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Oct 30, 2024 | 
positivelyfilipino.com | Tony Robles
the manong’s voicechanges from day to daywinter snowfallsun & moon & starsa wild spirit gone crazyfrom mountain to mountain --From The Wandering Manong by Al Robles A manong (forerunner) will always find you. That has been the case for me as it was for my uncle, the late poet Al Robles who wrote of the wandering manong he searched for who were hidden in the landscape—living in shacks, small rooms—isolated in the hilly terrain of San Francisco and throughout California.
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Oct 8, 2024 | 
positivelyfilipino.com | Tony Robles
It is Monday, October 7, 2024. Hurricane Helene ran wild in this part of North Carolina. Nobody saw it coming. We knew a big storm was heading our way. But we thought that Florida would get the lion’s share, the brunt of it. But Helene traveled upwards though Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and into Tennessee, leaving in its wake a landscape torn asunder. North Carolina, the place I have lived for five and a half years.
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Jun 11, 2024 | 
positivelyfilipino.com | Tony Robles
Music is our witness, and our ally. The “beat” is the confession which recognizes, changes, and conquers time –James Baldwin My father had an expression: You don't know your ass from a hole in the ground. It did not originate with him. It had been well worn, handed down from generation to generation. It was a handy expression that he carried in his toolbelt of verbal quips and admonishments.
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Apr 9, 2024 | 
listenandbeheard.net | Tony Robles
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Dec 18, 2023 | 
listenandbeheard.net | Tony Robles
My father had an expression. It went: You don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground. This expression did not originate with him. It had been well worn, handed down from generation to generation. It was a handy expression that he carried in his toolbelt of verbal quips and admonishments. When he put his own spin on those immortal words, spitting out, you don’t know your ass from a roll of toilet paper, he, on the one hand, was serious in his intention—to set me straight.
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Dec 11, 2023 | 
listenandbeheard.net | Tony Robles
When I was younger I worked in radio. I was what was called a DJ or On-air announcer. Air Talent was the industry term that described individuals entrusted to give the time and temperature, music trivia and bits of information of general or specific interest; in short, a disembodied voice that reflected the voice of the community at large (or small).
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Dec 5, 2023 | 
positivelyfilipino.com | Tony Robles
I traveled far south to Albany, Georgia. I’d traveled several years ago from San Francisco to Hendersonville, North Carolina, my present home. I am still traveling; this time farther south to the smell of bagoong, pancit, adobo, to the sound of Filipino voices in a place far from where I was born. My Filipino mind moved towards Albany, through fast-moving traffic that was thick at times. I remembered the thick traffic in the Philippines when I first visited in 2016.
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Nov 1, 2023 | 
listenandbeheard.net | Tony Robles
In North Carolina the hush puppies are deep fried as is the fish and the okra comes from deep in the earth with a texture that brushes softly into memory And it is October Filipino American History month Not too many Filipinos in this area Just me and a handful of others And in a black church we celebrate We have lumpia wrappers lumpia filling and spoons to capture feelings, moon’s memory over deep waters, rivers and this is a black church, a temple I see the black hands of the brothers and...
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Sep 27, 2023 | 
listenandbeheard.net | Tony Robles
I travelled far south to Albany, Georgia. I’d travelled several years ago from San Francisco to Hendersonville, North Carolina, my present home. I am still traveling, this time farther south to the smell of bagoong, pancit, adobo; to the sound of Filipino voices in a place far from where I was born. My Filipino mind moved towards Albany, through fast moving traffic that was thick at times. I remembered the thick traffic in the Philippines when I first visited in 2016.
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Sep 27, 2023 | 
listenandbeheard.net | Tony Robles
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