TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: April 2022

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Cecilia Brainard Talk - Philippine Consulate Jeddah, Saudi Arabia #NationalLiteratureMonth

The Philippine Consulate General of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia celebrated National Literature Month in April 2022. The Speakers on April 25, 2022 were Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and Dr. Christine Godinez-Ortega.

The FB link to the complete talk follows. Cecilia is in the second half of the video.
https://fb.watch/cCTBysiMMM/ .

You may also watch Cecilia Brainard's Talk on YouTube:

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard, author and editor of over twenty books, talks about her roots that inspired much of her writing. As a writing teacher for many years, she shares practical creative writing tips that can be helpful to teachers and aspiring writers. She covers topics such as character and character development, conflict, dialogue, setting, and more. She also gives shares online resources for ebooks and information about Fake News and she talks about the importance of critical thinking.

Here is Part 1 of Brainard's talk "Writing Your Own Stories." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eqg1nTtJnMM

Here is Part 2 of Brainard's talk "Writing Your Own Stories" -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB_RmfaABhE

Here is Part 3 of Brainard's Talk "Writing Your Own Stories" -

https://youtu.be/RlCx1fFpt2U

Tags: Philippine literature, Filipino literature, Filipino authors, Filipino writers

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.

Thursday, April 21, 2022

My Father, Mariano Flores Manguerra

I'm sharing pictures of my father, MARIANO FLORES MANGUERRA. My father was from Laguna, and he taught for many years as a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of the Philippines. When World War Two broke out, he brought his family (Concepcion Cuenco Manguerra, my mother, and their two young children) to Mindanao where he joined the guerrilla movement. After the war, and because Manila was almost totally destroyed, my parents settled in Cebu. He was a district engineer and a private contractor.
There were many things I do not know about my father because he died when I was young, and one of this was this: in 1947, he had been Acting Mayor of Cebu.
The article by Clarence Paul Oaminal, published in the Freeman, 12/19/16 has more information.

https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/opinion/2016/12/19/1654874/engr-mariano-f-manguerra-cebu-city-acting-mayor

The group photo with Papa (seated, 4th from left) shows him with members of the Tau Alpha fraternity of UP Engineering, which lists him as "Adviser." I always understood he co-founded this fraternity, and even now, Tau Alpha members remember him.
The solo photo of him was when he was a young man.
When he was in his early twenties, he went to Valparaiso University in Indiana to study civil engineering.

Tags: Cebu politics, Cebu society, Cebu personalities, Laguna personalities

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

My Maternal Grandmother, Filomena Alesna Cuenco

Here is an old photo of my maternal grandmother, Filomena Alesna Cuenco, with her grandsons l-r: Ramon and Tony Cuenco. This was taken in 1938.
Filomena Alesna Cuenco from Carcar was born May 1, 1882. Her parent were: Evaristo Barcenilla Alesna and Cresencia Ynosencia Sanchez Villarosa. Her parents died when she was young and she and her 2 sisters were raised by 2 old maid aunts. Her older sister Placida married Mateo Noel; her younger sister Josefa married Isabelo Montesclaros; Filomena married Mariano Jesus Cuenco. They had 8 children (6 survived to adulthood: Manuel, Lourdes, Concepcion (my mother), Carmen, Consuelo, Teresita. Filomena had a stroke and died during wartime (WWII).
The boys in the picture are sons of Manuel and Milagros Cuenco. Tony Cuenco served as a council member for the 2nd District of Cebu City. Unfortunately he passed away last June 2020 due to effects of Covid 19.
I love these old pictures, not only for the faces of the people but also for the details, like the grandfather clock in the back, and my grandmother's gown, jewelry, the children's clothes too - look at the little strappy sandals. I find these very charming.

Tags: old photographs, antique photographs, Cebu politics, Cebu society, Cuenco Family