1. MISSPHILIPPINESUSA Motivation 2: As a Filipina-American (Fil-Am), I grew up with complete apathy towards my parent's ancestral homeland. To think that the lineage before had me spent their whole lives on the Philippine Islands and that I was the first to be born and raised in the U.S. did not matter much. I did not care about the customs, ways, or culture of those before me. In assimilating into the American melting pot, I had either lost my ethnic cultural flavor or had not received it yet =p This experience is not too surprising for me personally though. Although a huge part has to do with what family and community instills, I relate part of it to the fact that the Philippines was last colonized and well influenced by the U.S. We value American language and pop-culture, there are streets in Manila that are named after American Presidents, and the government structure has remnants of American influence. The English language is taught as another primary language in Philippine schools, along with Tagalog. So, in being American born, the primary language at home was actually always English. I never learned tagalog, and it is not uncommon to meet Fil-Ams who don't speak or understand tagalog. Plus at home, I grew up with the already somewhat Americanized versions of my family. As a MISSPHILIPPINESUSA candidate, another one of my motivations is to share a little history of this, advocating for those who come from immigrant families to remember and cherish our roots 🌳. *** if at some point you find yourself inclined to coach this pageant strut, come out on the event day, or to sponsor me, hit ya girl up ;D provided are pictures of ticket prices, based on where seats are on the color chart, and the seating arrangement in the Alex theatre*** More posts to come, stay tuned 💛 #missphilippinesusa #magandangmorenx (at Glendale, California)
