Where The Hell is Milpitas?

I got lost on my way to the reading. Unfortunately, I am not the kind of driver who can easily assess herself out of being lost; I'm the kind of driver who gets on and off the freeway, driving in circles like a lunatic. But I am also the kind of driver who leaves her starting point with far more time than needed to arrive at her destination, so I managed (with a little help from a nice man at a gas station in Palo Alto) to steady my rocking boat and arrive on time.

Still, I had that whole adrenalin-pumping thing going, which for me results in the odd combination of a rapid pulse and really, really messed-up hair. Lucky for me, then, that the first face I saw was that of one of my oldest friends in the world, my Daly City sista Karen. She's like a rock, this girl, and I was soon set right.

We (being you and me) all know that I could conceivably talk about myself all day, but I must stop now to throw flowers at the well-shod feet of poet Angela Narciso Torres who arranged the whole to-do and brilliantly forced Borders to see that a reading for Going Home to a Landscape was just what they needed.

But it was weird to read at Borders. There are so many distractions: the wandering customers, the intercom, the employee who didn't have a problem schlepping a ladder through our little piece of staked out literary territory. This made it all the more gratifying, though, to see that there were people who actually managed to pay us some mind. All except that one woman sitting smack in the middle who was either sleeping or so repulsed by our appearance that she couldn't bear to look at us. Pffft.

I had read with all but one of these poets before, and as usual they were stunning. If you ever have the chance to see Angela, Miz Barbara Jane, or the lovely Arlene Biala, you must.

This was the first time I'd met Luisa Igloria, so it was very special to listen to her and get a feeling for her work and energy. She brought along copies of Not Home But Here: Writing From the Filipino Diaspora (Anvil, 2003), which she edited and which includes essays from some wonderful writers. It looks to be a great read, so show some support, wouldya?

There were some beautiful brown faces in the crowd—it feels good when Pinoys come out to help us celebrate this book. It's especially nice when they buy a copy and ask us to sign it. And it's even more especially nice when they buy an extra copy for their mom and ask us to sign that, too.

Okay. If I ever have to go to Milpitas again, I know how to get there.