How did I find Veronica Montes blog? Oh, yeah. Accordion guy to Wily Filipino about adobo to Adobo, you will be mine.
Right.
Well, in this evening (morning) 's travels I went from Nesting Ground to several places. Among them, the Delfino Clan Blog.
Cristy's An Average Filipino is very there. Or at least I was when I read it.
And I think Norman Montes should talk to my dad.
It may be a matter of selection - Veronica has filtered her list before I've hit any of her links, but I'm starting to get a feeling that I get it. Kind of like walking into certain houses and feeling at home immediately- no need to decipher the little things like do you take off your shoes or not? Is it okay to just plop yourself down, or is there a requisite discussion of weather and how you got there? Do you walk straight for the kitchen knowing that the host was already asking you "are you hungry?" or do you sit up straight and wait for hor d'vors? (never knew how to spell that).
The unscientific pinoy thread persual/perusal is bearing fruit. There is some great writing that resonates - at least with me.
Posted by weez at January 9, 2004 01:53 AM | TrackBackI "filtered my links?" What does that mean? I don't know how to do anything; I'm techno-challenged (as I'm sure you can tell from my embarassingly basic-looking blog). But I'm glad you found my amazing Ate Cristy and my lunatic father...
There's nuthin' like a Filipino family...
Posted by: veronica at January 9, 2004 02:23 AMFiltered in the sense that you choose what's there. Cristy's your ate? (Hi Cristy!)
Have you read my family's blogs?
How much do our voices come from culture? Filipino? American?
Posted by: weez at January 9, 2004 07:31 AMDo our voices reflect our Filipino-American-ness? Egads, I spend my writing life (such as it is) attempting to figure that out. All I know is that when my fiction sits side-by-side in an anthology with the fiction of a Filipino who was born and raised in the Philippines, or with a Fil-Am writer who spent part of their life in the Philippines, our voices are very different (in the book Growing Up Filipino, for example). It's more than individual writing style, I think. It does come from someplace deeper.
Anyhoots, yes, the Delfinos are my mighty clan. We are obsessed with our message board. It started last March, and I think in the first four months we posted 3,000 messages. People are kind of shy about the blog, though. I don't know why. I plan to take a look at your family members' sites! I've seen your Dad's so far—what a treasure for you.
p.s. my husband's family is from Rochester!
Posted by: veronica at January 9, 2004 11:36 AMHey, you guys are inspiring me! I never thought to look for blogs of my own culture, seeing if our "cuban american voice" comes through. Hmmm...
Posted by: Nancy at January 9, 2004 10:18 PMHi Nancy!
When I was in catholic high school, Monty Python's Life of Brian came out. We were told not to go - so, of course, we did. I just remember one scene where Brian is yelling at the crowd. "You are all individuals!'
The whole crowd says in unison, "We are all individuals."
One voice, "No I'm not."
And a quick shush from one other, "Yes you are."
Posted by: weez at January 10, 2004 08:04 AMhors d'oeuvres. Literally means "Outside of the work" which makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever, because they usually take more work to make than the main dish.
Damn. I KNEW high school French would pay off some day!!
Posted by: Cath at January 11, 2004 03:26 PMhors d'oeuvres "outside of the works" - plural...
hors d'oeuvre "outside of the work" - singular
nice to contrast with "piece de resistance"
Hors d'oeuvres usually accompany apertifs
And the Italians have antipasti.... does the Spanish influence on Filipino culture result in something like tapas ??
Guten Tag - Hier ist ein sehr schooner Site. Cheap Staples
Danke!
Bob Staple