TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Maryknoll Class 1968 California Mini-reunion

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Maryknoll Class 1968 California Mini-reunion

A small group of Maryknoll graduates got together at Baby Navarro Ciocon's house in Upland. Aside from Baby and myself, Med Villanueva and Lucy McGinley were there. We did a lot of catching up and reminiscing, especially since we hadn't seen Lucy since graduation. Lucy, Baby, and I were Communication Arts majors so we have fun talking about the classes and teachers we had, including Dr. Harting, Dra. Patron, Pepe Pimentel, Mr. Magsaysay, Mrs. Franco, etc.

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Med is in aqua-colored pants; Lucy is wearing a dress; Baby is in white pants, and I'm the one with the wild hair.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.