Jul 2, 2019
Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor is a storyteller, writer and poet residing in Washington state. We talk about her new collection of poetry "Dancing Between Bamboo Poles", her rich family history, about being "silenced" and Filipino stereotypes, to name a few.
http://yourartsygirlpodcast.com/episodes
http://rebeccamabanglomayor.com
Rebecca's email: rmm.wordbinder@gmail.com
Rebecca Mabanglo-Mayor’s non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction have appeared in print and online in several journals and anthologies including Katipunan Literary Magazine, Growing Up Filipino II: More Stories for Young Adults, Kuwento: Small Things, and Beyond Lumpia, Pansit, and Seven Manangs Wild: An Anthology. Her poetry chapbook Pause Mid-Flight was released in 2010. She is also the co-editor of True Stories: The Narrative Project Vol. 1, and her poetry and essays have been collected in Dancing Between Bamboo Poles. She has been performing as a storyteller since 2006 and specializes in stories based on Filipino folktales and Filipino-American history.
Rebecca, as Rebecca A. Saxton, received her MFA
in Creative Writing from Pacific Lutheran University in 2012, her
BA in Humanities from Washington State University in 1998, and
her
MA degree in English with honors
from Western Washington University in 2003.
Artist’s Statement:
As a Filipino American writer and
performance storyteller, my art is based on the impact of heritage
on shaping and informing personal experience and the importance of
self-expression as a method of healing. I view my writing and
performing as subversive acts against invisibility and silence in a
society where women of color are often viewed through an
objectifying, exoticizing lens. Raised in a family focused on
assimilation, I grew up sheltered from the Vietnam War and the
Marcos dictatorship by a shield of language. Becoming a socially
aware cultural activist has been a process of understanding the
impact of the American Dream trope on my family and upbringing. As
a result, I have connected with diverse ethnic groups who also
value art as a method of self-expression and an act of
compassion. A desire for wholeness drives my art
which seeks to weave
past and present, folktale with fact, subjectivity with objectivity
into works which entertain and enliven others.