P-Town

The weeks are just zooming by. Last Thursday, Megan, Nessa, Hann-li and myself went to P-Town! I hadn’t been to P-Town in a long time. A couple of years ago, I went there to watch ‘Dogeaters’ and the other times I was there were for the Justice for Filipino Veterans marches/rallies. I think since I was there for special purposes and events I always figured that P-Town was a vibrant community full of history and community events. After interviewing the son of the owner of Bahay Kubo, I realized that there were many things I did not know about P-Town. The interview was enlightening, educational but it also made me sad to think about P-Town’s present situation. The man talked about how he wished there were more community events geared towards serving the Filipino & Filipino-American community, especially the elders who have been in P-Town for a long time. What struck me the most about what he said was that Bahay Kubo serves as the meeting place for the community – there folks talk to each other or simply share the common pastime of watching TFC – the Filipino Channel. It is inspiring to see organizations like SIPA, and others take a great interest in designating, serving and promoting P-Town. Highlight of the night was seeing the P-Town mural in its true beauty! A little over a year ago, we took my student organization to P-Town for a little field trip to see the mural. When we got there, the mural was half covered by bars and it was gated all around. The most convenient way for us to see it was to stand across the street. I am so happy to see the mural up close. It is restored and there is a wonderful new park in front of it! I can’t wait to tell my student org what I witnessed! I made Hann-li take a picture of me standing in front of it ☺.

In other news, the LEAP office is busy preparing for the big fundraiser dinner next week. For my part, I called different businesses to ask for donations for our silent auction. My friend Jessica helped me a lot by connecting me to MOCA, so I got a donation from them. I told Sedora my success rate – “1 donation out of 20 businesses!” She said a funny comment about Reimar, but I will not repeat it here! ☺ Maybe Scott or Yulree will reveal it…

Until next time!

Looking forward to more weeks of learning, bonding and self-reflection!