TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: picture cecilia brainard

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

PICTURES OF CEBU, MANILA, SAIGON - JULY 2011 (II)

Here are more pictures taken last month:

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L-R:
Cecilia in Powerbooks during the Creative Writing Workshop; 55 people attended despite the bad rainstorm;
Dinner with Maribel Paraz, Lyn Enriquez, Marily Orosa, Cecilia;
Taken at Steve Aznar's party in his Cebu pad, Steve's in red, Joy Uy's in green, there's Gavin in blue, and Richard Stolzman to the far right.
Steve's party lasted until 2 a.m. and in the tailend we ended up in his airconditioned room, that's Joy Uy, Jing Ramos, Steve Aznar, and me standing;
I signed the contract for the University of San Carlos Press to publish my collection Out of Cebu, so that's me, Father Miranda and Jobers Bersales;
Cynthia Posa and I had drinks at the Saigon Saigon Bar at the historic Caravelle Hotel in Saigon AFTER the awful taxi kidnapping incident - read my other blog entry about this;
Cythia took this art shot of me in Saigon;
Cynthia Posa and I eating at the Night Market near Ben Thant Market;
Whoa - In Saigon, I ran into a couple who had seen me talk in Skokie Illinois so there we are in the Saigon airport, Jun and Judy Tomas, and me;
Back in Cebu, dinner with Helen Mias, Terry Manguerra, and Chinggay Utzurrum;
Dinner with Terry Manguerra, Chinggay Utzurrum, Chona Bernad and me.

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.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Pictures of my Women Ancestors ... and Me

Here are some of my women ancestors: GREAT-GREAT-GRANDMOTHER - Juana Diosomito Lopez from Naic, Cavite; born circa 1850, businesswoman; married a second time to a Veloso from Leyte; children were Remedios, Concepcion, Feodor and Domingo Veloso; an aunt said she "loved to dance." I have a legal document that says that in 1896, "Dona Juana Lopez Diosomito of Baybay, Leyte, purchased (for 3,000 pesos, pacto de retro) two houses in Cebu City, one in mamposteria and solar on calle de Prim, facing the Plaza de General Lono, and the other of calle de Prim, in the barrio of Maloco, from Don Prudencio Sanson Camara, negociante, married, natural and vecino of Cebu City (Cebu Protocolos, Doc 11, 1/27/1896/1411:74-77)

GREAT-GRANDMOTHER - Remedios Diosomito Lopez Cuenco; born 1870; married Mariano Albao Cuenco when she was 13; bore him over a dozen children although only 4 survived to adulthood (Dolores and Jaime died young); widowed at 39; took over her husband's Imprenta Rosario making her the first woman publisher of Cebu; also invested in real estate; mother of: Archbishop Jose Maria Cuenco of Jaro, Iloilo, Senator Mariano Jesus Cuenco, Representative Miguel Cuenco, and writer Remedios Cuenco Borromeo; died in 1945 at the age of 75.

GRANDMOTHER - Filomena Alesna Cuenco from Carcar; born May 1, 1882, parents: Evaristo Barcenilla Alesna and Cresencia Ynosencia Sanchez Villarosa; 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, Carmen, Consuelo, Teresita; the 2 who died were Maria and Corazon); had a stroke and died during wartime (WWII).

MOTHER - Concepcion Cuenco Manguerra; born Feb.18, 1912; Carnival Petit Queen of Cebu in 1931; married Engr. Mariano Flores Manguerra from Sta. Rosa, Laguna; mother of 5 children (4 survived to adulthood: Victoria, Mariano, Ana Maria, and Cecilia Catalina; a boy was born prematurely and died during WWII); a business woman, she also invested in real estate; died in November 7, 2002 at the age of 90. She has a memorial website at www.palhbooks.com/iton.html.