatever town you're in, whatever bar, club or smoky poolroom...

the only thing that really matters is...

Destiny

[ more ]

---

those who'd like to review poetry books, please see here. thanks for stopping by!

you are all invited

2006-05-16T03:07:00.000-05:00

click on flyer above. also:

Saturday, May 20
Selection: DUSK
Author: F. Sionil Jose
Details: Please read all 352 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375751440
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Sweet Table, 3056 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. 773-549-4188.

for more info: muntingtinig.

see you there! :-)

skyscaper

2006-05-15T03:02:00.000-05:00

skyscaper
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

mi madre's bday on the 15th, may. that's moi bratty soeur, in a rare show of affection, pix stolen by mon autre bratty soeur. hehehehe

happy birthday, mom! je t'aime beaucoup, beaucoup.

anak (2000) - rory quintos, vilma santos

2006-05-14T01:57:00.000-05:00

a film that made me cry because of extreme realism. josie's (vilma santos) whole family and friends sat down almost at the same time during her homecoming party to listen to stories about hong kong.

when my mother returned home from a couple years in chicago, she and two of the other female relatives her age in quezon city at that time - my aunts - sat down almost at the same time with her on the family couch. "ay, daw mabuang ka guid," were the first words she said.

it made me cry because my mother also yelled at me when first she returned from the homeland. i went through high school without her. she also had to leave to provide for us. she came back for the second time to bury my dad and take us away. many friends and family were there for us while she was away, and to welcome her back, but in the ensuing days after the parties, it was just us and our hurt. hurt is uncontainable no matter the size of the house and the largeness of its windows.

it made me cry because the flying plane bound for abroad erased faces of loved ones, and bore them far away, often beyond tenuous reach. it made me realize to look for things i would have to do to keep my future family from knowing separation.

MUNTINGTINIG: Dates for the May to October meetings

2006-05-13T04:01:00.000-05:00

Apologies for duplicate postings.
Please forward widely.

Hi all!

People have wondered. They've checked the Web site. People have asked, "What happened to your book club?"

But we're back!

Muntingting book club went on a monthlong hiatus because of a conflict in schedule for several members. Now, we've picked a series of books to keep us going for the next five months: The well-renowned Rosales Saga, by F. Sionil Jose.

Starting out with Carlos Bulosan's seminal America is in the Heart, the book club also plans to read Philippine national hero Jose P. Rizal's Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, Ninotchka Rosca's State of War, Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters, and Bino Realuyo's Umbrella Country. We will discuss the books in Filipino-owned restaurants in the Chicago area.

Here are the dates and titles. Please note that Saturday, July 22 and August 19 will start earlier than 6:30 p.m. to accomodate the venue's hours open.

Any questions, please email Yvonne, yhortil5@yahoo.com or Anna, anna_m_rosete@yahoo.com.

Thank you to all of you who asked, it means that this is a needed organization in our community.

See you on the 20th!

Muntingtinig
http://muntingtinigchicago.blogspot.com

---
Please note change in venue for June 10: It is now at Sweet Thang cafe.

Saturday, May 20
Selection: DUSK
Author: F. Sionil Jose
Details: Please read all 352 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375751440
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Sweet Table, 3056 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. 773-549-4188.

Saturday, June 10
Selection: DON VICENTE: Two Novels (Tree and My Brother, My Executioner)
Author: F. Sionil Jose
Details: This book is two novels in one. Please read the section, TREE.
Length (both novels): 448 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375752439
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Venue: Sweet Thang, 1921 W. North Ave., Chicago. 773-772-4166.

Saturday, July 22
Selection: DON VICENTE: Two Novels (Tree and My Brother, My Executioner)
Author: F. Sionil Jose
Details: This book is two novels in one. Please read the section, MY BROTHER, MY EXECUTIONER.
Length (both novels): 448 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375752439
Time: 5 p.m.
Venue: Mom's Bake Shoppe and Restaurant, 2415 W. Peterson Ave. Chicago. 773-784-1318.

Saturday, August 19
Selection: THE SAMSONS: Two Novels (The Pretenders and Mass)
Author: F. Sionil Jose
Details: This book is two novels in one. Please read the section, THE PRETENDERS.
Length (both novels): 560 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375752447
Time: 4 p.m.
Venue: My Place for Tea, 3210 N. Sheffield Ave., Chicago. 773-525-8320.

Saturday, September 16
Selection: THE SAMSONS: Two Novels (The Pretenders and Mass)
Author: F. Sionil Jose
Details: This book is two novels in one. Please read the section, MASS.
Length (both novels): 560 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375752447
Time: 6:30 p.m.
TENTATIVE venue: Green Ginger, 2050 W. Division St. Chicago., 773-486-6700.

Here are the details for our next book after F. Sionil Jose's Rosales Saga. Please start it as soon as you can after the series. We will definitely read this, and announce further details that include a joint reading with SAPAC (South Asian Progressive Action Collective), and a venue at the Jose P. Rizal Heritage Center.

Saturday, October 14
Selection: MIRACLE FRUIT
Author: Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Details: Poetry book. More details to come.
Length: 86 pages
Publisher: Tupelo Press
ISBN: 0971031088

fridays

2006-05-12T04:06:00.000-05:00

i am missing so many cool things on friday nights - on weekday nights even. but i think i've gotten used to it. i like to think that everyone else is also too busy with their own work and personal lives that they rarely see people on the weeknights. their only free time is on the weekend as well.

but like always, i like to be sure, and this i'm not of. it gets me by the days and weeks i have to be at work. after all, i can't go out on the weekends broke. hehehehe.

Portrait of Seattle as a Dream

2006-05-11T22:45:00.000-05:00

Autoportrait in Black
by Eric Gamalinda
from his awesome, generous web site.

I was so small the angels decided
not to give me a name. I lived
all my life in obscurity, except
once, when the cypresses applauded
my bravado. I knew the language
of birds, but they still refused
to reveal the harmonies to me.
I lost not one parent, but three.
At the same moment that I learned
love, a blue thunderbolt ripped
the sky open, and I went insane.
Midway in life I traveled through
six time zones, the past, the future,
and every satellite in between.
The words bounced off my tongue,
warm, incandescent. When I died
a megaton of light tore itself
out of my bones. I became pure
particle, a spy among opposing
magisteria. I became an iris, a stone.
This consciousness so dear to me
closed like a flower. I could not
resist the beauty of nothingness.
In my place another being came
to lodge, and I moved quickly
to give it room. I don't know if this
is joy, but my absence was joyful.

---
i am going to admit it: i miss conference.
hehehehe.

sfc, the age group i should mingle with and leave the high school and college people alone (a.k.a. yfc, cfc youth as of late), is holding a conference in... in... seattle.

seattle.

city of my dreams.
why didn't i move there earlier in my life?

by accident i knew i totally looooooove seattle, 'ang ganda ng seattle,' i said to my friend, when we had the cfc youth, then yfc, there several years ago... i forget. 2000?

a sister then told me that i deserve better than the boy i liked at that time. *sigh.*

another sister and i took pictures of each other in the bathroom. or was that in oakland, calif.?

northern california/// norcal/// is pretty too. *hay!*

i should go to conference. even though i've neglected the tone of music and my friends at sfc and i speak a different language now. thus sayeth ulanmaya. ahahaha.

fireworks_columbus1
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya.

one of the most spectacular fourth of julys i've ever experienced. i didn't need to zoom in or increase exposure for this pix.

i also have to admit it's the pull of the city more than the friendships, even if that's important as well. i went to columbus, ohio, because i was curious of the city! ahahaha. it's totally a small town compared to chicago, that is, it is the 8th largest city in the u.s. at that time, i got me some of the best 'tissue' shirts and coffee out there. a colleague here at work lived there for several years and told me a secret: columbus will never experience recession because it's industry-free. no coal mines, not much agriculture. it's products are internet and computer. have i also mentioned that the fireworks were incredible and it's the no. 2 city for same-sex relations? ahahaha. so totally no regrets. i got away from the grind in chicago. :-)

i should bring fliers and postcards of 'bells of balangiga' and ask if seattle peeps want to bring the show there. i can't be the only one in the sfc community who's thinking about former colony + u.s. = ? ahahahaha.

today... today. ...

2006-05-10T03:12:00.000-05:00

today... i just had to finish my book. shame on me, coz the writing is totally awesome, he has as many as 17 or more drafts before becoming confident with his work. and the story is TOTALLY awesome. :-) i saw bits and parts of it on TV.

this is how my book looks like, except it's a little less well-loved even as it's a used copy. hehehe.

umahon

2006-05-09T03:38:00.000-05:00

on sunday while i was trying to eat this incredible chicken at levi's after the set strike for pintig's 'bells of balangiga,' i remembered my blog and realized that the play had become my whole life for almost three months. ahahaha.

and then also the songs won't leave my head:

let me feel you
let me through
let me fill your [ nights ]
warm [ embrace ] for you

[ at the time of my days ]
i will hold you dearly
till the end
...
from the land of the sleeping giants
[ all across from the sea ]
...
each one of you will feel my pain!
and my love
my love will take this knife for me.
domeng.
...
mercedes, we ask for mercy
senores, listen to my plea.
we have done nothing wrong,
[ ... ]

senors, loosen these chains on them.
perdidos, have you not heard our cry?
a far more cruel tyrant like you
deserve to die.
...
i should have known these were men.
[ ... ]
i couldn't!
not with the epidemic going on.
but had i dared.
ok, go.
...
i should have known
that these were men
[ just think about it ]
it made me shiver.
...
they're angry!
so are we, private.
we'll show them just how angry we are
[ ... ]
and bring the nightmare to them.
...
[ ... ] and fell into his plate of hash.
[ ... ] i called my captain, "captain! captain!"
but a goo goo insurrecto [ ... ]
[ ... ]
they were upon us!
they were upon us!
ahhhhhhhhhh!
...
now is this trechery, treachery
we ask you
how [ could this treachery, villany ]
...
so much for flattery, mockery
when will this end?
it has to stop
by blood it did
...
the country is officially a colony of the united states.
but we still remember that fateful day.
...
and your country will always be like that.
an ant, a moth [ ... ]
we scared you once!
we did it once before.
remember that!
[ you're not so powerful ]
...
the bells will ring for us from now on!
...
ring them again,
hear them again,
and we will know
what they truly mean

many years ago, they buried it under
teach your children, who have forgotten
bring the bells back to,
they're [ ... ]!
...
ring them again,
hear them again,
[ ... ]
bring the bells back to
they're [ ... ]!

i've seen the musical five times. hehehee.

mike, a musican who played guitar and congo drums among other things in the musical, said it for us: "i don't know what to do with all my time now, after the play."

but today a lovely email came from my activist friends:

Mga Kasama at Kaibigan!

Good News! Yesterday Kahapon Sunday, Mathilda gave birth to a baby girl Umahon! Help celebrate the birth of a new beginning, a new life and member of our community! Thanks for your prayers!

MABU..........HAAAY!
MABU..........HAAAY!
MABU MABU MABU, HAY HAY HAY!
MABU MABU MABU, HAY HAY HAY!

isn't that a gorgeous name? :-D

unfinished legacies: bring the bells back to balangiga

2006-05-08T03:08:00.000-05:00

Setting:

GEOGRAPHY: 1901 Balangiga is a fishing town of thatched huts and beaches. It is one of the southernmost towns of Samar, one of the largest and most eastern islands of the Philippines.

THE RESIDENTS: Townsfolk are fresh from the leaving of the last Spanish Catholic frair, the last symbol of colonialism in their town. When the U.S. soliders landed, they were aware of President Emilio Aguinaldo's surrender to U.S. rule. Residents immediately recognized a new colonizer. They determined to fight back using wits - until a resident girl is raped.

THE AMERICANS: Battle-weary, homesick and ill soldiers sent by President William McKinley from war in Nanking, China and before that, Cuba, to filfill his Manifest Destiny ideal already executed against the Native Americans in the western U.S. For the Philippines, McKinley issued his Benevolent Assimilation proclamation for the soldiers to
follow.

THE BIG PICTURE: The Balangiga Massacre, or the Balangiga Affair, as it is known in the U.S., happened in during the Spanish American, and later, the Filipino American war. The massacre occured at the end of the former and contributed to the beginning of the latter.

---

sponsored night
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

'bells of balangiga' 2006 performance, from left to right: ray, aiko (audience), gen. louie pascasio (director) and suyenn (townspeople)

---

Unfinished legacies
Bring the bells back to Balangiga

After 15 years of successful dramaturgy, longtime Filipino theater troupe Pintig Cultural Group had remounted the critically-acclaimed musical, "Bells of Balangiga: The Musical," written by Rodolpho Carlos Vera and directed by Louis Pascasio at the Light Opera Works in Evanston.

Using traditional Filipino dress, the endemic martial art arnis, live score at every show in April, Visayan dance and Filipino speech, Pintig aims to highlight a sophisticated people simply asking for their church bells back, taken at a time of war and colonization. In the process, they hope audiences will learn something of their history in the homeland and in the United States. The story is set in the town of Balangiga, in the island province of Samar, east central Philippines.

One song in the musical is sung in Filipino, "Pag-ibig at Digmaan," translated in the program as "Love and War."

A nation, whole
Proud of its integrity
Never again will it bow its head
Its heart is strong
And though the flames
Of another war engulf it
We know our love with bind us
As we struggle through

Pintig had closed performances Sunday, May 7. They have set time aside after every show for questions. In the April 30 show, a confused audience member asked, "What stand do you take - are you against the U.S., or against the Filipino townspeople?"

There is a line in the final montage, "Teach your children who have forgotten." Executive director and producer Levi Aliposa and the cast asserted that their role is to provoke enough questions and interest that someone in the audience would be willing to find out for themselves and others about the massacre - called the Balangiga Affair in the U.S. With her questions, Pintig has succeeded in their interest to provoke insights as well as entertain.

The stage, designed by Louie Sison, is decorated with wings and a simple arch turned doorway painted straw yellow with orange brush strokes to evoke painted stone, the side of the real St. Anthony Church in Balangiga. Overall the cast gave a rousing performance given that sometimes a sweeping operaticlike song would be accompanied by only a piano or a guitar.

The costumes of 1901 Samar, the island where the massacre occured, were convincing and colorful. Costume designer Susan Kirpach chose the typical Visayan dress of shortpants, a shirt and salakot, the traditional bamboo hat for the men. The women wore the traditional patadyong dress of a long skirt, kimona shirt with angel sleeves and panuelo, a large handkerchief wrapped around the head, shoulders or waist.

It is these, including a necklace, that the women lend to the men on the eve of their first battle with the U.S. soldiers. Esmeralda (Je Cacino) and Aling Tikay (Jennifer Ligaya Burton and Joanah Torre) sport striking red and black patterns respectively. Mayor "El Presidente" Pedro Abayan (Bert Matias) sometimes sported the traditional Barong Tagalog pina shirt.

The U.S. soldiers sported a simpler version of their 19th century counterparts with a blue long sleeved shirt tucked into khaki pants over black boots. To distinguish their leader, Capt. Thomas Connell (Richard Gordon) wore his blue shirt tucked out. This simple shadow to the real Army uniform was enough to convince they were soldiers of the
U.S. army.

Paolo Nicolasin, who played Esmeralda's sweetheart Domeng, said a light blew out during the gala performance, but the audience hardly noticed it. Light designers Amanda Clegg Lyon and Steve Weaver changed shades on cue and placed a pattern of leaves at one light, evoking Samar island's "howling wilderness," as Gen. Jake Smith called for it to be at the end of the U.S.' revenge.

Markings of the Franciscan Catholic order are depicted on the bells, two in FE Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and one at the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment base in Tongduchon, South Korea, where they remain today. The priest (Levi Aliposa), clad in a brown robe and rope, used twigs lashed together to a make a crucifix for a scene in the forest. This is great theater, as churches even then surely have portable crucifixes precisely for outdoor activities. But it's a great touch, to remind audiences of the poverty inflicted by Spain for over 300 years, matching the rice aspergillum to bless each of the residents who volunteered to fight the Americans in their town.

Kaikai Mascarenas' voice and prayerful expression is near perfect in a forest scene, with her cast as a young friend of Esmeralda's. Domeng's (Paolo Nicolasin) singing is effortless, as is the priest's (Aliposa) calling for protection from the Almighty. "Protect us from these evil vultures!" he cries. This musical is Richard Gordon's (Capt. Conwell) first theater venture, and he sings the captain's doubts reminiscent of Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. The voices of townspeople Evelyn Masbaum and Angelica Atian soar above all others in "Have Mercy," a scene where Conwell announces a decision unfair to the villagers, and the "Ritual of Disguise," where the women dress the men in their clothes.

The scenes with Esmeralda (Je Cacnio) draw you in to listen to injustice done to a girl with big dreams. It was Cacnio's chance to bring herself to the stage. "I went to an all-girls' Catholic school in the Philippines. My teachers would force us to speak in nothing but English all day, and if we uttered a word of Filipino, they would punish us. That action was like raping me, in that I had to hide my own language at school," she said during a forum at the end of the April 30 show.

Aling Tikay (Jennifer Ligaya Burton) and soldier William Gibbs (Brian Desgranges) stole the show in the scenes where their characters take up the story. Aling Tikay was made younger than she seemed to be on paper, to great effect - to audiences she is the passionate, fearless aunt with the personalized religion, which every family has. Gibbs is one of the few survivors of the morning attack, waking up screaming to nightmares of hacking and body parts landing on food and villagers running in skirts, weilding sharp bolos.

"They're coming! They're coming!" and Gibbs utters the first of three cries in the play, the first being Esmeralda when she was raped. In Gibbs' dream, villagers surround him, pounding their arnis sticks on the ground, threatening. The light changes to an angry red. Gang rape by soldiers to Esmeralda was suggested by two soldiers positioned on either side, and one standing behind her. The light alternates between blue and heavy dark green. Her prolonged cry in the forest, at nighttime, alone, reminds audiences of the unique tears of a Filipina, and what waves it could induce.

The second cry comes from Pvt. Seetherly, who had too much of the island and started firing rifle shots at mosquites, ants and bugs. This is an attempt of the play to be fair to the U.S. side of the story. The soldiers had been away from their homes for almost two years at the time of their coming to Balangiga. They were not used to the weather, had not received mail for seven months since Nanking, and were getting sick because of the local water.

One audience member crowed, "Plays such as this make us and our children aware of important events in our history. Our struggles, victories, and quest for justice as a people should be made known to everyone."

They should be known because the Philippines is a country on a par with any other, and their history needs to be respected. The villagers understood the Americans to be new colonists, but the Americans did not understand the gravity of the villagers' relief when the Spanish left. Their leader Capt. Connell always found a way to justify his actions, even as he knew they were colonizers. The villagers then fought for their country. The U.S., thinking this a rebellion, exacted revenge - a revenge exacted too well by burning the entire island, one of the largest in the Philippines, and then taking the bells.

At magunaw man
Ng digmaan ang lahat
Pag-ibig natin
Ang babangon sa lusak
At silunin man
Ng digmaan ang bayan
Pag-ibig natin
Sa dilim ay tatanglaw.

At the end of the evening show on May 6, actors answered questions and suggested that perhaps aside the U.S. returning the bells, they also offer apology for the razing of the entire Samar island, killing 50,000 residents, some who probably had no knowledge of what Americans were doing on their island.

Balangiga is now a large municipality of 13 smaller barangays. The town plaza is surrounded by a playground, a stage, municipal buildings and city hall. Each September, residents and tourists gather around the plaza to participate in several days' festivities; the highlight is a reenactment by teenagers of the battle between their ancestors and the Americans. It is the town's largest tourist draw.

A basketball hoop stands in the middle of the plaza, prominent when it is empty. One wonders what effect the bells would have on a simple fishing town like this, should the bells be returned. To a near corner stands St. Anthony Church, squat and elegant, painted a creamy yellow, its belltower whistling in the wind, waiting.

###

---
this piece is scheduled to appear in the MAY issue of the fil-am community builder. if you are unaware of the paper, copies can be picked up at the unimart on clark street, and the paper's offices on 5232 N. Western Ave.; telephone 773-275-4540.

strike

2006-05-07T03:27:00.000-05:00

strike
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

'striking' down a set. we had to take down and then clamp back up these thingies. they weighed at least 20 pounds each! i was so exhausted at levi's by the end.

i see a spider nest.

no, they're walking fire hydrants.

i see little robots.

'bells' on saturday

2006-05-06T03:06:00.000-05:00

bells of balangiga 2k6
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

Women sing "Mercedes" from "Bells of Balangiga: The Musical."

---

saturday may 6 is by far the most successful of all 12 runs of "bells of balangiga" 2006. woohoo!

next muntingtinig meetings, may to october

2006-05-05T02:56:00.000-05:00

apologies for duplicate postings.
please forward widely.
contact: ulanmaya@gmail.com

here are the dates for the next several books in f. sionil jose'srosales saga. they turned out to be not too different from theprevious dates.

*** please note that saturday, july 22 and august 19 will startearlier than 6:30 p.m., to accomodate the venue's hours open. ***

any questions, please email me, yhortil5@yahoo.com or call my cell.

those who would like to blog please also email me for the username and password. our blog is at http://muntingtinigchicago.blogspot.com.

see you on the 20th!

---

**saturday, may 20
selection: DUSK
author: F. Sionil Jose
details: please read all 352 pages
publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375751440
time: 6:30 p.m.
venue: Sweet Table, 3056 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. 773-549-4188.

**saturday, june 10
selection: DON VICENTE: Two Novels (Tree and My Brother, My Executioner)
author: F. Sionil Jose
details: this book is two novels in one. please read the section, TREE, length (both novels): 448 pages
Publisher: Modern Librar
yISBN: 0375752439
time: 6:30 p.m.
venue: Filipiniana Restaurant, Golf Glen Mart Plaza, 9060 Golf Road,Niles, IL 60714. 847-298-9332, 847-298-9344.

**saturday, july 22
selection: DON VICENTE: Two Novels (Tree and My Brother, My Executioner)
author: F. Sionil Jose
details: this book is two novels in one. please read the section, MY BROTHER, MY EXECUTIONER.
length (both novels): 448 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375752439
time: 5 p.m.
venue: Mom's Bake Shoppe and Restaurant, 2415 W. Peterson Ave. Chicago. 773-784-1318.

**saturday, august 19
selection: THE SAMSONS: Two Novels (The Pretenders and Mass)
author: F. Sionil Jose
details: this book is two novels in one. please read the section, THE PRETENDERS.
length (both novels): 560 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375752447
time: 4 p.m.
TENTATIVE venue: My Place for Tea, 3210 N. Sheffield Ave., corner ofBelmont Ave., Chicago. 773-525-8320.

**saturday, september 16
selection: THE SAMSONS: Two Novels (The Pretenders and Mass)
author: F. Sionil Jose
details: this book is two novels in one. please read the section, MASS. length (both novels): 560 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375752447
time: 6:30 p.m.
TENTATIVE venue: Green Ginger, 2050 W. Division St. Chicago., 773-486-6700.

and here are the details on our next book after f. sionil jose'srosales saga:

**saturday, october 14
selection: MIRACLE FRUIT
author: aimee nezhukumatathil
details: poetry book. planned reading with SAPAC (south asian progressive action collective). please read all 86 pages.
length: 86 pages
publisher: tupelo press
ISBN: 0971031088
time: 6:30 p.m.
TENTATIVE venue: jose p. rizal center, 1332 w. irving park road., chicago. 773-281-1210.

bells of balangiga: the musical - three playdates left!

2006-05-04T02:53:00.000-05:00

bells of balangiga 2k6
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

Ending scene from "Bells of Balangiga: The Musical."

---

Pintig Cultural Group is remounting the "Bells of Balangiga: The Musical"! FOUR playdates left:

Saturday, May 6: 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 7: 3 p.m.

Tickets are $25
Students with ID: $15
For tickets, call: (312) 222-1551
Visit pintig.org

ang tao! ang bayan! ngayon ay lumalaban!

2006-05-03T02:37:00.000-05:00

anida esguerra's video on the mayo uno immigrant march in chicago - 400,000 strong, the largest immigrant march in the u.s. waaahooo!

arsenic journal

2006-05-02T23:22:00.000-05:00

hehehehe... my poems appear in this journal. i can't remember if i've any more poems appear in print.

the editor said there would be a magazine and a book, aside from an online magazine as well.

hmmm. this looks like the magazine.
hehehehe. woohoo!

bells of balangiga excerpt

2006-05-01T01:42:00.000-05:00

Pintig Cultural Group is remounting the "Bells of Balangiga: The Musical"! Six playdates left:

Thursday, May 4: 8 p.m.
Friday, May 5: 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 6: 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 7: 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Tickets are $25
Students with ID: $15
For tickets, call: (312) 222-1551
Visit pintig.org

Six playdates left!

2006-04-30T01:21:00.000-05:00

"Only a nightmare" scene from "Bells of Balangiga: The Musical."

---

Pintig Cultural Group is remounting the "Bells of Balangiga: The Musical"! Six playdates left:

Thursday, May 4: 8 p.m.
Friday, May 5: 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 6: 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 7: 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Tickets are $25
Students with ID: $15
For tickets, call: (312) 222-1551
Visit pintig.org

my friend sourced me!

2006-04-29T02:46:00.000-05:00

ahahahaha... "sourced" means that a writer used a comment you made in your conversation with him/her/them in their article. like this:

"It’s a work of fiction... and [being read by millions] is clearly one mark of a good fiction."
from Not a sin to watch ‘Da Vince Code,’ says priest
[ more ]

para pala sa article, ahahaha. i congratulated my friend and thanked him for editing my daldal, for choosing to talk to me, AND for mentioning muntingtinig. the following are the comments i left for him, to be edited by the philippine news editors:

i forgot to say: i think one of the reasons why the da vinci code sold so well is coz of what santos said - it was entertaining. it could compete with today's internet world.

finishing a book these days just for fun no matter how fast one reads is a feat simply because it takes a lot of time. that the da vinci code - and the harry potter books - managed to hold audiences and media is accomplishing the near impossible.

it's great, and vital, because as kids the majority of us still had to learn the world through books. i don't think that's going to change anytime soon. i hope it will never change.

shameless plug: muntingtinig is online at muntingtinigchicago.blogspot.com. please feel free to leave comment. if you need to email us privately, please use ulanmaya@gmail.com. maraming salamat.

bells rehersal

2006-04-28T23:16:00.000-05:00

bells rehersal
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

pintig's rehersal for "bells of balangiga: the musical." insight arts center, chicago.

for tickets, call 312-222-1551.
pintig.org

BREAK MORE LEGS!!!

2006-04-27T23:17:00.000-05:00

PINTIG HAS COMPLETED THE FIRST DAY OF THEIR "BELLS OF BALANGIGA" PLAY!

WOOHOO!!!! :-D :bouncing:

for tickets, call 312-222-1551.
pintig.org

k bong trying to jump

2006-04-26T02:05:00.000-05:00

k bong trying to jump
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

... at yale university. i dunno. he was trying to copy me. ahahahaaaa

laguardia airport

2006-04-25T02:02:00.000-05:00

laguardia airport
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

*sigh*... aalis nanaman ako. from new york city. :-(

hehehehe

happy birthday, dad! i miss you. :-) happy birthday, ate lani! thank you. :-)

harlem-125th

2006-04-24T01:50:00.000-05:00

at the harlem-125th stop in new york city.

getting to know you

2006-04-23T01:48:00.000-05:00

hehehe... i see my neice for the first time.

christening gift

2006-04-22T01:33:00.000-05:00

my friends math and chris are also having a baby! yay!!! :-D congrats, you two!

i think i'll get my neice this or something similar. hehehehe.

it is ten degrees colder in new haven and new york city!!!

The Pealing of Bells

2006-04-21T22:17:00.000-05:00

A century-old story sadly still current

After 15 years of successful dramaturgy, longtime Filipino theater troupe Pintig Cultural Group is remounting the musical, "Bells of Balangiga: The Musical," the story originating from the town of Balangiga, in the island province of Samar, east central Philippines. Playdates are April 27-30, and May 4-7, at the Light Opera Works, 1420 Maple Avenue in Evanston. For tickets, call 312-222-1551.

It is an event every Filipino, every person living in the United States, should not miss.

Balangiga is one of the southernmost towns in the province of Samar. A quiet Philippine province known for taking the first brunts of Pacific typhoons, Samar itself is historic because of Homonhon Island, the first island where Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan landed. How ironic that one of the first islands to be settled by Catholic Spain would also be one of the last symbolic sites of colonialism in the Philippines.

The play depicts Balangiga townsfolk fresh from the leaving of the last Spanish Catholic friar, and thus, the last symbol of colonialism in their town. When the U.S. soldiers landed on their shores, they immediately recognized a new colonizer, and determined to fight back using wits - until a resident girl is raped.

Whether the rape historically happened or not, residents still had cause to fight back using force. The U.S. soldiers had disrupted their way of life, often violently. Like the Spanish before them, residents met in secret and plotted their uprising. Needless to say, with only bolos, sharp knives and hands and punches, the residents fell heavily under gun and artillary fire.

The new colonizers, the Americans, took a Filipino town's most prized possession, the church's bells - a Spanish influence they had turned uniquely their own. Company C installed the bells in FE Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where they remain today.

Groups in the Philippines and the U.S. say the soldiers took the bells as war booty. They and the Philippine government are lobbying for U.S. officials to return the bells to their rightful owners.

The play should be viewed in light of the larger history of the Spanish American War, and in turn the Filipino American War. "Bells of Balangiga" takes place in the middle of the former, when the United States had just entered the world stage and begun to follow patterns danced by former European colonizers, such as Spain, Portugal, England and France. One could see how unhappily history truly repeats itself, especially when this small incident, not even set in any big city such as Manila or Cebu, mirrors incidents in Afghanistan and Iraq.

From battles in Cuba and China, battle-weary U.S. soldiers came to Samar to follow President William McKinley's Manifest Destiny ideal already executed in the western U.S. against the Native Americans. They were burdened by homesickness and racism, and had been convinced of their superiority by a president inexperienced in imperialist sentiments.

McKinley's Manifest Destiny thinking is that U.S. expansion of their form of freedom and democracy is not only good, but it is obvious and inevitable, and divinely inspired.

"Bells of Balangiga," written by Rodolfo Carlos Vera and directed by Louie Pascasio, is an imporant reminder that not much has changed in over 100 years of U.S. thinking. In the 2004 Republican National Convention wherein President Geroge W. Bush accepted his second nomination for president of the U.S., he gave an address that could have been said in 1901, with resounding echoes:

"The progress we and our friends and allies seek in the broader Middle East will not come easily, or all at once. Yet Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of liberty to transform lives and nations. That power brought settlers on perilous journeys, inspired colonies to rebellion, ended the sin of slavery, and set our nation against the tyrannies of the 20th century. We were honored to aid the rise of democracy in Germany and Japan and Nicaragua and Central Europe and the Baltics - and that noble story goes on. I believe that America is called to lead the cause of freedom in a new century. I believe that millions in the Middle East plead in silence for their liberty. I believe that given the chance, they will embrace the most honorable form of government ever devised by man. I believe all these things because freedom is not America's gift to the world, it is the almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world."

That paragraph was taken verbatim from the White House Web site's collection of presidential speeches.

"Manifest Destiny is now unilateral preemptive strike, and [as in Spain] Christianity is now freedom," 1970s martial law activist Baltazar Pinguel said, during Pintig's 15th anniversary where the Bernard Stone documentary, "Two Bells/Two Worlds" was shown. He said that even the U.S. forgets - or worse, ignores - the lessons of history.

Balangiga is now a large municipality of 13 smaller barangays. The town plaza is surrounded by a playground, a stage, municipal buildings and city hall. Each September, residents and tourists gather around the plaza to participate in several days' festivities; the highlight is a reenactment by teenagers of the battle between their ancestors and the Americans. It is the town's largest tourist draw.

A basketball hoop stands in the middle of the plaza when it is quiet. One wonders what effect the bells would have on a simple fishing town like this, should the bells be returned. To a near corner stands St. Anthony Church, squat and elegant, painted a creamy white, its belltower whistling in the wind, waiting.

---
this piece was supposed to appear in the april issue of the fil-am community builder, but missed its deadline. oh wells. :-( it's ok. the editors said to tweak it for may. yay!

mashimaro!!!

2006-04-20T22:15:00.000-05:00

mashimaro is another korean character aiko sent me. he's cute, cuddly white, and best of all, irreverent! ahahaha -

cool skirts!

2006-04-19T22:22:00.000-05:00

i'm in a skirt mood again... too bad almost all the great-looking ones are at least $75 each... i should just go to devon avenue. hehehehehe.

i totally dig this! :-D

this shirt is totally cool! i likes much.

i really like 'em coz they're so different. i think they're thick enough to to last the winter. maybe some day when i have extra cash. ;-)

emily millie

2006-04-18T23:21:00.002-05:00

emily millie
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

hi, daddy! ano yan?

this is my cousin bong's daughter, emily. he wanted to call her millie. and then i told him about millicent from harry potter, and he never mentioned the name ever again. hehehehehe. ninang has such influence.

emily likes it
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

hi daddy! that was funny! you're funny. hehehehe

i guess it's a family trait that all special first daughters have no hair as infants. hehehehehe... mabuhay ang kalbo!

emily's friend
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

don't mind them, they don't know we're best friends.

iloveegg!!!

2006-04-17T23:48:00.000-05:00

click the jumping image above.
don't you see how happy they are to see you?

or do would you rather in korean?

the bouncing strawberry-flavored eggs above were texted to me by my friend aiko. they're available at the posh british site for £2.50. they have main sites, in english and korean.

today was obviously a stressful day. i'm completely brainwashed. hehehehehe...

happy easter!

2006-04-16T23:36:00.000-05:00

francis p.'s cherry blossoms

woohoo! happy easter, everyone! i couldn't think of anything to text out, so i used sarah's great quote. thanks to everyone who sent greetings! :-)

(on black saturday)
Let dis season of LENT remind us al that dis life we hav & d material posesions we hold r just bein LENT 2 us. We r al pasin by. We r not imigrants hir. We are all pilgrims n d road. We bring nothing wen we die but we can leave bhind d luv we have shared, d hope we have given & d goodness we have done. God bless us. :)

(easter sunday)
Happy Easter!!! Take care and God bless!

Happy easter!

Let our wounded, muted voices sing again: Christ is risen! Life is very good! Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! May the Risen Lord pour out His Grace & Blessings upon U & Ur loved ones!

and my most favorite:
In d palm of hs hand god has written ur name, 4 u r loved not 4 what u are 2 others but 4 who u are 2 hm.Hve a meaningful easter. god bless!

para sa pito ng hacienda luisita

2006-04-15T23:17:00.000-05:00

this song performed by bagwis is dedicated to the first seven protestors killed in the nov. 16, 2004 demonstration at hacienda luisita. most of the protestors that day worked at the hacienda. the hacienda is a sugar mill and plantation owned by the cojuangcos, the family of former president corazon aquino.

on another note... i'm going to laugh... ahahahaha... i now have youtube. woohoo!

sorry for the shaking hand. i was happy. ahahaha.

waiting for sun in the evening

2006-04-14T17:47:00.000-05:00

chicago is under a tornado watch tonight until midnight. i find that hard to believe when it's hot and sunny and peaceful and beautiful outside. *sigh* i'm hella happy. sunset isn't until 8 p.m. and it's FRIDAY!

yesterday, there was no class coz of jewish passover. i think the u of c is founded by jewish people, that's why it's hella rich and "ivy." ahahaha.

i am almost halfway into my 594-page edith wharton, "the custom of the country." it's supremely good. woohoo! i need to finish it by wednesday. ha!

today, i'm going to text a writer who seems to have given up communication of all sorts for lent. talk about penitensya. ahahaha. but he cheated coz you're supposed to give up something since ash wednesday. hehehehe!

and then i'm going to run to starbucks and make sure kevin makes me my green tea blackberry frapdrink again. oh la la. yum.

tomorrow, black saturday, i'm going to meet a friend for coffee. if she doesn't show up, imma subsist breakfast, lunch and dinner on pastry and coffee. mmmmm.

but i won't think about tomorrow yet, which looks like another crazy day. instead, i want to think about sunday, when i get to go to mass at a lakeside church, and let the waves tell me my fortunes.

mmmm... quiet time. i might even be able to write something complete and coherent for once. ahahaha.

intricate things

2006-04-13T23:07:00.000-05:00

the reason why i loooooooooove anthropologie skirts is coz of their unique fabrics, their generous laying thereof, their earthy colors, and their embroidery. things machinemade that are made to look handmade like embroidery's all the rage now, and i am more than happy to be willing zombie consumer. hehehehe.

in grade 6 we were taught embroidery as a craft. i liked it, and miss it right now. embroidery thread and needle wasn't that much more expensive than regular thread and needle. one stitch that i remember is a technique where you overlap stitches. i can't remember its name now. that technique is most effective in rainbow thread.

the thing that resonates most with me is that it's incredibly time consuming - but well worth the time and effort. :-)

lookie that cute purse made of lace and embroidery.

see how well it goes with your partner's, i mean, your boyfriend's shirt. hehehe ;-)

[ pix from secrets of embroidery ]

hong kong postcards

2006-04-12T23:06:00.000-05:00

woohoo! :pleased: thanks, eugene!

green tea blackberry frappuccino

2006-04-11T22:52:00.000-05:00

i wonder why they chose blackberry to pair with green tea? hmm. could it be in relation to the popular wireless ~~crack~~blackberries?

kevin the barista always gives me a venti when i've only ordered a grande. and then he pours half the squeegee bottle of blackberry sauce into my drink. he tops the drink with a little whipped cream, and then more blackberry sauce.

you'd think he had finished. but he places a domed cover over my frap, clicks it in place, grabs the whipped cream, and then effectively covers the space with immaculate white stuff. and then he tops it with more blackberry sauce.

the dude is ~~trying to kill me~~ incredibly nice. mmm.

poster at jimmy john's

2006-04-10T23:12:00.000-05:00

poster at jimmy john's
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

bells poster at cosi
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

come see the musical! visit pintig.org

bells of balangiga poster at sandwich joint jimmy john's. yay!

met with levi today to brainstorm about publicity. come watch the play!

The Bells of Balangiga
April 27-30
May 4-7

Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00PM
Saturdays and Sundays at 3:00PM

Light Opera Works/McGaw YMCA Auditorium
1420 Maple Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201
For more info, call (312) 222-1551
circatheater[at]yahoo.com

Visit http://pintig.org/.

to you sweetheart, aloha

2006-04-09T02:57:00.000-05:00

this movie is all about hawaii. and that it's only already less than 2 months, and i am headed that way for the first - and possibly the only - time. WOOHOO!!! ;-P really need to stop eating and save money NOW. ahahaha -

"to you sweetheart, aloha" is a documentary of incredible and wonderful bill tapia, a jazz artist playing the ukelele. right now the web site doesn't list any playdates for june; i'll just visit the web site again.

it opens at a local senior center, with a roomful of adults learning to play the ukelele. they strum in unison to... i think it's "to you, sweetheart, aloha," by harry owens. a soloist absently picks at his ukelele, responding to waves of melody. from his expression, he looks like he's wondering when things will pick up. at the end of the song, the host calls the young part of the program, and asks bill, possibly the oldest in that room, to play for the room.

i knew, while picking at postcards at asian american showcase, just looking at a postcard of this film, that i would like it. it just took turns in ways that i didn't expect. it begins shortly after the deaths of his wife and his daughter, and like a true legend, he becomes unexpectedly wildly, widely appreciated and popular, carrying on a demanding schedule headed by his 26-year-old manager turned muse, alyssa.

when family members noticed that he seemed to be spending more time with her than his family, they begun to suspect alyssa of taking advantage of bill. alyssa had no choice but to break from what she calls her friendship with bill.

bill, on the other hand, cried the one time the filmmakers asked about alyssa. "i don't want to talk about this," he said. he also said that if alyssa were his age, he would marry her in a second.

when alyssa took bill to his old home in hawaii, his voice shook and his eyes watered. he said he had a lot of happy memories in that house. he also said "but that's how they got to be," about the house, the memories, his wife and daugher, and alyssa.

before screening co-director and producer marcedes coats (worked with leo chiang on this film) said she called tapia to let him know of the show and to check up on him. he is now 98 years old. she said a shade of the inevitable, that he is slowly loosing eyesight in his other eye.

the film ends with alyssa reconciled with the family and bill, but not at the level as before. alyssa is saddened, but visibly thankful - "it takes a lot of patience," she said, of working with someone as old as bill. she says the yearlong hiatus has allowed her to take care of other things in her life.

the film does not end sadly, instead it ends with his 2002 sold-out concert at the historic hawaiian theater, a place under renovation. the film ends by mention of his sold-out concerts all over hawaii and california.

joanne at showcase

2006-04-08T23:07:00.000-05:00

joanne at showcase
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

we saw "red doors." really good movie!

comments soon.

is the pen dry in the philippines?

2006-04-07T18:22:00.001-05:00

i am reacting to ian casocot's blogessay, "is the pen dry in dumaguete?" ian's complaints are uttered the same in the capital city, manila.

from this essay, and some comments, i think all that philippine lit needs is someone to sell. with story mag out, selling stories is appearing lucrative. marketing, PR, advertising and business majors should realize that there is money in stories, the nonjournalism kind.

the people with the most disposable income are the fresh grads with the first jobs. after giving some to their parents, paying bills, and romping the city and countrysides with friends, they haven't a clue what else to do with their remaining cash. the other group are the kids still in school, from every level, those dependent on allowance given by parents. they should be wooed to spend on lit.

and don't try too hard, coz lit is already trendy without help. notice the coffeeshops and pastry cafes that have sprung up like mushrooms and picturesque sunsets. those who say otherwise belong to the hypnotized disney crowd. ;-)

my answer to that question, by the way, on whether the writing river has dried up in the land of my birth, is hardly. extremely.

no longer (living) strong

2006-04-06T20:21:00.000-05:00

no longer (living) strong
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

it has finally happened. and it was already in the supple rubber consistency that i wanted. it snapped suprisingly just as when i was relying on it to be durable, at work. ahh, need one of those stressball thingies.

it lasted only eight months with me. boo. :-(

greeeeeen tea latte

2006-04-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

green tea would more logically be paired with fellow beverage and jam favorite blackberry, but the almighty sbux managed to make coffee green.

green tea latte
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

yes... my friends... the great typical globalization-ushering company sbux made it possible. it tastes all right too... so long as you ask for "light on the whip" and slurp it while it's hot.

that way, you don't think about your drink being green. ok, i'm showing my ignorance here - i once had really good warm matcha ahaha, so i think mixing it into a latte is the next logical thing. o, the things i better learn. ...

motherless

2006-04-04T23:48:00.000-05:00

One-Word Poem
by David R. Slavitt
from William Henry Harrison and Other Poems

Motherless.

Discussion questions.

Is this a joke? And, if so, is it a joke of the poet in which the editor of the magazine (or, later, the book publisher or the textbook writers) has conspired? Or is it a joke on the editors and publishers? Is the reader the audience of the poem?
It is regrettable not to have a mother. Is the purpose of the poem to convey an emotion to the reader? Does the poet suppose that this is the saddest word in the language? Do you agree or disagree? Can you suggest a sadder word?
The Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary gives an alternate meaning from nineteenth- and twentieth-century Australian slang as an intensifier, as in “stone motherless broke.” Can you assume that the poet knew this? Does this make for an ambiguity in the poem? Does this information change your emotional response?
If the assertion of the single word as a work of art is not a joke, then what could it mean? Is it a Dada-ist gesture, amusing and cheeky perhaps but with an underlying seriousness that the poet either invites or defies the reader to understand?
Even if the poet was merely fooling around, does that necessarily diminish the possible seriousness of the poem?
If we acknowledge that this is a work of art, can the author assert ownership? Is it possible to copyright a one-word poem?
In writing a one-word poem, the crucial decision must be which word to choose and to posit as a work of art. Do you think the poet spent a great deal of time picking this word? Or did he simply open a dictionary and let his fingers do the walking? Does that diminish the poem’s value? Or is it a kind of bibliomancy?
Should the word have been in quotes? Or is it quotes even without being in quotes? There is a period at the end of the poem. Would it change the meaning of the poem if there were an exclamation point? Or no punctuation at all? Would that be a different poem? Better or worse? Or would you like it more or less? (Are these different questions?)
You can almost certainly write—or “write”—a one-word poem. But it would be difficult for you to get it published—almost certainly more difficult now that this one has been published and staked its claim. Is the publication of a poem a part of the creative act? Had the poet written his poem and put it away in his desk drawer as Emily Dickinson used to do, would this make it a different poem?
Some poems we read and some that we particularly like, we memorize. You have already memorized this one. Do you like it better now? Or are the questions part of the poem, so that you have not yet memorized it? Will you, anyway? Do you need to memorize the questions verbatim, or is the idea enough?

only the brave

2006-04-03T19:39:00.000-05:00

lane_nishikawa
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

the first film i saw for asian american showcase 2006 was "only the brave," the world war 2 tale of the rescue of the army 100th regimental combat team, a team of texans, by the 442nd regimental combat team, made up of u.s. soldiers of japanese descent.

in short, the film was written by lane nishikawa, a critically-acclaimed playwright, so it had the feel of a play - there were times when really touching dialogue was choppy because the camera had to follow the actors as they said their lines.

nishikawa plays sgt. jimmy takata, the highest-ranking officer remaining in the 442nd, whose father, a buddhist priest, had just passed away just as he was about to be deployed to france. after completing one assignment, his unit is sent to rescue the 100th, trapped on all sides by the germans. severely injured in the last battle, the army doctor orders him to stay behind and rest.

there is a searing scene of the other sergents commanding each of their units and passing by him. one by one his injured soldiers return, and when they die, takata collects personal items, at first to remember his soldiers by, and then later, to return to their families.

nishikawa expertly weilds the lives of japanese-americans in this movie. takata is shown to take care of his troops less like a commanding officer and more like a substitute father, brother or friend. during the rest he takes the opportunity to get to know his soldiers, and in the process learns about the fiance who asked one to marry him, the engagement ring tucked in an unused lighter; the other who left behind a beauty queen; the next whose mother speaks only japanese and whose two sisters won't cease crying. his mother circulated a white cloth to hundreds of women who each embroidered a red knot on the cloth.

his mother said it's an old tradition - each knot represents the prayers of a loved one. i forgot just how many knots there were, the film says so, but i think it's 1,000 knots. if he wears it, the wearer has 1,000 people praying for his protection. the son given the cloth was killed in the battle to rescue the texans. my mind whirled about iraq, and all the other things that war kills.

the film is about the contribution of an asian american group to u.s. history - one of its most important moments. like filipino american soldiers ignored by the government, a story like this is due. according to the u.s. department of defense web site, the 442nd unit is the most decorated unit in u.s. military history.

nishikawa said he first got involved in the 100th/442nd story because he has an uncle who served in the 442nd. he found out that by marriage, he gained two more relatives who had served in the 442nd. it's part of his family's history.

hawaii resident nishikawa visited the chicago screening and despite the finished look of his film, he described other plans for it - such as photos of the awarding ceremony and the current lives of veterans. eventually, he said, he would like to release a DVD for the film.

i was asked to review this film almost two years ago. i never turn down assignments, but i didn't follow-up on this anyways. my editor was gracious enough to let it slide. i couldn't review it because i hadn't seen the film yet, but also because of the violent history of the japanese on filipinos, also during world war 2.

the prevalent role that the military japanese, vietnamese, italians and the germans play in world war 2 films is that of the enemy. i had blogged about this topic before, regarding another world war 2 movie, "the great raid":

the mother of a friend of mine recently visited the philippines for a tourist tour she was never able to take while still living there. among the stops was a site in memory of the japanese invasion of the philippines. my friend didn't specify where, because i don't think her mother knew where as well. but he said she returned with much avarice against the japanese for 1) invading the philippines and, in exaggeration, 2) for brutally ransaking everything in sight. my friend said his mother's behavior surprised him so, but what topped it was that she went as far as calling the japanese the three- and four-letter J word - a label considered on a par with the N word here for blacks.

i was shocked, but i wasn't sure if the J word was derogatory, and my friend, born and raised here, making him a full-fledged jerzee boy migrant to chicago, confirmed that the J word is highly derogatory. "here," he emphasized, meaning the u.s. it's the same as "asiatic" and "oriental" when you use those words to describe a person.

asians here in the u.s. realize they're all lumped in the same boat, and there's already enough racial baggage around here as it is. groups have to choose which issue to tackle first. and within the groups, baggage brought in from the homeland by the newly-arrived is considered laughable if you fail to see how it relates to your current life.

[ more ]

essentially, my friend said there's nothing wrong writing about the a japanese american story if you're filipino american.

and that's essentially why i didn't write about the story. i still can't write that article, even as i completely understand what the 442nd went through. i still have to clearly see why the u.s. rounded up the japanese americans and the german americans during world war 2. i think my mind still can't wrap itself around the concept of prejudice and ignorance: there's absolutely no excuse for such.

madonna della strada

2006-04-02T23:20:00.000-05:00

madonna della strada
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

loyola university chicago's madonna della strada church, extending hands to students undergoing the rite of christian initiation of adults.

i looooove going to loyola's nighttime mass. lent is particularly special for me. the lessons then are much more meaningful.

this past sunday the gospel was about lazarus rising from the dead.

the priest - it's always the same one even when i attended there, and i never got his name - gave a new slant to the story of lazarus and his two sisters. he focused on letting go.

he told of one of his mentees, a woman who lived in san francisco and holding on to her dying mother. the priest said that as soon as her mother readied to settle down to die, the daughter, molly, kept on crying for her, barbara, to come back. so barbara always came back.

(i'll call the priest fr. joseph. i'll find out his real name next time.)

fr. joseph asked molly barbara's status. molly cried over the phone telling him, and said she can't let go of her mother yet.

fr. joseph sympathized, but realized something very important. he said molly needed to let her mother go. molly cried that she can't.

"whose needs are being met here?" fr. joseph said as gently as he could during april 2's homily.

her mother can't leave her yet, we have such a good relationship, molly told fr. joseph over the phone.

fr. joseph just reminded her, "but she needs to go home now."

jesus told the crowd that he waited for two days after receiving word that lazaus was dying because it was meant that the he would die. "and I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe," jesus told the disciples.

while i'm reminded of the many more things i need to accomplish in this world, i focused on the homily's theme, letting go. i realized i've maintained some long distance relationships for years now. i learned it isn't a big deal; everyone is in some sort of long distance affinity with someone close to them. but i've also broken, or let brake, many friendships all because i let distance and misunderstanding get in the way. in some instances, it's regrettable.

with that gospel, i learned one more thing that could keep those kinships strong and true, a simple lesson on friendship that i've forgotten.

i need to remember to always ask myself whose needs are being met. it's a type of communication i rarely practice.

circa: yo!

2006-04-01T04:09:00.000-06:00

fundraising event for the center for immigrant resources and community arts (CIRCA). the next generation of politically-conscious youth.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

olive and rashid

circa_yo30
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

jen b.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

my shining black/green guitar. oh la la.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

my first love is singing... and it shows.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

dr. nagasura t. madale of capitol university in cagayan de oro city showing off the malong. he is in chicago for the "access: philippines" program, a monthlong exchange program with northern illinois university.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

dr. madale teaching filipino american youth the traditional "mano."

later he also taught the youth present that after shaking hands with another, one should bring the hand to their heart, "so the energy does not [waste]. when you shake someone's hand and bring it to your heart, the other person's energy transfers to you."

that way, madale said, the person's intended goodwill for you will not merge with the wind.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

bagwis! with rashid on kubing.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

je, bagwis frontwoman, on harmonica for "kamusta," for the public for the first time.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

the projector totally worked. so hot! ;-)

bagwis always puts their all into every performance they give.

watch out for this chicago-based band.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

duet with ed.

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

kaikai, activist siren-poet in the making. another pinay katipunera-gabriela pained by filipino and u.s. norms on what women should be.

go kaikai!

circa: yo!
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

singing whitney houston's signature hit and i mean it, too.

random
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

ayan, may pix na kami ni trina, yay!

outside

2006-03-31T22:53:00.000-06:00

did you see outside today? gorgeous. extremely. i slept almost all of it off - i woke up just as my shift at work was just supposed to be starting! - but i was glad to have caught a glimpse of its last four hours.

it's getting warmer.
what a way to end the winter.
i'm expecting a breathless summer.

sunset sa roxas blvd

2006-03-30T04:48:00.000-06:00

is it a den?
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

bookman's alley in evanston

myopic bookstore
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

on damen avenue

borders on state street
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

one of the more popular borders in chicago, second to flagship store on michigan avenue.

victoria peak sa gabi
Originally uploaded by Nasa Dulo ng Dila.

ang ganda! sana makarating din ako diyan. ...

spoliraium stamp
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

a gift from pinas. woohoo!

sunset sa roxas blvd
Originally uploaded by Nasa Dulo ng Dila.

maligayang bati, eugene! :-D sana tuloy ang masaya, productive at successful mong lifestyle sa pagsapit ng bagong dekada.

salamat sa pagupload ng maraming pix ng san agustin church at museum at hong kong, ang gaganda! yes, idealistic pa rin tingin ko sa manila, walang squatters, basurang nakakalat, traffic, pollution, stray animals, mga batang nagtitinda ng sampaguita't diyaryo - pero siya pa rin ang sentro ng aking lahat.

o di ba. "center of everything." hehehe.

maraming salamat sa lahat. nakakabilib ang iyong pagbantay sa lahat ng bago o mabuti tungkol sa literatura. natutuwa akong kahit superdecorated ka nang manunulat, tanda pa rin sa iyo ang mga importante sa buhay. sana magenjoy ka ngayong araw ng kaarawan mo. happy birthday!

from the hancock observation deck

2006-03-29T22:59:00.000-06:00

from the hancock observation deck
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_quatre.

this is emanuel, one of my oldest friends who now lives in los angeles.

from the signature room at the hancock
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_quatre.

after touring chicago's second tallest building, we went to the signature room - two floors about the observatory deck. but at that height you can barely see anything you recognize on the ground anymore. ahahaha.

from the hancock outdoor observation deck
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_quatre.

from inside the outdoor observation deck.

from the signature room
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_quatre.

wow, shopping! ahahaha. one of the stores we like is abercrombie & fitch. even if they shamelessly sport sweatshops. boo. ...

hancock center
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_quatre.

from the outside... i should have asked him to step one step to the right... or left... nevermind. ahaha -

happy birthday, em! 34 ain't bad. :-)

(sorry ha, ito lang pix ko for now. but i'll upload the rest soon.)

wacker drive building

2006-03-28T23:30:00.000-06:00

wacker drive building
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

noise
is tiring
is to patch

up
words otherwise
needed to patch

up
holes lurking
under filmsy wraps.

galatea gives books

2006-03-27T22:49:00.000-06:00

galatea gives books
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

hehehe... this is what you get for reviewing books... more books! mmm... thanks, eileen!

andy's prehousewarming

2006-03-26T03:00:00.000-06:00

andy's prehousewarming
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

ok... no more fruitcake with red bull, pineapple juice, ice, that absolut thingy, karaoke...

it was at this party that i started hiccuping. it was either laughing, the pineapple juice, the chips and french onion dip, or the rice and spicy chicken. i dunno...

this is a prehousewarming... andy says he'll have something more ~~sane~~ formal later this year. just keep on calling him, ahahaha -

aaja and ethnic media meeting

2006-03-25T03:00:00.000-06:00

aaja and ethnic media meeting
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

the first-ever asian american journalists association meeting with chicago ethnic media - most of which was filipino media!

the first asian american journalists association (AAJA) meeting with various asian american ethnic media (EM) intended to meet with print, online and broadcast journalists from all nationalities of asian descent in chicago, but interestingly the only nationality present was filipino. the chinese americans and south asians were members of aaja.

that wasn't the first thing that i saw when i came to the meeting, of course. you wouldn't know that just looking at the group present. i forgot what topic it was that they were talking about when i squeezed in a seat next to pinoy monthly (PM) and an aaja rep. but i liked how members from mega scene magazine and PM realized they were at odds with each other. ahahaha.

to be brutally honest, i was hoping that the beef between filipino media would come out. i wanted to know their history, why the second largest asian group in the third largest city in the u.s. has at least five different print publications. and they all seem to be released all at the same time. and they are all free - unless you want them delivered to your door.

when you sit down and read two of these publications side by side, you'll notice that the bulk of news still comes from the homeland. researchers and mainstream journalists have never ceased calling filipinos in the u.s. - or at least, in chicago - the invisible minority. but for their accent and skin color, they blend in extremely well.

if journalism reflects the community it represents, then i say at least two of the five publications are doing a good job (the one i volunteer for and the other that i read. ahahaha). journalists watch what's going on, they, ideally, don't start fires so that they could call firefighters to put out the blaze so then they could have something to write about. they don't make the news.

many editors will say there is always something to cover, they just have to look for it. indeed, there is, it's just a matter of staffing them. that's where ethnic media is lacking. but this could be countered if the one or two bodies they have get trained efficiently so they can accomplish more in the small time alloted to them.

this is what the EM journalists asked for from aaja - training. aaja said they will schedule craft workshops and let them know about upcoming ones already planned, such as the layout and design workshop coming up.

aaja then compiled a list of emails from the meeting and suggested if the ethnic journalists would like to learn about filing freedom of information act requests, finding court documents and police reports.

it made me smile because this is something that EM needs to learn because at the meeting, i heard many things that seemed to all amount to that the journalists want their publications to make an impact on the larger society their backgrounds belong to, that is, chicago, illinois, the u.s.

that the journalists present at the meeting mentioned that this is their desire is very encouraging to hear. i say this as a first-generation immigrant who is the same age as the second-generations aaja journalists who are, like their parents and their contemporaries, still writing "am here" to a society that sometimes deems they haven't yet arrived.

oddly ill

2006-03-24T23:56:00.000-06:00

lately, all these weird things have been happening to me.

today, friday, i called in sick because of extreme fatigue. i mean, i would walk about 20 paces and my heart would palpitate. i would walk up and down one flight of stairs and i would need to catch my breath. i think i had an average of 4 hours of sleep everyday this past week. i was shaking at work last night. so exhausted my body was, that i had to call in sick today. i slept at around 1:30 a.m. last night and woke up at around the same time today, 1:30 p.m.

but it felt like the first real sleep i've had all week.

it's my fault, not just work: on election night, i was already sleep deprived. and then i drank four regular doctor peppers. ahahaha. but the one good thing's that i actually got all that i wanted to get done, done. like planning the next book club meetings. i worked like crazy wednesday and thursday. heehee!

but before going out with a friend for coffee tonight, i was carrying the rolled-up philippine flag down our front steps, and promptly tripped down the last three steps. dangit! it's totally a 10-year-old thingy to do. i twisted my ankle. right now, i'm hoping that it's only slightly twisted, because although it would be wonderful to skip work again for a few days, i don't want to, because it's the end of the month and many more crazy things happen at the ends of months. ahaha.

my friend speculated that all these bad things are happening because something good will happen. well, i'm feeling my bad ankle now. i sorely hope so. ;-)

next muntingtinig meeting

2006-03-24T17:42:00.000-06:00

saturday, april 22
selection: DUSK
author: F. Sionil Jose
details: please read all 352 pages
publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375751440
time: 6:30 p.m.
venue: anna and nina rosete's apartment, 345 N. LaSalle, Suite 4504, Chicago, IL 60610. again, please let anna know you are going.

saturday, may 20
selection: DON VICENTE: Two Novels (Tree and My Brother, My Executioner)
author: F. Sionil Jose
details: this book is two novels in one. please read the section, TREE.
length (both novels): 448 pages
Publisher: Modern Library
ISBN: 0375752439
time: 6:30 p.m.
venue: Sweet Table, 3056 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. 773-549-4188. don't worry if you don't have extra cash - we'll let you eat our leftovers. just kidding. hehehe.

i'm really grateful for all the support! sweet table's owner said he's going to close the restaurant at 7 p.m. and we can stay there all night if we want; let's not. ahahaha. we might not be invited back. let's just crash at the hamlin house or at anna's house after, ahahaha. ...

eliza's war pix

2006-03-23T13:39:00.000-06:00

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

rally against the war in iraq, march 18 2k6.

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

near the ogden school yard in downtown, police in riot gear. yes, and our flagpoles can really be as easily swung as their sticks.

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

and so we laughed about it even though we knew it there was something kinna silly in doing so.

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

hehehe. ...

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

walking to get something to eat before the march.

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

short girl needs to grow!

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

marching proper to michigan avenue: choosing which chant to yell first

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

it was dark on the gold coast

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

marching proper on michigan avenue. wow... tall buildings.

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

we made it to daley plaza!

eliza's war pix
Originally uploaded by elisaroar.

going all out. thanks, eliza!

[ more war pix ]
[ more pix ]

causeful siren

2006-03-22T02:37:00.000-06:00

ginger
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

at an early open mic at sala cafe, 2005

openmic_sala1
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

bringing bamboo to the second city.

jinx
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

with bagwis at a pintig filipino open mic at jinx cafe.

bagwis
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

with bagwis at a pintig open mic at hoghead mcdunna's.

JEnger
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

pintig's christmas fundraiser. "pasko na, sinta ko..." that venue in suburban... niles i think it was... is a popular filipino event venue.

secret birthday lovers
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

candles on cookies. it's so obvious. hehehe.

jinx3
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

happy birthday, je! thanks for all you've done for the community thus far - singing at the open mics at a hat's drop, volunteering for pintig, the awesome way you've brought bamboo, parokya ni edgar, and yes, i've forgotten the others coz i'm dense like that, but that means so damned much to me!

nakakatuwang memoryado mo yung buong kid's lit tape na padala sa yo ng daddy mo! ahahahaha! grabe, gulat kami. ahahaha.

salamat sa lahat ng kuntribusyon, at sana wag kang magsawa. maligayang, maligayang bati - you deserve no less.

i'm cheating

2006-03-21T01:34:00.000-06:00

it's 1:33 a.m. on march 22. i just want to make sure i have something blogged for march 21. coz really the state primary elections happened the 21st. chaos. just like this food:

no more food after the first raid. darn.

arg, and i'm still here! boo.

thank you to all of those who made me feel guilty!

"Ü wíll nèvér fínd trüé haPpiNeSs uNtíl Ü hvè trÜly lóv3d n u wiLl n3v3r unD3rStáNd wHáT päiN rIly iS uNtiL u hv3 lösT it."

"Im not a citizen of ths country."

"I can't vote. Im not a citizen. I'm not even a greencard holder. Hehe."

for all you legit slackers (ok fine, sometimes me too), i need not elaborate how important a political election is. if you work, and you pay taxes, your money finances the pockmarked roads and sidewalks you stomp, as well as the salaries of the incumbent officials on that ballot.

friends had invited me to knock on doors in faraway suburban lombard this morning, but i totally had to back out coz it would have meant three hours of sleep in a span of 36 hours for me. i haven't mustered the courage to do that yet, hehe. maybe next time. i'm grateful to have been invited though. never done that before, hopefully i get a chance to do that soon. hopefully tammy duckworth wins tonight so i can join people in november! :-)

happy birthday, je! your turn tomorrow. hehehehe.

the primaries

2006-03-20T21:44:00.000-06:00

people. go out and vote tomorrow.
we've all waited 21 years for this.
some of us 18.
some of us never got to vote until we moved to this country.
all of us can be fairly sure that our votes will be counted.

i said FAIRLY sure, ok. illinois ain't perfect. ok, chicago. yes, i know i'm being naive. poor ulanmaya, so innocent. there, there now.

thing is, if all your hopes and dreams get crushed when president bush manages a third term, it'll be your fault coz you didn't even try getting up early to give a chance to, to vote for the congress-rep who, remotely sounds sensible to you. HA!

polls open at 6 a.m.

make a wish

2006-03-19T02:32:00.000-06:00

make a wish
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

annagirl's bday at maggiano's. woohoo!

drinks that complement each other
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

coz it was her birthday, and we were laughing althroughout dinner, maggiano's decided to compliment us with drinks on the house. so this is my cappuccino and the free drink was sambuca... sambuco... grappa... paint thinner... gasoline... whatever.

trying to walk back to the house
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

so satisfied, that the myths started emerging -

munting tinig book club - inaugural meeting
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_sei.

the stories started spilling -

bachelorette on the loose: funky buddha
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya.

the legends -

bisita ng parkoya, november 2k5
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_trois.

the epics -

wild bridesmaid
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_trois.

and the sagas. happy birthday, anna!

march 18 rally

2006-03-18T02:23:00.000-06:00

chicago anti-war protest
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

i participated in the nighttime city anti-war rally because i've witnessed the work community organizations like chicago antiwar and not in my name have gone through to secure a permit for organizations to march on michigan avenue. my clear goal was to support the first amendment cause. but i learned so many great things along the way. yes, it was a festival. but its importance is way more than my skill to describe here. bystanders lined sidewalks and peered from hotel and business windows, some cheering, some jeering.

shortly after war was declared in afghanistan and iraq, protestors gathered for an impromptu rally at federal plaza and denounced president bush's decision to invade iraq.

they took to the streets which eventually spilled into lake shore drive.

many friends of mine can tell you how irresponsible they consider protestors to let their grief spill onto the highway, inconveniencing them by costing them three to four more hours warming their car seats as they sat in traffic.

i would like to think that people who said that can't help being irked because at that time, they needed to go to the bathroom. and they were stuck in traffic.

police were waiting for protestors on the corner of michigan avenue and pearson. protestors decided to call it a night at around 10 p.m. at that corner. some protestors realized what was going on, and dispersed immediately. the curious ones witnessed how police in riot gear formed a square in the middle of the two streets' intersection and form a... corral.

police started arresting protestors. another one of my friends was arrested that day. i found out through her roommate. she did not elaborate, and i didn't prod further, after all, it was our friends' story. i could ask her some other time if i want. but i don't think i should.

i was working in the office that night, and was fielding phone calls flooding our newsroom. after the third call, you can't help but notice something's wrong when the person you're talking to on the phone is describing what's happening on TV.

it turns out that a radio station had read a report of ours that was written so ambiguously that it could mean that the protestors are starting to beat police officers, that's why police are forced to form an enclosure and make arrests - because any one of those protestors could start a fight.

i think we have at least three reporters out on the street that night. they were calling back things that they saw. it could be that a reporter saw police arresting a zealous protestor, fighting police, his friends fighting with him. it could be that there was just that one fight that caused police to form the enclosure and scaring other protestors.

i think that's the case because at another rally - i think just last year - police almost escorted anti-war demonstrators down state street to, if i remember it right, daley plaza. from a media video from the air, the demonstration looked like a walking rectangle down state street.

my friends and i left saturday's protest at 8:30 p.m. it was our first anti-war rally and march. protestors took the entire of michigan avenue southbound, three lanes of traffic.

a rally serves many purposes. this one helped me understand (war) issues more clearly. it was different than just telling a friend how demonstrations could be the fastest way to get information about issues.

at least four people asked what flag i was carrying. it was the only flag of its kind in the rally - earlier, i joked with friends that it was the only philippine flag in the entire city, and i might be right about that. i wonder if you could see blue over red from ten stories up. i wonder what the march looked like from the air.

more pix HERE

titling

2006-03-17T03:20:00.000-06:00

Things I Didn't Know I Loved
by Nazim Hikmet
Translated by Mutlu Konuk and Randy Blasing

it's 1962 March 28th

I'm sitting by the window on the Prague-Berlin train

night is falling

I never knew I liked

night descending like a tired bird on a smoky wet plain

I don't like

comparing nightfall to a tired bird





I didn't know I loved the earth

can someone who hasn't worked the earth love it

I've never worked the earth

it must be my only Platonic love





and here I've loved rivers all this time

whether motionless like this they curl skirting the hills

European hills crowned with chateaus

or whether stretched out flat as far as the eye can see

I know you can't wash in the same river even once

I know the river will bring new lights you'll never see

I know we live slightly longer than a horse but not nearly as long as a crow

I know this has troubled people before

              and will trouble those after me

I know all this has been said a thousand times before

              and will be said after me





I didn't know I loved the sky

cloudy or clear

the blue vault Andrei studied on his back at Borodino

in prison I translated both volumes of War and Peace into Turkish

I hear voices

not from the blue vault but from the yard

the guards are beating someone again

I didn't know I loved trees

bare beeches near Moscow in Peredelkino

they come upon me in winter noble and modest

beeches are Russian the way poplars are Turkish

"the poplars of Izmir

losing their leaves. . .

they call me The Knife. . .

              lover like a young tree. . .

I blow stately mansions sky-high"

in the Ilgaz woods in 1920 I tied an embroidered linen handkerchief

                             to a pine bough for luck





I never knew I loved roads

even the asphalt kind

Vera's behind the wheel we're driving from Moscow to the Crimea

                                               Koktebele

                    formerly "Goktepé ili" in Turkish

the two of us inside a closed box

the world flows past on both sides distant and mute

I was never so close to anyone in my life

bandits stopped me on the red road between Bolu and Geredé

                             when I was eighteen

apart from my life I didn't have anything in the wagon they could take

and at eighteen our lives are what we value least

I've written this somewhere before

wading through a dark muddy street I'm going to the shadow play

Ramazan night

a paper lantern leading the way

maybe nothing like this ever happened

maybe I read it somewhere an eight-year-old boy

                            going to the shadow play

Ramazan night in Istanbul holding his grandfather's hand

   his grandfather has on a fez and is wearing the fur coat

   with a sable collar over his robe

   and there's a lantern in the servant's hand

and I can't contain myself for joy

flowers come to mind for some reason

poppies cactuses jonquils

in the jonquil garden in Kadikoy Istanbul I kissed Marika

fresh almonds on her breath

I was seventeen

my heart on a swing touched the sky

I didn't know I loved flowers

friends sent me three red carnations in prison





I just remembered the stars

I love them too

whether I'm floored watching them from below

or whether I'm flying at their side





I have some questions for the cosmonauts

were the stars much bigger

did they look like huge jewels on black velvet

                  or apricots on orange

did you feel proud to get closer to the stars

I saw color photos of the cosmos in Ogonek magazine now don't

   be upset comrades but nonfigurative shall we say or abstract

   well some of them looked just like such paintings which is to

   say they were terribly figurative and concrete

my heart was in my mouth looking at them

they are our endless desire to grasp things

seeing them I could even think of death and not feel at all sad

I never knew I loved the cosmos





snow flashes in front of my eyes

both heavy wet steady snow and the dry whirling kind

I didn't know I liked snow





I never knew I loved the sun

even when setting cherry-red as now

in Istanbul too it sometimes sets in postcard colors

but you aren't about to paint it that way

I didn't know I loved the sea

                  except the Sea of Azov

or how much





I didn't know I loved clouds

whether I'm under or up above them

whether they look like giants or shaggy white beasts





moonlight the falsest the most languid the most petit-bourgeois

strikes me

I like it





I didn't know I liked rain

whether it falls like a fine net or splatters against the glass my

   heart leaves me tangled up in a net or trapped inside a drop

   and takes off for uncharted countries I didn't know I loved

   rain but why did I suddenly discover all these passions sitting

   by the window on the Prague-Berlin train

is it because I lit my sixth cigarette

one alone could kill me

is it because I'm half dead from thinking about someone back in Moscow

her hair straw-blond eyelashes blue





the train plunges on through the pitch-black night

I never knew I liked the night pitch-black

sparks fly from the engine

I didn't know I loved sparks

I didn't know I loved so many things and I had to wait until sixty

   to find it out sitting by the window on the Prague-Berlin train

   watching the world disappear as if on a journey of no return





                                          19 April 1962

                                          Moscow

From Selected Poetry by Nazim Hikmet. Persea Books, Inc., 1986.

---
after reading these hopeful lines, i look up, and there's this clunky title. it doesn't suit the lovely elegance of this piece! it doesn't suit his theory to "depoetize" poetry. it doesn't make sense to me! hikmet should work on titling.

ok, nevermind.

fourth letter from A

2006-03-16T02:39:00.000-06:00

summer open mic
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

open mic in the summer

premonitions
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

ed, je, steve and d

beyond the barrelman - closing
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

getting ready to jam

jinx5
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

je. d. ciso.
jinx.

bagwis1
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

'one hundred years' at the final open mic, nobyembre, 2005.

bagwis4
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

making an announcement

je and d
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_deux.

walong mata... happy birthday, d! :-D

galatea one

2006-03-15T22:53:00.000-06:00

Inaugural issue of
GALATEA RESURRECTS (A POETRY JOURNAL)

ISSUE NO. 1
March 15, 2006
[ click HERE for a linkspage for the whole of issue 1. ]

CONTENTS:

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION
From Eileen Tabios

NEW REVIEWS
THE FIRST HAY(NA)KU ANTHOLOGY, Eds. Jean Vengua & Mark Young

NEW REVIEWS
KATIPUNERA AND OTHER POEMS by Elsa Martinez Coscolluela

FROM OFFLINE TO ONLINE: REPRINTED REVIEWS
MUSEUM OF ABSENCES by Luis H. Francia

pilipinas stamps

2006-03-14T22:51:00.000-06:00

totally the coolest thing. :pleased:

and so

2006-03-13T04:01:00.000-06:00

[ spoilers ahead! ]

there are many things i liked about kate dicamillo's latest book, "the miraculous journey of edward tulane." but what i liked the most has to do with the decision to love.

i liked how dicamillo shows how easy it is to fall into bitterness - but how even harder it is to hold on to that bitterness. the reasons for becoming bitter are often clear as day, whereas the reasons for love are often hidden.

if one finds it easy to fall into bitterness, it is even easier to fall in love. isn't that just remarkable? there's a saying my friend texted me in the days following valentine's day - "where the heart is willing, it will find a thousand ways, but where it is unwilling it will find a thousand excuses."

edward didn't know it.

edward's heart stirred. ...

no, no, he told himself. don't believe it. don't let yourself believe it.

but it was too late.

someone will come for you.

the china rabbit's heart had begun, again, to open.

(page 192)

edward unwittingly made a decision, and he did it on his own. it was the only way.

like many unexpected things in his life, he was rewarded beyond the sweetest his heart can imagine.

and so.

4:01 a.m. to 6:12

Spaces and the things they occupy

2006-03-12T08:53:00.000-06:00

Reading "The First Hay(na)ku Anthology"

Sometimes when there's so much going on in one's mind, there is a tendency to be brief and curt but well-meaning in one's speech.

You
and I
should get together.

Maybe
we will
fall in love.

(Tom Beckett, "Dear Reader,")

Being succinct takes courage.

where did the rest of this review go? ack!!!

it's scheduled to appear in the inaugural issue of Galatea Resurrects (A Poetry Journal). the online journal is scheduled to go live the week of march 14. for details, visit in galatea's purse.

so... the review is still there. it just had to go in hiding for a while. hehehe. thanks for reading!

crossings

2006-03-11T04:30:00.000-06:00

answering a few questions before beginning reading kate dicamillo's latest work of art.

examine the cover of the book.

5. what do you think is happening on the cover?

edward tulane is the rabbit with the long shadow, approaching the door of his old house. this is his old house. he's returning to a house that has changed slower than he has.

edward realizes he isn't ready. he is plotting his course with each step closer to the door. he is constructing the perfect plausible reply to every question. he is thinking of answers.

he does not pause because he's eager to see his old house again. he's eager to tell abilene everything. he's happy to be given the chance to see his old home. he wonders if he can recognize anything. he wonders what is it he'll take with him when he leaves again.

he wonders if he'll be home for good - and what is it on the outside that he'll be missing.

4. what might miraculous mean?

passing strange. extraordinary. spectacular. fantastic. infinite. impossible. amazing. hopeful. true. heart-wrenching. gut-rendering. original. one-of-a-kind. irreplicable. irreconcilable. irreplaceable.

3. what kind of journey could he be undertaking?

a journey whose outcomes are never at all what he had ever thought them to be. a journey where his musings are only halfway met. a journey where almost all the stories told to him are half-true. a journey that allowed him to gather all the choicest narratives and adventures and heart-lessons that is the envy of those whose imaginations and dreams span infinite but their physical means remain impaired.

2. who is edward tulane?

edward tulane is the rabbit with the long shadow, approaching the door of his old house. this is his old house. he's returning to a house that has changed slower than he has.

chloe won! chloe won!

2006-03-10T03:33:00.000-06:00

i totally, TOTALLY liked chloe dao from day one! not only is she talented, but she is sensible and sensitive to what makes a good person. "that's much more important than a good designer," she once sobbed in the back room when one of her designer friends got booted out.

and she won season two of project runway! yay! yay! i'm hella happy.

what i really like about project runway is that it's set in new york city... i mean, even though it's set in new york city, there is a very tangible sensibility that this is just a show. ahahaha. there's always behind the scene shots, sewing, cutting, drawing, machines breaking, emotional drama; they show coaching, rebuking, pressure, the catch in every reward. they show the important things in life - i think for olympus fashion week, the show invites the designers' family and friends.

and so when chloe said that this was her fantasy collection, i totally agree - i'm sure many others have an idea where to wear this number:

but i surely don't, so if you know of such a place, let me know coz imma wear that pink beauty in a heartbeat.

but then, i also like this:

which was also in her runway finale collection - i totally like how well-sewn and sleek and shiny these two dresses are! she is totally into patterns and heavy fabric, and i also soooooooo like this one:

this one i could totally wear to a spring garden party, doncha think? so sweet. i can't wait till she opens her boutique. which reminds me that season 1 winner jay mccarroll should have a store somewhere in new york now... ahaha, there's no way i could afford any of these pieces... now... but it's always good to play pretend. hehehehe

next meeting for munting tinig

2006-03-09T23:11:00.000-06:00

** Apologies for any cross-postings.
** Please forward to your networks.

hi, all!

thanks again to everyone for coming to our last meeting!

MUNTING TINIG book club's next meeting is this saturday, march 11, 6:30 p.m. at anna rosete's place, 345 N. LaSalle, Suite 4504, Chicago, IL 60610.

please RSVP to anna so she knows how many people to prepare food for, and so she can tell the doorman of her building how many people to expect: anna_m_rosete@yahoo.com.

we will remain with "america is in the heart." please find below reading guidelines. we have prepared articles and possibly a video for this meeting.

thanks for reading, hope to see you there!

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muntingtinig/
http://muntingtinigchicago.blogspot.com

---

Since none of us are teachers, we will respond academically, psychologically or emotionally to the novel. To make it easier to organize your thoughts, I suggest all those interested in joining us to take a piece of paper and fold it in half.

On the left side of the paper, copy phrases that especially strike you. An example:

It is but fair to say that America is not a land of one race or one class of men. We are all Americans that have toiled and suffered and known oppression and defeat, from the first Indian that offered peace in Manhattan to the last Filipino pea pickers. America is not bound by geographical latitudes. America is not merely a land or an institution. America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world. America is a prophecy of a new society of men: of a system that knows no sorrow or strife or suffering. America is a warning to those who
would try to falsify the ideals of freemen.

America is also the nameless foreigner, the homeless refugee, the hungry boy begging for a job and the black body dangling on a tree. America is the illiterate immigrant who is ashamed that the world of books and the intellectual opportunities is closed to him.

We are all that nameless foreigner, that homeless refugee, that hungry boy, that illiterate immigrant and that lynched black body. All of us, from the first Adams to the last Filipino, native born or alien, educated or illiterate. We are America!

On the right side of the paper, write down your response to those reactions. Please remember to bring this list to the meeting.

one hundred percent pure

2006-03-09T04:25:00.000-06:00

yfc_cafe05l
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_trois.

mark visiting the sfc tables during cfc youth's open mic cafe... and dex liking it. ahahaha. sorry. i like spreading rumors. i mean, it was just too funny. ahahahaha... ok bye

one hundred percent pure party
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

cfc youth for christ doesn't waste time or opportunities - a party is preceeded by one of the most serious talks on lifestyle i've heard in a year. ahahaha.

one hundred percent pure party
Originally uploaded by ulanmaya_cinq.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARK! thanks for choosing chicago for your service. may God bless you always!