an evening with the boston filipino-american book club

On September 17, 2016 (or September 18 in the afternoon here in New Zealand), I had the opportunity to Skype into this month's meeting of the Boston Filipino-American Book Club, where I answered questions about the story "Playing With Dolls" (published by Amazon's Day One) and the essay "Becoming A Writer: The Silences We Write Against" which appeared in TAYO Literary Magazine last year. The original plan was to discuss "Playing With Dolls" for this meeting, but because "Becoming A Writer: The Silences We Write Against" recently made it to the Notable List of the Best American Essays of 2016, they decided to add it to the reading list for this meeting. It was fascinating for me to engage in their readings of both pieces, and to see how they linked the story and essay to larger ideas of community and belongingness. I also enjoyed discussing the necessity of violating the Filipino community's code of silence in order to engage with the community's narratives and enable greater representation. It was a fun evening (or afternoon here) and I hope to meet the group again in the future when I have a book out! 

Thanks again to Grace Talusan, Bren Bataclan, and Anna Alves for organizing this event.