November 10, 2009 at 6:15 pm (Books, Other Sites of Interest, Places)
Tags: announcements, Burma, reviews, Women's Review of Books
On-line now, self’s review of two new books about Burma:
at the Women’s Review of Books website.
November 8, 2009 at 1:30 am (Booksellers, Places, Surprises, Voices, Writers and Others)
Tags: Filipino writers, Readings, San Francisco, Saturdays
It was the middle of the Saturday afternoon PAWA/Arkipelago Books reading at the Bayanihan Community Center at 1010 Mission Street. Myrna del Rio was singing (that woman has such a rich, smoky contralto!) to the accompaniment of fab Bo Razon on guitar. There was a kind of whispering going on in the back rows. Niece G’s friend, Steven, saw him first. Then, Edwin Lozada came up and announced, “We’d like to thank the Mayor of San Francisco for his presence,” and self turned around and
There in the flesh was Gavin Newsom!
And he looked exactly like his pictures!
And he was super-tall! Like maybe at least 6 foot three!
And he was wearing a very nice gray suit!
And he was soooo handsome!
And then, self was so glad she had already finished reading by the time he walked in! Or her jaw would have hit the floor!
Anyhoo, he stayed for a while and then wandered out again, but after he left, Barbara Reyes, who was the Master of Ceremonies, remarked, “Isn’t that just so random? He just walks in, and walks out again, and no one knows where he went!”
He was all by himself, and self got a vivid picture of the Mayor walking by himself all around the City (It was a very fine Saturday afternoon), dropping in wherever the spirit moves him.
And, by the way, the event today? It was great. Everyone was on their A game. Justin Chin was sooo funny (and self was so glad he led off). Then, self, and she needed a mike but – salamat sa Dios! – she was able to handle reading her story without too much stumbling around. Then, the musical performers — Myrna del Rio, Bo Razon, and Carlos Zialcita — were just GREAT! Self wanted to jump up and start dancing! Then, the afternoon climaxed with Sarah Gambito, and for such a tiny woman she has a big, big presence and her poetry is just incredible!
So, it was a wonderful afternoon, and self even got to exchange a few words with Merlinda Bobis and Alleluia Panis! And Liza Erpelo was there! And Penelope Flores! And Karen Llagas, whose first book of poetry is being published next year! And of course Edwin Lozada, whose organization, PAWA, was co-sponsor of the event!
And self found out that the painting hanging just behind the cash register of Arkipelago Books (executed in Amorsolo style — fetching dalaga in native dress) is of Marie Romero herself!
Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.
October 10, 2009 at 6:30 am (Places, Relatives, Surprises)
Tags: Fridays, Redwood City
First we took Dear Bro for a walk.
Then we encountered a concert in Courthouse Square, and it just so happened to be a “Michael Jackson Tribute.”
Then we looked across the street to the Fox Theatre, and we discovered that on this very night, a Filipino group named Parokya ni Edgar (“very popular in Manila,” Dear Bro said) was also playing, which fact absolutely blew not only self’s mind, but Dear Bro’s and hubby’s as well.
Dear Bro standing in front of a poster for "Parokya ni Edgar" outside the Fox Theatre in Redwood City
Then we walked to the Century 20, and self very proudly showed Dear Bro the lobby where she spends so much of her time, and declared that if he had a chance, he should catch “Inglourious Basterds.”
Then we walked a little further on, to World Market, where hubby discovered a bottle of wine with the extremely interesting name of “Cupcake,” and it so happened to be from a winery on the Central Coast (Self tried to take a picture, but it was even worse than the one above, so dear blog readers will just have to take self’s word for it that there is in the world a merlot named “Cupcake”).
Then we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, New Kapadokia. And followed that up with beers at a very noisy City Pub on Broadway. (As we were walking back to our car, a very drunk patron in the bar next door, Mesquite, was demanding that the live band play “Mustang Sally.” Why oh why did he start up just when self came to within one foot of him? Because he nearly shattered self’s eardrum) Then we went home and saw two snails on our front step, but hubby forbade self from crushing them, saying they made the worst awful mess.
The End.
October 9, 2009 at 1:37 am (Conversations, Places, Relatives, Surprises)
Tags: memories, New York
For arrival of Dear Bro tomorrow. Self is not sure if he is with self’s cousin (who works for Dear Bro). In which case, she’ll have to make up an extra bed (which means she’ll have to drag a mattress out from the garage; let’s just put that off ’till the morrow!)
Self knows Dear Bro is a stickler for cleanliness. Here’s a story: when self was a young working girl in the Big Apple (Does anyone still refer to NYC this way, self wonders? Or is that horribly dated, a throw-back to the long-ago 80s?), Dear Bro came over to visit. She was at that time sub-letting a loft on 8th St. and First Ave. (the East Village).
One day, she returned home from a very tiring day in her crap job as Administrative Assistant to an Ernst & Whinney manager (This was in the long-ago days before it became Ernst & Young). The only saving grace of this job being this: it was on the very top floor of the Citicorp Building on 53rd and Lex, and every time the manager opened the door to his office, self glimpsed the Chrysler Building. But the manager never left his door open for long, so the Chrysler Building would present for just a moment or two, and then vanish. Present, and then vanish. Like a slide show. It made self quite dizzy, at times.
Anyhoo, as self was saying, one evening she came home from crap job, and she couldn’t believe her eyes. The whole apartment practically Read the rest of this entry »
October 4, 2009 at 11:45 pm (Opportunities, Philippine History, Places, Surprises, Writers and Others)
Tags: Asian American, Events, exhibits, first times, museums, Readings, San Francisco, Sundays, weather, Wikipedia
The Asian Art Museum is astoundingly beautiful. Self only realized this today, when she actually went inside. She’s such a creature of habit: for a long time, she was mad that they moved from Golden Gate Park, for she loved wandering between the de Young and the Asian Art Museum and the Academy of Sciences.
She knew it was there, of course, standing right next to the San Francisco Main Library on Larkin Street. But not once did she ever feel moved to step inside. She’d look at it from the sidewalk and her overall impression would be one of heaviness, gray-ness. So unlike the MOMA, which is funky and cutting edge.
The closest she’d ever come to going to an exhibit there was the recent “Lords of Samurai” exhibit (ended Sept. 20, boo). Ever since she discovered Kurosawa, and ever since son began to enjoy the novels of Lensey Namioka (nay, ever since she took Jeffrey Mass’s courses on the Japanese bakufu, at Stanford), she’s been fascinated by this aspect of Japanese culture. But she never actually made it inside the museum, until today.
October is Filipino American History Month (Which tireless groups worked to ensure that every October is a way for us to commemmorate our history? Self would like to offer thanks to them, whoever and wherever they are). Today was the first time that the Asian Art Museum undertook to host an all-day event celebrating Filipino American History Month, and self knows it took a lot of hard work and coordination between many many groups of people, but self thinks the bulk of the work was done by these three:
Read the rest of this entry »
October 4, 2009 at 3:36 am (Opportunities, Philippine History, Places, Quotes, Voices, Writers and Others)
Tags: memoir, Filipinas Magazine, The Philippines, Philippine History
Self happened upon Mila D. Aguilar’s first-person account in the September 2009 issue of Filipinas Magazine. (Self is proud to say: she’s been subscribing to the magazine since the very first issue):
My President has been laid to rest. Now I can break my silence. For the one who presently sits on her manufactured throne is not my president. She never was.
My President is she who freed me from a Marcos prison in 1986. I know that she alone is not responsible for 1986, for the Read the rest of this entry »
September 27, 2009 at 10:47 pm (Calls, Conversations, Places, Quotes, Son)
Tags: San Francisco, Sundays, weekends
Son went to catch a concert in Golden Gate Park. Free, and Jason Mraz was supposedly one of the performers. Afterwards, the plan was for him to meet up with niece and have dinner at Max’s in South San Francisco.
Self is completely wiped out. She’s lolling around, reading. Hubby went to Safeway and came back with a whole lot of TV dinners, an enormous bunch of broccoli (“Only 99 cents!”) and a raspberry pudding cake (“$2.99!”)
After about an hour, the phone rang. It was son.
He was in Golden Gate Park, in Sharon Meadow, and there was nothing there. “Can you look for the event on the web and tell me where?” he asked.
Self checked, googling “Jason Mraz + Sept. 27″
“Jason Mraz is performing in the Read the rest of this entry »
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