Oh the Wonderful Colors of Asia!

By Marivir R. Montebon

Washington, DC -- The streets of downtown Washington DC burst in colors and delectable scents with the parade and street fair of Fiesta Asia on May 18, 2013, celebrated in spring and now on its 8th year.

Community organizations showing off Mediterranean dances, Philippine tinikling dances, Martial arts, and yes, delectable unique cuisine filled the streets with fun and great spirits, despite the rain.

The Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), a not-for-profit organization providing comprehensive social and legal services to immigrants, was one of the most active contingents from the Philippines. Major attractions were the floral parade of the Little Mr. and Miss Migrant Heritage prince and princesses, teenage brain-and-beauty queens, the interactive Tinikling dance, delectable food, cooking demonstrations by a popular Mama Sita, an array of Filipino traditional fashion, as well as Atiatihan and Igorot tribal dances, and Fil-American talents in modern entertainment.

The stage on 6th Street featured Rising Young Stars Justin Fronda and Christian Leja. There was the martial arts Eskrima and Parol (lantern) making tents which provided spectators the awesome artistry of self-defense and home-made lanterns.

A tent for immigration consultations was up for the Legal Resources Program of the MHC, headed by lawyer Arnedo Valera, in order to provide quick information on the impending immigration bill being discussed right now in Congress.

The one day event was sponsored by the Asia Heritage Foundation and brought out the different Asian cultures and tradition in Spring, aimed to foster understanding and unity among diverse cultures that make up America.

Spearheading Fil-Am community participation was MHC co-executive director Grace Valera, also original co-Founder/Board Director of the Asia Heritage Foundation's Fiesta Asia together with AHF’s Executive Director Wuiping Yap of Sutera Malaysia who first brought in the idea of putting up the festival 8 years ago. The two cultural advocates mobilized the Asian immigrant community and were later joined in by Asian- American volunteers who share a common passion for the performing arts and for propagating Asian cultures to the American mainstream and preserving Asian identity. Among them were (Chinese) Stella Choi and Mon Lau ; (Filipinos) Jesse Gatchalian, Antonio Calaro, Mike Favila, Arnedo Valera and Carl Abella; (Indian) Shruthi Mukund; (Afro-Asian-American) Sifu Rahim Muhammad; (Vietnamese) Tini Dihn; and (Korean) Christian Oh.

(Photo Credits: Elizabeth Babiera, Bel Francia, and Merlinda Weber)

The Poetic Justice of Simeon Dumdum Jr.

By Marivir R. Montebon

A colleague at the Cebu media once confided to me, 'We all love Simeon Dumdum. We scamper to edit his copy, because we don't just edit it, we just enjoy it.'

Before the readers, the editors are the first to love Simeon Dumdum, Jr. because they glide on his flawless composition of an article. Once endeared by the media, any writer is easily accepted by the reading public. And such of course, is Simeon Dumdum, a celebrated poet and respected judge in Cebu City where he served as Regional Trial Court Executive Judge.

He was born in the northern town of Balamban, Cebu on March 7, 1948, where he grew up and had his schooling in Catholic schools. He attended St. Francis Academy in high school and at St. Clement's College in Iloilo City, where he did a year of college. In Ireland, he went to University College in Galway.

For some twist of fate, Dumdum may have been a priest, but left the seminary to take up law and later became a respected lawyer and judge.

While practicing the legal craft, Dumdum has published five books - The Gift of Sleep (poems), Third World Opera (poems), Love in the Time of the Camera (essays), Selected Poems and New (poems), and My Pledge of Love Cannot be Broken (essays).

He won the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for English poetry five times,and the Manila Critics Circle's National  Book Award three times.  In 2005, he received a medallion for writing the best decision in a criminal case, second level courts, in the Judicial Excellence Awards sponsored by the Supreme Court of the Philippines.

OSM! had the opportunity to interview him.

1. What is the greatest inspiration for you when you write your poems?

I wait for the moment when I 'see"--when I find new relationships, arrangements, meanings in the familiar world. It is not so much inspiration as discovery that prompts me to write a poem.

2. As a professional writer, does inspiration matter more than deadline? or is deadline an inspiration itself?

As regards the writing of poems, I set my own deadlines, but they are not strictly deadlines, more of an intention or mood induced purely for the purpose of opening the tap of creative juices within my subconscious.

3. And how is it that you became a Judge, it is a totally different world from literature and poetry?

I was a poet before I became a judge, and even now I still write poems. The law and literature are just aspects of the same life
and do not cancel each other out. In fact, they somehow reinforce each other.

4. Which self-expression are you happiest? As a Judge or Poet?

Being a judge has its own fulfillment. If I may use an analogy from the Gospels, as judge I am like Martha, as poet, like Mary.

5. How does one become a celebrated writer? It is not something to bring in so much food on the table, right? But what is it for,
its purpose, meaning?

One becomes a true human being first before one, if one has the inclination, becomes a writer. Whether one becomes a celebrated writer or not is for the future to decide. Art makes one rich, not materially but spiritually.

6. Advice to young aspiring poets and writers...how to better their craft.

To improve in one's craft, one must exercise it regularly. At the same time, one must read about it, and learn from others. It's the same in any other craft. Exercise and learn.

[caption id="attachment_1053" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Myalphay.com/Marivir
For the benefit of 5th Avenue Lions Club[/caption]