... I started reviewing/curating Aunty Lucy's photos from 2018-2020 when I sat by her bedside during her last week with us, before Christmas 2022 and until New Year's 2023. Some of the photos I'd already AirDropped to our devoted niece Grace Terencio DeLosReyes who took care of everyone -- Aunty Lucy, caregivers, her children, and all of us who visited daily during that special holiday week that became Aunty Lucy's last -- at the retirement home Aunty built on her Tagle ancestral beachfront land. Only now am I posting, with love @ForCommunities, ~JoanMay ((I have many more photos, especially from Holy Week and other reunions, that aren't included here. iMovie on my phone didn't do justice to so many shots. Yet all is done with Love.)) >
Friday, January 6, 2023
"She wants angels to take her now..." * RIP Aunty Lucy (94): Lucia Tagle-Tando Silverio, 3 January 2023
Niece Grace Terencio deLosReyes created this priceless video of Aunty Lucy in 2020. There are no words to thank you enough, Aunty Lucy, for all the ways you've taken care of all in the family and so many communities. Thankful to have spent weekends with you at your beachfront retirement home on Tagle ancestral land in Aklan. We're blessed, too, to have been beside you this week during your last days. Now it's you crossing over, going home. More writing/photos soon, with love and gratitude for all. (*Prophetic quote by young E.deLS)
Sunday, February 27, 2022
For Rachele with love from Auntie JoanMay (read by Uncle Tony at vigil 02.08.22)
Rachele used to say, “I’m Auntie JoanMay’s favorite.” Yes, from the time she was a baby, Rachele - the third of four beloved daughters of cousins Raquel Cordova Pasco and Ernie Pasco -- was truly my favorite niece. ((We knew Rachele’s Ate’ Josie had privileges as the eldest; Tina was our Lola Ani’s favorite, and Erleen had much attention as the youngest. So Rachele became “Auntie JoanMay’s favorite” and knew it.)) I took so many baby photos of Rachele and created a special photo album I gave to her as an adult.
Since young Rachele’s so cute, charming, and chubby, elders often affectionately called her “tabatchoy” or “butiti.” Everyone knew Rachele loved food, always eating much even as a baby toddler. She discovered that my mommy, her Auntie Nena, carried extra candy in her purse just for her. Little Butiti Rachele had also been known to finish food packed in her lunchbox even before arriving at school. As an adult, Rachele’s love for food grew into a refined taste for fine wines and delicacies that she generously shared with loved ones – inviting us to her home or wineries or taking treats to sisters, cousins, friends over the years -- where we’d all toast during fun celebrations of just being together. On her 50th birthday – after first eating at a SF cultural arts fair, then supporting a fundraiser for indigenous peoples, and later toasting boba over birthday cake --Rachele invited me to a leather bar where she was quite a popular leader of the leather and LGBTQ community.
Long ago we knew that Rachele had special spiritual gifts; her spiritual energies were even stronger than others in the family from Aklan, a land of spirits. She brought spiritual energies to all her nursing and healing practices. With deep respect for indigenous peoples, she valued and learned from their ancestral knowledge both in person and by reading, making a special request that books from my library about the babaylan –be hand delivered by cousins Annchella and Tony when they flew from the East Coast to San Francisco. Always finding spiritual connections in nature, she also became a core member of “Balik sa Dagat” a Bay Area community of close friends who built a bangka, hand carved from a single log - journeying through ancestral seafaring roots, rhythms, movement; respectfully connecting more deeply to land, water, breath, life. Rachele said: "The making of the canoe, the Gathering of community, The Carving, the eating, the music: it's more than just an event, it's one of the highest frequencies to be surrounded by love and laughter to truly ignite your body, mind, soul to heal."
Yet no matter how much Rachele traveled or accomplished in the world – as a leader, nurse, healer, community cultural worker – she always had time for family, and especially for her son Sebastian as a priority. She once asked me to visit and review one of Sebastian’s private schools and years later, to sit in a meeting with teachers at his new high school. Whenever I posted photos of any of the children in the family, Rachele would ask: “Where’s Seb?” The photo on my blog shows Rachele bringing Easter bunny treats to her grand nieces and nephews.
Rachele passionately worked to pass on her ancestral knowledge to the next generations of family. One day Tita Rachele mapped out and drove four generations of family, including Sebastian plus her mom’s young great-grandchildren, on a road trip through family history: They first joined a Philippine Independence Day cultural celebration organized by an aunt in Tracy; stopped to pay respects at the gravesites of family ancestors who’d been among the first in the clan to settle in California, and enjoyed Filipino food in Stockton before watching the Little Manila Rising (http://littlemanila.org ) showcase at San Joaquin Delta College where Granny (Rachele's mom Raquel Cordova Pasco) had studied as a teenager. Valuing our histories, Rachele had planned to attend this summer’s conference of FANHS, the Filipino American National Historical Society. Early last September 2021, Rachele had a long talk with our now 90 – year old Auntie Dorothy Laigo Cordova, founder of FANHS; Rachele volunteered to actively work on the 2022 FANHS national conference. I still believe that Rachele will be present at this summer's conference, just as I feel her presence during daily ocean swims and in dreams. Yes, Rachele will always be with us. I’m sharing this journey because I hope more in the family and community will continue Rachele’s work as she guides our way now “as a great ancestor.”
Dearest Rachele, you will be missed by families/communities across the globe. And you’ll always be Auntie JoanMay’s favorite. We’ll love you forever.
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Rachele Sullivan, nee Rachele Cordova Pasco, December 17, 1967 – January 17, 2022: "I will be a most excellent Ancestor. When my Creator Calls me home. I love you all so very much. Hugs, Rachele" via IG @sullivanrachele +UPDATE: In a 1st, San Francisco park to bear name of leather leader
**Just copy/paste this link into your browser: https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=News&sc=News&id=334425&title=in_a_1st,_san_francisco_park_to_bear_name_of_leather_leader&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR0VgNBsnSaEFlqCmNYbZV-hgss1UfsHnvmIZl_drY7fZZmrcdmhhgnllVM_aem_JYq05y8eDO4RNPETPELyxg
Beloved by so many, Rachele Sullivan (nee Rachele Cordova Pasco) drew her last
breath in the full moon’s light close beside family on 17 January 2022 in
Pittsburg, California (USA). *****We now send much love to Rachele’s only son,
Sebastian Sullivan; her mother, Raquel Cordova Pasco (m. Ernesto Abatayo Pasco,
RIP); her sisters Josiebel Pasco Vargas (m. Jay Vargas, SF), Ernestine Pasco
Sanchez (m. Dario Sanchez, Pittsburg), and Erleen Pasco Rosendo (m. Felipe
Rosendo, Jr., San Jose); and to all the many nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts and
uncles in five generations of extended families who’ve traditionally gathered –
in celebration as well as sadness – for decades. Many traveled to be with her
before she transitioned. Now Rachele joins honored ancestors – her beloved
father, Ernesto Abatayo Pasco and his parents, Josefa Abatayo Pasco and
Florentino Pasco, as well as her maternal grandparents Felimon Maypa Cordova and
Hombelina Ibabao Cordova. In this season of Philippine festivals in the family’s
ancestral province, Aklan’s Ati-Atihan drumbeats pulse with spirits welcoming
all home. ***** Rachel would speak of her birthplace as Yelamu (San Francisco)
on Ramaytush Ohlone lands. Through the hard work and sacrifices of nurturing
immigrant parents Raquel and Ernie, all Pasco sisters attended Star of the Sea
Elementary School and graduated from Presentation High School. From childhood
on, the Pasco sisters valued lifelong family friendships of the Filipino
American Association of Star of the Sea Church (FAASTAR), an organization
co-founded by their parents and other Filipino immigrant families in the 1970’s.
While quite young, the Pasco sisters and friends organized and led FAASTAR’s
first youth group. Family elders also invited the children to activities of
other pioneering Filipino organizations in San Francisco and beyond. Deeply
grounded in family/community, Rachele’s commitments to community service, forged
since childhood, would spiral out to include advocacy and grass roots organizing
in increasingly diverse communities. *****
Friday, February 12, 2021
Wednesday, August 22, 2018
Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon #DawnMabalonIsInTheHeart
Dr. Dawn Bohulano Mabalon August 17, 1972 - August 10, 2018
Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, 45, died suddenly on August 10, 2018 in Hawai’i, on a family vacation she’d dreamed about and organized.
She is survived by her beloved husband of nearly 10 years, Jesus Perez Gonzales; her sister Darleen Mabalon; nieces and godchildren Tayondee and Nonaiya, and nephew Cayden; her mom Christine Bohulano Bloch; her uncle Delfin Bohulano, Jr. (Wendy); aunts Virginia Bohulano, Adeline Bohulano Suguitan (Mel), and her uncle Tex Mabalon, Sr. - together with her large family of cousins, nieces, godchildren, godparents. Preceding her in death are her grandparents Delfin Paderes Bohulano and Concepcion Paloma Moreno Bohulano; her aunt Florencia Mabalon Pastrana, her father Ernesto Tirona Mabalon, and grandparents Pablo Macavinta Mabalon and Isabel Timtiman Tirona Mabalon. Of the Mabalon family, “five generations deep,” Dawn writes: “We are all the seeds they planted in America, now almost 100 of us, flourishing because of their (ancestors’) sacrifices.”
Dawn cherished family and the community they continue to build in Stockton, California. She’d forever identify with the Filipino community of the historic “Little Manila” in Stockton’s Southside. Growing up in a tightly knit neighborhood of people of color with aunts and uncles everywhere, “Everyone watched out for you,” Dawn says. From winning Stockton’s spelling bee as a youth to winning national competition that led her to New York as guest editor of teen magazine Sassy soon after graduating from Edison High School, Dawn excelled. She published numerous articles in nationally distributed newspapers and magazines - all before age 20.
From San Joaquin Delta College, Dawn went on to earn a Master’s degree from UCLA - where her fierce Stockton Southside stance and gaze (Watch out!) shaped rhythms of Dawn’s powerful spoken word poetry as well as her lifelong passion and activism for justice. At UCLA, she began her rigorous scholarship that addressed gender, community displacement, youth organizing and more.
Yet Dawn didn’t just write about community displacement, she fought for the historic preservation of her beloved Little Manila. She says, “In 1997…that's when the demolition started. And that’s when we started the Little Manila Foundation [now Little Manila Rising] and I was essentially going to seminars at Stanford and then rushing back home on the freeway filming the demolition…it ended up being a non-profit that is... amazing for what it’s been able to do
for our youth. And now we've been able to save the three original
buildings, and it’s been incredible.”
Dawn became one of the first Pinays to earn a doctorate degree - a PhD in history - from Stanford University. Her dissertation eventually became the award winning book, “Little Manila is in the Heart: The making of the Filipina/o American community in Stockton, California,” now in its 6th printing. Of her book, Dawn says, “It really was a love letter to my family, to my community, to my elders and really putting my hometown on the proverbial Filipino American map. I had always believed and many of the elders believed that Stockton was Filipino America's hometown.”
As an Associate Professor in history at San Francisco State University, she also became part of the Pin@y Partnership Program (PEP family). Dawn’s love for teaching/learning - sustained by love for/by family/community/history/legacy - is imprinted on the souls of so many blessed to engage with her. Just search #DawnMabalonIsInTheHeart on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for unending testimonies to her brilliant legacy as a “dope professor who still sounds like a homegirl” and who has transformed lives - as a friend, comadre, mentor, fellow warrior, scholar, teacher.
When Dawn graduated from UCLA, Uncle Fred Cordova (Founding President Emeritus of the Filipino American National Historical Society where Dawn served as National Scholar) wrote:
“It is an honor to welcome an Aklanon of the Pamilya ng Cordova to the scholarly ranks of the learned. Your Lolo Ambo would be so proud and all of our departed loved ones…”
Dawn now joins them.
Dawn so loved being Auntie/Ninang to her mga inaanak (godchildren) and nieces and nephews. With her husband Jesse, they’ve been teaching them how to cook their grandparents’ recipes, and to honor history and legacies.
Now they - and all of us - will continue to honor Dawn’s powerful legacy…
…with love,
@ForCommunities,
Ninang /Auntie/Cousin Joan May Timtiman Cordova
Thursday, October 8, 2009
D. Lee Inosanto @ "The Sensei" Stockton Premiere, 17 October 2009
"The Sensei"
STOCKTON PREMIERE with DIANA LEE INOSANTO Director/Actress
STOCKTON PREMIERE with DIANA LEE INOSANTO Director/Actress
Saturday - October 17, 2009
Two Screenings: 2 pm & 6:30 pm / Reception between screenings
Tillie Lewis Theater @ San Joaquin Delta College
Tillie Lewis Theater @ San Joaquin Delta College
5151 Pacific AvenueStockton, California 95207
$5 suggested donation
Sponsored by: Delta College Asian and Pacific Islander American Staff Association (APIASA) and Delta Cultural Awareness Program (CAPS)
Sponsored by: Delta College Asian and Pacific Islander American Staff Association (APIASA) and Delta Cultural Awareness Program (CAPS)
RSVP on Facebook: http://bit.ly/Sensei_Facebook
Meet Director/Actress Diana Lee Inosanto at the Stockton premiere of her movie, "The Sensei." http://blog.thesenseimovie.com/
With the Inosanto family's legendary history deeply rooted in Stockton, California, this premiere will be like a homecoming for Diana Lee Inosanto (aka D. Lee Inosanto). Her grandparents Mary Arca Inosanto and Sebastian Inosanto, as well as other founders of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Stockton's historic Little Manila neighborhood, all offered support to striking Filipino farmworkers in 1939. Within the extended Arca and Inosanto families are generations of community leaders and educators including Flora Arca Mata, the first Filipina teacher in Stockton's history. We welcome everyone to two screenings of this special Stockton premiere of "The Sensei."
http://www.myspace.com/thesenseimovie
http://www.myspace.com/thesenseimovie
A DIFFERENT KIND OF MARTIAL ARTS FILM: A Different Kind of Martial Arts Film: D. Lee Inosanto's 'The Sensei' battles prejudice and homophobia in 1980s small town in Colorado
If there's one thing D. Lee Inosanto is no stranger to, it's martial arts. Her father is martial arts legend Dan Inosanto, her godfather was the late Bruce Lee (whom she refers to simply as "Uncle Bruce"), and Inosanto herself is a highly trained martial artist who has worked as a stunt person on projects from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Face/Off. So when Inosanto decided to write, direct and star in her first feature film, it made sense that it would take place in the world she knows so well. But what might catch people off guard is the story she chose to tell.
Inosanto's feature, The Sensei, is set in a small Colorado town in 1985, the early years of the AIDS epidemic. McClain (played by Mike O'Laskey) is a gay teenager who is constantly being ostracized. He tries to sign up for classes at the local martial arts dojo to learn to protect himself, but they won't accept him either. Enter Karen (D. Lee Inosanto), the black sheep of the family that runs the dojo who returns to the town after several years away. Karen privately trains McClain, and the two develop a friendship until a secret Karen harbors changes everything.
Tackling issues like AIDS and homophobia in a martial arts setting may seem odd, but it made perfect sense to Inosanto. The inspiration came from a family friend named Gilbert Johnson who was an editor/ publisher of martial arts subjects.
Tackling issues like AIDS and homophobia in a martial arts setting may seem odd, but it made perfect sense to Inosanto. The inspiration came from a family friend named Gilbert Johnson who was an editor/ publisher of martial arts subjects.
"He was the first person I knew to contract AIDS," Inosanto said. "He was a straight man, a very conservative man - the last person you would expect to get AIDS. But in his final months, he became an activist - marching alongside the gay community. He was one of my favorite people."
By the mid-'90s, AIDS had impacted major sports figures like Magic Johnson. Inosanto's own cousin came out around this time as a lesbian, and Matthew Shepherd was killed in a high-profile hate crime. All inspired Inosanto to write The Sensei. "Being a child of a mixed marriage instilled in me the idea that any type of prejudice is wrong," she said. "That was the drive behind the film."
By the mid-'90s, AIDS had impacted major sports figures like Magic Johnson. Inosanto's own cousin came out around this time as a lesbian, and Matthew Shepherd was killed in a high-profile hate crime. All inspired Inosanto to write The Sensei. "Being a child of a mixed marriage instilled in me the idea that any type of prejudice is wrong," she said. "That was the drive behind the film."
Shot on a low budget, the project faced many hurdles on the way to the big screen. The school where the shooting was originally to take place pulled its support after realizing the lead character was a gay teen (making news nationwide when the Associated Press picked up the story), and one of the main funders pulled out after the controversy broke.
Another possible problem was the martial arts community's conservatism and its sometimes blatant homophobia.The Sensei's trailer was first screened in public at a large martial arts convention in Las Vegas where Chuck Norris' birthday was being celebrated. Inosanto worried how the trailer might be accepted, but was surprised by the reaction. "So many people came up to me afterward and said 'thank you,'" Inosanto said.
Since then, she has received similar reactions. Many of the strongest supporters are martial artists who are gay but in the closet, or others who cannot openly take a stance.
"This one guy in Alaska said his black belt would be stripped away if he took in a gay student," she said. "Even with all the progress, it's clear we still have a long way to go."
"This one guy in Alaska said his black belt would be stripped away if he took in a gay student," she said. "Even with all the progress, it's clear we still have a long way to go."
Article by Philip W. Chung, a writer and co-artistic director of Lodestone Theatre Ensemble. Lodestone's latest production of Trapezoid runs until May 25 in L.A.: lodestonetheatre.org.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Possibilities: Thank you Diane & Letty and others...
The following letter is from good friend Diane Rhonemus. We met in the pre-school class at First Presbyterian Church in Stockton long ago, even before Trinity had its own DVCS (daily vacation church school). I still have photos from that time and may post them ;-)
~~~~~~
Happy Spring
Happy Spring
Sunday, March 29, 2009 8:47 PM
From:
"D Rhonemus"
From:
"D Rhonemus"
Hi, Joan May,
How busy are you at this moment? How many other things do you have going on right now? Me? I can only do one at a time. Did you just get through travelling again? My Spring Break is over and I am not ready to return. It feels like summer out...warm and relaxing. Bad weather to be stuck indoors working.
Time for Tree business. The inevitable has happened. The 3 majestic trees have fallen. Letty Perez took pictures. I told my mom that one picture shows one tree standing and another lying in the parking lot. It reminded me of a fallen soldier with his/her buddy looking on. But from the base of one, shoots arose. How sturdy they are and with such fortitude. Letty Perez was able to save 2 rounds or slices from one of the trunks. We may be able to get a few more slices before the stumps are unrooted.
Letty Perez and several others would like to use one slice to keep as a memorial. Their idea was to have a metal plaque secured to it once it has been planed and varnished and then have it placed in an appropriate place. She asked me to ask you for suggestions about what wording you might like on the plaque and also if you had any ideas where to place it (be careful with idea now, Joan May :-) . The wording could be as simple as "In memory of Braulio and Tranquilina Cordova" with dates or anything else you would prefer. Also, Letty P. thought the round could be placed near future trees. I personally don't see other trees happening in the next 5 years. It would be nice if small chairs could be made out of a round/slice or two for the children since you worked often with them. The slices aren't quite wide enough for a table, I dont think. They seem to be about 2 ft in diameter. Letty P. also spoke of maybe laying ceramic tiles on one for a small table. Someone could design a picture and DVBS children could glue the tiles on. All just ideas for the time being.
Think about these things, Joan May. I know it isn't much consolation. The trees were planted so the wood would be harvested from time to time. How would Rev. Litherland or your parents use the wood? What thoughtful, appropriate memorial could we make? We need to do justice with this fiasco in some way. We still pray for understanding.
Let me know your thoughts.
Happy Bunny time,
Diane
P.S. I cut off one of the shoots and will wave it in church next Sunday for my Palm!
YOU are God's gift to the world!
YOU are God's gift to the world!
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