Hundreds Of Pilipinos Attend FACT 09 In The Midwest

This past October the Philippine Student Association of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign successfully held the 17th annual Filipino Americans Coming Together (FACT) conference.  A fitting end to Pilipino American Heritage Month, nearly 800 people attended various workshops facilitated by Pilipino professors, musicians, journalists and activists.  Central Illinois truly served as the midway point for the entire Pilipino American community, with workshop presenters representing places from the University of California, Irvine to New York University.  Meanwhile, students came from the University of San Francisco, Kansas University, and everywhere in between.  The core audience, however, remains the Midwest, as we strive to define and enhance our own identity as Pilipino Americans who are separated largely by distance, but not by purpose.

The introduction video for the variety show, which is a finalist for best "I'm On A Boat" parody: http://iamtpain.smule.com/contest
 
Like other student conferences across the country, the bulk of the day is spent in lecture-like workshops, though due to the infrequency that the Midwest gets to gather there's a greater number of workshops than one may be used to.  The twenty different workshops were divided up according to theme of this year's FACT: "Our People's Power: identity | passion | purpose".

 
Identity: These workshops included exploring the differences between Pilipinos and Pilipino Americans, mixed-race identity, and how the sexuality discourse differs between America and the Philippines.  The freshman workshop is an important session which serves as a crash course to networking and the current state of Pilipino Americans in the Midwest, which is vital when one considers the density of Pilipino Americans in areas like Ohio or Minnesota compared to California or New York.  For most attendees, FACT acts as an eye-opener to the Pilipino-American movement here, and the freshman workshop forms the base for future leaders to jump off of.  As a counterpart to that workshop, the "conference within a conference" (CWAC) serves as a meeting for the Midwest Association of Filipino Americans (MAFA).  Formed by the presidents and leaders of over a dozen participating student organizations, CWAC provides rare face time for organizations which could be less than a year old to seek support and advice from more established groups.  MAFA is also spearheading the direction and goals of the Pilipino American collegiate community in the Midwest, and CWAC provides a time to evaluate and define those goals.
 
Passion: Conference participants had the chance to meet and listen to people who were passionate about certain aspects of the Pilipino community.  Christina Luna, Manny Garcia, and Alfa spoke about working in the Pilipino American music industry, while the cultural chairs of three different schools explained the different suites in Pilipino cultural dancing.  The Committee on Pilipino Issues out of Chicago stressed the importance of knowing the Pilipino language while Professor Martin Manalansan talked about the importance that food holds in our lives.  There was also the opportunity to hear an Illinois graduate student's first-hand experience of being in the Philippines when Typhoon Ondoy hit.
 
Purpose: These workshops gave attendees ideas on why they were at FACT in the first place and what they could do once they left.  Writer and activist Ninotchka Rosca drew parallels between People Power in the Philippines to causes that need attention in America while Anna Gonzalez, Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs at Illinois, spoke about Pilipino and Pilipino organizations and the actions they were taking.  Rowena and Vivika Vergara talked about their daily lives in the worlds of print and television media and some of the challenges they faced as Pilipinas, while a panel of education experts talked about how they bring Pilipino American studies to the high school, middle school, and even elementary school levels.

Interview with FACT 2009 Coordinators
 
In addition to the workshop sessions, the historic Foellinger Auditorium was almost filled to capacity as 1,200 people came to listen to the keynote speaker and watch the annual variety show.  Dr. Allyson Tingtiangco-Cubales gave a rousing autobiographical speech meant to motivate those in attendance to find something to be passionate about and how such a thing could change lives.  After what may have been the most entertaining intro video yet at FACT, the stage shifted to showcasing the various talents of the Pilipino American community.  Student groups performed both cultural and modern dancing, while individuals laid out their prose either via spoken word or to a beat.  Alfa and Manny Garcia set a relaxed tone with their original music, while Noel Kunz earned a standing ovation for using his world-class yo-yo skills in a Michael Jackson tribute.

 
FACT has been the largest gathering of Pilipino-Americans in the Midwest in past years, and judging by the ever-increasing numbers, it looks like it will keep that title.  While the Pilipino-American community here could be spread out by as much as a half-day's drive, we are facing similar struggles and unblazed trails that our west and east coast brothers and sisters don't share.  FACT gives us the chance to support each other and connect with both those within and outside our geographies, and the fact that we can convene annually in the middle of the cornfields is a true demonstration of our people's power.
 
View more information about the workshops at this year's conference's site: http://fact09.org/

Homepage for Philippine Student Assocation, who hosts FACT each year: http://psauiuc.org
 
Special thanks to Jemma Lopez, Brenan Salgado, Louie Sevandal, Rowena Vergara, Voltaire Roxas and everyone who helped put this conference together!