Positively Filipino book review of A Village in the Fields

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Patty

We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.
– Anais Nin, French-born novelist and short story writer

Elaine Elinson, coauthor with Stan Yogi of Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California and the United Farm Workers representative for the grape boycott in Europe, wrote a “thorough and insightful” – quoting my good friend Kimi – review, which was posted on Positively Filipino, “the premier digital native magazine celebrating the story of Filipinos in the diaspora of nearly 13 million expatriates.”

You can read the review here. Elinson originally wrote it for the AmerAsia Journal, which is published by the Center Press out of UCLA and is the leading interdisciplinary journal in Asian American Studies. The review will appear in AmerAsia Journal’s upcoming Winter 2015-2016 issue. Stay tuned for that.

Elinson brought up a couple of issues in her review, which I’m grateful for her pointing out. I erroneously stated that Larry Itliong’s hometown province was Ilocos Norte, which is unforgiving, given the amount of painstaking research I conducted. While embarrassing, the error can be (and will be) easily fixed in the next edition.

Reading at the Fremont library during Filipino American History Month in October.

The other issue she brought up, which is just as critical if not more critical to fix, is my not using the real name of a Yemeni farm worker who was an important picket captain in the union. As it was my first novel, I was unsure of how to approach real people in a fictional world. Initially, I wasn’t comfortable characterizing the famous people of the era, but somehow their very status helped me overcome the discomfort. I fictionalized in name and characterization these two other characters because I didn’t know much about their personal lives and I also wasn’t sure what my liability was if I did use their real names. But Elinson provides a compelling argument for using the Yemeni’s real name. The novel celebrates the “little people” of the grape strike, the ones who sacrificed and lost so much, and whose lives the world knows little about. So in the next edition, I will include information in the Notes section about who he was and his contributions. While I am deeply grateful for Elinson’s kind words about my novel, I am most grateful for her pointing out areas that need to be addressed because it means the novel will get better.

Where it all started on Labor Day Weekend in Delano for the 50th Anniversary of the Delano grape strike.

Celebrating Philippine National Day Association’s 25th year

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Patty

History is a living and lively account of what we were and are; it could and should be as real to each of us as stories about family or about recent and past events. If all of that makes us understand humanity better, so does history make us understand ourselves, and our country infinitely better, in the context of our culture and our society.
Doreen Fernandez’ foreword to Ambeth R. Ocampo’s Rizal Without the Overcoat

I spent the last weekend in October in Sacramento for a couple of events related to the novel. My cousin, Leila Eleccion Pereira, who has been such a champion for my book, invited me to the Philippine National Day Association’s Annual Gala (PNDA), which was celebrating its 25th anniversary this year in nearly Elk Grove on Thursday, October 29th. Leila is on the board of directors of the nonprofit PNDA, which was established in 1994 to promote three main projects: its Outstanding Filipino Youth Awards (OFYA), a recognition and scholarship program (OFYA has dispersed $100,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors since 2000); Filipino American Youth Leadership Conference (FAYLC), which empowers FilAm youths to gain skills and education needed for leadership positions; and LahiARTS, an arts empowerment program.

In Elk Grove, celebrating PNDA’s 25 years in the community.

An impressive legacy.

Leila coordinated a group of us to secure a table on behalf of the San Esteban Schools Alumni Association, Inc. (SESAA) at the gala event. Over Labor Day Weekend in Terra Bella, at the Sunday evening event sponsored by SESAA, which is the spin-off organization of the original San Esteban Circle, Leila had done a phenomenal job of promoting my book. One of the perks of sponsoring a table was getting a business-sized advertisement in the gala event’s program. And once again, Leila promoted my book by including it in the SESAA advertisement. Thank you, Leila! She’s incredibly involved in the Filipino-American community in the Sacramento area, and she’s been so helpful in getting the word out about my book. At Leila’s suggestion for one of the gala event’s silent auction items, I donated a copy of my novel, which was paired up with an “Honor Our Story” Philip Vera Cruz t-shirt and advertised as a “Delano Grape Strike” package.

PNDA program.

The ad Leila and I put together.

I dragged my sister Joyce, who lives in nearby Folsom, to the event, and we were pleasantly surprised to have one of our cousins, Jane, at our table. Another cousin, Douglas, whom I haven’t seen in years, was also at our table. Remember that in our community, everyone is related somehow – one of Douglas’s parents is an Enrado – and all the kids in our generation are called “cousins” and their parents are our “aunts” and “uncles.” So it was nice to catch up on the last 30 years with Douglas.

Silent auction donation with a Philip Vera Cruz t-shirt. I met the woman who won the auction item. She owns a museum in the Philippines and let me know that my book would be a nice addition to her museum.

One of the highlights of the evening was hearing the keynote address given by Mona Pasquil, who serves as Appointments Secretary for Governor Brown and is responsible for helping him build his administration by recruiting top candidates to serve the state. She is the first Filipino-American in California history to serve as the Appointments Secretary.

More on Mona: Prior to her appointment, she served as Chief of Staff to California Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi and as Acting Lieutenant Governor, after Garamendi was elected to Congress. As such, she holds the distinction of being the first woman and Asian Pacific Islander or Filipino-American to serve as Lieutenant Governor of California. As a veteran political advisor and strategist, she directed presidential, gubernatorial, and local campaigns across the country. She served as political director for twice-elected California Governor Gray Davis, Deputy CEO for the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, California political director for the Gore/Lieberman campaign, western political director for the White House Office of Political Affairs under President Bill Clinton, and member of the Democratic National Committee from 2003 to 2009. In addition to working with California and Washington DC’s heaviest political hitters, Mona also worked as a strategic consultant for IBM’s national, state and local government sales team.

A rousing speech by Mona Pasquil. Go, Mona!

Mona is most proud of her work mentoring California’s youth to become more active in their communities. This work includes founding the Asian Pacific Youth Leadership Project of California, an organization dedicated to boosting Asian and Pacific Islander youth involvement in California policy.

An aside: I confess that I didn’t know much about Mona going into this dinner. I later realized – with the help of Leila – that her parents are Connie and the late Cornelio Pasquil, who had engineered a fundraiser dinner back in 2004, which David and I, as a member of the Stockton chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), attended. The Daguhoy Lodge in Stockton, which was founded in 1926 and in the process of being restored at the time, was the beneficiary. Through the Pasquils, Hollywood celebrities Lou Diamond Philips, Tia Carrera, Dean Devlin (producer), Fritz Freedman (senior vice president of Sony Pictures), and no-show Rob Schneider were flown in for the event to receive community awards. I was in the midst of finishing a version of my novel, and was telling the Pasquils about my novel at the event. Before dinner was served, in a generous act of kindness, they moved David and me from our table to the celebrity table. During dinner, I brought up my novel, and Lou Diamond Philips, whose grandmother is Filipino, told us a story about how she didn’t want him to march with Cesar Chavez because she was of the common Filipino mindset that you “don’t rock the boat,” which was my parents’ philosophy. We talked about that polar opposite Filipino mentality of either remaining silent or being militant (per the labor leaders such as Larry Itliong and the Filipino American farm workers who struck often in the fields). They all congratulated me on soon finishing the book. Little did I know that it would be another 10 years before I would truly finish it!

David and me at the 2004 fundraiser. Wow, we sure looked young back then!

Fritz Freedman, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, Tia Carrera, Lou Diamond Philips, and Dean Devlin.

Back to the gala event, Mona gave an inspirational speech about public service and our duty to our FilAm community and larger community. She spoke of growing up and living among the manongs, who came in the 1920s and worked the crops up and down the state. They took care of her and her family, and she noted that it’s our responsibility to take care of them and continue the tradition of taking care of one another. She also honored their sacrifices and contributions to our community, and again, told us that we need to take up the mantle. Mona is incredibly down to earth and humble amidst all of her achievements. Sprinkled throughout the evening were dances, songs, and other speeches by local legislators, including Rob Bonta (D-Alameda), the first Filipino-American legislator in California. The manongs and their contributions to the farm labor movement was a key theme in the songs and dances, so I felt at home at this event, even though I didn’t know most of the Filipino Americans in attendance.

Assemblyman Rob Bonta takes the floor.

After the event, I gave Cynthia Bonta, mother of Rob Bonta, a copy of my novel, as she had mentioned at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center event the previous week that she was hoping to win the book at the PNDA event. Leila introduced me to one of the evening’s emcees, a local attorney, who then introduced me to Assemblyman Bonta. My cousin Jane later introduced me to Mona Pasquil. I told Mona about the 2004 dinner and the kindness of her parents, and also mentioned my book (of course!). When she got excited and expressed interest, I told her I’d give her a copy, knowing that she was going to be the opening keynote at the Filipino American Educators Association of California (FAEAC) Conference the following evening in Sacramento.

Meeting Mona – what an honor! She told me to tag her if I was going to post on Facebook, which I did!

I didn’t know what to expect from the PNDA gala event. I came away with happy, pleasant surprises – seeing more cousins and being introduced to Assemblyman Bonta and Mona. I was also impressed with PNDA, which is an entirely volunteer organization of professionals giving to the FilAm community. I embrace the focus of their programs on growing the FilAm youth to become leaders in the FilAm and larger communities and to pursue higher education and their dreams. Can I squeeze one more volunteer opportunity? Not at the present, but it’s something to aspire to in the near future.

My cousins Jane and Leila, who do so much for the FilAm community and our larger community. Such inspirations!

LUNAFEST 2015-2016: supporting diverse voices and visions

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Patty

One of the common themes you will read in interview after interview is the call to keep fighting for your vision. This is a message to women directors, producers, writers – anyone who wants to work in the business. Your voice counts. Your vision matters.
― Melissa Silverstein, American writer and founder and director of Women and Hollywood, from In Her Voice: Women Directors Talk Directing

When October sneaks up on us, we realize that the light has been changing ever so subtly and the leaves on the trees have been turning colors seemingly right before our eyes. The month also signals the start of the LUNAFEST film festival with the worldwide premiere in San Francisco. The lovely Herbst Theater hosted this year’s event. It’s been years since I’ve set foot in the theater, which features panels of murals painted by Frank Brangwyn for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. It’s a beautiful and cozy venue for such a special event.

The beautiful Herbst Theater.

Kit Crawford, co-owner and co-chief visionary officer of Clif Bar & Company and strategic advisor to LUNAFEST, welcomed the full house to the 15^th year of the film festival, “by, for, and about women.” Four of the six filmmakers made the premiere, coming from Paris and London and Los Angeles and our own backyard of Oakland.

Looking up at the balcony and murals.

Along the side walls of the Herbst Theater.

And the ceiling.

Two years ago, at my first LUNAFEST premiere, Dr. Stacy L. Smith, PhD, director of the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, was invited to discuss the state of women filmmakers in the industry. This year, Dr. Smith was invited back to talk about Gender & Short Films: Emerging Female Filmmakers and the Barriers Surrounding their Careers. With a grant from LUNAFEST, Dr. Smith and her team gathered data from the 10 top film festivals worldwide – Cannes, Sundance, Venice, Berlin, Telluride, TIFF, SXSW, IDFA, IFFR, and NYFF – from 2010 to 2015, and also gathered data from LUNAFEST filmmakers from 2002 to 2014.

Dr. Stacy Smith telling it like it is.

Women filmmakers: an empirically sobering reality
From the top film festivals worldwide, Dr. Smith and her team focused on short films that were relevant to mainstream directing careers in television and film. Of the 3,933 short films, females filled almost a third of the directing pipeline in short films (32 percent women versus 68 percent men), which is a gender ratio of 2.13 male directors to every 1 female director. Dr. Smith also wanted to determine if storytelling genre was related to gender, which she categorized under narrative, documentary, animated or other. She and her team discovered that females are more likely to direct documentaries (37 percent versus 63 percent of men), but female directors are least likely to direct narrative shorts (28 percent versus 72 percent). Given the activism and interest in women filmmakers over the past several years, Smith and her team wanted to find out if an increase in female directors had occurred. “I’m just going to give you the data plain and simple – there has been no change over the last five years,” Smith revealed.

The data she and her team gathered, which included data from the Directors Guild of America, empirically showed a 10-percent drop in women directing short films to directing independent dramatic features, a 12-percent drop in women directing short films to directing episodic television, and a 24-percent drop in women directing short films to directing studio-level or top-grossing films. “I refer to this deep descent [the career pipeline of female directors from shorts to studio films] as the fiscal cliff,” Smith said matter-of-factly.

An illuminating study.

LUNAFEST directors rock
The other major part of the study, however, was determining how LUNAFEST directors fared in this gender terrain and what the career trajectories looked like for the LUNAFEST alumnae – to date, 115 directors. “The results reveal that the pedigree of LUNAFEST directors is actually very impressive,” Dr. Smith was happy to report. Seventy-two percent have attended film school or a film program, 36 percent have had their films shown at one of the top film festivals worldwide, 72 percent have won awards or accolades for their work, 24 percent have made a narrative or documentary feature, and 25 percent have directed, produced, or written for television.

Where do LUNAFEST directors land in terms of career paths: 25 percent go on to work onscreen or behind the camera in film and television, 27 percent are entrepreneurs, starting their own businesses and freelance enterprises, 20 percent are employees working for a variety of organizations, 11 percent are on faculty at post-secondary institutions, and 16 percent were not apparent from online sources. “Together, 75 percent of the alums are moving into industries and spaces outside of mainstream Hollywood storytelling. Clearly, this is a problem,” Smith noted. “Why? Because women directors, like the ones participating in LUNAFEST from 2002 to all the way to tonight, may actually be the solution to the lack of diversity onscreen that we see in Hollywood film.”

Furthermore, Dr. Smith and her team looked at the demographic profile of characters in the 115 LUNAFEST films and compared them to 2014’s 100 top-grossing films at U.S. box offices. They catalogued every speaking character (at least one word to be included in the analysis – which is, Smith pointed out, “a very low bar”). They measured each character according to demographics characteristics (age, gender, race/ethnicity), domesticity traits (parental status, relational standing), LGBT status, and hypersexualization (sexually revealing clothing, nudity). They compared the top 100 grossing films of 2014 to the 115 LUNAFEST films from 2002 to 2014. Dr. Smith and her team discovered two major findings. In the category of onscreen gender prevalence, 28 percent (4,610) of speaking characters are females in the top-grossing films, only 21 percent of the leads or co-leads are girls and women, and 21 percent are narrators. “This is surprising because the last time I checked women were 50 percent of the population and 50 percent bought tickets at U.S. box offices,” Smith remarked.

Diverse voices for a diverse population
As expected, LUNAFEST films fared better: 63 percent of onscreen-speaking characters are girls and women, 81 percent of the leads or co-leads are girls and women, and 79 percent are female narrators. “LUNAFEST short films feature women onscreen in abundance,” she concluded. But the kicker, according to Smith, is the data revelation outside of gender: 27 percent of the top 100 grossing films were from underrepresented ethnic or racial groups and only 17 percent of leads or co-leaders were from an ethnic or racial group. In LUNAFEST films, however, 38 percent of speaking characters were from underrepresented ethnic or racial groups and 37 percent of leads or co-leads are of minority status. These findings are important, Smith emphasized, because 37 percent of the U.S. population can be classified as coming from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group and these individuals bought 45 percent of the tickets at the U.S. box office. Additionally, approximately half of the zero to five age population in this country are not white. “When females are behind the camera, they not only increase the depiction of girls and women onscreen, but they take other groups that are marginalized and make them move from invisible to visible,” Smith noted.

We learned a few things from the study. “We now know where the career pipeline starts for female directors and we know what it means to their career trajectories,” Smith said. “We also know how female directors’ content is unique from what we see in mainstream storytelling. Together, we understand more where problems start for female directors and why it’s so important to support them, especially financially and early in their careers. In doing so, as the data illuminates, diverse voices working behind the camera can change the landscape of what we see on the screen.”

Jeanne walking off stage after her talk, as Kit Crawford asks for and is easily obliged with a round of applause for Jeanne.

Turning on the ‘advocacy gene’
Dr. Smith is a tough act to follow on stage, but when Jeanne Rizzo, RN, president and CEO of the Breast Cancer Fund, takes the stage, you know you’re in good hands. I had the honor and privilege of interviewing Jeanne last year for my blog (in two parts, no less, because she’s such a wonderful and inspiring role model), as she was a special guest at LUNAFEST East Bay 2015. So I knew we the audience were going to be treated to a rousing narrative. “Tonight is a perfect example of women expressing their own form of advocacy and being nurtured and supported in telling their stories, our stories,” she began.

Jeanne talked about her Aunt Minnie as a nurturing and supportive role model for her when she was growing up and the advocacy gene that was inherent in the both of them. When Jeanne was a child, she wanted to play Little League with the boys, whom she played with in the neighborhood. When she was told she couldn’t, Aunt Minnie told her to start her own team and give a piece of her mind to those who said no to her. “Give ’em hell,” Aunt Minnie advocated. So Jeanne cheered the momentous event when the first girl was admitted to Little League and with the passage of Title IX, which states in part that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

Jeanne and Pali Cooper’s advocacy genes were turned on when they had to fight for the right to be married in California. Fittingly, it was Aunt Minnie who was the first in Jeanne’s large Italian Catholic clan to welcome her partner, Pali, into the family. After Jeanne helped to make a documentary film about a women’s climbing expedition in Denali, AK, and helped to establish subsequent climbing expeditions on Mt. Shasta, she continues to honor her Aunt Minnie. Every year, she asks one of the women climbers to carry her Aunt Minnie’s wedding ring. “I want her to know that it [the ring] goes as high as it can, carried by a strong woman, one step at a time, to remind us all that we have power and strength and we have both the privilege and the obligation to help carry each other,” Jeanne said.

“We stepped up, channeling the rights in Women’s Voting rights, the women who pushed corporate ceilings to try and get into the film industry,” she went on. “LUNAFEST embraces the advocacy work of the Breast Cancer Fund and our work on behalf of women and women’s health and environmental health through LUNAFEST and its proceeds.” She paused and took in the room full of people who gave her their rapt attention. “Aunt Minnie could never have imagined a film festival by, for, and about women. Consider what else we all can imagine together, and let’s do it,” she entreated.

And now for 6 inspiring stories
I won’t say too much about the fantastic lineup of movies this year because we want everyone to come to our March 19^th screening. But I will give a brief intro to each film:

Anna by her poster.

Finding June by Anna Schumacher of Los Angeles. “Through the eyes of a deaf woman just diagnosed with breast cancer, communication’s role in understanding one another is explored.” Anna is the daughter of our fellow committee member, Laurie Schumacher, and we are just as excited and proud as Laurie is!

Balsa Wood by Dominique Lecchi of London. “A lighthearted slice of life about two mixed-race siblings visiting their extended Filipino family for lunch.”

Boxeadora by Meg Smaker of Oakland. “One woman defies Fidel Castro’s ban on female boxing to follow her dreams of Olympic glory and become Cuba’s first female boxer.”

Raising Ryland by Sarah Feeley of Los Angeles. “An intimate look at parenting with no strings attached – a journey inside the transgender experience as lived by a six-year-old boy and his two loving parents.”

First World Problems by Hanna Maylett of Helsinki. “A tired housewife loses her car in a shopping mall – sometimes problems can open a door to a whole new world.”

Beach Flags by Sarah Saidan of Paris. “A young Iranian lifeguard, determined to participate in an international competition in Australia, experiences an unexpected obstacle when a new team member arrives.”

City Hall at twilight.

Interest piqued? Save it and save the date! It’s going to be an even better LUNAFEST film festival this year.

City Hall at night, across from the Herbst Theater.

Book launch party: Eastwind Books of Berkeley

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Patty

While we are living in the present, we must celebrate life every day, knowing that we are becoming history with every work, every action, every deed.
– Mattie Stepanek, American poet

I’m late in posting about my book launch party, which was held at my publisher’s bookstore, Eastwind Books of Berkeley (2066 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA), on Sunday, September 13th. I’ll admit that I was worried that not enough people would fill the tiny storefront. I’m happy to be wrong this time.

Professor Dawn Mabalon, who teaches history at San Francisco State and hails from Stockton, graciously introduced me to the crowd (photo credit: David Rossi).

Providing backstory before I begin reading from the novel (photo credit: David Rossi).

Crowd reaction, from Lunafest committee Rhoda and Raissa in the background (photo credit: Robert Milton).

Harvey Dong, my publisher, teaches part-time at UC Berkeley’s Ethnic Studies department, and his students were in full force. Four of my Lunafest committee members came with a bouquet and a sweet note. Friends whom I haven’t seen in years came, which was a sweet treat for me. Neighbors, old and new friends, acquaintances, and strangers all helped me celebrate the release of my novel.

Reading as if I mean it. Reminds me of when I locked myself in the downstairs bathroom in my college apartment so I could hear how the words I wrote sounded. (Photo credit: Robert Milton)

My old pal, Steve, whom I haven’t seen in years and who I met when we were in the same workshop at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers in 2002 (photo credit: David Rossi).

I haven’t seen my friend, Barbara and her husband, Matt, in years. So good to see them (photo credit: David Rossi)!

My artist/painter mom and good friend Tana. We inspire one another!

My fellow artist/mom muse and good friend Tana. We inspire one another (photo credit: David Rossi)!

Sid Valledor led a tour of Agbayani Village and other important places in Delano in 2002 (photo credit: David Rossi).

Signing my friend Pam’s copy (photo credit: David Rossi).

Rhoda and me in B&W (photo credit: Robert Milton).

My cousin Daniel and me (photo credit: David Rossi).

Standing room only, plus overflow out the door (photo credit: Jeff Blyskal).

A big thank you to Braxtons’ Boxes for the sinfully delicious red-velvet and chocolate mini-cupcakes and to David and Isabella for all those chocolate chip cookies. And once again, I am deeply grateful to family and friends who have helped me arrive at where I am today. Maraming salamat po!

The line for book signing grows, with my Lunafest family in front (photo credit: Robert Milton).

Happy signing! (Photo credit: Robert Milton)

Stack of books (photo credit: Robert Milton).

I have arrived: New and noteworthy (photo credit: David Rossi).

SFSU Asian-American Studies class: The kids are more than all right

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Patty

Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
– Franz Kafka, major 20^th century Czech writer

Late at night throughout the years of writing my novel, A Village in the Fields, sometimes I would daydream or, more appropriately, I would “nightdream.” One of my fantasies was having my novel taught in an Asian-American Studies class. One of the PR campaigns that I undertook last month was to send a press release to the approximately 90 Asian-American/Ethnic Studies programs or departments in universities and colleges across the country. This was my first attempt at writing a press release, so I admit that I didn’t quite refine my message and present a distinct call to action, but I received a respectable 10 percent response rate.

Burk Hall, San Francisco State University, greets me!

All of the professors who responded – they ranged in departments from history, English, Asian American Studies, and Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies – sent their congratulations. Professor Peter Kiang, director of the Asian American Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts commented that my novel is “very relevant” and another professor at Washington State University noted that he looked forward to reading it and perhaps teaching the book in next fall in his multicultural literature class.

I’m very fortunate to have the textbook director at San Francisco State University as a long-time friend – our kids went to elementary school together – and be such an enthusiastic supporter. Wendy Johnson put an advance copy in front of two Filipino-American professors at SFSU – Dr. Dawn Mabalon, associate professor of history, and Dr. Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, associate professor of Asian-American Studies. One busy morning at work, Wendy texted me that Dr. Tingtiangco-Cubales was assigning my novel as part of the reading list for her AAS 352 Filipina/o American Literature, Art, and Culture class. The rest of the day was a happy blur.

Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales, whom I met at the Bold Step event in Delano over the Labor Day Weekend, invited me to attend her class in mid-September to give a reading and participate in a discussion/Q&A with her students, who are juniors and seniors. I can’t remember the last time I was around college students, but what a delight it was to be around so many bright, energetic and engaged, thoughtful, and passionate students!

After I was introduced and before I read, I asked the students if they would indulge me and let me take their picture. Then Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales told the students to raise their books for the picture.

I read the same excerpt as I did from my book launch party at Eastwind Books of Berkeley – two scenes a third of the way into the book in which my protagonist, Fausto Empleo, meets one of the Yemeni farm workers and befriends the Yemeni’s friends over dinner in their camp mess hall. Then we had a Q&A. At first, the students were shy, but soon the questions came out. I told the kids that it took 18 years from the time I began researching the novel to its coming out in print this year. One student asked why it took so long, and I let them know about getting rejected and not writing for three years, and trying to write while raising kids and having a full-time job. I think the students were two or three years old when I began my research!

Reading up close and personal.

The students were assigned a particular theme on the book and to elaborate on that theme, find supporting evidence of that theme in the book. One student, who had attended Bold Step, said that his theme was “risk.” He asked me what risk I took in writing the book. That required some thinking on my part, but then I told the class that initially I was afraid of “pissing people off” because some Cesar Chavez supporters would take exception to the tensions that existed between the Filipinos and the Mexican farm workers, which very few people outside of those who know the labor history are familiar with. Philip Vera Cruz’s memoir, Philip Vera Cruz: A Personal History of Filipino Immigrants and the Farmworkers Movement, by Craig Scharlin and Lilia V. Villanueva, was originally supposed to be published by the University of Washington Press but after pressure allegedly from Chavez supporters that the book was anti-Chavez, the press bowed out. Thankfully, University of California, Los Angeles Labor Center and UCLA Asian American Studies Center published the book in 1992. So I explained that I didn’t want to piss off Chavez supporters, but in the end the risk that I took was telling the story of facts and highlighting the Filipino-American contributions, which have largely been ignored or wiped out via revisionist history, without the intent of tarnishing Chavez’s image.

One student asked about the taxi-dance scene in the Los Angeles chapter, and commented that it sounded just like Carlos Bulosan’s scene in America is in the Heart. The last time I read Bulosan’s classic book was when I was a student at UC Davis, taking Asian-American Studies classes, more than 30 years ago. Did I lift from the scene? I’d have to go back and check, but I don’t think so. What happened in those taxi-dance halls offer common scenes that have been documented in such works as the 1985 documentary Dollar a Day, 10 Cents a Dance and short stories of Filipino immigrants in Bienvenido N. Santos’s collection, Scent of Apples.

Reading an excerpt in pano view.

After the class ended, students asked if I could sign their books. Of course! I was the one who was truly honored to talk one-on-one with the students and to sign their books. One student told me that the Yemeni farm worker excerpts were his favorite passages in the book and that he was happy that I had read it. What a wonderful instant connection that was for me! I understood what he meant! I felt the same way when I was at Jackson Browne’s concert at the Greek Theater in August and Browne introduced the song he was about to sing, “Sky Blue and Black,” as one of his favorite songs.

A female student who told me she was Arab thanked me for portraying positive Arab characters in my novel. She remarked that the only Arab characters she reads about are all negative because of 9/11. After reading my novel, she felt pride in her culture. I was very touched by what she said and so glad she shared that with me.

A poignant moment for me when this student told me she was happy to read a positive rendering of Arab characters in a book.

The student who let me know that he had attended Bold Step in Delano told me that he had posted a scene from my novel on his Facebook page, which goes to show that younger people do use Facebook. He said he has a particular issue with boy shaming and was happy that I dealt with the issue of weight in my character Arturo Junior, the little boy who grows up to become Fausto’s self-appointed nurse. The scene he was referring to involved Fausto trying to empower the boy in the face of taunting school children who teased him for being overweight and an English language learner. I based the character on an older classmate from elementary school who was overweight. He wasn’t picked on, but I let my imagination run away with Arturo Junior’s story. Again, I was glad that the student, who I think was named Tobin, shared that particular story with me. You never know the kinds of things that resonate with readers, things that you didn’t consciously write with those ideas in mind. But it was gratifying to know that there were instances of happy connectivity and communion.

Another student who is Ilocano and said it’s the first time she’s seen a book that uses Ilocano, as opposed to Tagalog, or Filipino, the national language. One male student told me that his surname is Abad whose family came from Ilocos Sur. He wondered if we might be related because I had told the class that relatives had told me I was distantly related to Fred Abad, the last manong at Agbayani Village, and that my father’s family hailed from San Esteban in the province of Ilocos Sur. The student’s revelation prompted me to personalize in his book: “We’re probably related!” And I’m sure we are because metaphorically speaking, we really are all related.

Happy, boisterous students greeted me after the class ended.

The students were assigned to create a “cognitive map” of my novel and turn them in. Nobody did, but when they do, I would love to see what exactly a cognitive map is and what the students created! I was so energized at the end of the evening that I didn’t even mind driving at night in the rain, finding my way back home. I thought of the student who shook my hand and congratulated me because he said it was a really good book. I felt the pride in the Filipino students because although we are the fastest-growing Asian-American community in California and in the US, we aren’t as well represented in literature as Chinese-Americans or Japanese-Americans, which is something that we as a community must change and should help to support one another.

Did this experience mirror my late-night fantasy of years ago? Yes, and more. As I experienced in Terra Bella and in Delano, sharing and discovering our Filipino-American culture is even more important to our community beyond my imagination. I hope the momentum continues to build. And to Dr. Tintiangco-Cubales and her amazing AAS 352 students: Maraming salamat po!

One more view of me reading an excerpt from my novel to the class.

Long road to Delano: A Village in the Fields comes home

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Patty

No history, no self; know history, know self. – José Rizal, Filipino patriot and national hero, physician, and man of letters

All these past months – a blur to me now – all came down to this Labor Day Weekend, the 50^th Anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike. My novel, A Village in the Fields, came out the Friday before – no small feat. My publisher, Eastwind Books of Berkeley, and I worked hard the last five months to get the novel out in time for this historic event, Bold Step: A Celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike. It was worth the sleep deprivation.

The Filipino Community Cultural Center of Delano, home of Bold Step: A Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Delano Grape Strike.

I’ll admit that I was a little apprehensive about the weekend because I’d spent most of those five months focused on editing, production, and then marketing and promotion activities. There was no moment of stepping back and enjoying the moment or thinking about the reception in Delano. As we packed up the van, which our friends Raissa and Mike lent us, with 20 boxes of my novel, I told myself I wouldn’t bring any work with me. I needed to decompress, enjoy the moment, and anticipate what I would say or do up on the stage during the open-mike evening and with anyone who came to our table to inquire about the book. As we drove down Interstate 5 in bumper-to-bumper traffic Friday early evening, I wondered whether I should practice reading the chosen excerpt or choose another passage. I was already stressed that we weren’t leaving when I had hoped to leave.

On Filipino time
If there is one overarching theme, it is that we were on Filipino time even before we left for Terra Bella/Porterville/Delano! I was looking forward to a leisurely dinner to celebrate my cousin Janet and her husband Tim’s anniversary. They ended up getting Mexican takeout and having it ready for us when we pulled up at 10:30pm. After dinner, Janet and I stayed up till past 1 in the morning catching up, even though David and I had to be in Delano before 10am on Saturday.

FANHS Delano Chapter president Alex Edillor welcoming everyone to Bold Step.

The festivities begin
We were late, but so were the festivities. The welcome and keynote address was held at the Filipino Community Center on Glenwood Street, which was a meeting place for Filipinos made historic during the grape strikes. Alex Edillor, president of the newly formed Delano chapter of the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS), welcomed the audience who hailed from cities and towns up and down the state. Other dignitaries included Paul Chavez, son of Cesar Chavez and president of the Chavez Foundation, the mayor of Delano, and keynote speaker, Rob Bonta, California State Assemblyman Rob Bonta of Alameda. Bonta is the first Filipino-American elected to the California legislature and author of AB123, which requires California schools to teach Filipino-American contributions to the farm labor movement in social science curriculum, and AB 7, which requires the Governor to proclaim Larry Itliong Day in California on his birthdate of October 25^th and encourage public schools to teach about Itliong’s life and contributions to California.

State Assemblyman Rob Bonita giving the keynote address.

State Assemblyman Rob Bonta giving the keynote address.

From the Filipino Community Center, we set up shop at Robert F. Kennedy High School, along with other vendors at the campus food court for the lunch break. The dance troupe Kayamanan Ng Lahi, adorned in beautiful and colorful traditional dress, put on a wonderful performance, which included the tinikling and a dance to the classic Filipino love song, Dahil Sa Iyo.

A fancier tinikling dance than I’m used to seeing.

Tinikling dance gets livelier.

During the lunch hour, we cultivated relevant contacts, including an executive committee member of the National Education Association who was a contemporary of the farm labor movement. I talked with Dr. Oliver Rosales, who teaches history at Bakersfield College and the University of California at Santa Barbara. He was part of a terrific panel, which included Dr. Dawn Mabalon of San Francisco State and Dr. Robyn Rodriguez of UC Davis – she read an advance copy of my novel and blurbed me. During that panel, Dr. Rosales emphasized that he wanted to include Filipino-American courses and materials to his teachings because his Filipino-American students were thirsty for more knowledge about their heritage.

Dr. Oliver Rosales.

Once the symposium started, everyone moved over to the learning center auditorium, which was across campus. I wanted to watch and listen, so David stayed behind, only to pack up shop in a little while because everyone had gone in. By this time, Janet and Tim and the kids joined us. It was really wonderful for Janet and Tim to be here with me and learn about the part of our Filipino American history that has been obscured for so long. The rest of the panels included a personal film by John Armington – a tribute to his immigrant father Bob Armington, a discussion of what had preceded and paved the way for the grape strikes, and historical legacies and new activism, the latter a necessity because sadly we still see exploitation and discrimination in the labor force.

Dr. Mabalon and Dr. Rodriguez on historical legacies.

A mom moment
At the evening event, a reception and open-mike, we were treated to young slam poets who impressed me with their mastery of their poems and the passion in their voice and their artistic ability to express their experiences as “other.” I read the first chapter of the novel when it was my turn. In retrospect, David and I agreed that I should have read a section from the strike, and that the first chapter is more in line with any other crowd. I wasn’t nervous, mostly because the event was outdoors and I couldn’t really see anyone’s face. I confess that I didn’t read the Ilocano sentences or phrases for obvious reasons; rather, I read them in English. I was already anxious about incorrectly pronouncing the word “manong” because I’d been pronouncing it a different way. (I want to call out and give thanks to my cousin Annie who explained to me that the accents change when you address someone using the term versus when you are referring to the group as a whole or using the historic reference to them.)

My first public reading from A Village in the Fields, Delano, Calif. Master of ceremonies Herb Delute kindly held the flashlight for me.

The next day, a few people who came up to the table and bought my book told me that they had listened to me at the open-mike event and said they were impressed and that I read very well. My ease is in part from having to do public speaking in my profession, which has been an invaluable experience. Also, through the years of working on this book, late at night, I would often read revised passages in my head or out loud and transform myself into an unabashed thespian. I was a little more restrained Saturday evening, but my heart was in it. The biggest thrill for me, however, was when I walked off the stage and Isabella and then Jacob came up and gave me a hug. Later, I found out that Jacob had posted on Instagram and wrote: “My mom, reading a part of her novel at the Filipino Community Cultural Center of Delano. Her novel came out yesterday. It took her a long time to accomplish her goal, and I’m so happy for her!” That was all the validation I needed at that moment and now.

Selfie with Marissa Aroy.

I was honored to sit with Marissa Aroy during Saturday’s sessions and chat in-between the session breaks selling our respective DVDs and books. I met Professor Allyson Tintiangco-Cubales, who is using my novel in her Filipino/a American literature class this fall. I talked at length with Johnny Itliong, son of labor leader Larry Itliong. I connected with two Filipino-American librarians from San Jose Public Library, who were interested in a reading at the library. I gained more knowledge about the strike and unions of the past and of today from veteran labor leader Al Rojas. And I met wonderful people like Dale, a student from my alma mater UC Davis, who was just as thrilled as I was about the Aggie connection and the enthusiasm for my book. I’ll admit to enjoying my celebrity moments when people asked if they could have their picture taken with me.

Book signing with a smile!

We missed the luncheon at the Terra Bella Veterans Memorial Building for the 60^th anniversary of the San Esteban Circle – and I missed catching up with my cousins and seeing other relatives. We were late to the dance, though we were able to see my cousin Annie and her mother, my Auntie Berta, who at age 93 was being honored for her work with the San Esteban Circle. She is not only a pioneer with the club, but she is the only one left of my father’s generation. We stopped by another cousin’s house to catch up with four more cousins, and we stayed up past midnight talking about Ilocano translations and the book.

Agbayani sign.

The interior of Agbayani Village.

After the Sunday events concluded, since we missed the bus tour of historic sites, we drove to Agbayani Village, which wasn’t that far away from RFK High School. Growth had indeed come to Delano because the last time I was here in 2004, Agbayani Village was isolated from the rest of the town. The village is still operational and clean and tidy; it is being rented out to retired farm workers. The kitchen and recreation room building was locked up, but we could peer inside and see the photographic displays still up for the tours. The garden, line of trees and cacti, goats in their pens, and vacant rabbit hutches, however, were gone. What stood was a vast empty field of cracked earth with a layer of powdery topsoil. I was sad to see that part of the village gone. But I was excited to share the village with Janet and Tim, and especially Jacob and Isabella.

Vineyards across the street from Agbayani Village.

As we walked through the village one last time and headed out through the main entryway, we came upon an elderly Filipino man who sat on a chair facing out. It seemed as if he was waiting for us, so we stopped to talk to him. His name was Edmundo. He told us he came to Agbayani Village in 1982. When we mentioned that Janet and I were related to Fred Abad, his face lit up. Fred was a good friend of his, and he said he was so happy to know that somebody else knew his good friend. He laughed and smiled and walked us out to the parking lot. That meeting touched my heart.

Resident Edmundo at Agbayani Village.

Because the Sunday afternoon sessions ran late, we were late getting back to Porterville. Our anniversary dinner out for Janet and Tim ended up at Super Burgers on Olive Avenue. We hurriedly ate and then David, Tim, and I headed back to the Veterans Memorial Building for the San Esteban Schools Alumni Association event, while Janet took the kids home. I sat with Annie and her mom. While we waited for my introduction, Annie and I surfed through her family photos, which she has been slowly digitizing. What a wonderful walk through nostalgia.

One of Annie’s photos from the 1960s: roasting a pig in her family’s backyard. I recognize many of my relatives here and recognize my dad’s red sweater. He’s holding onto me. I’m guessing the terror on my sister Joyce’s and my face is from watching a pig being roasted. Vegetarian friends, look away!

Kudos go to my cousin Leila Eleccion Pereira: During the awards and recognition ceremony for the community’s student scholars, Leila presented my book to the top scholar, who was attending UC San Diego and wanted to become a pediatrician. She gave a brief introduction and had me come up to address the audience. I talked about my mom and dad, the backstory to the novel, and how I wanted to learn more about our history and contributions to the farm labor movement and share that not only with our community but the global community. When I told everyone that our young generation needs to learn about and embrace their history, I was heartened to see some of the students nodding their heads – such a satisfying moment for me. We sold many books, and I give Leila all the credit for her introduction, her enthusiasm, her pride.

My cousin Leila and me.

Addressing the audience: telling them about the book’s origins, dedicating the novel to my parents and our community, and waxing poetic about remembering and honoring our history.

I was touched by the request by two moms who wanted to take a picture of me with her sons, who were holding up my book. Two college students, one a recent graduate from UCLA, the other still at Loma Linda University, bought a book. We chatted for a bit, and they understood the need to remember our history, which made me hopeful for the next generation’s convictions. We left as the evening concluded and retired to Porterville, the last of our Delano activities for the weekend. Wanting to capture more cousin time, Janet and I stayed up again.

Author hawking my book at RFK High School.

The best way to cap the long weekend, which seemed to zoom by, was to have a leisurely breakfast with Janet and Tim and our cousin Debi, who played her guitar and entertained us with all of these wonderful stories from our childhood and from her incredibly rich and complex life. As we left, knowing that we left late and will encounter bumper-to-bumper traffic when we hit the Bay area, I made a note that we’d connect again so I could write down her stories. We made plans to get the cousins together to compare photographs, share stories, and talk about a San Esteban Circle archiving project. So much to do. So much history back home. And overall, so much to be grateful for.

Towering cypress trees at Agbayani Village.

Sunset over Agbayani Village. Most of these photos courtesy of David Rossi.

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