When Moments Come Together

Recently, Skylight Books, where I've hosted for 18 years, had a staff showcase.  It's an opportunity for Skylight staff to show off their talents.  I showed a painting (pictured), while my colleague Arlo sang.  I like how our talents meet in the above picture: the guy singing in a hat is being admired by a painting of guy in a hat. Arlo confessed that he saw my painting earlier in the day, and he may have subconsciously wore his hat because of my painting.

The 20th Anniversary of the Killing of Joseph lleto

On August 10, 1999 Buford Furrow, a white supremacist, killed Filipino mail carrier Joseph Ileto. Furrow said he was specifically looking for an Asian or Latino man to kill. Earlier that day, Furrow had sprayed a Jewish daycare center with bullets, wounding five.

The death of Joseph Ileto inspired my second novel Talking to the Moon.  I suppose I wrote the novel to try and make sense of what happened. I was inspired by the Ileto family who went onto to discuss the effects of hate crimes and ways to prevent it.

That was probably one of the most moving experiences I'd witnessed in the Filipino American community in Los Angeles. Joseph's brother, Ismael, stepped up to bring awareness to the situation.

I wonder how many of us would have the strength to do this kind of advocacy work.  Would you?

Beloved Toni Morrison

I read Beloved, Song of Solomon, Tar Baby and Sula within two years. There was something about her voice that inspired me.  There was a rhythm and a style in her work that transported me. Her dedication to exploring African American life was a model for how I would explore various communities that I identified with.  

In 1993, when I first started studying writing, my writing teacher Ayofemi Folayan was ecstatic.  

"Toni Morrision won the Nobel Prize!" she said.

"Cool," I said, but I was hiding the fact that I was unfamiliar with her and her work.  If she won the Nobel Prize, I guess I should know who she is.  I started with her master piece Beloved, the tale of a black woman who kills her children rather than have them become slaves. 

I didn't know such story telling could exist.  I became a different person, a better writer because of her. Thank you.

Literary Choices

I was asked to work on my novel Miraculous Boy.  My agent is asking me to do rewrites.  My agent is rare.  He won't give up on this book.  MB has been on the market on two separate occasions and hadn't sold.  Frankly, I'm tired of this book.  I've put in ten years into writing and rewriting this book.  I swear in all the time I'd put into it, I wondered about the job opportunities I didn't take up or the relationships that passed me buy.  I chose art making over everything else. 

Writing a book means that there are other aspects of my life I had to give up or did not pursue.  We are our choices and I chose to write.  This is not a bad choice.  I don't regret the creative process during the last ten years, but I'm nearing fifty.  At what point should I just give up and find other ways to grow my life?     

Literary Again

I'd been updating my CV. A great way of documenting my work was to go through this blog. It was wonderful seeing my posts from the last 10 years. I'd grown a lot. When I started this blog, there was no financial meltdown, I had a new novel coming out--things change.

At some point, I stopped focusing on literary stuff and opened it up to all sorts of stuff.  I was exploring my world, I guess. I wrote on my blog less--as I had other writing projects that took up my time. 

Now, I think I should just focus on the writing. And go back to looking at the world purely through a literary lens. 

Literary is back.

Thank You for the Thank Yous

Over the years, I've taught students about writing or would read a friend's manuscript. I might give literary direction here and there.  Or I get the chance to work on a book at my job as a technical writer.  The point is I get to be a part of that exciting and, sometimes, laborious process of writing a book. 

Honestly, I can't begin to tell you how many books or short stories I've read and given feedback on.  For whatever reason, 2015 saw the publication of four books in which I was listed in the "acknowledgement page."  It was truly a joy to see the progression of these writers and their books.  Three of them are first time authors and 2015 will figure into their lives as monumental. 

What made these acknowledgements important to me was the idea that I'm on the right path.  I've been in Buddhist divinity school and this year I made an incredible spiritual leap--I got ordained!  Seeing these books become a reality reinforces that I'm slowly moving along on this Bodhisattva path (or path of being helpful).

I was one of many to be acknowledged (as it always takes more than one person to write a book), but I was honored to be there on their journeys. 

Check out their books. 
 
1.  How to be Brave by E. Katherine Kottaras

2.  The Paper Man by Gallagher Lawson

 

3.  Still Life: Las Vegas by James Sie

4.  The Problem of College Readiness Edited by William G. Tierney and Julia C. Duncheon

 

"LGBT Writers Who Inspire Us" on June 6th!

Skylight Books has been kind enough to allow me to curate this series.  It's been in existence for three years, and falls on the eve of Gay Pride in Los Angeles.  On June 6, the work of James Baldwin, Oscar Wilde, Lidia Yuknavitch, Eloise Klein Healy, and Jerome Steuart will be explored by some of today's finest writers.  Naomi Hirahara, Ali Liebegott, Wendy Ortiz, and Jervey Tervalon will light up the night!

 

June 6

7:30pm

Skylight Books

1818 N. Vermont Ave.

Los Angeles  CA  90027

FREE

 

Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award Winning writer.  Her debut mystery Summer of the Big Bachi received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.   It has been included in the trade magazine's list of best books of 2004, as well as the best mystery list of the Chicago Tribune. Gasa-Gasa Girl, the second Mas Arai mystery, received a starred review from Booklist and was on the Southern California Booksellers' Association bestseller list for two weeks in 2005. Most recently Snakeskin Shamisen, the third in the series, was released in May 2006. In April 2007 it won an Edgar Allan Poe award in the category of Best Paperback Original.

Ali Liebegott is the author of the award-winning books The Beautifully Worthless and The IHOP Papers. In 2010 she took a train trip across America interviewing female poets for a project titled, The Heart Has Many Doors; excerpts from these interviews are posted monthly on The Believer Logger.

Wendy C. Ortiz is a Los Angeles native. Her first book, Excavation: A Memoir, will be published by Future Tense Books in summer 2014. Her second book, Hollywood Notebook, is forthcoming from Writ Large Press in 2014. She currently writes the monthly column "On the Trail of Mary Jane" about medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles for McSweeney's Internet Tendency. 

Jervey Tervalon is the author of All the Trouble You Need, Understand This, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Dead Above Ground. An award-winning poet, screenwriter, and dramatist, Jervey was born in New Orleans, raised in Los Angeles, and now lives in Altadena, California, with his wife and two daughters.
 

Writing for the Los Angeles Review of Books

I was thrilled to be asked to write a review for Los Angeles Review of Books.  It can be exciting and scary writing a review.  I'm asked to bring my best critical thinking skills--which is good!  However, sometimes a book can be a real stinker--which is bad.  Fortunately, that was not the experience reviewing Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan.

From the review:

Fortunately, Levithan did not write a mere “It Gets Better” novel. Thank Gawd! “It Gets Better,” a ubiquitous phrase to discourage gay youth from committing suicide, was uttered by every LGBT ally, including President Obama. It was a pat message telling young queers to hold-on-and-things-will-look-up. What was missing in the messaging was this: it only gets better if we make it so. This kiss in Levithan’s novel is a defiant act, one that has actual strength.


The full review can be found here.

Sumi and Me

Every once and awhile, I get to do something really cool.  On October 27, I wen to the launch of the Philippine Heritage Collection at the Echo Park Library.  That was the library I used to go to as a child.  It was truly a remarkable feeling being apart of this event, particularly since my novels have scenes set in the area.

What a greater joy it was to sit next to Sumi Haru, a woman who recently released a memoir about her life.  I'd greatly admired this woman for a long time.  Back in the 1990's I went to an event that the Screen Actors Guild was sponsoring for actors of color in Hollywood.  Sumi was one of their panelists.  She had been on SAG's board since the 1970's and did amazing work to push for equal opportunities for minority actors in entertainment.

Now, in her 70's, Ms. Haru continues to grow and change.  Author is her latest title.

Idyllwild, Where Have You Been All My Life?

Friend and Author Eduardo Santiago started a reading series in Idyllwild, a small town up in the San Jacinto Mountains. I was invited to read my work. I'd never been to Idyllwild. I don't know why. I'd always heard about it, but never had the gumption to go. Now that I'd been there, I wondered what took me so long?!?!?

I had a great time in this small town of four thousand people. And the residents make it a point to keep it a small town. No chains stores are allowed. No 7-11, no McDonalds, no Ralphs.

A nice crowd came to the event, including a book club from Palm Springs.

With Eduardo and Lauren of B's Mountain of Books, the store hosting the event.

It was a wonderful experience. Spending time in the mountains was truly restorative. I'm already planning my trip back.

Congrats, Mario!

Guess who won the Nobel in Literature. Read here.

Knock it off, Conservatives!

Click on picture to enlarge. The sign is too funny to miss!

Literary Cat

This is why I believe in reincarnation. You can't tell me that this feline, named Fidel, didn't have a past life as an avid reader. Read more here.

Thanks, Allen, for the heads-up.