Nov. 28 -- MVHS Leadership Class Visits Oak School

On November 28 students from MVHS Leadership class visited Oak School and read Filipino stories to four first grade classes and two kindergarten classes. One of the MVHS students, Emma Eline, had this to share:

My name is Emma and I'm one of the leadership students that went to Oak School to read. In my opinion, the whole thing went really well. We began practicing reading out loud and working on Tagalog word pronunciation a few weeks before we actually went to the school. In order to make sure that we were pronouncing words correctly, a few members of our group attended a lunch meeting of the Asian FYO [Filipino Youth Organization] club. Some of the members of the club were able to help us with pronunciation, and then the information was passed along to the rest of our group. The day before we went to Oak School, we talked about how we would introduce ourselves, and what else we could do to make the children more comfortable with us. Once we got to the school, we were each sent to a different classroom (4 first grade classes, 2 kindergarten classes) to read. Everyone's experience went really smoothly. The kids were interested, attentive, and involved in the reading - making comments or asking questions. The teachers seemed welcome to more students coming to read to classes in the future; and we all found it to be such a fun experience that we would gladly do it again.

Last 2007 Event: Tess Uriza Holthe at MVHS

The MVHS Madrigals opened the event with festive songs. What a musical treat!

We heard your feedback from November 1, so Ms. Holthe opened this event with a brief reading from When the Elephants Dance. Since people enjoyed the conversational style used on November 1 so much, we used the format again. MVHS Assistant Principal Donna Peltz posed several thought-provoking questions before opening up to questions from the audience.

The organized activities are over for this year. Let us know your feedback and book suggestions for future years. We'd love to have your help, too! (info at mvreads dot org).

Fires on the Plain (DVD and Book)

After looking at the book description on the front of the Mountain View Reads Together brochure, a colleague told me about a book he read and recommended, "Fires on the Plain." When I googled it, I found that a film was made (in 1959) based on the book that was restored and reissued just this year. The MV library has the 2007 DVD.

It's a tough film to watch. I advise watching the video introduction by Japanese-film scholar David Richie to help understand the film's relevance. The booklet that comes with the DVD is also interesting.

The book by Shohei Ooka was originally published in Japanese in 1951, and the English translation was published in 1957. A new edition was published in 2001.

I'm reading the book now, after watching the film. I often like a book better than its film version. Maybe it's because I usually read the book first and have to imagine everything, and the film doesn't match what I imagine. When I watch a film first, I often can't forget the images I've seen in the film, so it's a different reading experience.

NEA Announces New Reading Study

November 19, 2007 the National Endowment for the Arts announced the release of To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence, a new and comprehensive analysis of reading patterns in the United States. To Read or Not To Read gathers statistics from more than 40 studies on the reading habits and skills of children, teenagers, and adults. The compendium reveals recent declines in voluntary reading and test scores alike, exposing trends that have severe consequences for American society.

The key findings:

• Americans are reading less (on average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading)
• Americans are reading less well
• The declines in reading have civic, social, and economic implications
  

Sunil Iyengar, NEA Director of Research and Analysis, said, "To Read or Not to Read compels us to consider more carefully how we spend our time, since those choices affect us individually and collectively."

To Read or Not to Read confirms the central importance of reading for a prosperous, free society. The data here demonstrate that reading is an irreplaceable activity in developing productive and active adults as well as healthy communities.

Click here for the press release.
Click here for the research report.

Filipino American Literature Bibliography

Several times I've heard people express that "When the Elephants Dance" is the first book they've heard about that was written by a Filipino American. I found this entry by Barbara Jane Reyes in the Philippine American Literary House's Blog. If you know of others, please add a comment (click on the word "comment" below this entry).

Bookmaking

Yakkity-yak book to save family stories.

Tracing the MV Community Tree

After the presentation about Mountain View's history and an active discussion with the audience, SFSU Professor Dan Gonzales, second from the right, reviews his notes. These notes will be available online soon.
Graham Middle School TV was on-hand to film the event.

Nov. 10 Storytelling & Family Stories

Olga Loya
Tony Robles introduces Lakas and the Manilatown Fish

Nov. 7 Celebrate Filipino Culture at MV High

The Filipino Culture Festival was successful from all aspects.
Although we could have used more food, everyone enjoyed themselves.
At least half of the staff and many of the student population came
out after school to enjoy Filipino food, music and games but everyone
seemed to be interested in the food! That was the main attraction:
the food. Everyone who came to the festival refused to leave without
having had a lumpia to eat. The festival could have lasted a little
longer, but I don't think our food supply would have lasted.

-- Angeline Capati, MVHS student, Filipino Youth Organization member

Read-Aloud with Crafts and Snacks

Linda Watanabe McFerrin Interviews Tess Uriza Holthe

The activities kicked off on November 1 at the MV Senior Center with Linda Watanabe McFerrin (on left) asking thoughtful interview questions to Tess Uriza Holthe (on right).

It was Linda Watanabe McFerrin’s class offered at Book Passage Bookstore in Corte Madera that launched Tess Uriza Holthe’s interest in writing and her first novel (When the Elephants Dance) a year and a half later.

A "Blink" Back

During 2006 researchers from the Exploratorium attended some of our Mountain View Reads Together activities because they were working on a major new exhibit, Mind, for their permanent collection. It was four years of research and work. Check out the website, which includes the press release. If you go to the exhibit, you'll have a lot of fun experiencing many of the topics covered in 2006's book, Blink.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/mind/

Russell Volckmann and "We Remained"

Mountain View Reads Together is about conversations around the book of the year. You might not have even read it to have interesting conversations you might not have had otherwise. The other night Chris Campbell told me about a guy from his hometown, Russell [somebody], and how he served in the Philippines and wrote a book, now out of print.

Later, I "googled" what I remembered, and asked Chris to write a few paragraphs for this blog about Russell McLogan, who wrote "Boy Soldier: Coming of Age During World War II." Turns out it was the wrong Russell. Here's what Chris had to share:

When I was a child, growing up in a small Illinois town in the 60s, I was surprised to learn that the father of my friend, Ted Volckmann, was a West Point Graduate, a retired Brigadier General and a WWII Veteran. He never spoke about his experiences, and we just knew him as Mr. Volckmann, the owner of Volckmann’s Furniture factory. As it turns out, Russell Volckmann had been a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army, stationed in the Philippines in December of 1941. Like many other American Service personnel, he was captured and held in a camp on the Bataan Peninsula. On the night before the infamous Bataan Death March started, he and several other soldiers slipped out under the wire and escaped into the Philippine jungle. And there they remained for the entire war, gone, but certainly not forgotten.

Russell Volckmann commanded the Allied guerilla campaign on Luzon in the Philippines, operating out of the Cordillera in the northern part of the island. He was in communication with the US Government and Allied forces during the occupation, and the Japanese forces knew his name well. They had a large price on his head, but there were no takers. His civilian liaison and lieutenant was Ferdinand Marcos, later President of the Philippines. In America, his wife at the time was told by the Government that he was dead, and I believe that she remarried. While Douglas MacArthur famously said “I shall return,” Russell Volckmann wrote a book entitled We Remained. It is out of print and almost impossible to find.

During the Vietnam War, the Johnson Administration made extensive use of his vast expertise in jungle fighting and guerilla tactics. My parents and Ted’s parents used to golf together, and there were occasions when Mrs. Volckmann would show up alone, saying that Russ had business out of town. We found out later that he was being flown to Washington DC to consult with the President and the Pentagon. If they flew him to Saigon, he’d be gone for several days. We were told it was just a long business trip. Whenever President and Mrs. Marcos were in Washington, General and Mrs. Volckmann were always invited to the State Dinner at the White House.

General Volckmann passed away many years ago, but the hard lessons he learned during his experience as a guerilla leader are more relevant than ever. Further information can be found online: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_warfare#World_War_II_American_writings

From Tess Uriza Holthe

I am so delighted to have When the Elephants Dance chosen for Mountain View Reads Together.

The power of the written and spoken word to heal, spark discussion and bring people together never ceases to amaze me. In fact, many aspects of this book stemmed from having grown up in a diverse household teeming with people: relatives, newly immigrated Filipinos, players of my parents weekly mahjong games, service men from my brother's Vietnam boot camp and my grandfather's World War II Navy Veteran's group. Over the years, their personal experiences, stories and characteristics soaked into my skin and many years later, onto the page. During many of my book readings people in the audience felt compelled to share their parents' and their own life experiences of World War II. I look forward to hearing what the community of Mountain View has to share after reading WHEN THE ELEPHANTS DANCE.

-- Tess Uriza Holthe
(photo by Russ Pelton)

2007's Book: When the Elephants Dance

The book selected for Mountain View Reads Together 2007 is When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe. A family hides with their neighbors in a cramped cellar, where they glean hope from the family stories and folktales they share with each other. These stories of love, survival, and family blend the supernatural with the rich, little known history of the Philippines: the centuries of Spanish colonization, the power of the Catholic church, and the colorful worlds of the Spanish, Mestizo, and Filipino cultures.

The author will be participating at these events:

Tess Uriza Holthe in Conversation with
Linda Watanabe McFerrin
Thursday, November 1, 7:00 PM
Mountain View Senior Center, 266 Escuela Ave.
It was poet, novelist, and teacher Linda Watanabe McFerrin’s class that launched Tess Uriza Holthe’s interest in writing. A year and a half later, Holthe wrote When the Elephants Dance, a novel of human survival in the crossfire of warfare based upon her own family stories in the Philippines during World War II. Join us for a thoughtful conversation between these two Bay Area authors.

Meet the Author
Thursday, Nov. 29, 7:00 PM
Mountain View High School, 3535 Truman Ave.
In When the Elephants Dance stories of Filipino culture and history are woven into the harsh realities of the last days of World War II in the Philippines. Hopefully, you’ve read the book and now’s your opportunity to ask the author your questions. Author Tess Uriza Holthe will speak and answer questions.