Mary Grace De Leon and Philippine High School for the Arts
Nov 2, 2021 - We Are They Screening in Elmhurst, Queens
For Undas (All Saints Twenty-four hours and All Souls Day), on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, a remembrance anniversary and the premiere of the flick We Are They took place at Frank D. O'Connor Playground, in front of Elmhurst Hospital. May Madarang of the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns opened the result with a prayer to honour the dead and explained the significance of Undas—a cultural tradition that ways "to laurels"—in the Filipino community,
Film Composer Will Simbol and Co-Managing director Jaclyn Reyes followed to innovate the film and share their journey in making it. Reyes called attention to Elmhurst Infirmary behind her saying, "this was the epicenter of the epicenter last yr."
Simbol, a teacher, faced his own challenges, having contracted the virus early in the pandemic and managing his own recovery while enduring the difficulties of supporting his students.
Reflecting on intendance, Reyes stated "Filipinos are acknowledged for their resilience, dedication, and humility. However, perpetuated is a model immigrant narrative that simultaneously normalizes an indifference to routine sacrifice…this shows us that these narratives nosotros internalize play an important role in shaping our attitudes and social interactions when it comes to trauma, grief and mental health."
Simbol added: "to process our own grief, later twenty-four hours jobs and making a living, artists worked to create, observe condolement, meaning, connexion, and tribute, [making the film was helping] in the way we knew how."
When the pic began, the dominicus had already set, and scenes from Woodside illuminated on a canvass screen hung from two trees over a park bench. The opening song "Sa Ugoy Ng Duyan," a popular Philippine lullaby, echoed in the park. At to the lowest degree forty attendees watched the film and stayed even as it began to drizzle on the event. One remarked that traditionally it is believed that if information technology rains on Undas, the dead are crying with you.
Following the film, healthcare workers were invited to share their reflections. Nurse and artist Potri Ranka Manis, nurse educator Sally Trinidad, and healthcare worker Ariane Meliton (one of the protagonists of the film) spoke to the crowd.
The event closed with a performance by Will Simbol and singer Ezra Undag of "Hindi Kita Malilimutan," a song ofttimes sung at funerals in the Philippines.
Afterwards, there was a communal meal at the Foundation for Filipino Artists Inc., located one block from the consequence, where food from Elmhurst-based Filipino restaurants Lahi, Sariling Atin, Kuya's Lechon, Juan 4 All, Kape Torta, and Tindahan was served.
Outcome TEAM
John Bahia
May Madarang
Jonathan Rampagoa
Potri Ranka Manis
Jaclyn Reyes
AJ Santos
Ezra Undag
Portraits by Photographer Lugao Kasberg from the 2021 Fiddling Manila Block Party
P.S. | Oras Na Workshop and Installation in Little Manila
No Longer Invisible: Vigil and Gathering Oral communication
"Embedded in our collective mother tongues is the wisdom of our ancestors. We know that their dreams for us are what we carry in our voices today.
"With that, our voices belong—in the discourse of justice and commonage liberation. Whether said in the hundreds of languages we speak hither in Queens, created in our art, or through acts of customs service—these different means nosotros express ourselves vest."
Spoken language Delivered on Sun, April 11 at Bowne Playground, Flushing, Queens
My name is Jaclyn Reyes. I am an creative person and designer who works at the intersection of customs education and social justice. And I am a proud Filipina.
Nosotros, the organizers, activists, and artists, of Footling Manila in Woodside, Queens have been building the visibility of our community for decades. This past yr has made our piece of work more than urgent.
We saw Filipino healthcare workers on the front end lines of the pandemic, and dying at a college rate than any ethnic group. Meanwhile, at home in the Philippines, the drain of our healthcare workers has led to disproportionate admission to quality care for those most vulnerable in our community. Today, nosotros are seeing this in many of our dwelling countries, where vaccine rollout is only for people in some countries, instead of all countries. Though we come from unlike places, nosotros are community.
In the Filipino community, we take too seen our kababayans brutally attacked. People like Noel Quintana and Vilma Kari, who have lived here for decades.
We know these attacks accept affected all of us in the AAPI community, beyond the state. Nosotros have been harassed and attacked. We have been told we don't belong.
We know this is not truthful and this is why we created the customs banner-making project to say "Nosotros Belong." We invited our friends who speak different languages to interpret this bulletin of belonging. Even when the words may not interpret easily, we discover verse in the gaps. For our Mandarin translation, nosotros received the bulletin: "cross a river in the same boat."
Embedded in our commonage mother tongues is the wisdom of our ancestors. We know that their dreams for us are what nosotros carry in our voices today.
With that, our voices belong—in the discourse of justice and collective liberation. Whether said in the hundreds of languages nosotros speak here in Queens, created in our art, or through acts of community service—these dissimilar ways we limited ourselves belong.
Our ancestors' and communities' experiences and contributions belong in our shared agreement of history.
And lastly, our hopes and dreams belong in the imagining of a meliorate gild.
Inspiration for We Belong
"We Belong" is a sign art projection, consisting of split banners that each highlight and acknowledge unique ethnic backgrounds within the AAPI customs. Inspired by the visual culture of sign-saturated immigrant neighborhoods, the configuration of the banners are also informed by the symbolism of Tibetan prayer flags that promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The phrase "We Belong" will exist thoughtfully translated into primal languages spoken by Eastward, Southeast, and Due south Asian communities in Queens
Mabuhay Mural Unveiling
On June 12th, 2020 Filipino organizations, Filipino businesses, artists, local elected officials, and community leaders unveiled a new mural on the southward east corner of 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue known as "Little Manila." The ceremony was also a ways to extend appreciation to Filipino businesses and healthcare workers risking their lives on the front lines of the COVID-19 epidemic.
The ceremony began with customs health worker and leader, Sockie Laya Smith honoring people nosotros have lost due to complications onset by COVID-19. Laya Smith recalls, "Mabuhay to their spirits that inspired united states of america to be the best of ourselves and to contribute our gifts to serve the community and humanity. For the transnational people of Philippines beginnings who brand up [a] huge sector of the global health system. Our gathering will proceed reminding the earth of the skills, dedication, and the self-sacrifice demanded of healthcare workers then humanity may exist healed—specifically during the COVID-xix pandemic. This is to remember them as man beings—not simply as a labor percentage, a deceased statistic, or an immigration number. We give thanks you, say thy name. Mabuhay!" She proceeded to kickoff naming Filipino healthcare workers effectually the earth who died from COVID-xix, from a listing compiled past the Kanlungan Memorial Projection.
"Little Manila" is considered one of the largest concentrations of Filipino businesses located in NYC and historically has been a common crossroads for immigrants to the surface area. About 2 dozen people witnessed the unveiling in person, as well equally viewing near online. While being enlightened of social distancing, people gathered at the mural wall shared past the eating house Astonishing Grace which faces the Q47 Bus Stop and underneath the 7 railroad train 69th Street Subway station.
The mural resides at the busy intersection, functioning as both a welcome sign and fine art to beautify the neighborhood. Colors combinations of sunshine yellowish with glistening traces of gilded, hues of green growth and the sampaguita (or jasmine) flower flourishing from background of blue, with the prominently-displayed "Mabuhay," a Philippine expression that has many meanings: cheers, welcome, may you alive. For more ten years, there had been attempts to have a Philippine mural in the Piddling Manila neighborhood. This was an effort to finally reach that goal, and to as well enact artistic placekeeping to stand for the values of the Filipino community. Painted by Princes 'Diane' De Leon, Ezra Undag, Hannah Cera, Jaclyn Reyes, and Xenia Diente, the visual vocabulary is rooted in the history and landscape of the Philippines. The typography is based on lettering constitute on the iconic jeepneys; the illustration style of the plants is based on Malay batik design from Mindanao, Indonesia, and Malaysia; the aureate in the linework is an homage to goldsmith artistry of precolonial Philippines.
In forepart of the mic stand, stood a handmade street sign in green with white lettering, "Piffling Manila." Two youth leaders, Princes 'Diane' De Leon and Hannah Cera, emceed the unveiling ceremony together equally they gave their personal testimonies. De Leon is the daughter of Mary Jane and Efren De Leon, the owners of Astonishing Grace Eating place and Bakery; Cera is the daughter of Brenda and Raul Cera, who also work at the eating house. Amazing Grace was one of three Filipino restaurants open at the summit of the crisis in Little Manila when most businesses were closed. As a concern that opened only in November 2019, the De Leon and Cera families worked to go on the restaurant running, while also working every bit healthcare workers in Manhattan and in Queens, including Elmhurst Hospital—at one point, the epicenter of the NYC pandemic—and Flushing Hospital. Diane, a graduating high school senior, and Hannah, a high school junior, worked alongside their parents and the reduced staff to stay open for the community.
Several community members shared their personal involvement in the neighborhood and the significance of the location. For Joe Castillo, growing up nearby, he's seen first mitt the area become through many changes. His parents opened up Phil-Am Food Mart in 1976, and during that time at that place were merely two Filipino stores. Castillo reflected saying, "It's very rare that yous run into this many Filipinos all in one place... I've been to other Filipinos communities all over the country — California, Bailiwick of jersey Metropolis—but the Woodside customs is very special. Nosotros all come together. We all back up each other. All these businesses would not be thriving if it weren't for one another, and then there'due south no competition. Everybody shops at all these different places... And information technology's true: all ships rise with the tide of everyone'due south support. To see something beautiful like this [the landscape] in the neighborhood, it's been special for me personally and I'm actually very much honored to exist a part of this today."
June 12 is Philippine Independence Twenty-four hours, and the timing of the mural unveiling likewise signifies the completion of the Meal To Heal Initiative, a project, led by Niggling Manila Queens Bayanihan Arts in partnership with the National Alliance for Filipino Concerns Northeast (NAFCON-NE), and collectively fundraised with the assistance of Filipino American National Historical Society Metro NY (FANHSMNY) that sought to mutually aid Filipinos at predominantly Queens-based, immigrant-owned businesses and healthcare facilities throughout NYC. Every delivery was organized to deepen ties and enact social cohesion betwixt Philippine businesses, healthcare workers, residents, activists, and volunteers. Through their efforts, 300+ meals were delivered from April through June.
The ceremony opened up remarks about what the community had endured. Michael Vaz, Executive Director of Woodside on the Move, who affirmed "the piece of work [the Filipino customs has] done during the pandemic," acknowledging collective loss and the importance of unity: "Together, we are Queens...Together, we are Woodside." New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), not present at the event, extended their back up in this historic moment in time, saying, "This mural gives us hope—it's a reminder that we are seen, we are united, nosotros are essential, and we are live to treat each other one more than day."
Council Fellow member of District 26 Jimmy Van Bramer offered gratitude to the efforts backside the mural stating, "Woodside is more beautiful today than information technology was yesterday." Standing in front of the handmade "Piffling Manila" street sign, he asked the crowd "shouldn't we accept a street name 'Little Manila?'"—pointing to years of on-the-ground word and efforts by community leaders and activists to officially mark the Philippine enclave. He ended past stating, "I'm telling you today equally your Quango Member, nosotros will rename the street 'Little Manila' and brand this happen once and for all."
The sunny celebratory afternoon ended with Potri Ranka Manis of Kinding Sindaw leading a "bagsak." It means, "one down", a unity clap symbolizing solidarity and collective effort. Ranka Manis, a registered nurse herself, applauded the joint efforts of the community, "Information technology may be just a corner of a street, but MABUHAY brings our Pilipino life story to this corner of the world, for all to see and share!" She wore a yellowish and maroon, landap, a malong, or traditional handwoven material, from the bequeathed Meranao Moro people of Mindanao, Philippines. The group convened for a photo opportunity and certificates of appreciation signed by customs leaders were given out to the participating neighborhood restaurants namely: Amazing Grace Restaurant and Bakery, Ihawan, Baby's Grill & Eatery, Tito Rad'due south Grill, Phil-Am Food Mart, Kabayan Grill, Kabayan Turo-Turo, Ihawan, Woldy Kusina, Rosario's Ihawan, Renee's Kitchenette, and Papa's Kitchen.
Source: https://www.littlemanilaqueens.org/notes
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