Letter to Manila

Lara and I selling our books at the
George Washington University Media Center

Dear Augie & Astrid,

Here is the much-delayed kuwento about my adventures in DC with Lara. Sorry at ngayon lang ako naka-sulat. It's mid-sem here in the US and the school work has been piling up.

Over-all, I'd say it wasn't a very well-organized event. BUT, commendable because it was organized by volunteers who had day jobs and were doing it because they believed in Filipino writers.

When I arrived at the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC, I was very tired and hungry and was looking forward to the lunch for writers that I seem to remember was in the schedule of events. I was also looking forward to speaking Tagalog again and being with Filipinos. Up until that time, I'd been in Minnesota and had only one Filipino friend in UMD. Also, nawala na rin ang "Filipino Time" sa katawan ko. I was always 10 or five minutes early for my classes and meetings.

Pagdating ko sa Phil. Embassy on 1600 Massachusetts Street, the receptionist was eating fried chicken and rice with her hands right there sa may desk niya. Na-twighlight zone ako. There in the middle of the capital city of the most powerful nation on earth was a slice of Manila. Oo nga naman, lunch time pa :) She said I should take the elevator down to B2 and I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to find that nobody was there and no one in the embassy was there to tell me were everyone was.

Turns out, the writers had been whisked away to a press conference at the National Press Club. Nalaman ko lang ito because may consul doon na dating taga-Kule. So hinanap ko siya. That's when he put me on an embassy vehicle para maka-attend ng presscon.

Malungkot kasi nilangaw yung presscon. :( The only people there were the writers, the embassy people and a representative of the NPC. I suppose there were one to three friends or family. But no reporters. Bino Realuyo gave a speech, which was interesting. I haven't really read his book yet. The ambassador gave a speech. And he kept referring to the whole event as historic. I know speech writers often exagerrate, but I wished the ambassador had the presence of mind to recognize that that was not quite the right word.

At that point, I came to understand that the event's focus is on Filipino-Americans. As it should be, I suppose. Augie, remember when you said na bakit wala kami ni Lara sa press release and sabi mo na dapat bida kami ek, ek. And then I disagreed, saying that that's a little too presumptuous. Well, here then is another response: Filipino-Americans writing in the United States, that's an entirely different ballgame. My impression is that Filipino-American writers don't read Filipino writers. This became all the more real to me when I approached the organizer, Reme, and told her that Butch Dalisay is in town. She had no clue who he was.



When Lara arrived, it was almost time for the reception with the Ambassador. We both changed into more decent clothes and joined the other writers in the reception hall. I suppose we gravitated towards writers who hadn't been in the US for long. Okay lang naman si Bino and his tropa from New York. When I rode with them back to the embassy from the presscon friendly naman sila. But they seemed to stick together too during the reception. I met Gad Lim from Ateneo who is there for his PhD. There was Eugene's friend, Yvonne Hortillo, and some other guy na nakalimutan ko na ang pangalan. All the writers were given plaques and certificates and we presented the ambassador with copies of our books. The highlight of the night for me was the food. Gutom na gutom na ako by then. And ang sarap ng sapin-sapin! Nanginginig yata ang kamay ko noong kumukuha ako ng food :)

There was a man there who spoke with us. Mukha siyang taga-Cordillera: prominent cheek-bones, medyo chinito. And when he spoke, medyo maraming talsik ng laway. I even had the impression that he was a little drunk, so I guess I was just polite to him but didn't encourage conversation. I was trying to mix and avoid being in one group. Ayaw ko rin naman ng mga clique. But di rin maiwasan that Lara and I stayed close. Comforting din kasi :)


Aida, Lara, Me and Yvonne

Lara, Yvonne and I stayed together with the Peck family in Arlington after the reception. Pagod na pagod kami pero nagkuwentuhan kami ni Lara hanggang mga 2 am. I think we both are very happy about being back in school. Very stimulating mag-aral dito. Nalulungkot ako minsan pag-naiisip ko how lacking in resources UP is.

The next day, Lara and I together with Almira Guilles spoke during a panel session on FIlipino Children's Books. This was held sa media center ng George Washington University.

Lara and I concentrated on talking about the situation back home. Almira, on the other hand, focused on the Fil-Am publishing situation (basically, mahirap daw ma-publish dito). I think Lara and I made quite an impression because it seems that prospects are better for writers for children in the Philippines. I heard too, that pinag-usapan ang panel session namin in the succeeding panel sessions because some other writers are now inspired to write for children.

One interesting thing that happened was that the man we met during the reception (whom I thought was drunk) asked a very good question during our panel. "What are our children missing by not reading Filipino stories?" was his question. Di ko maalala ang sagot ni Almira at ni Lara, but I said that stories affirm a child's being and a child's history.


Lara stares into space while we
man our book sale table

After the panel session, Lara and I hurriedly went back to our book display. Wala na palang nagbabantay. At the bantay ran off with my good pen :( :( So kami na lang ni Lara ang nagbenta ng libro namin. I think that, aside from the panel discussion, selling our books was my second most favorite thing about the trip.

Nakakatuwa to meet all those people. There was a young couple who asked me to dedicate my book to "Baby Cruz" kasi wala pa naman daw silang baby pero gumagawa na sila :) FYI. The bookstore Philippine Expressions bookbinds Adarna Books and sells them at a whopping $16! I don't really have good feelings about the owner. She seemed a little hostile when I met her sa embassy. You'd think that she would be interested in authors. But I guess she was put off na wala gaanong bumili ng children's books niya dahil tinabi niya ang spread niya sa table namin ni Lara.

Biro mo, Lara and I had come from so far tapos we were squished sa kalahati ng isang table. Pagbalik namin sa panel, may spread na ng expensive adarna books niya :( Pero okay lang dahil maraming bumili sa amin. Lara and I only sold our Adarna and Lampara books for $3.00. In the evening, dumating ang boyfriend ko from Duluth and he treated Lara and I to dinner at a nice pub.

So, that's my kuwento. Contrary to the feelings of Fil-Am writers, I think there's a good market for Filipino children's books in the US. Especially bilingual books. Let me emphasize on Filipino, not Fil-Am. I think that when Fil-Am's write, their themes are mostly about trying to fit in in this society. Also, they complain a lot about being labeled multi-cultural. Their aim is to break into mainstream American publication. There's nothing wrong with that. What they fail to see is that there are 2.5 million Fil-Am families who may want Filipino (not Fil-Am) books for their kids. Many young people really liked Lara's "There's a duwende.." and I noticed that parents gravitated to my Itim na Kuting book. I'm looking forward to linking with other Filipino communities with Lara. It would be nice if any of you could join us here for something like that.

Cheers,
-N

Link: Yvonne Hortillo's Blog on the gathering of Filipino and Filipino-American Writers in DC

Link: Yvonne's article published in an Asian American online magazine