PETER’S PINOY PATTER — JUNE 2016

Bridge Generation

A few months ago while showing Filipino historical sites in Stockton to a close friend, we drove by the Dagohoy Lodge building.  It would be charitable to describe the building as having seen better days.  Now, it was boarded up with locks and chains strategically placed throughout.  A sign hung ominously announcing it was being sold for back taxes — a sad ending for a building that was a haven for generations of Filipinos. For us Bridge Generation children, the lodge provided many fond memories, particularly during Christmas when we were special guests at a traditional Christmas program and dinner.  Best of all, we received presents, which for some kids, were their only Christmas gifts during these Great Depression years.  Named after Francisco Dagohoy, a Boholano who led the longest rebellion in Philippine history (1744 to 1829 against Spain), the lodge was chartered in 1926.  At one time it boasted the most members in the Masonic-inspired Legionarios Del Trabajo organization.  For its members, the lodge provided mutual aid, unity, and benefits such as health, hospitalization, mortuary, and legal assistance. Benefits were especially important for members — mostly single, farm workers — who were disconnected from family, far from home, without insurance, and ineligible for government assistance.  For its migrant worker members, the Dagohoy Lodge provided a place to live during the off-season.  When they aged, the building provided a home for the remainder of their lives. And when they died, their dusty steamer trunks, now unceremoniously stored in the basement, would hold the only reminders that they ever lived or dreamed.  As I sadly looked at the deteriorating building, I hoped that we Filipino Americans who followed them would never forget the contributions of these long ago manongs for whom the Dagohoy Lodge was their only refuge…………… Your faithful blogger and the entire Jamero family continues to be ecstatic over more honors for my grand niece, Jillian Jamero.  Within a matter of a few days in April she led the Ripon High School (CA) girls basketball team to an undefeated championship season and was named the Trans Valley League’s Most Valuable Player.  A pinay sized point guard, Jillian excelled with her speed and defensive skills that often resulted in steals and points.  Ironically, basketball is not her best sport.  She was recruited for her prowess in soccer by the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs CO and will enter the prestigious military school in the fall……………. It was great to see Nancy (Dugenia) Tagupa in Elk Grove CA on April 27 looking so well following a new treatment regimen………….. I received a most welcome note from Al Acena of San Mateo who has courageously endured several roller coaster years in the aftermath of a number of hospitalizations.  He returned home on May 17 following a two week bout with pneumonia………….. Also recuperating at home after undergoing stent replacement was Pastor Engkabo of Sacramento…………….. Cathy (Monares) Bryant and her husband Mike celebrated their 49^th wedding anniversary in May.  A long time resident of Seattle, she worked at the University of Washington as Executive Assistant to the Vice President of Minority Affairs prior to her retirement.  Her well known daughter Karen Bryant followed Cathy into retirement on July 31, 2015.  Basketball fans may remember Karen as a standout women’s basketball star at the University of Washington and the Women’s National Basketball Association.  She went on to become the Chief Executive Officer of the WNBA Seattle Storm — the highest ranking Filipino/a American in professional basketball………….. Nice to see Gloria (Geray) Reyes on Facebook recently.  She and her late husband Ernie were among the folks who welcomed my family to Sacramento in 1957.  She also happens to be the proud mother of Larry Acera, the Vallejo CA businessman and elected official. He is the trailblazer who inspired other Bay Area Filipino Americans to seek public office.  In 1973, at the fuzzy checked age of 24, he became the youngest person ever elected to the Vallejo City Council.  Larry then served on the Solano County Board of Supervisors from 1977 to 1981, the youngest board member in the county’s history………… June Happy Birthdays to: Joe Cabrillas, Virginia (Velez) Catanio, Judy (Contorno) Tafoya, and Manuel Viernes.

Pinakbet — News Across the Country

Prince is Filipino! His untimely death reminds me that the pop music icon was long rumored to be of Filipino ancestry.  But it took Emil Guillermo in his April 25 column of “Amok” to verify Prince’s ethnic background.  Emil found an 1981 article by journalist Chris Salewicz who wrote of his interview with Prince for England’s New Musical Express in “The Guardian”, the prestigious British weekly newspaper.  In the article, Prince talked about being the third youngest in a family of four brothers and sisters, “There was a lot of illegitimacy–different fathers, different mothers.”  Then, Salewicz’ article continues with this passage:  “Prince’s father ………. was an Italian-Filipino leader of a Midwest pro jazz band. He left his son’s black mother when the boy was eleven.” The article quotes Prince as saying, “That’s when I first started playing music. He left the piano behind when he left us behind. I wasn’t allowed to touch it when he still lived with us.” His father was John Lewis Nelson, originally from Louisiana.  This bit was all that was revealed in the article about Prince’s ancestry.  But the Filipino part was there. How much? Less than half? An eighth? A sixteenth?  It may not matter.  According to historian Fred Cordova, “If you have one drop of Filipino blood, you’re Filipino.” ……………….. A survey released on May 22 by Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote, and AAPI Data demonstrates that exclusionary rhetoric significantly alters the way Asian Americans will vote and how they view candidates. Their 2016 Spring Asian American Voter Survey polled 1,200 Asian American registered voters. The report, titled “Inclusion, Not Exclusion”, demonstrates that divisive rhetoric, particularly anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment, caused more than 40 percent of Asian American voters to state that they would not vote for a candidate who expressed those views. At 61% Donald Trump has the highest net unfavorable view among Asian American voters with only 19% favorable……………. On the April 24 CNN-TV Manila episode season opener of Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown”, Bourdain said, “Filipinos are  probably the most giving of all people on the planet.”  He went on to speak highly of Filipinos throughout the episode explaining, “Like many children all over the world, my daughter Ariana arrived home from the hospital to find a Filipino baby nurse, Vangie.  She was with her from the very beginning of her life and in time my daughter came to know her son, her daughter-in law, their kids — and in time, an extended family and friends.  And most importantly, Jacques, the nanny’s grandson, her best friend, from whom she has been inseparable since infancy — her older brother in every way but biological.” Bourdain went on to say, “My daughter is no stranger to sisig and sinigang and adobo and holds me in disregard for being unable to procure her the delicious Filipino pastries and breads she finds at her other family’s home. She knows a few phrases in tagalog and looks at me pityingly when I don’t know what she’s talking about.”…………… Jessica Cox, a 32 year old Arizonian, is the world’s first licensed armless airplane pilot, as well as the first armless black-belt in the American Taekwondo Association.  Born without arms due to a rare birth defect, Cox is the subject of the documentary “Right Footed”, directed by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Nick Spark…………….. My January blog reported on the impressive number of Filipino/a’s associated with the National Basketball Association Golden State Warriors.  Here’s two more.  Director of the acrobatic  Warriors Girls is Sabrina Ellison.  And, superstar Warrior point guard Steph Curry’s barber is Filipino…………… Pinay actress Shay Michell served as guest co-host of the top rated TV show “Live with Kelly and Michael” on April 25.   She is also appearing in the first run movie “Mother’s Day” starring Jennifer Aniston………… Psychologist, professor, performer, activist, author, and TV talk show host, Kevin Nadal of New York City is keeping quite busy these days.  In addition to chairing the biannual conference of of the Filipino American National Historical Society scheduled for June 22-25 in the Big Apple, he was the featured speaker at the California Psychological Association Convention on April 17 in Irvine CA, sharing the spotlight with comedian Howie Mandel. You may remember Dr. Nadal as leading the 2007 campaign against ABC studios for negative statements about Philippine medical schools on the television show Desperate Housewives…………….  During the 1970-80s Frankie Irigon could be seen marching at almost every civil rights/political protest and rally in Seattle.  He continues his activist ways.  On March 26, Frankie was one of two delegates elected to his precinct’s Democratic Caucus — pledged to Senator Bernie Sanders.