Third Grade And Dance Classes

SARA'S THIRD GRADE class picture with Mrs. Casale (Click to enlarge and try to find as many Polish surnames as you can), and her ballet and Hip Hop dance classes.

Second Grade And Ballet Class

SARA'S SECOND GRADE class picture with teacher Ms. Santora, and pictures of her ballet class.

Little Town Blues

ABOUT FIFTY YEARS AGO. With my mother (sorry about her cut image) in the early sixties when I was the youngest in the family, in Santa Rita. And with my sister Eden (third from left) and cousins Ernesto (RIP) and Victoria Castillo, in front of the hibiscus shrub that separated our houses and where we dried our wash, on Leuterio Drive. Both in Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro. 

Moving On

QUEENS PINOY IS NOW Jersey Pinoy. For a couple of reasons: I am going to work for the federal government with a job location in New Jersey, and I am planning to buy a second home there. This will hopefully broaden this blog's horizons.

To Yet Another Jose: Prison Deform

With Jose Dalisay, Hwang Sok-yong, Khet Mar, and Susan Rosenberg; moderated by Jackson Taylor. Even for those with a limited sentence, the deforming pressure of incarceration affects the mind, body, and spirit. Here, four writers each with personal experiences of the prison system—some as political detainees—will discuss the influence of that exile on their work.

"I belonged to a small wave of Filipino writers that included Fidelito Cortes, Gina Apostol, Ramon Bautista, and, a little later, Eric Gamalinda and Ricardo de Ungria. In one of the more remarkable success stories of its kind, Gina Apostol had written John Barth directly at Johns Hopkins; this was all before e-mail, and had sent him some of her stories; he responded with an offer of an assistantship. All of us were friends here, and all of us found ourselves scattered all over America within a year or so of each other. Some-- Cortes, Bautista, Apostol, and Gamalinda would stay on. It seemed a good time to be a Filipino writer in America. As I was finishing my PhD, around 1990, the big news was Jessica Hagedorn and the thumbs-up review she got from John Updike in The New Yorker."--Butch Dalisay, "Writing for America"

This event is part of The Fifth Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, April 27-May 3, 2009.

Wednesday, April 29, 6–7:30 pm, free and open to the public,
co-sponsored by the PEN Prison Writing Committee

The Martin E. Segal Theater, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10016, phone (212) 817-1860

From Jose To Jose

From the AAWW website:

From Jose Rizal to Jose Garcia Villa: An Introduction to Philippine Literary Greats

JOIN US FOR A SPECIAL reception in celebration of two heroes of Philippine literature and of the Philippine-American heritage and experience, and for a lively discussion and refreshment.

Noli Me Tangere is the great Philippine novel by Jose Rizal (1861-1896), a love story set during the Spanish occupation, and the story of a young gentleman who returns to the Philippines from Europe after his father's death. This powerful, moving novel and its sequel, El Filibusterismo were banned by Spanish authorities. Rizal was subsequently executed for sedition and is the best-known Philippine national hero.

Harold Augenbraum discusses Rizal's life and reads from his translation of the Noli, published by Penguin Classics, and then from his translation-in-progress of the Fili. Augenbraum is executive director of the National Book Foundation and a well known translator and critic.

Known as the "Pope of Greenwich Village," Jose Villa (1908-1997) was arguably the most important Asian American writer of the mid-twentieth century, as well as a colleague of modern literary giants such as W.H. Auden and Tennessee Williams. Edith Sitwell called him "a poet with a great, even an astounding, and perfectly original gift. . . The best of his poems are among the most beautifully written in our time."

Luis Francia, a well known writer and poet, discusses Villa and reads from his poetry, and will also read from his own book Eye of the Fish: A Personal Archipelago, a semiautobiographical account of life straddling American and Philippine culture which won the Pen Center Beyond the Margin Award and The Asian American Writers' Workshop Literary Award in 2002.

An informal discussion will be encouraged after the presentations. Wine and merienda hors d'oeuvres will be served.

Monday, April 27, 2009, 7 pm

Tickets: $25; students $15; VIP $50. For tickets click here.

Asian-American Writers' Workshop, 16 West 32nd Street, 10th Floor (between Broadway and 5th Avenue), New York, New York 10001, phone (212) 494-0061

Phillip Lopate (and Brother) at Queens College

From the Queens College Evening Readings website:

Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Admission: $15, free with CUNY student ID

Phillip Lopate is the author of many volumes of nonfiction, including Getting Personal: Selected Writings, Bachelorhood, Against Joie de Vivre, Portrait of My Body, Waterfront and most recently, Notes on Sontag. He is also the editor of The Art of the Personal Essay, as well as the author of the novels Confessions of Summer, The Rug Merchant, and most recently, the collection of two novellas Two Marriages. David Shields has said: “In book after book, Phillip Lopate has explained and demonstrated that the basis of the essay is honesty. And yet in [Two Marriages] he shows how corrosive honesty can be, how deluded, how destructive, how rationalizing, even masochistic, particularly in the matter of love. Two Marriages is a surprising, stinging, thrilling performance.” Ann Beattie has said: “Lopate is a fantastic writer—humane, wry, and always astonishingly willing to take on the ineffable, attuned to the complexities of symbolic relationships we only intuited before his dazzling collage was created.” The Dallas Morning News has said: “Phillip Lopate has made himself into one of our best personal essayists…he has…demonstrated his charismatic gift for self-revelation and proven that honesty is the professional essayist’s password.” Sven Birkets has said: “Phillip Lopate is one of our few essential essayists. He registers with accuracy and tact the voice of a man of deep human impulse living in a civilization on the wane. His fearlessness is tonic, his candor is straight gin.”

In addition to reading from his work, Phillip Lopate will be interviewed by his brother, Leonard Lopate.

Queens College, Music Building, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, Queens, New York 11367, phone (718) 997-4647

Sara Takes Over Blog Post

(My entry begins like this:) SCHOOL ENDS IN JUNE, but Sara brought home today her first grade class picture with Miss Jill Lanzilotta (Ain't she pretty?). (Sara pushes me away from the keyboard and insists that she does the typing. So here is the rest of the post.) Sara's class used to have eighteen kids but her classmate Murtaza went to another class so it was seventeen kids but Lana, Justyna, and Anthony of course then there are twenty kids in the class room! Sara is the best reader in class! Sara is in a second grade level and she is now reading chapter books! Miss Lanzillotta said to Sara's mother that she is the only one that is reading chapter books and she is the best reader then any one!!! (Not bad, ha?)

Freebie Leads: Latin Music

In this period of recession, Queens Library deserves credit for continuing to give the public a myriad of free events especially on weekends, a real privilege, if one can find the branch location and get there on time. My pick for this month: Latin music that osmoses easily into the Pinoy bloodstream, guaranteed to melt away the frost in the arteries. (If only they'd let me in with my favorite drink, too!) Expect more events as the weather gets warmer.

Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series: Harlem Quartet, a Sphinx Ensemble

The Harlem Quartet, an innovative and daring all-Black and Latino string quartet comprised of First-Place Laureates of the Sphinx Competition, will perform classical and jazz music by African- American and Latino composers. This event is part of the Carnegie Hall festival "HONOR!", a celebration of the African-American cultural legacy, curated by Jessye Norman.

Saturday, March 14, 2 pm, Langston Hughes Public Library, 100-01 Northern Boulevard, Corona, Queens, New York 11368, phone (718) 651-1100

Music of Colombia by Folklore Urbano

Folklore Urbano uses traditional instruments to tell the history and culture of Colombia through its music.

Saturday, March 14, 2:30 pm, Jackson Heights Public Library, 35-51 81 Street, Jackson Heights, Queens, New York 11372, phone (718) 899-2500

Saturday, March 21, 1:30 pm, Hollis Public Library, 202-05 Hillside Avenue, Hollis, Queens, New York 11423, phone (718) 465-7355

Mestizo Music of Peru featuring Inkarayku
Traditional music and songs from Peru's northern coast and North Andean highlands, Central and South Andean highlands and valleys of Peru performed with Andean and European instruments. Funded by a Special Legislative Grant.

Saturday, March 21, 2:30 pm, Jackson Heights Public Library, 35-51 81 Street, Jackson Heights, Queens, New York 11372, phone (718) 899-2500

Saturday, March 28, 2:30 pm, Hollis Public Library, 202-05 Hillside Avenue, Hollis, Queens, New York 11423, phone (718) 465-7355

Andean Pipe Music from Peru with Ethereal and Haunting Melodies of Grupo Wayno

Join us for an evening of Andean music from Peru with Grupo Wayno. Formed in 1980 by Luis Vilcherrez, the group's name is taken from a popular style of dance of the native Andean people.

(Note: The Oriental-looking members of the band, I assume, are Japanese-Peruvians. Remember Alberto Fujimori?)

Monday, March 30, 6 pm, 38-23 104 Street, Corona, Queens, New York 11368, phone (718) 426-2844

Cynthia Ozick At Queens College

From the Queens College Evening Readings website:

Date: Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Time: 7 pm
Admission: $15, free with CUNY student ID

Cynthia Ozick is the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of many works of fiction, including The Messiah of Stockholm, The Shawl, The Puttermesser Papers, Heir to the Glimmering World and most recently, Dictation, as well as several volumes of nonfiction, including Quarrel and Quandary, Art and Ardor and The Din in the Head. The New Republic has said: “[Ozick’s] language alone…long ago earned her a position among the very first rank of American writers.” The New York Times has said: “[Ozick] has magical gifts as a storyteller, [as well as] a distinctive and utterly original voice. She possesses an ability to mix up the surreal and the realistic, juxtapose Kafkaesque abstractions with Waugh-like comedy…The result is a fiction that has the power to delight us—and make us think.” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has said: “Ozick has earned a place in modern literature beside her own heroes: Franz Kafka, Bruno Shulz and Bernard Malamud…[she is] one of the finest and most imaginative writers of our time.”

In addition to reading from her work, Ms. Ozick will be interviewed by Leonard Lopate.

Queens College, Music Building, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, Queens, New York 11367, phone (718) 997-4647

Chillin' In The Neighborhood Library

AN IMPORTANT ITEM ON OUR Friday to-do list after we pick up Sara from school and get our groceries (I don't work Fridays, and so doesn't Mom, most of the time) is to stop by our neighborhood library to borrow our Saturday night movie. A title rented from Blockbuster or bought through the remote from Direct TV would cost at least $5, so we get to save a few bucks as long as we remember to return it by Monday afternoon. We park on CVS Pharmacy's rear lot next to the library staff's, enter the drugstore through its back door and buy a few sundries, then slip out the front door to our intended destination.

The Maspeth branch of Queens Library is well-lighted and roomy; it has a lounge, ten workstations with an automated sign-up terminal (just scan your library card), free Wi-Fi access, and a genuinely friendly staff. It also has automated circulation machines for self-serve check outs and renewals, and a slot where materials to be returned, including CDs and DVDs, can be dropped even if the library is closed. While I check out the DVDs (which usually takes a lot of time), Sara and Mom browse the children's section for weekend homework or project resources, choose her movie, or simply take a break from schoolwork by feasting on materials that feature her favorite stars the Jonas Brothers or Selena Gomez (she outgrew Miley Cyrus).

Indeed, a public library is a great place to go if you want self-enrichment or entertainment without spending money; it is safe, quiet, fully air-conditioned in the summer, and offers many free events and programs like ESL and computer classes, literary readings, job search workshops and even cultural presentations with free food. When we were still living in an apartment in Elmhurst and I was studying and working evenings in the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at Queens College, I used to spend most of the day in the Elmhurst branch while babysitting Sara. We never had to hire a nanny all those years before my in-laws arrived. A little after Mom had left for work, I would load her stroller with grapes, diced apples and Ritz crackers packed in Ziploc bags, milk and juice, then head out and hit the local library.

Now threatened to be demolished to make way for a larger library, the Elmhurst branch is one of 1,700 edifices originally built and financed by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie when he founded public libraries all across America from 1900 to 1917. Here, I got to see the everyday routine, probably representative of other branch libraries in the city. Before it opened at 9 am, there would already be a long line of people waiting to use the computers, as the library had only about ten of them. Once a staffer unlocked the doors, the stampede generally headed for the computer sign-up desk or the section with daily newspapers. The patrons were mostly recent Chinese immigrants, who read Sing Tao or World Journal newspapers in Chinese. Around ten o'clock, strollers filled the children's section as parents brought their toddlers to storybook hour, doing coloring books as they waited for the children's librarian to get ready (sometimes she had to put on make-up and a hat or some costume). Here, Sara had a great time as a toddler listening to children's stories being read aloud, and doing Ring Around The Rosie and The Hokey Pokey Song with other kids, a social interaction that was impossible to get if we spent the day cooped up inside our apartment watching PBS TV. Around three o'clock, when school was dismissed, the library was invaded by rowdy teenagers who checked their email and MySpace accounts. Occasionally, a person who had not taken a bath for ages and was chased by flies wandered in, spoiling everybody's pleasant library experience. (Incidentally, the first public libraries, though not lending libraries, were collections of Greek and Latin scrolls which were available to bathers in the dry sections of the huge Roman empire baths. Maybe people who need a bath and libraries go together?) Seriously, library staff cannot turn away people like this, at least during business hours, because a public library should be open to everyone by law. When this happens, it a sign for us to hit the playground instead.

Speaking of laws, in his fifth law of library science, Indian librarian S. R. Ranganathan said that a library is dependent on life and change and must be dynamic, like an organism that evolves according to its environment. Without the human and organizational changes that occur, the library would not be able to function properly or meet its purpose. This is the reason why, in answer to the recent sharp rise of immigrants in the borough of Queens' population, Queens Library has revised its collection development policies to add more print and non-print materials in the native language of the people residing in the communities its branches serve. For example, the Maspeth branch collection now contains materials in Polish, Greek, Italian and Spanish, while the one in Elmhurst (a more diverse community) has materials in Chinese, Bengali, Urdu, Gujarati and even Tagalog (a Carlos Bulosan Heritage Center was launched here by Philippine Forum). Initially, this decision struck me as a disservice to the immigrants in the community, who should instead put effort to learn the language of their adopted country for quicker integration, but I understood the principle behind it eventually.

In the Philippines, public libraries are a rare sight. When I was a school grader in the 60's, our town of Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro was lucky to have a single-room library (called municipal library) in a squat building on Leuterio Drive where I lived, next to the municipal hall. It was open three afternoons a week and was staffed by a clean-cut civil servant named Mr. Baldoza who performed other duties in the municipal office on other days. I would stop by this library after school and be awed by the sheer amount of books shelved from floor to ceiling, while the librarian thumbed through boxes of skewered index cards, the good old card catalog long before OPAC (Online Public Access Catalog) was invented. From this library, I borrowed books like Dr. Seuss' The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (books with numbers in titles fascinated me), and a curious Filipiniana book entitled The Aswang Syncrasy in Philippine Folklore by Maximo Ramos, which my cousins and I read with much gusto at bedtime.

According to Prudenciana C. Cruz, director of the National Library of the Philippines, the total number of public libraries in the country was 949 seven years ago (I don't think the number has increased since then), distributed into the following categories: 1 regional library, 1 congressional library, 49 provincial libraries, 79 city libraries, 507 municipal libraries, and 312 barangay libraries. These figures show that the case of municipal libraries is dismal. At present, there are about 1,509 municipalities all over the country, but only 507 have their own libraries, or a little less than 33%. Maybe the internet provides the information gap in these areas, but considering the technological divide between the Filipino haves and have-nots, I think only a very small percentage of rural Filipinos are able to afford to visit an internet cafe in the nearest town to get to the information highway, much less afford his own computer with internet service. Quezon City Public Library, the Philippines' largest public library, serves nearly 22 percent or 2.173 million residents of Metro Manila’s total population of 9.932 million, according to a 2000 census. Although they have 19 branches, that's a lot of people to serve for a city library.

If you want to donate books to libraries in the Philippines, here is one website. For an interesting read, get a hold of Advice on Establishing a Library by Gabriel Naude, a seventeenth century Frenchman who wrote this influential book on library science.

Pictures: Maspeth Public Library (above), Quezon City Public Library, Philippines (middle) and two year-old Sara (the pink-sleeved girl clapping on a chair) during a storybook hour in the Elmhurst Branch, and our public library certificates (bottom)

Maspeth Public Library, 69-70 Grand Avenue, Maspeth, Queens, New York, phone (718) 639-5228