America is in the Heart, Part II

   While reading Carlos Bulosan’s America is in the Heart, I did not understand why the gambling house and restaurants were primarily Chinese owned.  Throughout Part II the book, there were many references to Chinese businesses.  Bulosan wrote of the gambling houses near the labor camps and chop suey restaurants that he frequented.  Ronald Takaki explains in Strangers from a Different Shore of how the Chinese were “pushed out of competition for employment” and “many Asian immigrants became shopkeepers, merchants, and small businessmen”.  As immigrants flooded into the West, farm labor work became increasingly sporadic.  This resulted in the  development of Asian businesses and a union of Asian communities.  But why were Filipino businesses so uncommon then?

   Filipinos were conditioned more as laborers than enterprisers.  Takaki writes that “Self-employment was not an Asian cultural trait”.  In The Pilipinos in America, Antonio J.A. Pido explains that during the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines, “foreign trade was a government monopoly and local retail trade was relegated to the Chinese”.  In America is in the Heart, Bulosan frequently reminds his readers that farming and labor were the mainstay of Filipino employment.

Filipino farm workers, Pajaro Valley, near Watsonville, September 1939 

TEAR GAS. That is the acronym I came up with for the different strategies for “evidence”. While in the military, we used acronyms and abbreviations as mnemonics. The more colorful the acronym, the easier it was to remember. For instance, FUBAR stood for “ Fucked up beyond all recognition”, and BOHICA was for “Bend over, here it comes again.” Yes it sounds crass, and yes, it is vulgar, but that is the effectiveness of it, the reason they can be remembered. There are more embedded in my memory banks, but they are too colorful and their relevance here is not noteworthy. My acronym for the types of evidence is not offending at all. TEAR GAS, is for Testimony, Example, Analogy, Research, Generally accepted knowledge, Anecdote, and Statistics. Very easy to remember, however, I still had to refer to my notes to figure out what each letter stood for.

America Is In The Heart, Part One

My wife first introduced me to this book years ago.  She had read it in college while taking a Filipino ethics class.  I picked it up, flipped through it, and put it back down never reading a word of until years later.  A week ago, my English professor assigned the class some reading from the same book.  When I finished the first 100 or so pages, I felt a bit ignorant.  Not of myself now, but of myself when I put that book down years ago.  I did not even considering its contents.

After going through the first few chapters, I could understand why Bulosan left Binaloan.  By the end of Part One, I felt a bit of empathy for him when he left for America.  In his brief childhood, there was much tragedy.  From his father losing the farm, to the death of his sister, to the loss of his home, it is no wonder he left.  It is no wonder why so many Filipinos left in that era.  It is no wonder why the migration persists.  Migration?  More like escape.

A Father's Love

This is dedicated to my father. Gone for more than two decades, what he taught me, I now teach my own son.

 Thanks Dad,

For the love of the outdoors
You taught me that having a shelter was good, but that being outside was best. 

For the skills as hunter/gather
I know my family will never go hungry

For teaching how to swing a hammer and turn a wrench
I will never have to pay someone to unclog the sink

For showing me that you loved me
The same way I show my son.

It Was The Last Word They Heard

Our english class reviewed this for a lesson in rhetorical writing. This piece was very thought provoking.  I found it interesting that it is a black man that is saying the N-word was derogatory since the only time I hear it is when someone of African descent is using as a sign of camaraderie to another. 

Now on to the rhetoric of it, I like the fact that the faces were deprived of emotion.  That set the tone as having a serious feel to it.  The black and white or “lack of color” seemed to be paralleling the main idea of the piece.  The use of historical facts of the slave trade to bring out the origin of the word solidifies the idea that rappers should not say that it is reclaimed word.  This piece sends out a powerful message.  It targets rap artist, but the “zombies” refer to all else how listen to those rappers.

My Thoughts On The Peer Review

Having my work critiqued by my professor is one thing but having it looked over by my peers is something entirely different.  I felt a little intimidated at first.  Knowing that my style of writing stemmed from developing reports and evaluations, I came into to the peer review with little confidence.  Especially since I knew my essay was missing important elements.  But I did my part giving positive comments as well as areas that need improvement.  I hope that it will help my barkadas.

The peer revision is a wonderful way to learn how to write in terms of structure, and rhetoric.  Just as it was taught in last semester’s English 114 class, the best way to grasp a concept was to teach it.  In order to make the peer review more of a teach/learn technique, I think a rubric or a set of guide lines would be helpful.  It would give the students an idea of what to look for and identify elements and strategies that they could use in future papers.  To make peer reviews even more effective, giving the students more time to review the essays would prove beneficial.  Assigning it as home work, perhaps.  That way the evaluator can really chew on it and offer a full flavored feedback. 

Ice Breakers

I thought I was late, arriving past 9:00am. Greeted by a new face, one of my new barkadas assured me that this was the place. The smell of coffee and pastries drew me to the food table...

Jacked from Maria's blog.  Thanks Maria!

The retreat was a great way to begin this chapter of the Bayan Learning Community.  I enjoyed the food (well, the coffee at least).  I wished I hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning.  The food looked enticing.  I had planned on bringing something, but I dropped the ball on that one.  So, thanks to those that contributed.

The exercises that we did were fun.  I recognized the fishbowl exercise. It was an exercise that was frequently done in last semesters Personal Development class.  The exercise was a means of overcoming the walls of uncertainty.  It felt forced, but, like the proverbial jagged little pill, it was good for the Bayan.

My only source of solitude.

Yeah, I could be on my kayak fishing for the big one and enjoying the solitude on a Friday morning, but I wouldn't mind doing another retreat. Good way to teach others about me.

2012 Bayan Learning Community

Literary works + Asian American studies + writing (lots of writing) = The Bayan Learning Community's English 115 class.  My name is Juan.  Being a sailor in the Navy took up the last two decades. I have closed that chapter of my life began writing a new one.  This is my second semester at SWC, working towards a second career in Nursing.

My hopes for this blog is to contribute thought provoking ideas and questions regarding Filipino and Filipino American studies as I delve in to another semester of books, essays, class outings, and the such.  Read about what has happened, what is to come, and my own take on things.  So please take a bite and tell me how it tastes.  Positve comments are appreciated.  Negative comments are welcomed.  Enjoy!