Mima at 98

Almost a hundred years. Wow! Her life virtually spans the 100-year period of Filipino presence in America. And as we commemorate our centennial this year, we pause to also celebrate Mima’s almost one hundred years of life on earth. What a life!
So here’s a toast to a woman we truly admire! Who wouldn’t want to be like her when they grow up? Fondly known to family and friends as Mima, Remy G. Cabacungan has been a remarkable presence in the metro area’s Filipino community. She rocks, but absolutely needs no rocking chair. I’ve always sensed a streak of defiance in this woman. Defiance against the conventions of aging, to be sure. And I suspect that in her younger days, she was always having a ball -daring anyone to rain on her parade. An accomplished actress in her hometown zarzuelas, she was into teaching, fashioning dresses, designing hats, running a coffee shop and - what the hell - researching lumber. Her latest: creating art cushions.
In our town, we know her as someone who produces and performs in plays, and raises money for all kinds of causes. It’s hard to say no to Mima when she’s all gung-ho about something. She grabs your attention - in person or on the phone - and gets straight to the point. No dancing around. You either believe or you don’t. Most of the time you do.
Born in 1908 in Juban, Sorsogon - two years after farm workers left the Philippines, marking the first significant migration of Filipinos to the United States - Mima turned 98 on January 28. As her daughter Reme Grefalda puts it, it’s a landmark day, making her two years away from being a Centenarian.
And she’s marking it by doing something special during this centennial: help preserve the legacy of Carlos P. Bulosan. As most of you know, Bulosan was among the manongs who came to the U.S. in the 1920s, then wrote about the early Filipino migrant experience in his best known work, America is in the Heart. In 1943, the White House commissioned him to write a piece celebrating America’s future, entitled “Freedom from Want." It was published in the nationally-syndicated Saturday Evening Post. Bulosan was also active in trade union organizing and was an outspoken advocate of progressive causes.
As she has done in the past, Mima is at it again - putting her mind, heart and soul in supporting worthwhile projects. She never stops. Calling this her “last hurrah,” she’s enjoining her friends to help fund the Carlos Bulosan Symposium and Archive. This project plans to reintroduce his writings to the general public. Sponsored by the Library of Congress’ Asian Division Friends Society, the all-day affair on April 28 will feature a panel of noted Bulosan scholars, labor activists and descendents. Coordinating this project with the library is Our Own voice, an online literary journal for Filipinos in the diaspora. It’s edited by Reme, known in our community for her arts and theatre productions with Qbd Ink.
 I commend this mother-daughter team for this noble initiative: rescuing Bulosan’s works from oblivion - from forgotten library shelves - and bringing him “up close and personal” to readers, and to his rightful place in the literary annals of America.
To those of us who are still searching for what it means to be Filipino American, we can learn from the insights of Bulosan who struggled to understand his own plight while affirming the universal idea of what America was.
To those of us who think the word “struggle” should no longer be part of our vocabulary, we’d do well to learn this man’s “raw response to the conditions that surrounded him then, and that still haunts us today."
When Mima was honored last year for a lifetime Dakila Award by the Philippine American Foundation for Charities, author and composer Rodney Garcia wrote this tribute:
 “Through the years, she has applied her sway and swagger to showcase the deserving Filipino American talent on stage, and has not suffered fools too kindly — those would throw up their hands and, beaten, resign to live ‘lives of quiet desperation.’ She will have none of that. She will not be outside looking in. Shine on, she says, bash the bushels that hide our light, and bring the goodness forth for all to see.
 “And so her life resonates like a great shout to the world. ‘See — here are our Filipino artists, our playwrights, our musicians, our poets, actors, declaimers, writers: My Filipino pride bursts in the fullness of my delight!"
Thank you, Mima, for instilling in us a profound sense of Filipino pride in our literary heroes, and for keeping their spirit alive.
E-mail your comments to jonmele@aol.com