Another event you should check out while I'm away:

The m staff would like to invite you to maganda's reception for the WAR issue on May 17th, 2003. 

But first:
 A Letter to the Community:

Why war? The maganda staff couldíve picked any theme in the exhaustive list of topics we wrote on a giant poster paper ñ from complex ones like the double meaning of bukas or anthropomorphism to as simple as not having a theme at all. We all felt the weight and expectations of those who came before us as we perused phenomenal past issues and talked to former editors about the history and legacy of maganda that we now carry in our hands. Slowly but surely, the staff kept coming back to the question of a brewing war in Iraq waged by the U.S. government.

While some of us had brothers and sisters in the military, many worried about our brothers and sisters in the inner city being actively recruited by the U.S. army. As students who survived under-resourced high schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California, some of us vividly recalled seeing more images of Uncle Sam and the ROTC than college preparation classes and college counselors. We also spent a great deal of discussion on the return of U.S. military bases in the Philippines in light of President Bushís ìwar on terrorismî and the subsequent resurgence of prostitution in the area. In these lively conversations, we questioned Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's move to ally with President Bushís agenda. As Cherry Ordonez aptly raised in this issue, 'Natutulog ka nga ba Pilipino?'

At the home front, television and newspapers bombarded us with the appearance of a sanitary war. As CNN showed us sand-stormed troops in night-vision goggles, we immediately became voyeurs of war as we watched and thought we knew more when in fact, we could easily turn off the television anytime and sleep in our comfortable beds. In fact, we do not know anything about the sufferings of the victims of such war. In reality, we were safe on campus, finishing our midterms and getting ready for the spring break of our lives. Yet more recently, we fully realized the domestic repercussion of this war in our own education.  As maganda and other Pilipino groups received paltry funding for next year and as tuition fees increased, we were angry at the likelihood that our parents' money and financial aid will go to the military industry and build more bombs.

In our own backyard, the Pilipino Studies movement was brewing as students overflowed the conference room and lecture hall during five job talks, fearlessly challenging the Asian American Studies department for its lack of representation of emerging Pilipino Studies scholarship. As a community, we demanded to be a part of the decision-making process that was continually denied from us for over decades in struggle.

So why not war? Let's break it down. Stir the pot. Celebrate the victories but also face the dilemmas of sustaining and re-creating our community in and out of UC Berkeley. Confront the challenges of building a multicultural alliance as we are pitted against other people of color who are fighting for the same space in higher education. Issue sixteen not only reflects the vision of this year's maganda staff, but it also reflects our community's overdue longing for a meaningful and constructive dialogue.

As a part of this community, your contributions have made maganda what it is today.  It is our fervent hope that the WAR issue and previous maganda creations will help build the rebirth of a much-awaited Pilipino American Renaissance.
 
Let's celebrate.

maganda reception

May 17th, Saturday

Lipman room, 8th floor Barrows Hall

doors open at 5:30
show starts at 6pm

 FREE magazines/ food/ music/ spoken word show

with guest performers: Dawn Mabalon, the Skyflakes, tallulah, Diskarte Namin, and many more...

OPENmic to follow
$8-10 donation

 
In solidarity.
Charity Espiritu

co-editor, maganda