I just realized another blog entry needed to be written.
(I pride myself on being true to my word. I mentioned in this entry that I would write an answer to it at the end of the semester, which is what I’m doing now.)
One of my most meaningful extracurricular commitments at Harvard has been my involvement with the Harvard Philippine Forum, whose name I think is lame because other Filipino cultural groups in the area have much cooler names. BUT I’m not here to bash on that; were it not for my being involved with the group, I wouldn’t even know what the other cultural groups’ names are, nor would I have the amazing friends from these different groups that I do. Why and how has it meant so much to me? I suppose it makes sense to start at the very beginning. Like, when I moved to the USA beginning.
I was relatively old when I moved to the USA; I came the summer before 6th grade after having spent the rest of my life beforehand in the Philippines. My life in the Philippines was the only one I had known, so I didn’t think that being there was really that special. Rather, I thought that it was so cool I’d get to start life anew and live the American Dream in the USA, a country I had only seen in movies and the Disney Channel, or read about in American Girl books and GL magazines. So when I arrived, I did whatever I could to try and be an American girl. I paid attention to how they spoke and on the first days of school, faked my accent to try and get rid of any traces of Philippine English. Due to my age, I did lose my original accent eventually, and no longer had to fake anything. I longed to eventually have a house in the suburbs with a dog. At the end of 6th grade, I remember accidentally exclaiming an interjection in Cebuano when I was in a group of my classmates. Though I don’t remember their reactions, I felt horrified at saying something no one would understand, that they’d probably find weird, and from then on made sure to never do such a thing again.
I rather quickly got over this American girl complex and became bored with the suburbs. But living in Oregon, I didn’t really have peers who were Filipinos, and though I was proud of the identity, didn’t really get to share it with anyone outside my family and our family friends. And partly because I was bored with the suburbs and its homogeneity, I became an exchange student in France. When people asked me where I was from, I would always say “The USA, but I grew up in the Philippines.” I even sang the national anthem with other Filipino exchange students at a pretty big event. During group pictures, I would flit about between the Filipino flag and the American one. The dual identity was one that I also wear proudly, alongside that of having Filipino heritage.
After that, it wasn’t until Harvard where I felt like I had truly found Filipino friends who were also proud of their heritage, with whom I could share things that I wouldn’t be able to with others. I first became acquainted with the Harvard Philippine Forum during Harvard’s pre-frosh visiting weekend my senior year of high school. I met some of their members and was so excited to see that I wouldn’t be the only Filipino at Harvard (the girl who hosted me had been their co-president), and from then on looked forward to being more involved once I got back on campus. So freshman fall, I enthusiastically attended all their events and already made new friends who were happy to see me around campus. And for some reason, in freshman spring, I got an email from the two co-presidents at the time asking if I would like to take over the club as their next co-president.
SO SOON!? Despite that, I ecstatically agreed and thanked them for giving me such an honor.
It turned out they had also reached out to Brian, another freshman, and after he and I filled out the applications out of formality, we were both bestowed the title of Harvard Philippine Forum Co-Presidents, a title we held all the way until the end of junior fall. Aka for four semesters. LOL.
Anyway, being co-president with Brian has been such a great experience. I like to think that we accomplished so much during our term, and to me it has been a highlight of my time at Harvard. Social events and performances were the big thing, as well as being connected to District 1, the larger network of Filipino students in the different colleges around Boston. From there, my circle of Filipino friends grew beyond Harvard. My time as co-president flew by. And now that I’ve gotten back to work on this entry after leaving it alone for a while, I’m at a loss of what to say. It’d be too much to list all the events and the friends I’ve made, so I think I should just turn it back to the original gratitude challenge prompt about "being thankful for your heritage."
Although I can never be as “Filipino” as somebody who has lived their entire life in the Philippines, I can still consider myself Filipino. But in such a day and age where people move around a lot and are exposed to so many different ways of life, and where individuality is arguably an encouraged norm, what would constitute a “Filipino” identity, anyway? Most of the Filipino-Americans I know here (or from District 1, anyway) don’t speak Tagalog/other Filipino language as a native language, or even conversationally, yet they still proudly consider themselves Filipino. Most were born in the USA and only know the Philippines through their parents and through visits. However, I wouldn’t argue against that. These various cultural discrepancies don’t change the fact that these are people who I was able to relate to, friends valuable to me not in the way they appreciate travel and seeing the world, but rather in the way that they’re familiar with the world and culture I grew up in. Before I philosophize too much and turn this into an entry that delves into definitions of identity, I’ll try and get back to the point.
I’m so grateful for being a part of HPF for the entirety of my Harvard career, and of D1 for most of it. Up until that point, I didn’t really have ways to share with Filipino peers and most of my pride was manifested in the context of being a lone Filipino (or part of very few) in a group of people representing other cultures/heritages. Being co-president has given me a chance to “legitimately” show pride of my heritage in a larger setting, while being able to share it with others who personally understood and identified it as well. It’s pretty neat having a Filipino friend group at Harvard and in the Boston community in general! Who else would go ballistic over Filipino snacks and laugh about the ridiculousness of Filipino media with me? Now that I think of it, this contributes to the feeling of home I get being in Boston.
Oh Boston, I already miss you. But I’m not going to be sad, thanks to the wonderful memories I’ve made there and the friends from all over, and more relevant to this entry, friends who are similar to me, that I’ve made. I know that I’ll be happy to be back when the time comes.
(I pride myself on being true to my word. I mentioned in this entry that I would write an answer to it at the end of the semester, which is what I’m doing now.)
One of my most meaningful extracurricular commitments at Harvard has been my involvement with the Harvard Philippine Forum, whose name I think is lame because other Filipino cultural groups in the area have much cooler names. BUT I’m not here to bash on that; were it not for my being involved with the group, I wouldn’t even know what the other cultural groups’ names are, nor would I have the amazing friends from these different groups that I do. Why and how has it meant so much to me? I suppose it makes sense to start at the very beginning. Like, when I moved to the USA beginning.
I was relatively old when I moved to the USA; I came the summer before 6th grade after having spent the rest of my life beforehand in the Philippines. My life in the Philippines was the only one I had known, so I didn’t think that being there was really that special. Rather, I thought that it was so cool I’d get to start life anew and live the American Dream in the USA, a country I had only seen in movies and the Disney Channel, or read about in American Girl books and GL magazines. So when I arrived, I did whatever I could to try and be an American girl. I paid attention to how they spoke and on the first days of school, faked my accent to try and get rid of any traces of Philippine English. Due to my age, I did lose my original accent eventually, and no longer had to fake anything. I longed to eventually have a house in the suburbs with a dog. At the end of 6th grade, I remember accidentally exclaiming an interjection in Cebuano when I was in a group of my classmates. Though I don’t remember their reactions, I felt horrified at saying something no one would understand, that they’d probably find weird, and from then on made sure to never do such a thing again.
I rather quickly got over this American girl complex and became bored with the suburbs. But living in Oregon, I didn’t really have peers who were Filipinos, and though I was proud of the identity, didn’t really get to share it with anyone outside my family and our family friends. And partly because I was bored with the suburbs and its homogeneity, I became an exchange student in France. When people asked me where I was from, I would always say “The USA, but I grew up in the Philippines.” I even sang the national anthem with other Filipino exchange students at a pretty big event. During group pictures, I would flit about between the Filipino flag and the American one. The dual identity was one that I also wear proudly, alongside that of having Filipino heritage.
After that, it wasn’t until Harvard where I felt like I had truly found Filipino friends who were also proud of their heritage, with whom I could share things that I wouldn’t be able to with others. I first became acquainted with the Harvard Philippine Forum during Harvard’s pre-frosh visiting weekend my senior year of high school. I met some of their members and was so excited to see that I wouldn’t be the only Filipino at Harvard (the girl who hosted me had been their co-president), and from then on looked forward to being more involved once I got back on campus. So freshman fall, I enthusiastically attended all their events and already made new friends who were happy to see me around campus. And for some reason, in freshman spring, I got an email from the two co-presidents at the time asking if I would like to take over the club as their next co-president.
SO SOON!? Despite that, I ecstatically agreed and thanked them for giving me such an honor.
It turned out they had also reached out to Brian, another freshman, and after he and I filled out the applications out of formality, we were both bestowed the title of Harvard Philippine Forum Co-Presidents, a title we held all the way until the end of junior fall. Aka for four semesters. LOL.
Anyway, being co-president with Brian has been such a great experience. I like to think that we accomplished so much during our term, and to me it has been a highlight of my time at Harvard. Social events and performances were the big thing, as well as being connected to District 1, the larger network of Filipino students in the different colleges around Boston. From there, my circle of Filipino friends grew beyond Harvard. My time as co-president flew by. And now that I’ve gotten back to work on this entry after leaving it alone for a while, I’m at a loss of what to say. It’d be too much to list all the events and the friends I’ve made, so I think I should just turn it back to the original gratitude challenge prompt about "being thankful for your heritage."
Although I can never be as “Filipino” as somebody who has lived their entire life in the Philippines, I can still consider myself Filipino. But in such a day and age where people move around a lot and are exposed to so many different ways of life, and where individuality is arguably an encouraged norm, what would constitute a “Filipino” identity, anyway? Most of the Filipino-Americans I know here (or from District 1, anyway) don’t speak Tagalog/other Filipino language as a native language, or even conversationally, yet they still proudly consider themselves Filipino. Most were born in the USA and only know the Philippines through their parents and through visits. However, I wouldn’t argue against that. These various cultural discrepancies don’t change the fact that these are people who I was able to relate to, friends valuable to me not in the way they appreciate travel and seeing the world, but rather in the way that they’re familiar with the world and culture I grew up in. Before I philosophize too much and turn this into an entry that delves into definitions of identity, I’ll try and get back to the point.
I’m so grateful for being a part of HPF for the entirety of my Harvard career, and of D1 for most of it. Up until that point, I didn’t really have ways to share with Filipino peers and most of my pride was manifested in the context of being a lone Filipino (or part of very few) in a group of people representing other cultures/heritages. Being co-president has given me a chance to “legitimately” show pride of my heritage in a larger setting, while being able to share it with others who personally understood and identified it as well. It’s pretty neat having a Filipino friend group at Harvard and in the Boston community in general! Who else would go ballistic over Filipino snacks and laugh about the ridiculousness of Filipino media with me? Now that I think of it, this contributes to the feeling of home I get being in Boston.
Oh Boston, I already miss you. But I’m not going to be sad, thanks to the wonderful memories I’ve made there and the friends from all over, and more relevant to this entry, friends who are similar to me, that I’ve made. I know that I’ll be happy to be back when the time comes.
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