by the numbers

Another thing I loved about Sunday's launch is that it was more than an event to launch a book, it was a launch to send forth something bigger. As much as it's nice to have "numbers" in attendance, because I must say a part of me as a writer doesn't mind the ego-stroking of a large audience, but it was much more fulfilling to me as a writer and artist to be able to have the discussion we had on Sunday. It satisfied the part of me that knows that Pinoy Poetics is significant both for being what it is, a book that is allowing people "access" to writing and Filipino writers, and for where it sits, in this continuum that is known as Filipino-American literature.

Plus folks there were guaranteed hard core readers, who bought two three four books each without question, who all felt that as readers they had a stake in Filipino literature. While I've gone to events where I wonder if anyone reads at all, this event was nothing but readers of Filipino lit. Dollar spent per attendee was high.

The people in attendance were movers and shakers, teachers, academics, cultural activists who each touch and reach towards various communities. Like Terry Bautista who mentioned how she's working with a downtown Oakland Filipino restaurant and setting up a literary shelf for lunch goers to peruse and possibly "check out."

Many of the professors were excited about using some of the latest publications and books to give their students both non-Filipino and Filipino a way to access poetry. When Jean told her class this class will be on Filipino and Filipino-American literature they thought that it was too "narrow" of a topic, as if the original class they signed up for, "Rennaissance Lyric" wasn't narrow. In the end, they found that the texts they were reading connected to something larger, in a way I guess bringing the diaspora in. It also provided them with an avenue to feel connected to writing in ways that seemed distant before.

Another teacher at Skyline College, teaches Joel Tan's poetry in her remedial writing class as a way for students to write about things in their lives. She talked about how they suddenly become engaged and their education becomes relevant.

We discussed how there was a certain momentum building now, how 10 years ago, the only things people could get were Bulosan and Hagedorn. There was strategizing about the possibility of having forums to bring artists for all arenas together and about how to leverage funding. So, now that we have come this far, where else do we need to go? It's as everyone could sense it, being on the brink of something big.

Though it's nice to have big events with lots of people to say hey look what we've done today, because these things are important. We should celebrate each book that comes out. But it's even vitally more important to stop, ask where we have been, and where we are going. These questions allow us the ability to get to the next book launch.

It's like what Efren Padilla replied when asked what he was up to now, we were there working on our souls, and I don't mean individually, I mean collectively, I mean universally. We were working on that larger soul, that soul that connects us to each other.

The Fiance was manning the book table outside. He mentioned that one of the Filipinas working at Yerba Buena that day asked about the books. He told them that all these books are written by Filipinos. She asked if he had anything by Rizal. He paused, then replied, these people on the table will be the next Rizal. She didn't buy a book, but I'm sure she thought about what he meant by that.

As has been lamented on listserves about "where is the Filipino reader?," it was inspiring and heartfelt to know that they are out there and they aren't necessarily Filipino, and that some of the readers like in the various college classes, don't realize they are "readers" and each new book that comes out and each book that gets taught allows more and more readers to be revealed.

There is a time and place to count numbers: on tax forms, on income/expense reports, on attendance sheets. It's good to know numbers, true. Yet, if I were to judge an event by numbers, I'd be lulling myself into false impressions. I've gone to "large" events that have wrecked havoc on my soul making me wonder whether any of the work I do makes any difference and whether I should just stop right here, right now. Then there are events with a handful of people where I walked away rejuvenated, inspired, healed. I'm glad to have closed out the year with the Pinoy Poetics launch, because it left me with a lovely glow, and a sense of hope. And if I could measure and quantify that, I would have.