1. We stuffed about 600 nametags and folders! (I personally did "A," "D" (I think -- or was it "H?"), "P," and "W." I could have made a separate page for "Park" and "Wang.")
2. Didn't get to go to as many panels as I would have liked: as part of the site committee, I was on registration desk-detail, and as a dad (Madeline had to go all the meetings and banquets), I had to take care of Izzy in the evenings.
3. Been thinking more about Stephen Eagle Funk lately after a great paper ("American Insecurity: Filipinos, the Vulgarity of Power and the War on Terror") by Nerissa Balce and Robyn Rodriguez on Funk -- "hunky Funk," as Nerissa put it -- and Filipino airport screeners being laid off. One of the reasons why Funk was omitted from Rodel Rodis's list of "Filipino American war heroes" -- aside from the obvious fact that he was a conscientious objector -- was that he wasn't otherwise captured, maimed or killed like the others. (Or was it because he was gay?) In any case, the moral of Rodel's piece is that one is finally "rewarded" the (full) benefits of citizenship only after sacrifice to the nation to prove one's loyalty. Obviously the altar of American citizenship has great demands upon its immigrant subjects. (All very reminiscent of OFWs being called bagong bayani, or "new heroes," by the Philippine government, as a belated reward for their genuine sacrifice.)
4. I was also treated to the rather shameless spectacle of very senior, often-cited scholars try to weasel their way out of registering for the conference. Sample dialogue:
Harried reg desk person: I'm sorry, but you need to register for the conference to get a name tag.Dear E., R., L. and L.: thank you so much for gracing us with your presence. (As much as I would like this to be an Asian American studies version of Gawker, I have miles to go before I get tenure, so...)Senior scholar, who obviously isn't lacking for funds: I'm [insert much-cited name here]. [Pause, waiting for the name to sink in.] I'm not presenting a paper, I'm only going to be a discussant.
Reg desk person, trying hard to be polite: I'm afraid that's the policy; you need to register to participate in the conference.
Senior scholar, going off in a huff: Fine, I won't speak then.
5. The Filipino caucus was packed, with what seemed like 50 people crowded in a room. Discussion of the need of a commitment from departments and deans, etc., to hire in Filipino Studies -- and not just the one token Filipino either. People getting promoted and published and hired left and right -- now to lock in a plenary next year in Boston...
6. Fascinating paper from Lisa Park of UCSD on consumption and citizenship and how second-generation immigrants fantasize about buying their way out of racism. (That's a horribly reductive summary of the paper, but...) It neatly dovetails into the work I'm doing on Filipino immigrants in Daly City -- but I argue, though, that their conspicuous consumption does not simply perform a quasi-assimilative function, but is a way of asserting their (transnational) belonging to the upper-middle class in the Philippines as well (i.e., as fulfilling the ideal middle-class Filipino lifestyle, but outside of that nation-state's borders).
7. Snapped up a whole bunch of books (god knows when I'll get around to reading them), including Sunaina Maira's Desis in the House, Josey Foo's Tomie's Chair, Anthony Robles's Lakas and the Manilatown Fish (for Izzy), Mei-Mei Berssenbrugge's Summits Move With The Tide (thanks to Stephen Doi, who charged me way, way, way less for what it's going for on Bookfinder), Lawson Fusao Inada's wonderful Legends from Camp, and Eileen's Black Lightning. (And check out her photo on the last page!)
8. Izzy grew out of her bowleggedness over the weekend and decided to celebrate by running all over the book display room and in front of the registration desk.
9. The aforementioned Filipino American DJ panel (alas, no Q-Bert): it honestly felt like history in the making, what with all those DJs in one room, including DJ Apollo (!) and DJ Shortkut (!!), Oliver Wong's excellent social history paper setting up the context (I can tell his diss will be fantastic), and Dawn Mabalon's spot-on comments on locations and gender. (And props to Jeff Santa Ana for the sexual politics question -- Oliver had to answer for that...)
10. T-shirts from Blacklava: "I Will Not Love You Long Time," "I Am Not A Terrorist," "I Suck At Math..."
11. And great papers from Vernadette Gonzalez on tourism and the "Muslim problem" in Mindanao, Krystyn Moon on Chinese American vaudeville performers (in blackface!), Arleen de Vera on "loitering" Filipino farmworkers and surveillance...
[And up next, if I ever have the time: a rambling and totally uninformed post partly on Edward Hirsch, Mary Oliver, religious experience and aesthetics, and a lesson that sounds like a writing exercise: Write a poem starting with the line, "I think I would like to sleep with a poet."]
Posted by the wily filipino at May 12, 2003 02:34 PMHi~
I'm not sure how the heck I found my way to your blog, but here I am. I hope you don't mind strangers hanging about.
Anyways, I was raised in Daly City and am curious about the work you mention in this entry. Would you mind elaborating just a little?
Your crush on Eileen Tabios is cracking me up.
Best,
Veronica
Posted by: veronica montes on May 12, 2003 04:15 PMOoooooohhhh. Is that right, sunny prof? You have a crush on me? But of course you do! I just know you were thinking of me when you ended this post with that line:
"I think I would like to sleep with a poet."
No such thing as a coincidence, Sweetie...
To Veronica: hang on a sec, I'll write more about DC in a later entry if you like.
To Eileen: I'm a happily married man and I have no idea what Veronica is talking about. I don't even know her! Or you, for that matter! =)
No, what this is all leading up to are my (outsider's) thoughts on the (self-perpetuated) mystique of the poet -- at least the ones that Hirsch writes about, including himself -- and what, in crudely materialistic terms, this might all mean... [chuckle]
Posted by: the wily filipino on May 12, 2003 04:50 PMHi again~
You gotta admit, Wily, this is probably the most exciting thing to happen at your blog since you started writing it! Of course you're happily married. Aren't we all? Doesn't mean you can't adore a gifted poet from afar. Be not afraid, Wily.
To Eileen: How funny to find you here. We've never actually met, but we've been "anthologized" together in Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America.
[shaking your hand and smiling]
Eagerly awaiting your DC post, Wily. I once wrote a really bad poem about Daly City, in which I constantly refer to it as "DC." No further explanation necessary. Obviously.
Veronica
Posted by: veronica montes on May 12, 2003 05:30 PM"Be not afraid"? Veronica? That cracks me up! Nice to meet you, too.
Now,now Wily. I knew you didn't really have a crush on me. But my husband (to whom I'm also happily married) was hoping otherwise so he could send you my credit card bills. Ah well. Sige, I'll tell him the bad news.
But sunny Professor -- I do hope you'll also folo up on Hirsch et al...
p.s. was pleased to see you picked up Mei-mei's book...not, as we discussed previously, the typical "Asian American" poet...
Posted by: Eileen on May 12, 2003 05:50 PMkeep up the news from the conference! I'm too busy with papers and broke to attend, so are many of us I would guess, so keep us posted!
Posted by: jesse on May 12, 2003 07:06 PMSo obviously I don't know about your work on the Daly City immigrants, but I do know the Filipino rich -- an immigrant can make more money than they've ever dreamed in the U.S., but that still won't translate to acceptance as middle class or upper middle class in Manila. Having gone to the right schools, being related to the right people, speaking with the right accent, these things are more important than actually having money and without them, no matter how rich you are, social climber ka pa rin forever and ever. Either you've always had it or you never really will.
Posted by: lia on May 12, 2003 10:35 PMTo Veronica: I do have an essay in Martin Manalansan's Cultural Compass that is essentially the kernel of my dissertation. But I can write more about this later. (Hey, are you the same Veronica Montes in Growing up Filipino American?)
To Eileen: I just didn't want Madeline to come home with this look on her face and say, "I just read your blog." =)
But about experimental poetry -- I have been immersing myself in it more as part of your "Educators, educate yourselves!" injunction. (Still not sure how I'll be teaching it, but I could at least use to critique the "standard" notion of (identity-based) "Asian American lit.")
And I'll get to that Hirsch thing at some point.
To Jesse: not much more to report about the conference. David Mura was wandering around the book exhibits and Rod and Tina were just about dying to introduce themselves to him, but weren't sure what to say. ("I didn't think he was all that cute," Tina said.)
To Lia: you're absolutely right; the divide follows roughly that of the old/new money one in the United States. But then the upper-middle class in the Philippines would have little reason to emigrate to the U.S. in any case; most of the middle class and lower-middle class move to DC to be able to purchase those things they otherwise couldn't back "home" (and, I argue in my article, claim for themselves a class-based belonging in the Filipino nation).
Posted by: the wily filipino on May 13, 2003 09:54 AMHi Wily,
I might just pick up a copy of Cultural Compass to add to the growing stack of books that I never seem to get to. Sigh.
And, yes, I'm the same Veronica Montes from Growing Up Filipino. How small is the world, anyways? Did I meet the Wily Filipino without knowing it?
If you made Wily Filipino t-shirts, I'd buy one.
V.
Posted by: veronica montes on May 13, 2003 11:13 AMDo you work for AAAS? My wife worked there for several years in DC a couple of years ago, and still misses the camaraderie.
Posted by: david on May 14, 2003 06:50 AMTo David: do you mean the Association for Asian American Studies? The answer is no, though I am a member, and it's more or less based in central New York. (Unless you were referring to another AAAS, or AAA -- the American Anthropological Association -- of which I am also a member, and is indeed based in DC (not Washington, D.C., but Daly City, California, which is what we were writing about earlier).)
Okay, enough confusion. =)
And to Veronica: I'd love to make "The Wily Filipino" T-shirts, and as far as I know, neither Marlon Brando nor Steve Martin have rights to the phrase. =)
My old website was called "Tamad!," but when I became inspired to make a blog and have my own domain (inspired chiefly by David, actually), tamad.com and tamad.net had already been taken...
Posted by: the wily filipino on May 14, 2003 03:11 PMI was talking about the American Association for the Advancement of Science... too many acronyms!
Posted by: david on May 15, 2003 08:00 PMhi sonny--your writing about the aaas conference cracks me up!
btw, let me know what you think about LAKAS and the MANILATOWN FISH.
my mom was the main translator.
enjoy SF for me!
God, Melinda, I can't believe you found me here... I would love to reveal some names, but I really really can't. One professor, whose name was not revealed to me, was yelling at everyone after having been denied a nametag (she hadn't registered), actually sputtering, "Don't you know who I am?" The nerve.
Posted by: the wily filipino on May 22, 2003 10:00 PM