[Message #1]
Nikki Santiago:
hello there!
[Message #2]
hazel levita:
hi
[Message #3]
hazel levita:
ok what do you want to do
[Message #4]
Nikki Santiago:
did you read?
[Message #5]
hazel levita:
yea
[Message #6]
Nikki Santiago:
i didn't get to read contravida but i started it... was getting in to it but then my bus ride stopped already so i didn't get to finish it
[Message #7]
hazel levita:
haha, its ok, which one did you want to do then?
[Message #8]
Nikki Santiago:
i really liked figures... but all the stories are really good too... i like wild american self too... kind of freaky to be impregnated by your cousin but whatever floats her boat right?
[Message #9]
Nikki Santiago:
figures scared me though
[Message #10]
hazel levita:
haha, i know,. so do u want to do figures or wild american self?
[Message #11]
hazel levita:
why?
[Message #12]
Nikki Santiago:
it's up to you... what do you think?
[Message #13]
Nikki Santiago:
i read lessons too
[Message #14]
hazel levita:
i dont care, we could talk about both if you want,
[Message #15]
Nikki Santiago:
or lectures or whatever
[Message #16]
Nikki Santiago:
yeah lets' just talk about wild american self and figures then
[Message #17]
hazel levita:
for now until she gives us the assignment then we'll figure out which one we can answer the most questions on
[Message #18]
Amy Lawlor:
identify the following in the stories:
main narrative (what happens)
characters: Who are they? What motivates them?
themes: What are the major theme(s)?
what does the story reveal about the Filipino American perspective? Explain
[Message #19]
hazel levita:
ok do you want to start?
[Message #20]
Nikki Santiago:
oh there we go.... wait i have to write the questions down so i don't always have to scroll up
[Message #21]
hazel levita:
the main characters are Augustina, her mom, and Gabriel,
[Message #22]
Nikki Santiago:
okay. you ready?
[Message #23]
hazel levita:
sure
[Message #24]
Nikki Santiago:
nope there are others too... that's why i got a bit confused in the beginning of the story
[Message #25]
Nikki Santiago:
there was the narrator who was agustina's niece...
[Message #26]
hazel levita:
oh yea
[Message #27]
hazel levita:
i forgot about her,. but who were really the main ones tho
[Message #28]
hazel levita:
what did you understand the narrative to be?
[Message #29]
Nikki Santiago:
it's kind of odd too the way the story ended... i don't know if i'm just twisted like this but i think the narrator is actually the grand daughter of agustina
[Message #30]
hazel levita:
yea, i think so too
[Message #31]
Nikki Santiago:
really? you think that agustina's younger sister is really her daughter too?
[Message #32]
Nikki Santiago:
coz in the end of the story the narrator says that her mom wasn't even born yet when her tita agustina left, so i just infered that the narrator's mother is actually agustina's kid
[Message #33]
hazel levita:
its the way they worded it out, how her mom thinks her older sister is a bad girl, but she wouldnt know because she was born a few months after she was sent to the Philippines
[Message #34]
Nikki Santiago:
yeah exactly
[Message #35]
Nikki Santiago:
i mean i know that filipinos can be dysfunctional but sheesh not like that tho
[Message #36]
hazel levita:
yea,. i think its her, cuz somewhere in the middle the dad said that in the Phillippines, if a girl gets pregnant, she'll have the baby but she wont raise her or get to claim it as hers becuase the parents will take care of it and claim it as theirs
[Message #37]
hazel levita:
haha, i've heard of some stories like that tho
[Message #38]
hazel levita:
or other family members will take them and claim them as theirs, they will send the girl to the province to have the baby then she'll come back after
[Message #39]
Nikki Santiago:
oh yeah i forgot about that... yes good... hah!
[Message #40]
hazel levita:
lets answer the question, what's the narrative
[Message #41]
Nikki Santiago:
oh well, i think we just discussed it... the main character agustina is a frist generation filipino american... her parents are born in the philippines and migrated in the US, she felt different from everybody else becsue they moved to a town that was mostly white... she didn't try to stand out but she just did... it's kind of weird how she wanted to be saintlike and yet she ended up with that condition
[Message #42]
Nikki Santiago:
she considers her cousin gabe to be her one and only friend since tehy have a commonality... both feel "trapped" i think
[Message #43]
hazel levita:
yea, pretty much
[Message #44]
Nikki Santiago:
funny how agustina is so "religious"... i wonder why the author described her to be that way
[Message #45]
hazel levita:
haha, i think she just wanted to put more emphasis on how much pressure a filipino can give on their kids,.
[Message #46]
hazel levita:
trying to keep the culture, and not letting her do what she wanted because its not something a girl should do
[Message #47]
Nikki Santiago:
but it wasn't as if she didn't want to be at mass... she just wanted it her own way i think.... yeah exactly. it boils down to a gender thing
[Message #48]
hazel levita:
even tho its really harmless, and really would be a good thing to have your daughter be involved with the church rather than have her running around
[Message #49]
Nikki Santiago:
there's a lot of contraditions i saw in the story
[Message #50]
hazel levita:
no she wanted to go but since her mom said she doesnt have to be an altar girl to show god she loves him, she decided to piss them off and say ok, i guess i dont have to go to church to show my respect, he'll just know
[Message #51]
hazel levita:
i guess, she thought if she did that, then they might change her mind, because thats the wrong way of thinking, and if they believe that that's what the put into their daughter's head by trying to keep her from doing something, they might change their mind and say ok go ahead
[Message #52]
Nikki Santiago:
no i think its more than that. agustina was disappointed in her parents decision to not allow her to act the way she wanted to just coz she's a girl... being an altar boy is for boys... playing baseball is for boys... she's a girl she should act like one... and they moved to america for equality?
[Message #53]
Nikki Santiago:
and her dad always said "she's a girl and she should act like one"
[Message #54]
hazel levita:
she didnt want to be an altar boy, she wanted to be an altar girl, and her mom didnt want her to be because i guess in the philippines it wasnt that common
[Message #55]
hazel levita:
they thought she was too wild,. too americanized or something
[Message #56]
hazel levita:
they said she was already talking back and being stubborn and opinionated, yeah it is a gender thing, but its also a cultural thing
[Message #57]
hazel levita:
being a filipino girl she should be submissive, and keep her mouth shut, and do housework
[Message #58]
Nikki Santiago:
yeah because they moved to america... i believed that if they were in the philippines she'd still want to do the same things... she's just liberated... not wild... she's an independent, has her own beliefs and her own ideas that she wants to voice out but she's suppressed becuase of her parent's thought of what's "right"
[Message #59]
Nikki Santiago:
yeah and very opinionated
[Message #60]
hazel levita:
i dont know about that, i dont know how she would be in the philippines, it might just be who she is or it might be becuase of where she is growing up
[Message #61]
hazel levita:
her parents are stupid tho to think that they could live in america "land of opportunity, home of democracy, and equality" but manage to keep these things out of the house
[Message #62]
Nikki Santiago:
well, it'd be different circumstances but ultimately the same attitude... she'd still be headstrong and have her own way of thinking but she definitely won't be submissive... she'd have more friends maybe but it won't change the way she's different from all the others
[Message #63]
hazel levita:
a child does not stay inside the house all the time, she will go out and see these things and learn from it, so i dont know how she would be in the Philippines
[Message #64]
Nikki Santiago:
yeah i agree with what you said about the land of opportunity thing
[Message #65]
hazel levita:
why do you think she acts the way she does?
[Message #66]
hazel levita:
would it have been different if they just let her do what she wanted?
[Message #67]
Nikki Santiago:
its sad during the part that her mother keeps wanting to talk with her and seems a bit desperate to connect with her but doesn't know how to... she doens't know that she's alienating her own daughter
[Message #68]
Nikki Santiago:
um, i dont' know if it would have been different if they let her do as she pleases... coz i think they'd be too scared to run away from the "norm"
[Message #69]
hazel levita:
i dont really think she's alienating her daughter, I think Augustina is doing it herself
[Message #70]
Nikki Santiago:
the parents care too much of what other people say... i don't know i guess i can understand the way agustina feels
[Message #71]
Nikki Santiago:
my mom's kind of the same way but milder
[Message #72]
hazel levita:
well i can understand the parents too,.. the dad already made a good name for himself, hes a doctor, he didnt want to disgrace his name and at the same time, by doing so he thinks that he's protecting his daughter with all the restriction or cant do's from getting into trouble
[Message #73]
hazel levita:
haha, i think all parents are tho
[Message #74]
Nikki Santiago:
i guess, but i think it would have been more admirable on his part if he didn't care what other people thought... i think if he is a good doctor then he has the gift of healing... then it shouldn't change the way he feels about his daughter... shouldn't suppress her personality... agustina feels liek she's imprisoned
[Message #75]
Nikki Santiago:
lets talk about her relationship with gabe
[Message #76]
hazel levita:
i know, its like the family who disowned they dughter for getting pregnant
[Message #77]
Nikki Santiago:
what do you think?
[Message #78]
hazel levita:
no matter what happens peole will always think bad of them becuase their daughter got pregnant, and that they disowned her afterwards, they just wont say anything to their face
[Message #79]
hazel levita:
i think its sad that her only friend is her cousin
[Message #80]
hazel levita:
it's not like she didnt try to make friends, they just wont let her play with the boys, and the girls in school were kinda mean to her the first day
[Message #81]
Nikki Santiago:
well, she can't help the other girls in the school, but i don't think she tried hard enough... she felt distant from the white girls so she took aide in her cousin
[Message #82]
hazel levita:
i think if the parents just let her play with the boys in the neighborhood, she wouldnt have gotten pregnant with her cousin's baby
[Message #83]
Nikki Santiago:
yeah its also that... her parents took her away from the nighbrohood boys
[Message #84]
Nikki Santiago:
yeah she would have gotten preggers with one of the neighborhood boys instead... hahahha!
[Message #85]
Nikki Santiago:
just kidding!
[Message #86]
hazel levita:
haha i know, and it wouldnt be so bad
[Message #87]
hazel levita:
are they really cousins or is it like filipinos who says their related to every close friends?
[Message #88]
Nikki Santiago:
no, but for real tho, she took solace in her cousin's art i think... they were both free spirits... i also think that maybe they were doing some drugs too... like lsd or some psychedelic
[Message #89]
Kristina Gregorio:
hi!
[Message #90]
Nikki Santiago:
i really don't know... maybe they really are cousins. coz the other doctor in the story seemed like a family friend but he wasn't portrayed as an uncle or tito
[Message #91]
hazel levita:
haha, i know, the way they described the pictures, i was thinking hmmm, were they on something?
[Message #92]
Nikki Santiago:
hi kristina!
[Message #93]
Kristina Gregorio:
k bye
[Message #94]
Nikki Santiago:
yep... they were high or something... maybe that's how they got into having sex... coz i mean come on! doing it with your cousin?! that's whack!
[Message #95]
hazel levita:
haha,
[Message #96]
Nikki Santiago:
well maybe its coz most of my cousins aren't my type but hey if i had brad pitt for a cuz... maybe i'd jump him too
[Message #97]
Nikki Santiago:
brad pitt during the thelma and louise period
[Message #98]
Nikki Santiago:
yum yum yum yum yum!
[Message #99]
hazel levita:
haha,
[Message #100]
Nikki Santiago:
bye!
[Message #101]
Nikki Santiago:
good talking to you!
[Message #102]
Amy Lawlor:
end 2/10