Pista Sa Nayon Seattle ‘08
Seattle’s Pista Sa Nayon is coming up on Sunday, July 27th, at Seward Park. This is the largest Filipino festival in Washington state, boasting attendance between 15,000 to 18,000, and has been a part of Seattle’s Seafair festivities since 1990.
We are going to sell fruity iced drinks at a food booth at Pista Sa Nayon this year. Actually, the drinks are sorta like bubble tea, but instead of the tapioca “sago” balls at the bottom, we’re putting in chewy jelly Choobees and coconut jelly. I have decided to do it this way to eliminate the extra step of cooking the tapioca “sago” balls. The cubed, chewy jelly Choobees and coconut jelly are already cooked and pre-packaged. We will be offering ten different flavors: ube (taro), yummy langka (jackfruit), creamy avocado, buko pandan, mango bango (mango-banana), honeydew melon, lychee, milk tea, green tea macha, and strawberry.
The bubble tea phenomenon started in Taiwan, and the trend had quickly jumped to Hong Kong, other parts of Asia, Canada, and now here in the U.S. The original name “bubble tea” was derived because tiny bubbles would form at the top of the drink after the the concoction of tea, milk, sweetener, and flavoring was vigorously shaken to mix all the ingredients up. Later on, someone had thought of adding in the large tapioca “sago” balls as a texture component, which coincidentally, can resemble “bubbles.”
I have never seen ominous, black sago balls before I encountered my first bubble tea. The sago balls that I was used to seeing were the small, dainty ones in the guinatan dessert, or the medium sized sago balls in the sago/gulaman drinks, both either clear or sorta opaque, but never black!
These large sago balls go by different names, to the confusion of many. In the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, we simply call them sago because they are made from the flour of the sago palm. In India, these sago balls are called sabudana, and are widely used in many Indian dishes.
In the U.S., they have come to be popularly known as tapioca pearls, which can somewhat be a misnomer. Tapioca is a starch derived from cassava. When non-Asians hear the word tapioca, they automatically think of tapioca pudding, which is a rice pudding or custard thickened with arrowroot. Naturally, it would be an odd thought to think of a drink made with fish-eye-looking “tapioca” balls if the word “tapioca” conjures up rice custard.
Most Asian manufacturers refer to these black, glistening balls interchangeably as tapioca pearls or sago balls as if they were one and the same. But they are not. The starch of sago and tapioca are similar in a way that they are both round grains, and the opaque and powdery sago balls and tapioca pearls both turn translucent and soft or chewy after being cooked. But the similarities end there because the fact remains that sago balls are made from sago starch, and tapioca pearls are made from cassava starch.
In the Korea Town area in Los Angeles, these sago balls or tapioca pearls are referred to as boba, thereby calling the bubble tea as boba tea. The word “boba” makes a reference to the female mammary glands. According to this website, “Boba is Cantonese slang and literally means “dominatrix of breasts,” connoting the image of a busty woman. “Bō” (波) is a slang for the breast which refers to the milk. In southern Taiwan, pearl milk tea with large pearls are usually called “boba milk tea,” while those with small pearls are called “pearl milk tea.”
In any case, I love these black, pearl balls in my green milk tea. I love it when they make it chewy and not too soft, with a sweet, caramelized sugar taste. My favorite bubble tea place to go is Ambrosia Cafe in the Seattle International District. This cafe was the first in Washington to introduce bubble tea back in the late 1990s. I discovered this place when I worked as the assistant editor for the Northwest Asian Weekly. It is tucked in between nondescript shops, in an old, tenement-looking building. I am easily satiated with these drinks, and I used to just have one 16-ounce bubble tea for lunch. It had the right amount of flavor, sweetness, ice, and texture.
Falling out of [google's] grace
I
had neglegted the Bughaw blog for sometime now due to the fact that I started working for a ‘real’ company. So, life has been so hectic for me for the past year or so, especially since I had to juggle my time between work, my kids, hubby, and household chores.
Continue reading Falling out of [google's] grace
Great grandfather (Lolo lolo)
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Don Alipio Ycasiano y Bello
A.B. Ateneo de Manila, 1885
“Sobresaliente”
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My great grandfather - photo taken in 1882
Manila, Philippines
Bayan Ko
“Written as a protest song during the American occupation of the Philippines, it is often sung in protest rallies and demonstrations throughout Philippine history, notably during the funeral of Sen. Benigno Aquino, Jr. and the ensuing People Power Revolution where Freddie Aguilar lead the crowd to sing the song’s chorus. It has also been re-arranged and recorded by different composers and singers. …”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayan_Ko
Email Scam Letters - “Nigerian Fraud”
Since the advent of email, I have received numerous fraudulent email letters purportedly originating from Africa. It usually contains sad tales of misfortune, then comes the lure of millions of dollars for the mere pittance of shelling out the expenses required to ‘receive’ the funds.
A friend of my brother has been lured into such a scheme years ago. My brother’s friend actually traveled to Spain after shelling out a few thousand dollars. Greed and ignorance are aplenty . . . not a good combination.
Continue reading Email Scam Letters - “Nigerian Fraud”
Online English to Tagalog Dictionary
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Bughaw.com gets a lot of hits from people looking for English to Tagalog translation, and vice versa.
Working as a Tagalog-English interpreter requires a good knowledge of the Tagalog language, and unfortunately, my Tagalog vocabulary is not incredibly wide, since my family and I migrated to the states when I was only about 10 years old.
I find this online dictionary very helpful whenever the Filipino limited-English speaking person tells me “tapalodo” (dashboard; mud guard) or “apdo” (gall bladder). I hope you will find this online English-Tagalog dictionary helpful and convenient, just as I have.
You can also choose to reverse the translation direction to Tagalog-English, as well as choose other language pairs — all without leaving this site!
disco IMPIYERNO
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La Cucaracha
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Any similarities or likeness to persons living or dead are purely coincidental.
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FilAm Arts Festival
Baybayin Match Box Earrings
Continue reading FilAm Arts Festival
Ninotchka Rosca blog - Lily Pad
As I was browsing around GabNet’s website, I stumbled upon Ninotchka Rosca’s web journal, entitled Lily Pad.
Rosca eloquently writes thought-provoking narratives that pertain to women of Philippine ancestry. The novelist in Rosca skillfully weaves events of the past with current issues, all with the underlying theme of the Filipina’s struggle against oppression.
Make sure to click on the archive links to read Rosca’s posts dating back to July 2006, starting with her first post “To Be A Non-Person.”
… This is how it is not to exist, I said to myself. I was shuffling on the sidewalk, hugging building walls. The anonymity was complete. I felt both helpless and sinister; I could do anything since I was nothing; and conversely, anything could be done to me because I was nothing. After three blocks, the claustrophobia became overwhelming; I tore the thing off my body. …
Ms. Rosca is internationally-acclaimed and a phenomenal writer and female activist. She has received numerous awards for journalism and literature, which includes the following, but not limited to:
- “Twice Blessed: A Novel”
- Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award for Excellence in Literature 1993
- New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists’ Fellowship 1991, Fiction
- New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists’ Fellowship 1986, Fiction
- “The Southern Seas” - Third Prize in the 1970 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, English Division: Short Story
=[[The first post on this Bughaw blog was an article on Ninotchka Rosca.]]=
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Related Read:
Below is an excerpt from Ninotchka Rosca’s writing that was part of an anthology regarding immigrants:
“You have a listing of so many pounds of coconut exported and so many pounds of pineapple, and at the very top you have so many pounds of female flesh. Twenty thousand women are exported every year from the Philippines, not just as sexual labor but as domestics and menial workers, and very often their employers require sexual service. That’s why we have all these women who kill their employers when they are raped. They think we Filipinas are so unthreatening. We are small women. We are always charming, as they say. But they forget that we have been at war for 400 years and if you push us too hard against the wall — we’ll bounce back and kill you!”
— Ninotchka Rosca
“Crossing the BLVD: Strangers, Neighbors, Aliens in a New America”
Filipina Wife Store
The female activists in Manila were outraged at the content of a website that, at first glance, purports to be a portal for “selling” Filipina wives. While the T.V. news coverage in the Philippines showed photos from the website, it did not divulge the web address, and the reporters stated that no one knows who the site creator was. However, I did find the site in question, and quickly found the website creator after a little “googling.”
The Filipina Wife Store website is a parody. It is a humorous attempt in explaining the Filipino ‘mail-order bride” scenario. Apparently, not a lot of Filipinas find the site humorous, and unfortunately, a handful of dumb Caucasians actually believe the site is legit as shown in this newsgroup thread.
The Filipina Wife Store website was created by a Caucasian who currently lives in Siquijor, Philippines with his Filipina wife. He also created this Siquijor website.
The following explanation from the website creator was lifted from the site:
It has Come to our attention that this website has been featured in news stories all over the world. The story was originally aired on ABS/CBN news in The Philippines and has caused an outrage and insulted some Filipinos. It was not our intention to insult Filipinos. It was and is directed towards western men that believe they can go to developing countries, find them a girl and she will marry him out of desperation and become his sex toy/servant/nanny/cook etc. We strongly condemn this practice and merely wanted to illustrate the problem.
On many web forums men come looking for advice on how to get their own “Filipina” as if they are a commodity. After tiring of these posters, we created the site and would give the poster the link to the site in an effort to show him how rediculous he was acting. Suprisingly, some men would actually order a wife even though there was and is a disclaimer on the site stating that the site is a parody. Of course these orders were disregarded. We are not in the penpal/mailorder bride business.
There are links to a forum called Bahay ng Ningas . This forum is not connected with the creator of this website, however there is a lot of good information on the site. If you read the posts, you will find that BNN “takes the gloves off” when dealing with posters looking to purchase “their own” Filipina and those that are sex tourists. Most members of BNN are married or dating Filipinas and have the highest regard for their mates. The other members ARE filipinas. If you would like to read about the “target audience” of this website, go to the section of BNN called “Hall of Shame”. It is called The Hall of shame because of some posters which have what the “mainstream” membership of the forum considers as “abnormal” like to post their sillyness, so it is moved to their section.
There are many websites out there that cater to sex tourists and other deviants that need to be investigated. Some, such as the AC2 board, actually give reviews of bars in Angeles City including photos and videos of the girls working there in bars owned by Europeans and Australians.
Once again, we appologize for any misunderstandings that happened in spite of our disclaimer stating this site is a parody. We mean no harm to filipinos. We care about them so much that we created this site as are way of bringing light to the situations that IMBRA covers in an effort to educate people.
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Since the airing of the news piece, I guess the website has been getting a lot of hits, and the following statement was posted by the site owner, which makes one wonder if his original, heart-felt intentions were ever genuine in the first place. I wonder who “the right person” could be for such a domain name as FilipinaWifeStore.com?
FilipinaWifeStore.com has been featured on ABS CBN and News Patrol. We are getting hundreds of hits per hour and we decided that we would sell the site AND the domain name to the right person, for the right price. We will entertain any SERIOUS offer for the site. Act quickly! In your message give your contact info and your bid and we will get back to you ASAP
Mother’s Day - Araw ng Nanay
My children call me mommy. I call my mother mamá. In the Philippines, mothers are called many different ways depending on the geographical area or social class. The words nanay, inay, and ina have long been assumed as the Tagalog or Filipino translation of mother. But the word nanay originated from the colloquial nana from Nahuatl (nantli), the language of the Mexican Aztec Indians.
Contrary to popular belief that the majority of the Tagalog words are borrowed from Spanish, many of our loan words come from the Mexican Nahuatl Indians as the result of the Philippine-Mexican (Manila-Acapulco) trade route, which started in 1565 and continued up to the early 1800s.
Continue reading Mother’s Day - Araw ng Nanay
How the World Was Made
PHILIPPINE FOLKLORE STORIES
By John Maurice Miller,
Boston, U.S.A. 1904
Preface
As these stories are only legends that have been handed down from remote times, the teacher must impress upon the minds of the children that they are myths and are not to be given credence; otherwise the imaginative minds of the native children would accept them as truth, and trouble would be caused that might be hard to remedy. Explain then the fiction and show the children the folly of belief in such fanciful tales.
This is the ancient Filipino account of the creation.
Thousands of years ago there was no land nor sun nor moon nor stars, and the world was only a great sea of water, above which stretched the sky. The water was the kingdom of the god Maguayan, and the sky was ruled by the great god Captan.
Maguayan had a daughter called Lidagat, the sea, and Captan had a son known as Lihangin, the wind. The gods agreed to the marriage of their children, so the sea became the bride of the wind.
Continue reading How the World Was Made
16th Annual Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture
I will be getting an artisan booth at the upcoming Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture, which boasts a yearly attendance of 25,000 people. This makes it one of the largest Filipino American festival nationwide.
I will be selling one-of-a-kind and handmade items that incorporate organic materials, which celebrates our Filipino culture, such as necklaces, earrings, bracelets, candles, ephemera, and other eclectic items. I will use the folk-artsy anting-anting medallion designs into my work, along with the Tagalog Baybayin scripts.
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FilAm ARTS and the Pilipino Artist Network (PAN) are inviting exhibitors to the 16th Annual Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture (FPAC), which will be held on September 8 & 9, 2007 at Pt. Fermin Park in San Pedro, California.
Set in the breath-taking seaside location of San Pedro’s Point Fermin Park, FPAC is a unique cultural destination, reaching a multicultural, intergenerational audience of over 25,000 people from all over the country. Over 1,000 traditional and contemporary artists are presented on two stages and in pavilions for culinary arts, visual arts, film, youth and seniors.
Also, FilAm ARTS is offering summer internships in support of the Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture. Two paid internships, the Festival Administrative Assistant and Visual Arts Curatorial Intern, and several un-paid internships are available. Please click here to go to the FilAm Arts website for more information regarding this opportunity.
Build community through arts & culture. APPLY TODAY! DEADLINE IS MAY 5TH.
soul snatchers
whenever i have extra time, i browse eBay for old Philippine photos.
one of my eclectic hobbies . . .
i found these photos being sold on eBay.
i didn’t buy them . . .
i just right-clicked and saved in my hard drive.
i collect digital ephemera.
i look at them late at night, when everything is still . . .
TFC - The Filipino Channel
For six years, we have been subscribers to Comcast Cable’s basic cable service, which amounted to about $49 per month. After getting a few calls from Comcast for Tagalog interpreting, I learned from these conversations that a digital cable service costs about the same amount as the basic cable service.
After urging my husband to look into switching to digital cable instead of (analog) basic cable, we finally made the jump. This switch did not come that easy. Whereas our cable-ready T.V.s didn’t need boxes or receivers before, now they do.
Continue reading TFC - The Filipino Channel
Philippine Elections 2007
We, the sovereign Filipino people, imploring the aid of Almighty God, in order to build a just and humane society and establish a government that shall embody our ideals and aspirations, promote the common good, conserve and develop our
Continue reading Philippine Elections 2007
Filipinos crucify themselves on Good Friday
This practice has been gaining notoriety every year, and now, it seems that it has become an international tourist attraction, replete with vendors selling “beer, ice-cream, and souvenir whips.”
Some people have questioned the participants’ motives. Others have said that most of the participants are not even devout Catholics, or do not even go to regular Mass.
Here is an interesting angle: while researching about the origins and myths behind the anting-anting medallions, I have read that some of the men who flagellate themselves on Good Friday are actually doing it to strengthen the ‘birtud’ or power of the anting-anting medallion in their possession.
Penitents are nailed to wooden crosses during a Good Friday crucifixion re-enactment in Lourdes Northwest Village in Pampanga province, north of Manila, April 6, 2007. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
Continue reading Filipinos crucify themselves on Good Friday
The Cojuangcos & Hacienda Luisita
Remembering Hacienda Luisita Massacre
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An important legacy of the Spanish colonial period was the high concentration of land ownership, and the consequent widespread poverty and agrarian unrest. United States administrators and several Philippine presidential administrations launched land reform programs to maintain social stability in the countryside. Lack of sustained political will, however, as well as landlord resistance, severely limited the impact of the various initiatives.
— Land Tenancy and Land Reform
The oratorical piece written by Raul Manglapus “Land of Bondage, Land of the Free” (posted below) can be aptly applied to the plight of the peasants working in inhumane conditions on the numerous agricultural lands still under the ownership of “old monied” feudalistic landlords, and Manglapus’ written piece most especially has lent a resonating tone to the Hacienda Luisita situation and the unfortunate massacre of the hacienda’s peasant workers that happened on November 16, 2004.
Continue reading The Cojuangcos & Hacienda Luisita
Land of Bondage, Land of the Free
LAND OF BONDAGE, LAND OF THE FREE
Raul Manglapus
October 20, 1918 — July 25, 1999
Appointed as the Philippines’ youngest-ever foreign minister in 1957, and was elected to a national senate seat by a landslide in 1961. He ran for President in 1965, but lost to eventual dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Manglapus returned to the foreign affairs post in 1987 as a member of the cabinet of President Corazon Aquino. A statesman of towering stature, he is best summed up by a Philippine newspaper columnist as “…the best President we never had.”
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Once upon a time, the tao owned a piece of land. It was all he owned. But he cherished it, for it gave him three things, having which, he was content: life, first of all, and liberty, and happiness.
Then one day the Spaniard came and commanded him to pay tribute to the crown of Spain. The tao paid tribute. And he was silent — he was certain that he was still the master of his land. Continue reading Land of Bondage, Land of the Free
Filipino accents
… Today only one percent of the Filipino American population can’t speak English at all. Very few immigrant groups can claim that statistic.
Yet, Filipino Americans, especially the first-generation immigrants, have difficulties in fitting into American mainstream society. While they speak good English and know good grammar and usage, and spelling, they have a different way of pronouncing some English words. Some of them pronounce “f” as “p” and the “th” such “d” as in “them” (dem). So when they talk in accented English, some Americans, especially those who have not had any acquaintance with Filipino Americans, sometimes find it hard or refuse to understand such words, especially when talking over the telephone. …
— Veltisezar Bautista, from the book entitled “The Filipino Americans: Yesterday and Today”
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Continue reading Filipino accents
Amorsolo on Antiques Roadshow
Reading “Senior Enrique’s” blog entry here reminded me of the time when I came across an Amorsolo painting while watching the Antiques Roadshow on PBS.
The Antiques Roadshow is a series shown on PBS that offers appraisal of antiques and other valuables. The production travels the United States in search for the rare and unusual. This particular Antiques Roadshow happened in New Orleans, and one of the highlights during the first hour was a painting brought in that depicted rural life in the Philippines. When it was his turn, the man declared that he actually had second thoughts about taking in the painting since he didn’t consider it an antique. He continued to tell the story that the painting was “gifted” to his father during World War II in the Philippines after helping out some people.
Continue reading Amorsolo on Antiques Roadshow
Monico “Nick” Atienza
— Nick Atienza on “Dakilang Alay”
A compilation of stories on the lives and struggles of youth martyrs in the Philippines
Edited by Sarah Katrina Maramag
A project of ANAKBAYAN and FIRST QUARTER STORM MOVEMENT
“Marami nang kahanga-hanga at natatanging Pilipino: Manny Pacquiao, Bata Reyes,Django Bustamante, Ronie Alcano; milyun-milyong mga OFW, mandaragat,nangibang-bayang trabahador at empleyadong Pilipino.
Palagi nang itinutungayaw ng gobyernong Macapagal-Arroyo at ng di na mabilang na tambulero’t upahang umalahokan ng gobyernong itong walang-kasinsiba, walang-kasintiwali, walang-kasing-mapanupil, at walang-kahawig sa pagpapakatuta sa dayuhang imperyo at monopolyo ng walang habas na pagtubo at pinansyal na pandarambong.
Gobyernong patuloy na pumupuri’t nagbubukod sa mga “katangi-tangi,” “bayani o mala-bayani,”"modelo at halimbawa” na kababanggit, ngunit walang habas na pumapaslang, nangingidnap, nagtotortyur, at nagkukulong sa mga aktibista at mga tunay na tagapagtaguyod ng mga karapatang tao, repormang agraryo, karapatan ng mgamanggagawa at maralita ng lungsod; mga taong walang ibang pinangarap at nilayon maliban sa tunay na demokrasya, kasarinlan, katarungan at pag-unlad ng milyun-milyong sambayanang Pilipino.
Continue reading Monico “Nick” Atienza
isda - my virtual pet fish
| adopt your own virtual pet! |
ANG ALAMÁT NI BERNARDO CARPIO
Taken from: Conversational Tagalog
by: Rufino Alejandro
Published by: National Bookstore, Inc., 1972
Kung ang mga Hudyo ay may kaniláng Golem, and mga Pilipino ay may kanilang Bernardo Carpio. Kahit noóng muntíng batà pa, si Bernardo Carpio ay bantog na sa kalakasan. Noóng siyá ay gumágapang pa lamang, nabubunot na niyá ang mga pakò ng sahíg. Ang mga punongkahoy ay nabubunot niyá na parang waláng anumán. Ang lakás niyá ay katulad ng lakás ni Herkules sa mitolohiyá.
Continue reading ANG ALAMÁT NI BERNARDO CARPIO
Los Angeles Times article - B.E.P.
Allan Pineda, top, performs with Black Eyed Peas bandmate Jaime Gomez. Pineda moved from the Philippines to the United States at age 14. His nostalgic rap “Bebot” has struck a chord even among non-Tagalog-speaking Filipino Americans.(Ben Devries / AP)
A few months ago, David Pierson, a staff writer of the L.A. Times, contacted several Filipino Americans to be interviewed for an article about the Black Eyed Peas’ Filipino rap song “Bebot.” I was among the many who were interviewed for the article, and I know that Moonie was also contacted.
The tone of the interview was not fully reflected on the written article, and only the thoughts of a handful of the people interviewed were quoted. Still, I’m proud that the English translation of the Tagalog Bebot song that I had previously translated and posted on this website had made it on Pierson’s article.
Continue reading Los Angeles Times article - B.E.P.
Ruben Ornedo
i couldn’t find the time to finish this article in time for the 9/11 anniversary, but here it is:
Last September 11 marked the 5th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that happened on US soil. Numerous Filipinos perished that day, but to our family, one person stands out the most — Ruben Ornedo. He was on board the American Airlines flight #77 to Los Angeles from Washington Dulles Airport, which was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon at 09:37:46, travelling at approximately 530 miles per hour. No one survived. Ruben left behind a pregnant wife, Sheila, whom he just married three months prior to the incident.
Ruben grew up in Los Angeles in the area where my husband grew up. Ruben’s parents and my husband’s parents were in the same close-knit circle of friends, Filipino parishioners of St. Gregory Church. Ruben and my husband’s background paralleled each other. While my husband went to school at Daniel Murphy, Ruben attended Los Angeles High, but both went on to UCLA and both eventually found work at Boeing as lead engineers. The last time my husband spoke to Ruben was when he called him up to inquire about the Boeing Satellite Systems in El Segundo, California, where Ruben worked as a satellite communications engineer. This was back in 2001 when we had seriously considered moving back to California.
Continue reading Ruben Ornedo
I Am A Filipino
The following essay was written by Carlos P. Romulo (1899 - 1985). Numerous awards have been bestowed on Romulo. Among others, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1942 for International Journalism, the first Asian to receive one. Romulo was the first Asian (and sole Filipino) to become president of the United Nations.
This declamation / oratorical piece is one of my favorites that I had memorized back in high school.
Virginia & Carlos Romulo with my Lolo
Romulo Residence, Washington, DC, 1950
click to view larger image
I am a Filipino — inheritor of a glorious past, hostage to the uncertain future. As such I must prove equal to a two-fold task — the task of meeting my responsibility to the past, and the task of performing my obligation to the future.
I sprung from a hardy race — child of many generations removed of ancient Malayan pioneers. Across the centuries, the memory comes rushing back to me: of brown-skinned men, putting out to sea in ships that were as frail as their hearts were stout. Over the sea I see them come, borne upon the billowing wave and the whistling wind, carried upon the mighty swell of hope — hope in the free abundance of new land that was to be their home and their children’s forever.
Continue reading I Am A Filipino
lucid ephemera
my lola passed away last year (42 long years after lolo), leaving her lucid thoughts written on the back of old, yellowed photos.
i have been taking these paper memories back to amerika everytime i visit manila . . . little by little . . . even way before she left me. i look at them with reticence, and i miss her . . . incredibly so.
unselfishly, i can’t keep these to myself, and these postings will be recorded under the new category lucid ephemera.
i will end the beginning of this category with a poem written by yeats, aptly titled, “ephemera.”
kasalan ng lola at lolo, 1934
click to view larger image
Ephemera
William Butler Yeats
‘Your eyes that once were never weary of mine
Are bowed in sorrow under pendulous lids,
Because our love is waning.’
And then She:
‘Although our love is waning, let us stand
By the lone border of the lake once more,
Together in that hour of gentleness
When the poor tired child, passion, falls asleep.
How far away the stars seem, and how far
Is our first kiss, and ah, how old my heart!’Pensive they paced along the faded leaves,
While slowly he whose hand held hers replied:
‘Passion has often worn our wandering hearts.’The woods were round them, and the yellow leaves
Fell like faint meteors in the gloom, and once
A rabbit old and lame limped down the path;
Autumn was over him: and now they stood
On the lone border of the lake once more:
Turning, he saw that she had thrust dead leaves
Gathered in silence, dewy as her eyes,
In bosom and hair.
‘Ah, do not mourn,’ he said,
‘That we are tired, for other loves await us;
Hate on and love through unrepining hours.
Before us lies eternity; our souls
Are love, and a continual farewell.’
do the puyallup
we went to washington’s state fair again this year at puyallup.
hillary duff had a concert again, but i didn’t buy tickets for my daughter. last year’s concert was flat - hillary duff didn’t really quite do anything but somehow just stood or sat while singing. after her last song, she waved goodbye and simply left the stage — she didn’t come back to sing another song, which is the norm.
Continue reading do the puyallup
FREE bughaw.com webmail
FREE webmail - username@bughaw.com - 2 full gigabytes of server space, with no banner and pop-up ads.
If you would like a free and uncluttered Web mail service with tons of storage and a cool domain name, click here to send a request with your chosen username. You will then get a confirmation email with your username and temporary password. There’re only 80 accounts to be given away! Click here to accesss your new bughaw.com web email.
spam again?!
okay. i’m tired of deleting spam comments. it was a dirty chore that got added on top of all the stuff that a busy mom had to do. cutting and pasting the nasty ip’s on the “ip deny manager” via bughaw’s cpanel was getting too tedious, and wordpress’ internal anti-spam utilities have already been outsmarted by the spam monsters.
i initially thought that word or image verification was the answer. i tried to resist taking on drastic measures, such as installing ’spam karma’ or ‘akismet’ — for fear that these programs might delete more than necessary. after googling around, i found out that ‘akismet’ was the brainchild of matt mullenweg . . . the same matt of the wordpress fame. bughaw is running wordpress. what a perfect marriage!
to download ‘akismet’ - go here.
unzip the downloaded file, and
to get your API key that will enable ‘akismet’ - go here and sign up for an account. i initially just signed up as a plain user, but you can create a blog later on. you will get an email to activate the wordpress.com account. click on the link contained in the email. you will then get another email that will contain your password and the oh-so-very-important API key. use this API key
http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/09/14/wordpress-comment-spam/
http://akismet.com/faq/
http://wp-plugins.net/index.php?filter=spam&filter_search=Go…
paru-parong bukid 2
Bughaw has been getting hits here and there with the search term “paru-parong bukid,” which is a traditional Filipino folk song. Pamela Okiyama has requested to hear the tune to this song, and here it is. The lyrics to this song has been posted here.
This recording was performed by the Cape Kids Chorus at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
tropical butterfly house
pacific science museum - seattle, washington
canon digital rebel
click thumbnails to view larger image
Immigration History of the Filipino
The year 2006 marks the centennial history of the Filipino American migration, and the U.S. Congress passes legislation that officially commemorates the “100 Years of Filipino Migration to the United States.”
After much hoopla about the centennial earlier this year, I really haven’t heard or seen much about it. I don’t even think most Filipino Americans are aware of the centennial other than the ones who are active in the community.
In any case, I am proud to be a Filipino American, and I am proud to be a part of history.
a. Early Period. The first recorded settlement of Filipinos was in Louisiana during the Spanish galleon trade (1565-1815) that carried Philippine cargo. In 1763, members of the Filipino crew escaped forced labor and enslavement and made their way to New Orleans and established a community in the bayous. Known as “Manilamen,” the Filipino cajuns and their descendants introduced wine making from coconut (tuba) and developed an export industry of sun-dried shrimp. From 1763 to 1906, others followed (e.g., mariners, adventurers, domestics) and as the community grew, some moved on to the West Coast and Hawaii or to Alaska to seek jobs in the fishing and whaling industry. A few upper-middle class travelers from the Philippines to Spain also chose to disembark and join the community.
Continue reading Immigration History of the Filipino
B.E.P. bebot music video(s)
i found these “bebot” music videos from youtube.com - there are two different versions that are directed by patricio ginelsa, and produced by xylophone films and kid heroes productions.
the music videos were filmed in los angeles in a period of two days. according to an article written by eric araya for mtv.com, “The video was a passion project for Apl who, with some help from fellow Peas Will.I.Am, Fergie and Taboo, funded the production independently.”
Continue reading B.E.P. bebot music video(s)
flip shirts
i missed seattle’s pista sa nayon last july 30th because it was my birthday, and we were so full of sushi from todai, and the sweltering seattle heat made the trek to seattle’s seward park (pista’s venue) an unbearable thought.
since i missed seattle’s pista sa nayon, and we were in the bay area for my nephew’s binyag, my cousin yellowmetroaide and i decided to check out san francisco’s pistahan: filipino american arts exposition at yerba buena gardens.
hulyo ay para kay eldon maguan
H´ulyo n. july
july is a signifcant month.
Continue reading hulyo ay para kay eldon maguan
oriental love
extra moolah propelled me to give in to my bibliophilistic tendencies. i was using three browsers - ebay, half.com, amazon - simultaneously looking for the cheapest possible prices for my list of titles (not a quick task involving shipping fee calculations). my current must-haves?
- white love and other events in filipino history : vicente l. rafael
- in our image : stanley karnow (gotta replenish the copy i gave away)
- pasyon and revolution : reynaldo c. ileto
- growing up brown: peter jamero
- the essential neruda: pablo neruda
- understanding exposure: bryan peterson
- the art of photographing children: cheryl dorskind
then, i typed the word ‘filipino’ on the amazon search as a catchall . . . because i certainly do not want to miss anything. that’s when this t-shirt caught my attention . . . actually, it was the curious merchandise title that made me click on the item — T-SHIRT WHITE “ORIENTAL LOVE FILIPINO BOXING”
the oddity of the title is not what struck me . . . but, somehow over the years living in the diaspora, i have developed a disdain for the word ‘oriental‘ that comes anywhere near the word ‘filipino’ . . . however, it very well just might be me.
denial
haze of denial
**********************
i saw something that wasn’t there
a ghost of my emotions
clarity wasn’t an option
focus was unreachable
i created something out of a mirage
a crevice in my mind
that no one else could see
. . . not even you
i couldn’t cut through the haze
the thick haze of denial
a cloud of unrecognition
only time was able to
thin out the smoke
. . . out of sight
. . . out of mind
somewhere in the streets of manila
batang kalye sa tabi ng kariton
**********************
the SNORK
****************************
Playa Las Gatas .::. Zihuatanejo, Mexico
Biodiversity in the Philippines
Filmed in Sibuyan Island :: alternatives to illegal logging
by WWF (World Wildlife Foundation)
Philippines Logging and Nature
7 min 5 sec - Feb 9, 2006
www.panda.org :: WWF Philippines
Philippines / Mexico Connection
This coming week after Easter Sunday are my kids’ Spring break, and we have decided to spend our vacation at Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Mexico. We’ve been to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico twice before, and Cabo San Lucas is a place to avoid if you do not want to bump into the rowdy, college Spring breakers.
Even though Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo are two different places, it is synonymous with one another. They are located on the west of Mexico by the Pacific Ocean, 250 km (4 hour drive) northwest of Acapulco. Zihuatanejo (zee-wha-tan-EH-ho) was a resort for the Mexican nobility before the colonial Spaniards arrived. Retaining most of its original Mexican atmosphere, it’s a quiet fishing village with beautiful views of the ocean. Ixtapa (eesh-tah-pa), originally spelled Iztapa, is a 10-minute drive to the south of Zihuatanejo, and is a fairly new development that was created in the 1970s with the sole purpose of attracting tourists. That said, Ixtapa’s beaches are lined with resorts that front the Pacific Ocean, and numerous shopping areas and restaurants right behind.
A Spanish Galleon trade route was established in 1527 that connected Zihuatanejo to the Philippines. The first coconut/nipa-palm trees in Mexico were planted in Zihuatanejo, which originally came from the Philippines. With the coconut/nipa-palm trees, the Filipinos also introduced their many uses to the inhabitants of Mexico.
Palapa
Today, numerous “nipa” thatched roof umbrellas dot the resorts’ sandy beaches, and the “nipa” thatched roof shacks accomodate the resorts’ “watering holes” for libation purposes. The Filipinos who brought the coconut/nipa-palm trees to this area back in the 16th century named these nipa huts “palapa,” a term which the Mexicans have retained to this day. In my research, the word palapa has its roots in Javanese from the word “kelapa,” meaning coconut. Palapa, referring to nipa/coconut fronds, was the term used by the inhabitants of the Philippines during that time.
tuba
tub´a’ n. native drink, palm sap, palm wine
Tuba, an alcoholic drink made from palm flower sap, may be native to the Philippines, but it is sold everyday in the streets of Zihuatanejo (and other parts of Mexico, such as Acapulco, Colima, Manzanillo, etc…) by men called “Tuberos.” The Filipinos have passed down the art of making tuba, much to the chagrin of the Spanish colonists, to the native (Mexican) Indians back in the 16th century. Tuba is considered a traditional beverage in Mexico. The Mexican Tuberos peddle their concoction on the streets, calling out its name in an elongated, “tuuuuba!” much like the street vendors in the Philippines who yell out, “baaalut” or “taaaaho.” The traditional Mexican version of the tuba is often served with beet juice (which accounts for its red appearance), tiny bits of tropical fruit, and crushed peanuts on top. While the origin of the coconut tree and the tuba is not a secret to the Mexican historians, it is a surprising discovery to most Filipinos.
Besides the coconut/nipa-palm trees, the Filipinos also brought with them to Mexico their expertise in ship-building, cock fighting, ceviche recipe (escabeche; raw seafood kinilaw), the Philippine mango, tamarind (sampalok), rambutan, acacia, peppers (labuyo?), and papaya among many other things. Thousands of Filipinos immigrated to different areas of Mexico during the Manila Galleon trade, either as slaves or sailors who had decided that the inhuman treatment and difficult sea voyage was not for them.
The Philippines also benefitted from this alliance. From Mexico and South America, we got the avocado, cacao, pineapple, calabaza, caimito, arrowroot, peanuts, lima beans, balimbing, cassava, chico, zapote (sayote), tomato, squash, camachile, sensitive mimosa (makahiya), and achuete among others. The native barong Tagalog could have originated from Mexico, since the Mexicans and Cubans do sport a similar design but with a different material. The Filipinos have also adopted some Mexican words, such as tiangui, palenque, nana(y), tata(y), etc…
There is still much to be learned about the Philippine connection to Mexico. Unfortunately, not enough research can be found about the Philippines’ impact on the Mexican culture. This subject has certainly peaked my curiosity, and I hope to uncover more during our visit to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo.
I recommend the following website links below for further reading.
Bibliography notes:
• Philippine / Mexican connection 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
goodbye IGLOO
..:: igloo, the green iguana ::..
**********************
our beloved pet igloo, a green iguana, passed away yesterday. she was with us for almost five years, and she grew to be about 3 feet long and approximately 7 lbs.
this photo was taken when she was still a baby. that is a yellow pelota (squash) ball on top of an Ikea rug. we bought her in the garment district in Los Angeles for $5, and she was only 10 inches long. the equipment needed to make her thrive (sun lamp, heat lamp, vertical cage, etc…) amounted to more than $200.
my son requested that her remains be cremated so that he can keep the ashes. i called around and got a quote of between $65-$135. there are also cemetery plots for pets.
this comes a year after the passing of my Lola.
Loss is loss . . .
Grief is grief . . .
babae
Gabriela Booth
Pista Sa Nayon - Seattle, Washington
**********************
third person omniscient
S
he sits outside at the gazebo with a hot, domestic coffee on one hand and a Capri menthol on the other. She listens to her iPod, intently dissecting the crooning words of Dana Owens a.k.a. Queen Latifah . . . California Dreamin’. A very befitting song in this cold, grey Seattle morning. How did she come to this point in her life? A typical, suburbian mother, shuffling her kids to their destinations, doing laundry, cooking and cleaning. A mere shadow of her previous accomplishments. She is simply just “Mommy.”
She has made up her mind to write down what she was feeling just to let someone else in on her thoughts. She decides that it will be written in the third person omniscient.
Yes, omniscient has a nice ring to it . . . knowing all.
Her thoughts are shifted back to reality when her daughter opens the sliding door to announce the time . . . almost time to leave for school. She tells the kids to usher themselves to the car.
“Which car, Mommy?,” asked the girl.
“The van.”
But, she quickly changes her mind and shouts back, “No, we’ll take the truck today.”
“YES!” they both chorused. The two kids have developed an affinity for the other car; the truck.
Yes, the truck will be the mode of transportation today. A sign of disregard for the high gas prices. The truck is the Ford Excursion SUV.
She wanted to take the truck today.
She puts on her Ray Bans, despite the dreary weather. She doesn’t care that it makes the landscape even more grey. In the Excursion, she sits higher than the other plebeians.
The girl puts in a CD of the Black Eyed Peas. Soon, Apl.de.ap can be heard yelling “Pilipino!” with full indignation. The two kids unintentionally bop their heads in unison. Who would have known that a whole generation of Filipino American youth would be so inspired about their ethnicity with a mere song?
This morning, she doesn’t care what they listen to. Mozart can wait later during homework time. She listens to Michael Franks on her green iPod. She yearns for Manila.
Once home, she looks at her surroundings. The cold milk sits on the table, along with the scattered remains of what was last night’s dinner.
What to do first?
She decides to put the milk away. The rest can wait for later.
Procrastination looms over her like a dark, ominous cloud. She can clean up later, right before she picks up the kids at school.
She heads over to the laptop, and she opens up a blank page on Word. Third person omniscient. Her fingers quickly types up the words . . . “She sits outside at the gazebo with a hot, domestic coffee on one hand and a Capri menthol on the other . . . “
manila: view from a taxi
Cab Ride by Francis Ramirez
4 min 7 sec - Jan 7, 2005
PINOY AKO
Pinoy Big Brother Soundtrack
I have been getting requests for the English translation of this song. I have never seen an episode of Pinoy Big Brother, but I have seen the music video of this song sung by Orange and Lemons via The Filipino Channel (TFC).
There’s a bit of a controversy regarding the melody used for this song. Read about it here - 1 -2 - 3
Continue reading PINOY AKO
Pinoy Big Brother Soundtrack