So damn tired of this.

School officials in Louisiana call for English Only in commencement speeches after they can’t understand Vietnamese words in valedictorians’ addresses: New York Times article

Read Angry Asian Man’s post here.

I recently caught Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” on the radio last week.

I was pleased, initially, at the image of homophobic listeners driving across the 60 in fear that “those damn gays” would be, at any moment now, voraciously mauling the airwaves. But, really, it’s not that good. Actually, not at all. And I shouldn’t be surprised. Founded on a heteronormative construct of sexuality, it (unsuccessfully) veils homophobia with misleading notions of social liberalism. Its image of, what I presume to be, homosexuality is tied to the creation of an atmosphere that is uninhibited and adventurous in a good-girl-gone-bad kind of way that solidifies the idea that homosexuality is, in fact, wrong-and-we-know-it-but-I-drank-too-much-vodka-and-you-look-good, girl.

According to the song, the “incident” is simply an “experimental game,” which satisfies “human nature” (wait - what does? - the attraction or the curiosity? It’s hard to tell for sure) and that she hopes that her “boyfriend don’t mind it.” Or, in other words, in the blissful tradition of Friday nights gone awry: look, you’re cool, my hairdresser is gay, but I’m straight, I swear. Further validating heterosexuality as civilization’s founding principle, she woefully explains, “It’s not what good girls do, not how they should behave / My head gets so confused, hard to obey.” Again, in other words, heterosexuality and rationality are all meshed into one magical cloud of goodness, and that’s where I’ll be, but, like, I said, I had too much to drink.

Maybe I’m just in a hatin’ kind of mood. And granted, I think there’s a fair amount of tension in this song (work it out, Katy) and tolerance preachin’, but - for some strange reason - the whole thing reminds me of PB and drunk sorority sisters (a gross generalization, I do realize, and no offense, heh, directed at either Pacific Beach or the sororities - just sayin’).

Maybe just like Madonna and Britney that one time, this too shall pass.

“For Each of You”

Be who you are and will be
learn to cherish
that boisterous Black Angel that drives you
up one day and down another
protecting the place where your power rises
running like hot blood
from the same source
as your pain.

When you are hungry
learn to eat
whatever sustains you
until morning
but do not be misled by details
simply because you live them.

Do not let your head deny
your hands
any memory of what passes through them
nor your eyes
nor your heart
everything can be used
except what is wasteful
(you will need
to remember this when you are accused of destruction.)
Even when they are dangerous
examine the heart of those machines you hate
before you discard them
and never mourn the lack of their power
lest you be condemned
to relive them.
If you do not learn to hate
you will never be lonely
enough
to love easily
nor will you always be brave
although it does not grown any easier

Do not pretend to convenient beliefs
even when they are righteous
you will never be able to defend your city
while shouting.

Remember our sun
is not the most noteworthy star
only the nearest.

Respect whatever pain you bring back
from your dreaming
but do not look for new gods
in the sea
nor in any part of a rainbow
Each time you love
love as deeply
as if it were
forever only nothing is
eternal.

Speak proudly to your children
where ever you may find them
tell them
you are the offspring of slaves
and your mother was
a princess
in darkness.

—Audre Lorde

“Philippines” rhymes with “seventeen”! Which is probably why it made it into Britney’s single, “Piece of Me,” which has recently been flooding the airwaves around these parts. Apparently, the Philippines is antithetical to “the scene.” Harrumph. Looks like Ms. Spears isn’t up-to-date with Pinoy Idol or Survivor Philippines.

Children are wise. Because their socialization processes are still in the early stages. The energy and candidness that my youngest students exude is one of my favorite parts about this job (that and the exorbitant amounts of cash that come along with it). On the final day of class, after asking him to pinpoint the moral of the story, one of my students summed up everything US foreign policy chooses to disregard: “Never take someone’s land unless you have their permission.”

I’m still not over the LOST season finale, in part because the mention of Jeremy Bentham made me light up with joy. I like to insert the panopticon wherever fitting, and what better place to conjure notions of surveillance and paranoia than on the set of LOST? Very nice. Except, aside from that, (SPOILER) Harold Perrineau, an African American actor, raises interesting and important concerns when he called out the producers for killing off his character on the show. Their response was, as expected, not a response at all, as they cited the show’s diversity of characters. Relatively speaking, I will definitely give the show that much, but the folks of color sometimes seem to be dispersed like sprinkles or that fake plastic grass that comes with Easter baskets. They’re nice decor, but, in the end, the icing is still white, and that fake grass is still only holding up the “real” stuff - Easter eggs and a white patriarchal capitalist arrangement.

(Image: tv.com)

(Image: centurynovelty.com)

To paraphrase my good friend M. (who shared this with me as I was making a difficult decision), there is much to be said about the power of radical physical transformation. One of my new favorite blogs, Hip Hop Lives, tuned me into Tatak Ng Apat Na Alon (Mark of the Four Waves), a Filipina/o crew dedicated to exploring their heritage through the art of tattooing. These images are beautiful, exquisite, and deep (no, really, the tattoos are emblematic of their personal histories). This reminds me that there is immense satisfaction in finding cohesion between my insides and my outside.

This coming week, I will be packing my fedora, my favorite books (and maybe a few new ones), getting on a big boat, and feeding my body and soul.

(For T: I’ll be back; I promise.)

Today, I discovered that I take a quiet pleasure in learning that some of the things that I think I have to travel far and wide to find are actually within my periphery. It seems that things are not always what they seem.

Or, maybe, things are much more than what they seem.

I’m still on the prowl (a less vicious one but one nonetheless) to further develop my “Family History Project.” This past weekend, my uncle tuned me into the fact that my great-great-grandparents (or OGGGs for short) died of cholera within a few days of each other. That night, I did some preliminary research (i.e., Google) and learned that the 1902-1904 Cholera Epidemic - affectionately dubbed The Worst in Philippine History - killed more than 200,000 people. Now, I’m not entirely sure that my OGGGs lived during this epidemic, but the timing seems about right. There is interesting research that connects the proliferation of the disease to the mass movements/population shifts/widespread displacement that resulted from the Philippine-American War. I’m interested in following the subject further, especially concerning the containment/detainment policies that American officials employed to attempt to curtail the spread of the disease.

In other news, I braved the 101 this morning to pay a long overdue visit to Historic Filipinotown near Echo Park in LA. I went specifically to get an up-close view of the mural “Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (A Glorious History, A Golden Legacy)” by Eliseo Silva, which vividly portrays a history of the Philippines and Filipina/o Americans in the US. I also came across the Tribal Cafe, a fantastically eclectic coffeehouse on Temple Avenue - a few blocks away from the mural - a Filipino-owned and operated purveyor of hearty Mexican Mochas and creative space for local artists and musicians. (I also brought along my copy of Bienvenido Santos’s Scent of Apples - too much?) I was fortunate enough to have a nice chat with Joshua, the owner of the place, about the Filipina/o colonial mentality, Jessica Hagedorn, and the need for community spaces. Check it out if you’re in the area.

A few photographs of my favorites:

(Clockwise from top) Philippine archipelago, Philip Vera Cruz, EDSA/People Power, Assassination of Ninoy Aquino, Withdrawal of US Bases, Larry Itliong, Delano Grape Strike, Bataan Death March:

Philip Vera Cruz, Larry Itliong, Cesar Chavez:

Gabriela Silang:

Katipunan:

Mainly for my dad, who speaks of these rice terraces with such amazement and longing:

And Cory Aquino because I often cite my ninth grade report on EDSA/People’s Power as the year I realized that studying the biographies of US Presidents was not for me: