AAPI HERITAGE MONTH
Mariah Hoffman
Lola and Lola in DC circa 1960
Happy May 2021, and Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Month.
For those that don’t know, I’m a Filipina-American mixed kid. The fluidity, nuance and my relationship to my identity being mixed in particular has always something that I’m highly attune to and continues to evolve.
But I wanted to take a brief moment and speak to the history and journey of my maternal ancestors and during this month in particular.
My Lolo (grandfather) Gil Palabrica served in the US Navy during the American occupation of the Philippines. Lolo was a bit older that Lola (grandmother) but came from the same region of the Philippines and was part of the early generation of Filipino migrants, coined the ‘Manong generation’.
Emigrating to the US in the late 1950’s, my Lola Mildred soon married my Lolo Gil in 1959. They bore two daughters, my mom and aunt. When my mom was 12, my Lolo passed away following health complications. Lola went on to raised two young daughters in a new country by herself with support from other family members that had come to the US by then. She went on to live a long life until she eventually retired and moved back to her hometown, Pototan. Although I didn’t get many years to get to know my Lola intimately and never met my Lolo, their resilience and histories through war, colonization, migration and survival have inherently shaped my continued exploration of ‘home’.
Lola Mildring (far left, with 5 of her 8 siblings circa 1940-42’)
Lovely Lola
Lolo Gil (bottom left)