Month: June 2010

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“Into the Woods”: a faculty retreat reading list

Jenifer K. Wofford’s “MacArthur’s Nurses” (2008)

Your Salonniere has organized the reading list for this summer’s Collegiate Seminar Faculty Retreat for Saint Mary’s College of California. The theme of this retreat, “Into the Woods,” focuses on perception and consciousness of the Unknown, the Other, and the Wild. Inspired by the advocacy work of poet and professor Barbara Jane Reyes, who also introduced me to Jenifer K. Wofford’s art, these selections, juxtaposed together, will hopefully reveal surprising similarities among artists who might otherwise seem disparate. I’m looking forward to seeing how the faculty respond to the works individually and as a collective.

Schedule for the Neville and Juanita Massa Institute

at Huntington Lake, Summer 2010

July 29- August 1

“Into the Woods”

Thursday, July 29

8:00 – 10:00pm, Session I:  Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Mont Blanc” (poem), 1817.

Friday, July 30

10:00 am – noon, Session II:  Trinh T. Minh-ha, “The Language of Nativism” (46-64) (essay excerpt), from Women Native Other, 1989 [facilitator TBD].

7:30 – 9:30pm, Session III:  E.M. Forster, “Introduction” and “Other Kingdom” (short story) from The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories, 1947 [facilitator TBD].

Saturday, July 31

10:00am – noon, Session IV:  Carlos Bulosan, “The Growth of Philippine Culture” (115-123), “My Education” (124-130), “Freedom from Want” (131-134) (essays) from On Becoming Filipino: Selected Writings and Jenifer K. Wofford, “MacArthur Nurses” (painting) 2008, and MacArthur’s Leyte Landing, (photo) October 1944 [facilitator TBD]

7:30 – 9:00pm, Session V:  Louise Erdrich, “The Good Tears” from Love Medicine (novel excerpt) 1984.

Sunday, August 1

10:00am – noon, Session VI:  Slavoj Zizek, “The Communist Hypothesis” (111-125) (philosophy excerpt) from First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, 2009.


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Felipe Abrigo Napala, 1917-2010

In loving memory of the greatest storyteller I’ve ever known.

Stockton, CA

Felipe Abrigo Napala

Oct. 24, 1971 – April 4, 2010

From The Stockton Record:

Long-time Stockton resident, Felipe Abrigo Napala passed on peacefully after a brief illness on Easter Sunday, April 4, 2010. He was an active vital 92 year old who celebrated life with great love, lots of laughter, and good food. He was born Limasawa, Leyte, Philippines and came to America as a young teenager in the 1930’s seeing his dream. He served in World War II in the Navy on the USS Idaho as a Carpenter’s Mate Second Class which information can be found on the Veteran’s History Project, Library of Congress. He retired from Sharpe Army Depot in 1988 and pursed his greatest joys in gardening, cooking, and baking.

He has now joined his wife Ramona Acompanado Napala. His loving children are Dr. Evangeline Napala Meneses, Phil Napala, Jr., and Joni Napala-Pappas. He is the extremely proud Grandpa of Rashaan Alexis Meneses, Che Vicente Meneses, Lauren Tabag Napala, Evan Tabag Napala, and Adana Napala-Pappas. He has also the love and support of wonderful relatives and many friends whose life he touched with his great heart, generosity and laughter. He was the energy of our family and he has left us with great richness of energy and love. Friends and family are invited to attend Funeral Services, Monday, April 12, 2010 at 2:00 p.m. San Joaquin Catholic Cemetery, 719 E. Harding Way, Stockton.

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Finally, the USF Fiction Workshop Write-Up

Better-Late-Than-Never USF Fiction Workshop Write-up

A better-late-than-never write up on the past fiction workshop held Friday, February 26, 2010 at the beautiful campus of University of San Francisco where your Salonniere visited Poet and Professor Barbara Jane Reyes and her undergraduate section “Filipino American Arts,” part of the Philippine Studies Program. With eight engaged and insightful students, we talked fiction, community, and childhood marvels. Not all of the students were Filipino, and each came from different disciplines and studies, which added to our conversation. They were  exceptionally astute, each armed with provocative questions. For our session, students read works from Gayle Romasanta, “The Bridge” in Field of Mirrors, edited by Edwin Lozado, Lysley Tenorio’s, “Save the I-Hotel” and two stories from the anthology Growing Up Filipino II, edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Amalia Bueno’s, “Perla and Her Lovely Barbie” and your Salonniere’s “Here in the States.” Reyes is committed to curating work from local Fil-Am writers with the intention to bring artists into the classroom, both exposing artists to academia and introducing students to working artists. Her mission cannot be praised nor emulated enough. Reyes dedication is really quite extraordinary as she encourages readers and writers alike to build and fortify community, raise consciousness, and push the envelope in terms of widening perspective and making connections across borders and boundaries. Our class workshop was nothing less than the embodiment of her work.

Read the rest of the article here in the salon, Ruelle Electrique.