Conversation with Almira: ‘as long as we stay in close contact, we’re transnational’

MANILA, Philippines - Fil-Am author Almira Astudillo-Gilles won the presidential Pamana award last December for her picture book Willie Wins. She has also written a novel (The Fire Beneath: Tales of Gold) and a book of poems (Old Man Walking), all published in the United States. STARweek emailed her questions which she graciously answered, after morning coffee and while on a train ride across the American heartland.  Astudillo, who grew up in White Plains but now lives in Illinois, continues to shuttle to and from the home country.

Q. What is a subject surrounding the diaspora that has not yet been written (or if so, underwritten) and would your own work help validate such neglect?

A. The term diaspora has evolved a lot, and it should now be discussed in the context of transnationalism/transnationalization. As for how my work – advocacy for saving our natural resources and my writing – would alleviate the neglect: (1) Willie Wins focuses on my Philippine heritage. Whenever I visit schools here, Filipino students are amazed to meet a Filipino author in person. I guess you can say I’m helping to instill in them a sense of Filipino national pride, which may eventually lead to nation-building in the Philippines, should they decide to return to their parents’ homeland. (2) I’m currently in discussions with a Philippine publisher to do a series of children’s books about newly discovered species, for elementary schools in the Philippines. Since I’ll be using writing and narrative skills I learned as a writer for multicultural readers in the US, that’s a transfer of skill by a transnational (me); I’ll be testing if these skills, learned abroad, can be applied to Filipino publishing and readership. (3) The environment is such a hot topic in the US and other parts of the world right now, and the Philippines needs to catch up.

It’s sad, because 90 percent of the world’s species are still undiscovered, and many of those are found in the Philippines. We have such a treasure trove, but maybe it would take a member of the diasporic community, someone from the outside, to truly appreciate that and push hard for it. Whether this cause is best served by a transnational (someone who is committed to returning every so often) working from outside or inside the Philippines remains to be seen. From my personal experience, I believe that I have to become intimately familiar with the economic, social, and governmental structures that operate in the Philippines, while educating myself on international models to see what might be applicable.

Is the UP Alumni Association of Greater Chicago, a subset of the FilAm diaspora in Chicago, a transnational community? As long as we work together, we are a community, and as long as we stay in close contact with Pinas, we’re transnational.

Q. Is there a common thread or object (workshop panelists call it objective correlative) that connects Quezon City to Illinois?

A. In Willie Wins, the objective correlative lies in the formula: nondescript coconut bank + gift from US-based uncle + father’s promise = reminiscence of older generation in Philippines clashing with expectations of younger generation in the US. In my short story, “Fire Blossom,” about a body being returned from the US to the Philippines (in the anthology, Field of Mirrors, published in San Francisco), it’s the body and the entourage of Filipino-American relatives that evoke a feeling of displacement. In burying a loved one, anger and resentment are resurrected.

Q. You mention the picture book Willie Wins; do you believe it’s necessary for one to be a parent to be a good or at least credible writer of children’s stories?

A. Being a child at heart is a necessary but not sufficient condition. The value of working and living intimately with children is huge, for the same reasons an anthropologist would conduct numerous field studies to know his subject. One doesn’t necessarily have to be a parent, but I think the operative word in your question is “good.” Does one have to be a good parent, caregiver, teacher, sports coach to write engaging stories for children? Yes. A “good” parent, etc. is sensitive, patient, and caring, which lead to a more honest relationship with the child and more open means of communication. But all that is moot if the writer is not skilled in telling stories.

Q. I came across an item that you have some advocacy projects in your mom’s hometown of Puerto Galera, would you care to elaborate on this?

A. My advocacy is the environment, tiered from general to specific in the following manner: environmental effects of climate change--->  Philippine natural resources --->  habitat preservation and rejuvenation of animal species ---> marine life. Since I’ve spent all of my childhood summers in Puerto Galera and it is one of the best diving sites in the Philippines, that’s a good place to start. However, I haven’t actually done anything there yet. When I was president of the UP Alumni Association of Greater Chicago, I pushed for a beneficiary along my interests. I approached the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences in UP Visayas in Iloilo and asked for a research proposal, and we funded it (assessment of three marine protected areas, or MPAs). Apparently, this was the first time a UP alumni association ever funded research, and we’re looking forward to seeing the results in an academic publication. Dean Baylon of the College said that it’s actually harder to get funding for basic studies such as this one because funding sources prefer more sophisticated studies, but there is a great need for baseline data collection. I’m so excited because they will start diving in June and I plan on being there. I now look for MPAs in all the coastline places I go to in the Philippines (Siargao, Guimaras, Palawan, and of course Puerto Galera) and I’m happy that they’re scattered all over the place. But we do need baseline date for these, and I’m not aware of any concerted effort to collect them. One thing I really like about the Iloilo study is they’re not just looking at marine life census but are also examining relationships between the community and other stakeholders in the MPAs.

Q. Is there anything you miss about academe or the corporate world, and what aspects of these helped hone your craft of writing?

A. In general, I can honestly say I miss neither. For both, I don’t miss the competitiveness. I don’t miss the corporate obsession with the bottom line. I don’t miss the academic near-sightedness of theory-based projects. While I very much appreciate working for a worthwhile goal/outcome and enjoy complicated analytical discussions, I know I won’t feel fulfilled in either world. As for writing, I don’t know what they teach in those university writing programs. But I fervently believe that writing well not only requires skill but talent.

Q. Does awareness of the seasons strongly affect your subject or narrative, like some writers use setting and atmosphere as another character?

A. In my writing, characters interact frequently with the external world, which consists of other peoples and the physical environment. I also use objects to represent abstractions, such as emotions, attitudes, desires. So, yes, geese flying south in the winter would be useful to convey the passage of time or a sense of abandonment, but I try to be a little more inventive than that. In one of my poems, I talk about being uprooted from the Philippines and transplanted in the US through the imagery of my American garden: I don’t know which plants are weeds and therefore don’t know which ones to pull out and which ones to fertilize.

Does the physical world drive my narrative? I think the external world provides props that my characters use. And I usually don’t even know how my characters will act or react, or how the story will evolve until close to the end. That kind of planning is too “right-side-of-the-brain” for me. 

Q. That building in the background of your picture in Chicago imparts a sense of vertigo (at least to this viewer); does vertigo have its uses in the writing of poetry much like a shot at the moon?

A. The building behind me is a Chicago landmark by a famous architect, who intended the balconies to resemble the waves of Lake Michigan. She wanted an organic-looking edifice, and I admit the building does convey the energy of a dynamic city like Chicago, which I love. On this trip to the Philippines, I’ve ridden so many bancas and boats in all sorts of weather, felt both a gentle breeze ruffle my hair and a tempestuous wind blast past my eardrums, bounced around on a motorcycle behind the driver while hanging on to the back of the seat (once for two hours). I think I can tolerate a solid structure with the illusion of movement, permanent yet presenting a new perspective each time you look at it, offering a series of occasions for wonder.