Bino Scolds Fil-Ams
Liz Pisares: I’ve been reading seriously for 24 years; once or twice a year, a diatribe such as Realuyo’s gets directed at FilAms such as myself. And you know what? I’ve had it with Filipino writers belittling me for not reading their shit. If you’re really interested in getting someone like me to turn off “America’s Best Dance Crew” and pay attention to your work, take a cue from Filipino-American film directors (who, the last time I checked, have been filling film festival seats with FIlAms): do the literary equivalent of test screenings and *ask* FilAms what they want to read. Talk with them. I do not know what you will find. But I do know that complaining about someone like me at Huffington Post ain’t gonna help your royalty check.
Eliyahu Enriquez Rivera: Assisted Bino on the NuyorAsian. I fil his frustration, but I’ve since branched out, no longer relying on approval from Fil-Ams. Such fence-jumping is a Filipin@ characteristic, I gather, akin to island-hopping. The saying goes, you won’t find two Rabbis in the same city, similarly, Filipinos that I follow aren’t catering to just Filipinos. Their readership usually reflects multiple eclectic subcategories, like Ska and Punk (I Was A Teenage Filipino Skinhead ‘zine) or avante cinéma-vérité (Tiffany Limos’ ditties on screen). At least, that’s how I gage trends in Filipino arts: if they’re applicable beyond our archipelago. Christian Cabuay’s multi-genre scholarly work on Baybayin is another example of bridging indie with indigenous, whose interest goes beyond the Filipino community. He makes the effort to collaborate which helps.
