I loved the music lesson this week’s class! The video about Pinoy boxers was powerful, followed by Dark Blue Suit packed a punch. I had an idea of how important boxers were for Irish, Latin and African Americans but I had no idea it was the same for Filipinos. Respectable to see old boxers reminious on the old days and practice combos. Had no idea the amount of pride and honor boxers brought them. Seeing that they were at the bottom of the immigration chain from Asia, it makes sense now.
“Tupac was a genius!” said Chico.
I agree, and my opinion was before learning about his choice of samples. It was about lyrics and emotion.
The Blue Scholars rap about stuff that takes me home to the 80’s. I definitely want to dig deeper into their music, as well as the Black Eyed Peas. I love that they rap in Pilipino and that one song literally seems like a theme song.
Musicians as resistant fighters.
Three ain’ts of hip-hop.
Boxing as a metaphor for struggle.
Minorities before forced into confined spaces with set rules and laws, why they do so well in those sports.
Dialogics- Continued dialogue between text, author and reader. Great new words.
Pinoy/Pinay, Manong/Manong, Pil/Pino- solid words.
The Debut
Entertaining enough to pass great messages and reveal treasures of Pilipino culture. The dance performed at the debut was phenomenal. This movie reminded me that our country is young and the struggles faced by the grandfather was not the same as the father and the son. And despite the youngest generation focusing on at (which can be seen as effeminate) he did not back down to three guys. It was great to see hundreds of Asian Americans cast as extras and actors for the movie. Don’t see that often, need to more.
Chico mentioned in our discussion that coming of ages is not just of teenagers, because both the father and grandfather were coming of age in the movie.
Dark Blue Suit
Heavy book without any fluff or perfume. Well strung together stories that flowed like a raging river through the writer’s life. Definite ownership by the author, easy to feel the words and messages.
Rico… poor Rico…
I wrote a lot here about my own experience during two years in Iraq and after, but I decided to delete it. Either way, Bacho represents a veteran with PTSD as if he himself has been through war and knows the after effects. Brave writing. Honest.
I thought our group discussion was missing a few key components but still functioned with grace and efficiency. We covered a lot in a short amount of time. Despite tired eyes, shy people and a tiny dog that was too cute to not pay attention to. It was great.