12 junyo 2013: it was fun to laga while the bawer sisters danced during the filipino cultural event at HCA in belmont, ca, to celebrate diversity with community and eat filipino food including lechon (roasted pig), pancit, rice, chicken adobo and fruit salad. HCA staff themselves danced representing Mindanao and Luzon cultures. Daghang Mabuhay HCA Filipino event organizers for the invite.
10 junyo 2013: we are learning as beginners that it is not easy to demonstrate weaving and talk at the same time during events. it was a wonderful fun time to pair up with pinay mujer at the pista sa nayon 2013 at the filipino community center in fulton, ca. we weaved alternately and shared about kalinga laga. daghang mabuhay ka FACSI for inviting us to share about kalinga laga. Daghang Mabuhay!
2 junyo 2013: joy is what i felt at the ACTA artists in ACTA’s apprenticeship program gathering at the Silk Road House in Berkeley, CA, where i met ACTA staff, fellow artists; we shared stories, art, dialogue, cultural resources and reflections about each other’s work and communities. Daghang Mabuhay!
31 mayo 2013: weaving in the here and now, recalling a dream shared by a lover in a scene where the daila lama appears and with a single motion, he places two fingers up to his lips and whispers, ‘ssshhhh…’ i know the universe is taking care of me, once again the image of fingers upwards to the lips, listen, ‘ssshhhh’… to memories and dreams we share as the weaving continues. hands down! i did it! my first successful laga experience at home, turn on the radio, listen to lively tunes, weaving, dreaming, and then to be lost in the weave for a couple of hours with end result of a hand’s length woven with the focused fun and wonderful sensation of patterns coming to life, how beautiful! ganda! waw! Daghang mabuhay!
19 mayo 2013: my first public demo weaving after jenny fixed the laga so i was eager to weave but it was half representing bangka journey and half laga, that was pretty tough to do! but it was most exciting when a new friend came by and asked, ‘what are you doing?” i answered: ‘i am weaving a belt.‘ I proceeded to show her a finished kalinga belt nearby, then she sweetly asked like a 6 year old would ask, ‘why?’ … Daghang mabuhay!
14 mayo 2013: me, myself, and i at home with laga. day 1: earlier part of the day: got the make-shift loom set-up, using one of the arnis/escrima sticks as the main top wood that holds the laga together, this kamagong stick is sitting balanced on top of softbound books: on the right side included alice walker and octavia butler, on the left side, dr jose rizal‘s el filibusterismo and noli me tangere. maestra weaver jenny responds: ‘sosyal naman belt mo. pag Tao yan genius and artist.’
latter part of the day: wahhhhh!!! there is no baby around except me crying, what do i do when a piece of thread, let me rephrase that, a long piece of thread is dangling out of laga?!! to be continued….. Daghang mabuhay!
13 mayo 2013: me, myself, and maestra weaver jenny with laga. how beautiful. learning about design, how beautiful it is to be able to ‘undo’ mistakes but much better if it is caught early as a lot more unwinding would have to be done. permission was given to take laga home. Daghang mabuhay!
7 mayo 2013: fun session with inday tibo and maestra weaver jenny. learning about keeping items in proper balancing order is not easy with laga but it was a great to experience via observation on what not to do. focus, focus, focus. a gentle reminder to come back to self via laga. Daghang mabuhay!
5 mayo 2013: on my mother’s side, both my grandfather, lolo moses, and my grandmother, lola nining, are from the island of bohol. lolo moses is from candijay, southeast bohol, and lola nening is from baclayon, southwest bohol. but my mom was born in bukidnon, malay-balay, mindanao. i was born in maynila. in pilipino (my parents are bisayan), the word buhol means to make a knot, to tie up. today i am excited to learn how to weave as if to weave back stitches of my halo-halo self via textiles. today, as we complete the video fundraising campaign for this project, I am honored and grateful for this opportunity. Daghang mabuhay!
21 abril 2013: pitipit continues, i love saying that, how it sounds like a bird, pitipit. completed winding single threads to double threads then advanced to double threads wind up to double-double threads, quadrupled power. pitipitan moves forward first i started out by the docks of jack london square, then i continued indoors as i sit with strong and wonderful women and a couple of amazing gentlemen at NAPIESV‘s strategic planning committee meeting held this weekend in Oakland, CA. i am proud to wind up the strings with strong energies to end sexual violence with the National Organization of Asians and Pacific Islanders Ending Sexual Violence folks. Daghang mabuhay!
18 abril 2013: Laga means the weaving in Kalinga; i am learning from maestra weaver, jenny bawer young. First lesson was to learn how to thread two different threads to a single thread to make a thread ball. This is action is called pitipitan; pitipit means rolling the thread to a ball. Daghang mabuhay!
by leng leng