Noon Mass, Nicole Constable, Heinz Chapel, and an evening walk
Yesterday after work I attended noon Mass, celebrated by Fr. Drew Morgan. He discussed the impact of the three archangels during the Michaelmas service.
I went to a lecture by Prof. Nicole Constable (A & S, Anthropology and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research). She spoke on "Telling Tales of Migrant Workers: Religion, Activism, and Women's Life Scripts." I zoomed from the post-talk reception to...
...Heinz Chapel for our class tour of Heinz Chapel (by Jackie), including my leading a discussion of how three out of four of the main nave windows refer directly to concepts of Academic Integrity.
Maureen and I went for a post-dinner walk in Shadyside.
Labels: diaspora, Faith, Mass, Philippines, Pilipino culture, school, walking, work
Pittsburgh Folk Festival 2008
I'm off to the Pittsburgh Folk Festival 2008 this morning. I will be the storyteller at the Philippines booth. I have two stories that I think the children will appreciate, Ang Alamat ng Palay,(The Legend of Rice) and Kala-Kalahati (Half and Half).
~~~
The booth was so busy with "Passports" for the students that I helped out with that. The other two helpers, Marcel and John, left to take a tour of the other booths. So it was li'l ole me and several hundred students between ~10:30 and noon---my handing out stickers/visas for each student, whilst I doled out snippets of information, with an air of interested humor:
The Philippines is found in Southeast Asia, and there are over 7100 islands. That means that there is a lot of coastline, and the people like to eat a lot of fish and rice.
Most people are not aware that there are many dialects in the Philippines. A major dialect, Tagalog, forms the basis for one of the national languages--Pilipino. The other national language, you may be familiar with---English.
The traditional cloth of many of the blouses and barongs is pina cloth---made from the pineapple plant.
If you are an American citizen, you do not need a visa to travel to the Philippines. These stickers today are just for fun.
Stickers (said with slight impatience, of a child waiting too long in line for an item)---wala ang sticker ko! / I don't have a sticker! Nasaan ang stickers? / Where are those stickers? (as I handed out stickers/"pretend visas" insouciantly)
"Thank you for waiting."
And information on wedding ceremonies to interested parties: Mostly teachers, parents, and young women.
Labels: children, diaspora, languages, Philippines, Pilipino culture, Pittsburgh
Hillary in Pittsburgh, March 2008 II
Hillary will be at the St. Patrick's Day Parade here in Pittsburgh this morning. I would like to go, (Jeff and some other friends from Faith Sharing at the Newman Center are going), but I don't think my legs/hips will hold out...I don't think I can stand that long; and I have an obligation at the time (see earlier draft posted this afternoon---but written earlier, below)
I realized that I had represented various people by seeing her on the stage at the rally yesterday ("Senator Hillary Clinton Makes Local Stops," and "UNCUT: Sen. Hillary Clinton Rally in Oakland"). Besides my sweatshirt, campaign buttons I wore (Asian American Pacific Islanders for Hillary, Wellesley Women for Hillary), and the Wellesley banner I waved when she discussed economic issues around education; I represented others who could not attend the rally---my friend who I had dined with earlier this week, various Filipino/as in the Pittsburgh area, educators/environmentalists at work, friends in the Pittsburgh Wellesley Club, Church friends (choir and otherwise), family members in the medical profession and not, immigrants/diaspora, librarians, Irish dancers, and on and on. After the rally, my friend and I discussed who we knew who were voting for her, and she also joked that I knew 20%...wait, 25%,...WAIT, 35% of the people at the rally. Every time she turned around, I was saying hello to someone I knew, or was finding a connection to the people around us. I didn't even have to bring a camera, as Tita Tina took my picture at the rally!
...Mom had waved the banner that I toted at the rally earlier at a rally that Hillary held in support of Bill's campaign when she visited Marietta, Ohio back in his first bid for the Presidency. Now, the banner has been passed to me.
In a way, we all represent others who cannot vote or cannot make it to the polls. We all represent each other; we all pull for each other.
Labels: American history, BAD, celebration, Church, citizenship, dance, diaspora, Faith, family, global warming, Marietta, neighbors, Philippines, Pittsburgh, Wellesley
I am Telling You
Here is another music video clip, this time of fifteen-year-old Filipina Charice Pempengco (clip sent by Auntie Teng) on her first appearance on American television, on Ellen DeGeneres's show. She has a rich, gospel alto voice in her selection.
Happy Boxing Day!
Labels: diaspora, music, Philippines, singing, talent, TV
Philippine Diaspora--Berghaus Girls, Nederlands 1960s
In addition to the professional brain drain that my parents and their siblings (doctors, lawyers, engineers, dentists, chemists, nurses, and other professionals) contributed to during the 1960s and 1970s in the Philippines, there has been an exodus of "guest workers" from the Philippines since that time. An article appearing in the European Pilipino newletter, Munting Nayon; written by my uncle and aunt, describes the life of some of these workers near the German border in the Nederlands. My aunt was secretary to the Philippine Consul General in the Nederlands during that time.
Some attribute the beginning of the diaspora to a changing political climate, others, to an excess of professionally-trained workers. Whatever the reasons, within a decade or so the diaspora of the Philippines is projected to be greater than the actual population of the country.
Labels: diaspora, international culture, Philippines, Pilipino culture, work
