Once again, an appeal
August 5, 2004
Three columns for the price of one.
Dan G. and I had a talk over the phone last week about IC's progress. We followed it up with another conversation the other night, this time in an informal reunion at my place with Rey Octaviano (1986), who drove all the way from New Jersey, and Raymund Moscoso (1992) who flew all the way from Bacolod City. Okay, Rey and Raymund did not go through all that trouble just to attend a reunion of four people. Rey happens to be vacationing in Chicago all this week and Raymund arrived just recently from the Philippines.
We talked about the progress, however slow it may be, of the association. We have just opened a bank account in the WVSUCMAA-IC's name at a branch of Harris Bank (the first account opened was under Malou's name, our treasurer). We wanted an account at Bank of America since it is most convenient to Malou, our Treasurer but they required some paperwork that we couldn't provide. Anyway, Harris Bank accepted the application and we have 6 months to reach the required minimum balance without incurring a penalty. With the way our membership applications are going, we will probably have 2 more U.S. Presidents before we reach the minimum.
This is why we want to issue this appeal to all our International-based co-alumni. We have added only 6 members since April and even if we are considering some fund-raising activities, we still need members to survive. We have currently 3 balikbayan boxes with medical journals and a few surgical trays and medications waiting to be sent to the school. Although we have the money to send them now, we are bleeding our coffers dry unless more alumni sign up. The balikbayan boxes will be sent soon as some of the medications in there are nearing their expiration dates.
Besides, if there are more members, there will be more people participating in all our fund-raising activities. Whether we like it or not, we need funds to finance our projects for our school. Right now, the best we can do is send journals and whatever hospital supplies we can get our hands into that may be useful back in Iloilo.
As of today, the application form has been downloaded about 88 times (both the PDF files and the new Word document). That tells me somehow there are interested alumni out there just waiting to fill up that form and send it (I hope). Our on-line membership application has been used so far by 4 applicants. If you want your membership to be processed right away but having second thoughts paying on-line, you may fill up the application form on-line and just send your check or money order separately to our postal address.
We are also trying our best to recruit members. We concluded that sending e-mails don't work. Not that they are purposely ignored but many of our e-mails on file may no longer be in use and e-mails are never checked. I sent about 50 e-mails once to US-based alumni in the directory file and only 5 responded. With the propensity of junk mails nowadays, people tend to change e-mail addresses without deactivating their old e-mails and updating their directory data.
We may try sending letters but we have to gather home addresses first. We may recruit through the phone but we have to gather telephone numbers first. Our best hope really is announcements through this site. But majority of the alumni may not have heard of this site. So if you have the application form in your hand right now, please fill it up and and send it to our Las Vegas address. If you know somebody, a classmate, a friend, who is a potential member, please spread the word. The $25 membership fee is very minimal. $25 dollar alone may not be enough of a help to our school. But if we pool several $25's together, we can get somewhere.
Arrangements are now being made to have our association's existence announced at the Alumni Homecoming this September. This early, we have received a few requests for assistance and help, financially, for existing projects. In due time, we will be able to respond positively to them.
Please remember that we are doing this for the sake of our alma mater. We, the personalities behind this undertaking, are only facilitators. This site is only a vehicle to spread information. If you have issues with the content of the site and how it is run, if you have problems with our writings, please don't let that affect your desire to help. Dan Garganera and I write opinion columns, our opinion, and that has nothing to do with the opinion of the organization as a whole. The disclaimer is prominently displayed at the end of each and every one of our articles. I realize I sometimes write with too critical a tone and some of you may have problems with it. Please don't take it personally and don't let that affect our common goal which is to help our school. I was told an alumnus stopped visiting the site simply because he disagreed with what I wrote a while back. And I'm not expecting anytime soon that he'll fill up that application form. But we are all grown men here, and we know what an opinion is, and that we can't agree on one thing all the time. That said, I am looking forward to the day I'll see his name under the roster of members.
Speaking of column-writing, let me share with you two entirely different reactions to one column I wrote - A price to pay. It was a part of my "Filipino packing up" series. I sent some pictures to my parents and brothers last month and since my father doesn't surf the net, I enclosed copies of my older columns. True story - after reading the "A price to pay" column, my father cried. The next day, my older brother read it, and he laughed his ass off. Well, I do realize my brand of humor doesn't get to everyone.
Lastly, back to the association, let me make an appeal to the officers. Please register for a Forum account and join our discussions. This is the only way we can constantly communicate. As of this time, only half of the officers and the Board have registered. Also, please take time to check out our site once in a while. Let's continue and improve what we have started.
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Where's the Diary?
I would like to apologize to those who have been inquiring about the Diary. I definitely will find the time to post Part 10, this time in a section separate from my column. I can't promise when (as I always break it) but if you want to be notified when it's posted, please fill up the form at the end of this column (below) with your e-mail address and name and put in the message "Please e-mail me when the Diary is posted".
Meanwhile, I am surprised, and very flattered, of course, when I received e-mails from readers I least expect to follow the Diary. I have always thought that my readers are so few they could fit in an elevator. I think they're more than that. Two elevators, maybe.
Please allow me to share an e-mail (with a follow-up e-mail from a reader recently):
I was surfing the internet when I happened to see your site. I enjoyed
reading "Diary of an Intern" from Parts 1-9 in one sitting.. Where's N0. 10? 11? 12? Diary of an Intern 9 was written last April, 2004 ... what happened next???
I reside here in Los Angeles, California.
You have a very nice column. I'm just as excited as the Intern to know what happened to him and the
"lady"... More power to you... keep writing.
Mercedez
Here's the follow-up e-mail. Actually, I am not taking all the credit. I am sharing this here so the real, albeit unknown, owner of the "Diary" can read this too.
Yes, I really enjoyed your column... all of it including the jokes that
were
incorporated in each series. To be honest with you, I could easily
fall
asleep reading a book... There's so many times that I bought good
books at
Barnes &Noble, but I'll be lucky if could reach page 7.... then no
more...
But my eyes were wide awake reading your site. I could laugh and laugh
by
the way you picture in the mind of the readers the beauty and sincerity
of
your story/and the rest of what's included in each segment. Then
looking at
the date when Diary 9 was written, I felt so lonely not finding it's
continuation ...
I must admit, your "Diary of an Intern" is a good read! I find it very
exciting... My heart goes to the student doctor! I can't wait till
the
time that you'll be able to write again.
Please email me the moment that you posted Part 10 of the Diary... so I
could read it right away! Now I feel some
contentment
because I know I could continue reading your story.
Mercedez
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Rambutan's rebuttal
As you might expect, not all letters agree with me. Here's a rather late reaction to my column, Taste of Home, which came out November 7, 2002. With Google around, you never know who'll find your column eventually. My comments follow. (Letter is unedited and in its entirety).
rambutan closed because the Filipino owner and her mexican
husband who ran the show had their first baby and wanted to spend time
raising their family, not at the restaurant ALL HOURS of the day, and i
mean morning, noon and night.
rambutan was NOT trying to be a family-style restaurant, but was
created to bridge the gap between nicer dining and exposing those people to
filipino food who have never tried or heard of it. face it, you need to
start somehwhere and for someone who has never heard of or tried
filipino food, isn't going to be impressed walking into mama's adobo kitchen
if it's in it's traditional bright white starkly lit, chinese style
bakery setting with cheap dining chairs and plastic marble walls.
you know why we don't bring caucasian friends into filipino
restaurants? because they're usually filthy, the food sits out all day, and
service is slow. rambutan attempted to introduce filipino food to those who
craved a nice dining experience and wanted to try something new. and at
this they were most sucessful.
and it's a place where caucasians would WALK IN OWN their own to try it
and not have to be escorted by a filipino friend to go in.
their menu was constantly involving with filipino FUSION-INSPIRED food.
this simple statement and philosohy is written on the menu. it was
their intent and never veered.
funny how a filipino tries to get the world to see a taste of culture
and when one is reaching them, all the filipinos shoot it down. many
many filipinos said this about rambutan, the portions were small, it's too
fancy, etc. but they missed the mark. it was genuinely successful in
bringing a whole audience of people to see and taste filipino ulture on
their own! without having to know anyone filipino. so for this, you have
to go easy on them. i can't name one friend who has stumbled into any
filipino bakery/restaurant, but they sure tried rambutan, locals,
pre-theter goers, tourists, dining accifiandos, all wanted to see and taste
filipino culture. AND THANKS TO RAMBUTAN, THEY DID.
Lou
Thanks for taking time to write, Lou.
For the record, I did try to contact Rambutan's owner/management/chef before I wrote that column, but unfortunately, the restaurant was already closed. With no one to answer my queries, I searched the Net for reviews before I wrote my own critique including the probable reason why the restaurant closed. I never thought of the owners-too-busy thing, as I suppose every business doing good is busy and that can't be bad at all. More so a reason for a final curtain call. But thanks for writing though, whether you represent the former owners or not. Better late than never.
Since the restaurant has been closed for a while, your points are now moot and academic. But you have an interesting take on why only Filipinos patronize Filipino restaurants and Caucasians need to be escorted rather than come on their own. A point that I have never even considered when I was asked by a reporter from the Daily Herald (Robert Mccoppin) about 2 months ago. Since I am not an authority on anything (doesn't mean I couldn't write reviews, you know), I did mention the "now-closed Rambutan" to the Herald and recommended to ask the former chef or owner. I figured that since the reporter probably had a budget for his story, he'd try his best to contact the former owner. Apparently, he did not.
I have read most of the restaurant reviews including the entry in the 'prestigious' Chicago magazine. I have been in the restaurant and I have asked a few friends who have eaten there before writing my story. I would like to assure you and the former owner or owners that nobody was shooting the restaurant down. Everybody is entitled to an opinion and a restaurant is always at the cross-hairs of critics like a movie is, or Julia Roberts' wardrobe. It's funny but when an American critic writes something negative about a Filipino restaurant, it's okay. But if a Filipino critic does it, it's bringing something or someone down that's trying to do good (damn crab mentality, right?).
Let me refute you on one thing. To say that Caucasians shy away from Filipino restaurants because they're 'filthy with cheap dining chairs and plastic marble walls' is a generalization that's not only unfair but borders on stereotyping. An opinion that borders on prejudice. I don't know what other Filipino restaurants have to say about that. I, myself, patronize a particular Filipino restaurant and I don't think it has received any citations from the health department for being filthy. On the positive side, the problem apparently is not the taste of the food so that can't be all too bad. Perhaps I'll suggest that they put wind chimes as decors instead of a picture of Mayon Volcano.
Since Rambutan closed, I have followed the list that Chicago Magazine gives out every month, hoping for a Filipino-American restaurant to follow its lead. I am still waiting. Quite surprising to me considering what you said that Rambutan was such a success. I don't doubt it though. A friend told me recently about the same concept used in a Filipino restaurant in New York and it's quite popular among non-Filipinos.
I have no problem with the dining practices of other nationalities and cultures. I also have no problem sitting on plastic chairs, in a starkly-lit restaurant with a plastic marbled wall, eating my adobo on a plastic plate with a spoon and fork. I match my food with Coke rather than red wine and I cringe at 60-dollar dinner tabs. If that makes me a filthy Filipino, so be it.
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The author's e-mail address is at drgarcia(at)wvsumedaa.com
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Views expressed on this column and any other by-lined articles on this site are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization or its members.
