In 2011 or 2012, I helped organized a literary reading/signing for a Filipino American Book Festival. One of the participants was a young American, Rafe Bartholomew, who talked about his new book Pacific Rims. Lauren bought a signed copy. Lauren has been raving about the book and has lent it to his friends, sports fans, like him.
Rafe Batholomew (photo courtesy of his Facebook Site)
I confess, here and now, that I did not read the book until yesterday in the airplane from Los Angeles to Cebu, Philippines -- a long flight, dear Readers, more than enough time to have read another book, but I focused on Rafe's book, savoring it, learning from it, laughing at his stories, at his unique, irreverent voice that can talk about a basketball game between dwarves and cross-dressers as well as what goes on behind the scenes of the Philippine Basketball Association. As some kind of framing device for the book, he tracks American Rossell Ellis, an import for the Alaskans.
The book is packed not only with Philippine basketball information, but also of Filipino stories about culture and history, some anecdotes of which are so funny as to have elicited spontaneous laughter from me (the person beside me probably wondered about a woman chortling to herself).
What captivated me was Rafe's personal history about his rollicking three-years in the Philippines. To extend his scholarship money and to experience Filipino life, he took public transportation and mingled with ordinary folk. This is where the really good story-telling emerges, as Rafe talks about his pickup games with working class folks in their flip-flops, and how the neighborhood kids got to know him so they'd hang on to him and rub the hair on his arm (Lauren experienced this too!).
The author calls this 385 page book his "love letter to the Philippines." Indeed the book displays Rafe's passion for both basketball and the Philippines.
Rafe's Pacific Rims is a must-read for every Filipino basketball fan. I promise you'll have a great time reading it and feeling this young New Yorker's enchantment for the Philippines. It's available at amazon.com.
Despite the poverty, the flaws, the quirkiness of Filipinos, they are presented here with so much love that they shine as only one can shine in a lover's eyes.
Thanks Rafe Bartholomew. Mahal ka rin sa mga Pinoy! (The Filipinos love you back!)
And stay tuned for more from the Philippines where I now find myself!
Read also
Philippine Passion for Basketball
Tags: Philippines, Filipino, basketball, sports, book, Philippine basketball
This is all for now, from Cebu, Philippines
(jet-lagged) Cecilia
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