TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Maryknoll College '68 Reunion in Heiter Residence

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Maryknoll College '68 Reunion in Heiter Residence

Some pictures taken at a reunion of Maryknoll College graduates in Tina and Andy Heiter's house. Thank you Tina and Andy. Check back, I'll be posting more pictures.

Tina (nee Borja) and Andy Heiter hosted a luncheon at their Winter home in Palm Desert last Saturday, March 10, 2012, attended by 10 Maryknoll College graduates (class col 68) and some husbands. Tina and Andy prepared a wonderful Filipino lunch - pancit, adobo, lumpia, vegetables, meatballs, baked salmon, and the most wonderful Thai mango salad. The desserts were another whole story as well: carrot cake, Hawaiian cake, cookies, fruit.

Marichi Santiago Panganiban and her husband Homer, who live in the East coast, were fortunately in Southern California and were present. The women, some of whom had not seen each other for decades, had a lot of catching up to do. Gathered around the dining table, enjoying Tina and Andy's food, stories and laughter reigned; the men in the patio said their own stories were drowned-out by the women's happy sounds.

I asked Tina Borja Heiter, an accomplished artist who has her artwork in galleries in Zurich, to show me some of her paintings. I was delighted when she talked about her creative process. It was interesting to compare her creative process with mine as a writer. What caught my attention most was the fact that the image is not crystal-clear in her head when she starts a painting, and that the painting evolves to completion.

Those who attended the reunion were (in no particular order): Sim Ciocon, Raul Cruz, Homer Panganiban,Andy Heiter, Patrick McGinley; Marichi Santiago Panganiban, Lucy Adao McGinley, Maria Navarro Ciocon, Med Villanueva, Milette Estrada, Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, Tina Borja Heiter, Esther Quintos Parker, Lorna Cayco Cruz, Chona Saligumba Preston.

Present at the

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Photos:
top, l-r, seated: Sim Ciocon, Raul Cruz, Homer Panganiban; standing: Andy Heiter, Patrick McGinley
Next: l-r, seated: Marichi Panganiban, Lucy McGinley, Maria Ciocon, Med Villanueva; standing: Milette Estrada, Cecilia Brainard, Tina Heiter, Esther Parker, Lorna Cruz, Chona Preston
Next: l-r, seated: Tina Heiter, Med Villanueva, Maria Ciocon, Milette Estrada; standing: Esther Parker, Lucy McGinley, Cecilia Brainard, Lorna Cruz; Marichi Panganiban
Assorted candid shots

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.