“I have to talk about the thing in front of us, identify the problems and come up with solutions, communicate all of this — problem, cause of problem, process of problem solving, solution — in the most concise and specific language so that each party coming from a specific set of language and expertise (clinical, administrative, accounting, clerical, social worker, interpreter/translator, limited English speaking, patient/layperson) do not misunderstand a single thing.”

Still, it sounds like you are doing some good, there…

It seems ironic to me in this age of “big information” and information overload, that our textual and artistic history is not yet anywhere near as accessible to our communities (beyond academia’s archives) as it could be. The material is there. More writers need to dig into these materials and then bring them to light in our communities — not just in academia. And then we need to find that language that is “both challenging and accessible.”

Jean

I’d love to be able to see those archives, and to have them be available to my students and everyone.

OK — this is mostly relating to writers, but I think it applies to artists (visual and otherwise) too: In my archival studies of U.S. Filipino writing in the 1920s, 30s, I’m finding that there was already some strong critical dialogue about Filipino writing in the U.S. and where it might be going — in the Filipino writing communities (and there were definitely multiple communities of writers in the U.S., albeit constantly mobile and transient ones during the 20s & 30s. And often that dialogue was between the writers in the Philippines and the U.S. It was often it was cranky, and argumentative — but I think often this was spurred by the sense that the writing had a crucial place in the life of the community; these were important topics.

Discussion of mentors and movements as well as form and content helps shape our understanding of Filipino arts and artists/writers. It’s all fine to celebrate the existence of our artists and writers, but lets not be afraid to dig in and look closely at these works, draw comparisons, follow lines of thought and impulse, philosophy, artistic genealogy and ideology. Let’s talk more about our communities as they are, and speculate on where they are going.

After reading through the early critical articles, discussions, and diatribes, I realize this isn’t a new thing for us. We just have to get back to that thread, pick up from that early impulse to take all of our art damn seriously — and keep it going. In fact I need to prod myself to do more of this sort of thing.

I hope, soon, to put some of these archival materials online in a website, and make it accessible.

Jean Vengua

Here’s a crucial response from Kiwi that adds great perspective to the discussion:

“…it much more easy to remain silent when we feel marginalized in spaces we supposedly belong to; therefore it is extremely crucial for us to dig for that courage to speak out and challenge folks to continue having those discussions. i am certainly guilty of letting things slide for the sake of convenience or not thinking it’s all that serious. i am absolutely at fault for abusing my own privilege at the expense of my sisters, whether it be taking up space at meetings, being manipulative, having poor boundaries, or minimizing sisters’ experiences. as men, the mere acknowledgment of the ways we reinforce male supremacy and heterosexism is just the beginning of an arduous journey we must take to unlearn and unearth all the male shit we’ve been conditioned with, to transform all of this into a new kind of manhood that is radical, liberatory, and revolutionary.

“Men cannot change if there are no blueprints for change. Men cannot love if they are not taught the art of loving.” -bell hooks

that said, i think one thing i’d like to throw into the discussion is the immense challenges that men of color have to go through to reach this level of change. as much as we think we know about how to be male allies, there simply aren’t enough tools out there for us to really, truly make that transformation. the only models that exist have been mostly created by white men (pretty dope white men, but i’m just saying). they don’t reflect the nuances and cultural expectations that say, guys who grew up with filipino immigrant parents, have to live up to. i feel like we’re kinda making these tools up as we go along. and as long as i’ve been doing men’s work, i still fuck up. and not to make any excuses for homies you mentioned in your blog, but again, we don’t have the methods, the language to deal with this in a healthy and equitable way. not yet at least. this is a lifelong process that involves different levels of growth for different men depending on how they’ve been conditioned…. See More

i guess what i want to say is that i hear and acknowledge what you’ve had to endure at all these spaces. it’s fucked up and wrong. we must work harder to ensure that our “community” spaces feel safe and welcoming for everyone. we must create processes to not only have those who are marginalized within our community be participants, but the actual leaders of this work (i definitely want to acknowledge all the women leaders who have continued doing this despite all the shit they’ve had to go through). slowly but surely, there are steps being taken to address this, especially among men in the movement. that i can promise you. and i appreciate you continuing to fearlessly put your voice out there and keeping all of us accountable.”

We’ve been trying to do the same thing, excavate the old poetic forms and remix them. It’s been fun and informative, but you’re right — lack of resources mean that probably a lot of it is us doing out best to grab at straws.

http://kapisanan.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/cbt-presents-flipside-festivals-free-workshops-on-march-27/

http://kapisanan.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/psl-poetry-is-our-second-language-rolls-into-week-two-with-special-guest-patria-rivera/

I’ve been thinking of traveling to the PI to make connections and grab some resources — maybe the only way for these forms to live is for them to live abroad in the diaspora.

feel free to hit me up!

Len