Download The Complex History of Filipino Identity: A Story of Longing and Extremes and more Slides Literature in PDF only on Docsity! “Turban Legend” (Excerpt from Leche) by Zamora Linmark
OFW HUGOT LINES
BY GOSHENLAND
expectation reality
Pag nasa Hindi nila
abroad, alam, tinitiis
akala mo parin -r
sosyal ang kumain ng
kinakain.
Full course
meal o
(se)
delata o —
kaya itlog =
y at kanin ag
aya steak a
Y v
na lang
mameohalin. a) Para may I
maipadalaka ~~ |
sa dami ng —
hinihingi nila. P-
Bi
a wt
SS”
Zamora Linmark Poet, novelist, and playwright R. Zamora Linmark was born in Manila, educated in Honolulu, and has lived in Madrid and Tokyo. The recipient of a U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission and NEA fellowships and twice from the Fulbright Foundation, he has taught, as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in Creative Writing in universities in the United States and the Philippines. A special edition of RTR's has just been published, including a foreword by the author. Forthcoming is Pop Verite, a poetry collection from Hanging Loose Press, and These Books Belong to Ken Z, a young adult out of Delacorte/Random House. He currently resides in Honolulu and Manila. This novel explores the complex colonial and cultural history of the Philippines and the paradoxes inherent in the search for both personal and national identities. Vocabulary Boxes that ought to be the Philippines’ exhibits at the next World’s fair, Vince told himself as he navigates his cartload of Louis Vuitton bags in and out of the maze. An exhibit that should take place none other than here, at the Honolulu International Airport, he laughs, as he imagines an entire terminal buried in the Filipinos’ most popular- and prefered- pieces of luggages. Third Paragraph Filipinos will even throw themselves into the boxes, as was the case of that overseas contract worker in Dubai. The man, an Engineer, was so homesick that, unable to afford the ticket- most of the earnings went to cover his living expenses and the rest to his wife and children- he talked his roommate, who was homebound for the holidays, into checking him in. He paid for the excess baggage fee, which still came out cheaper than a round-trip airfare. Fifth Paragraph Vince, who had heard the story from his old sister Jing, didn’t buy it. There were too many loopholes, too many unanswered questions, like wouldn’t an X-ray machine in the Middle east detect a Filipino man curled up inside a box? He simply dismissed it as a “Turban Legend.” “ You’re missing the point, brother” Jing said. “It’s not the mechanics matter. It’s about drama. The extremes a Filipino will go to just to be back at home for Christmas with his family.” Sixth Paragraph
