Muchas gracias for visiting my website! Spending part of the summer in Brazil, I thought
about developing a new website. I wondered
what form
and shape it would take. How could I make it more personal,
less distant, as if you, the reader, are across from me at a café, having
a wonderfully profound conversation? What information should I include
to make it more than a website with very basic information on authorship?
Most important, how can it best capture where I am at the moment, four
decades in the world, on another phase of my literary life—and
personal life--still working as an adult educator and loving it, and
traveling the world with the same passion for cultures as I had when
I was young? There are so many new things and there are old ones I
continue to cherish. How can I communicate those?
For a few years, I enjoyed blogging because of its very personal and immediate connection to “publishing.” A public diary of carefully selected thoughts worked for me for some time, only because I wasn’t really engaging in any project that would demand my entire focus and concentration. I wanted to bring the elements of blogging into this website, without having to update it daily with new entries: the sense of urgency and significance of articles, a personal connection to readership, and a navigational and inviting interface. Recently, I decided to leave the blogosphere and return to a self-imposed hermitage literary life. I wasn't running out of things to say, but blogging was taking much time that could be better utilized elsewhere.
So here we are. On the front page of the website, you saw a few images and you clicked the framed picture. Hopefully, you knew that you were entering biographical page of the website. Here you will find the following: an official biography, interviews, articles, contact information.
The opportunity to create another website did not present itself until one long, humid day when I finally had enough with my extremely slow, old computer and decided to buy a new desktop with 400 gigabyte hard drive. Designing a website has never been the same again. Using Macromedia MX (yes, old) and Photoshop 6.0 (yikes!) at the same time certainly made designing a website heavenly. If you are wondering how I learned how to develop websites, many years ago, I started fiddling with Microsoft Front-page until a friend gave me Dreamweaver. I basically taught myself how to use the program until I could attend a basic website development class at FIT one summer, only to make sure I was going about the design properly. The internet has a rich resource for people like me who are not necessarily professional designers, but learn as we go along. My future goal is to learn how to do the hard stuff: database, blogs, and possible, a guestbook. That requires time.
Politics of design
What is design without a philosophy but an empty shell? The choices for this website’s frontal images were generated by books I have penned and edited. Content-wise, they are inspired by the “communities” to which I am loyal—Filipino and Filipino American, Asian American and the communities of color—although I am not as active politically in them as I was ten years ago. This approach is not to exclude those who don’t belong or subscribe to them but to give voice to people who are mostly unheard from and of, and whose voices are necessary in our increasingly shrinking universes. Additionally, as an adult educator, I work mostly with people of color. They are the ones, like in many western countries, with less opportunities in our market-driven economy. The mainstream culture in the U.S. has people like me on the trenches. Given my own publishing credentials, I still have very far to go. The “American Dream” has taken a different meaning in my life, no longer the simple “immigrant making it” but rather the things I fight for—Filipino-American literature, for one—see its moment in the American culture in my lifetime. There are obviously many issues I am interested in, but for the sake of this website, I decided to narrow down to the few that need most attention, thus, the decision to stick what are most critical to me. Also, I am a product of these communities. I didn’t study literature or creative writing in college. I don’t have an MFA and have made a decision not to pursue one. My greatest teachers and guides will always be the writers of the books I love. I hope to somewhat inform others that one can make great strides simply by surrounding themselves with supportive elements without taking the academic route.
“In Quotes”
I would also appreciate if you do not quote any article or any part of this website without permission. I am very easy to reach by email. If you need photographs for publication, I may be able also send you via email. I will try my best to address your questions in the shortest possible time. Please be aware, however, that yours truly does not write full-time, so any kind of communication with regards to literature is usually done during my spare time.
Personal History
By clicking on some of the articles here (they also appear in other pages of this site), you will learn about my personal history. I talked a lot about my childhood in Manila, only because for a long time I was in denial about it. Given the elitism of the literary world, I want everyone to know that someone can come out of places you least expect and write about it.
Right now, my publishing priority is my novel-in-stories, The F.L.I.P Show. I am seeking for representation for this book and also for my other writing projects. My ideal agent is someone who is willing to break through the untapped market in the U.S. called the Filipino-American community and someone who would be an advocate for other media venues.
Currently, I am working on a few writing projects, still in adult education and learning how to speak Portuguese. I live in the most authentic way possible. I have come a long way since those challenging years in Manila and I am very grateful for the opportunities that have come my way. I am very much a believer in the act of giving. The disconnect of the world today has much to do with the selfish acts of so many people who think they can survive on their own accord through the irreversible acts of taking and endless consumption. I am devoting my life to service. Teaching is the best way I can do it. Literature is another way. There is no money in generosity, but it is most rewarding and certainly make the days count more.
Bino A. Realuyo was born and raised in Manila, the son of a survivor of the Bataan Death March and a World War II Japanese concentration camp in the Philippines. He is a poet and a novelist, an adult educator and a community activist. His is the author of the award winning books, The Umbrella Country and The Gods We Worship Live Next Door. More here
Articles, Lectures, Interviews
The Interrogating Boundaries symposia are a series of seminars
focused on topics related to the growing interconnectedness of the
world. The
seminars take the form of an interdisciplinary, inter-departmental
and inter-campus dialogue, involving faculty, students and guests,
exploring areas relevant to the critical study of globalization. Lecture
on Video. Owning English: Filipinos, the Colonized Tongue and
Globalization.
More
here.
“
We started the organization to provide a literary space and voice for
young Asian American writers against a majority culture that often acts
as if we are all the same: all exotic Asian, none American,” states
Realuyo. Today, the AAWW expresses its collective self in a 6,000 square
foot Chelsea loft with performance space, a library and workshops where
NuyorAsian (New York Asian) identity takes form in an eponymous anthology
of Asian writings about New York City. Tony Dokoupil. Cover
Story, New York Press.
More Here.
Thank so much for visiting. I hope I am able to be of help. If there
is more I can do, please reach me at binoarealuyo@gmail.com. I would
also like to know if this information is helpful to you. This is my
initial attempt at information gathering.
It means so much to me that you have visited. Live in the most authentic way possible. Maraming Salamat. Good luck on your voyage.
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