Dark Blue Suit

• There is a certain style in Bacho’s descriptions. A calm tone to very heavy topics, almost a passivity in the description. This repeats itself in more of his stories.
• “Uncles” on page 8 remind me of Yuen from Chin’s story. Someone not really family but kept close like family and seen as an uncle. Although, it is more common in the stories than in Chin’s
• Mestiza means a mixed race (although I can’t remember which mix it specifically means). Stephie is most likely going to have problems with this identity crisis. It seems like this is going to a common theme among characters.

Rico

• Rico wears a dark suit like Vince. Is there going to be more revolving around this idea of wear a nice suit for special occasions, but also implying a somber tone?
• Back then, were Filipinos not considered colored? There is a lot more unpacked, later on. Being next to the black community and not being involved at the same time. Somewhere in between seems to be a theme.
• On page 35, Buddy talks about having no emotion in the neighborhood, that they were taught not to carry any. The same goes with his father. The location or maybe the culture is responsible.

The Second Room

• It says that Jeet-Kune-Do did not carry any of the over complications. It was straight to the point. No Zen, just fighting. In stark contrast to what the shaolin monks were teaching (sort of.)
• On page 40,”He was released, I heard, and killed again, Jesus’s presence notwithstanding.” There is a sense of dark humor that continues in a lot of his stories (Which I personally love).
• There is a theme of missing the struggle. Even though things are peaceful, they don’t seem right. Even though things are probably better than they were, you can’t help but miss that grime. (I feel the same about my neighborhood, I miss the old ghetto playground)

August 1968

• This question of where Filipinos stand in this race war is brought up again. Some are involved, but it doesn’t seem to be involvement in the same way as Black and Whites are involved.
• On page 61, they beat up a non-white, presumably Chinese. This brings this reality to Buddy that he might be on the receiving end because he doesn’t look that part. (I feel that sometimes because I’m really light skinned)
• Two things that stand out to me in this story. That relationship you have with your race when you’re mixed. Another is that I have a Filipino friend who actually talked “like the bloods” (Page 57)

Home

• On page 65, it is foreshadowing the Rico Buddy new as gone. That it will seem to be alright with him. But to put it bluntly he’s gone, and even when it seems like he’ll return he won’t.
• I went to Franklin High School! That hits close to home, because I knew the kind the people that were just like that at my school. There was even one in my woodshop class.
• On page 76, Rico dies in Stockton California. He returns to the life that the previous generation left. He returns to his troubles because that was the kind of person he was, instead of escaping/ solving them like their fathers did.

A life Well Lived

• This is the fifth story dealing with an anti-communist sentiment. What is Peter Bacho’s position on it? Did it have an adverse effect on him as a child?
• On page 82, if Buddy was older, then he would have seen them lose the case before hand. There is a sense of hope in each description followed by a cruel setback to reality where. A theme that revolves in the descriptions of Bacho’s work and the content of his stories.
• This is the first story that highlights the quality over life for the individual than the reality of their life. Even though their conditions are not the best, it was a life well lived in their eyes, including its shortcomings.

The Wedding

• When Leo is “convinced” that he is the baby daddy of a prostitute’s girl, I think he knows it isn’t his. That is just an excuse to tell himself, to anchor himself. He is changing from a free spirit in his older age.
• Leo represents an undying pride, to never need anything. It is why he is considered a fool for letting his money go but never asking for any in return. He rather be poor than needy.
• Buddy not telling his family about Leo’s marriage is somewhat of a custom he has with them. It is a sign that have a close bond, that Buddy and Leo are a little more than just close friends but family as well.

A Manong’s Heart

• Seattle, at least the South End was a rough place to live. It is not so much anymore, hinted by how Buddy and his friends grew up, but it has been a fighting place. It was even harder when the first generation had arrived.
• The end of the great Filipino fighters showed the end of the fight in Seattle. If boxing was the heart of the culture, then when boxers disappeared so did the fight.
• On page 108, the description, “It was a rare chance to feel something human and warm” is an example of Bacho’s writing where he takes something disturbing and adds a sense humor or lightness to it. The phrase itself is very deep, but the delivery has a somewhat peaceful tone to it.

Stephie

• Buddy gets remarried to a younger woman. Similar to a lot of the other characters in the book. The exact something that his father had done prior to being in his life.
• Stephie describes herself as an exotic woman that her husband used to show off. He treated as a commodity just like her mother used to treat her a something to show off.
• Stephie doesn’t feel like she belongs. She wasn’t part of the Filipino community like Buddy or his family was. She was always treated as the white girl. That is a struggle for mixed race people, they have to choose a side most of the time and can’t be both.

A Matter of Faith

• This is the second story with Uncle Kikoy. The book seems to bring back characters for a second round (aside from a few) in order to close of out their section of the story. It is also a way to highlight the change and consistencies of the characters.
• On page 124, it foreshadows the death of Kikoy being missed. Bacho’s stories all seem to show hope and have it fall short of what the reader wants to happen. It is seen in his descriptions as well.
• Buddy ended up leaving Seattle like Rico did. Like Rico, he followed in the footsteps of his father in the sense that he couldn’t stay with one place or person.

Dancer

• On page 137, there is a nice contrast of the dialogue and the following thoughts of Buddy. The slang and the eloquent descriptions, add a sense of how different the two siblings are.
• Buddy takes offense at what Sonia said on page 138, but the reality is that both versions of their mother exist. Buddy’s loving mother that wanted the best for him and Sonia’s stepmother who wanted her gone are the same person.
• I need to comment on the dialogue in this story (and the book overall). The dialogue used for most of the characters that grow up in the hood are amazing. It reminds me of home (a bit) and is very humorous at times (The spelling of the phonetics is very well done as well)

A family Gathering

• On page 142, the description of Vince’s death surprising Buddy is another highlight of his father’s physical strength. Throughout the book, he is treated as a sort of powerful man who showed no emotion. This description cements that idea in his death.
• By “Family Gathering”, Bacho meant meeting together when most of the characters are dead. It is a juxtaposition of the connotation of the family gathering and the literal family gathering at the cemetery. Something that Bacho has been incorporating into his style of writing.
• Like his mother and Sonia, Buddy doesn’t see his father as the man who abandoned his original family. He only sees the man that raised him to be who he is today.