Reshaping American History

Sunday, October 18, following the morning Masses at St. Therese in Seattle, members of the parish were offering various tasty tidbits for sale to cover the cost of the church's Christmas Filipino Celebration, Simbang Gabi. Here is a picture of two of the parishoners who were helping with this sale.














My Filipino friends have helped me through many a dark place over the years... work frustrations, career setbacks, deaths of friends and family members... and I have come to appreciate just a little bit some of my friends hopes and hurts.
Like so many other communities, the story of the American Filipino community has not become part of the ongoing education of every American citizen. These stories need to be told honestly and completely and to become part of our ongoing national convesation if we are to be ready to be sincere and creative members of our own country and the world.


So I asked one of the organizers to share her hopes and dreams with us. Here is what she said.

A Travelling We Did Go

Off to Seattle on Sunday with one of my really close friends and on the way our conversation covered old memories, present concerns, and future hopes.
And at seven fifteen on a bright spring morning I was surprised to see an adventurous traveler on his way to some place that I could not even begin to fathom.

Why? Because I do not have the courage to even think about heading merrily down the freeway on a motorcycle. Really I would prefer to be in a tank on some busy hustling let's get going days. I know I can't get my head into the courage and the happiness and the skill of a person who hits the freeway on a bike... and, second reason... I rarely can get my thinking around why I do what I do... so mind reading is not one of my gifts.So I salute this gentleman who was gracefully moving on down the road and probably not even thinking that the weird guy in the car he had passed a minute or so before would put any energy into wondering who he was, why the motorcycle, and where he was going. I salute him!






When my friend and I got to St. Therese the Ladies of Peter Claver (a group of Catholic women who are, predominantly, African American whose objectives are to support each other, to promote their own spiritual growth and the growth of others, and to join other groups in meeting the needs of the African American community is companionship, spiritual growth, and service in the Black Community) were sponsoring a bake sale to raise funds to support the educational and spiritual growth of black children. And one of the adventurous travelers with this group was this young handsome gentleman who, with a lot of hugs and kisses, managed to get through a morning and afternoon without doing serious damage to those adults and children who, following the Masses, came to the social hall to chat, drink some coffee, eat some goodies, and check out the bake sale... chocolate cake with walnuts, sweet potato pies, cookies, tarts... deeeelucious, that's for sure!
And this handsome young gentleman just kept his schoolmobile moving (gruuun, gruun, gruun) I know he was enjoying exploring. He did his best to get outside but the Ladies stopped him at the door, gave him a hug, and set him loose to maneuver through the foot traffic... I salute him too...
Do you think he would let me borrow his schoolmobile sometime?