“MC CAN LAST” as my homepage and home base

By MC Canlas FB posted 5/22/2023

I would like to express my gratitude and acknowledgement to all those who sent me greetings and cheers via social media (Facebook, Messenger, emails, and text messages) for my birthday.

I would also like to welcome you to my new home base, my MC CAN LAST homepage.

Using my tripartite view of history, and mapping my life journey’s periodization, and these are 1) My homeland, the Philippines (from birth in San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines to 1984), 2) my immigrant’s homeland, California, USA (1984-1988 Los Angeles, 1989 to 2023 in San Francisco), and 3) my duo homebase (San Francisco and San Fernando, Pampanga) which I am launching this year.

The location and locus are where I am sharpening my spatial framework of longing and belonging for a home.

My homepage address is mccanlast.com.

This is how I describe my home page.

• My homepage is an online repository of my works and writings. • It is the home of my published and unpublished works. Several of them were written for the print media that are not yet properly archived, remain undigitized, and are not easily accessible and available online. • It is a portfolio for my popular education works using social media and internet. • It serves as my résumé and a curriculum vitae. • It is a business card for my consultancy and services-in-demand. • It functions as a promotional vehicle for my on-going projects and entrepreneurial/business ventures. • I am currently based in two cities in two countries, and this homepage is my home base in cyberspace. • The contents of this homepage are in my own words in three languages, in English, Filipino/Tagalog, and Kapampangan.

This is how I introduce myself.

• MC Canlas is a seasoned non-profit agency executive, pop-ed educator, community strategist, historian, and ethnotour docent. • MC is based in two cities, San Francisco, California, USA and City of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines. • Living life Open, Sincere and True (LOST) grows and thrives by sharing, telling, and retelling stories. As they say, LOST finds its way, and you can only have more for yourself by giving it away to others not only for today but for the next generations. MC is making himself available and accessible through his homepage and from his home base.

Tao Po. Tuloy Po. Welcome. I am inviting you to visit my home base.

I look forward to hearing from you. Salamat Po.

https://www.mccanlast.com/

I found my heart in San Francisco

The tripartite of my life: A reflection on my birthday part 2 I found my heart in San Francisco By MC Canlas FB posted on 5/21/2023

Today is my birthday in the Philippines but only "bisperas" in California.

To many, Tony Bennet’s most popular loved song “I left my heart in San Francisco” is something relatable that exudes sweet memories and longing for home, but for someone like me, a reluctant immigrant who landed in the vastness of Los Angeles’ freeway-Hollywood-Disney culture, now it can be told that “I found my heart in San Francisco.”

The heart may symbolize romantic love but not all the time.

In his semi-autobiographical novel, America Is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan, a Filipino writer who became a driving force in the Filipino rights movement in the United States, has a different take on the symbolism of the heart.

“America is not merely a land or an institution. America is in the hearts of men that died for freedom; it is also in the eyes of men that are building a new world.”

The continuing thread of immigrant stories is about longing and belonging for a home.

My personal journey as an immigrant started in Los Angeles. With my strong reluctance to immerse in American culture and the urgent call to support and build a solidarity network for the Philippines cause at that time, with no reservation, my heart and mind are for the Philippines. I felt then that I do not belong to America, and many times I ask myself “why am I here?”

Later in 1985, after having obtained my two-year reentry permit, I went back to the Philippines to join the campaign against the dictatorship. Lo and behold, the snap election of 1986 has heightened the polarization of political forces that led to the so-called 1986 EDSA People Power Uprising that ousted the Marcos regime.

I was only on my third month of my 24-months reentry permit to the United States when the revolution happened. In my mind I was already hearing on what my siblings and parents would say to me: “MC, tapos na ang ipinaglalaban ninyo, balik ka na sa Amerika, mamuhay ka na dito.”

Although there was a euphoria with Cory’s victory and people power, for a couple of weeks, I felt depressed; I had conflicted thoughts, and uncertain of what to do next. I could not fathom going back to the US and live like most immigrants do.

I consulted Ed dela Torre, a newly released political detainee, about my predicament. His response was heaven to me. He asked me to work with Girlie to establish an Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD). We organized two national conferences of political and community educators which became the network and a program for PEPE (Popular Education for People’s Empowerment).

I was deeply involved in the political and social movements in the Philippines. I was a renowned pop-ed educator, a seasoned legal institutions (NGOs) executive, community strategist, and historian.

In 1990, I was recommended to form a service and research institute for the migrant workers in Italy and Europe. Before going to my new assignment and destination, I had to stay in Hong Kong and in the Philippines. Meeting and eventually marrying my future wife in the Philippines was a turning point that altered my perspectives in life in the United States.

I gave up the offer to work in Italy and instead went back to the United States, took jobs in non-profit and community-based agencies, and worked in the Filipino community. I continuously stayed in the US to get my US citizenship.

This is a brief description of my work in San Francisco as posted in SoMa Pilipinas website https://www.somapilipinas.org/communi.../2018/7/13/mc-canlas

"MC Canlas is the author of SoMa Pilipinas Studies 2000 in Two Languages (2002) and SoMa Pilipinas Ethnotour Guidebook (2013). He was one of the leading proponents of the proposed Filipino Social Heritage Special Use District in the Western SoMa Citizens Planning Task Force of the San Francisco Planning Department (2011). He helped SoMa Pilipinas evolve into a thriving territorial-based ethnic identity in America, and SoMa Pilipinas has emerged as a framework of uniting the Filipino in the neighborhood and in the San Francisco Bay Area into one community system. In 2016, the City and County adopted SoMa Pilipinas as Filipino Cultural Heritage District, and the following year, it was selected as one of the 14 cultural districts of California.

"MC is also known in the community as the person behind the successful cultural events and programs such as the annual Parol Lantern Festival in December, Galing-Bata After School enrichment program at the Bessie Carmichael School/ Filipino Education Center, ethno-tourism (Neighborhood Heritage Tour and Philippine-American Tour of History), and the Bayanihan Community Center.

"He was recognized as one of the “The Filipino Champions” by ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel in 2012, a recipient of the San Francisco Foundation’s Civic Unity Awards in 1999, and a senior fellow of the Wildflowers Institute (2001+).

"Although MC migrated to the United States reluctantly in 1984 to join his family, his early work in the Philippines as an academic historian, popular educator, and political activist in the democracy movement has blossomed in California as a community leader, non-profit service provider, newspaper columnist, and ethno-tourism docent."

Thus, deep in my heart, I found my heart in San Francisco. It sharpens my longing and belonging perspectives of immigrants.

My love story is another story.

The tripartite of my life: A reflection on my birthday

By MC Canlas posted in FB 5/20/2023

I am celebrating my birthday on May 22.

Although, I consider myself as a true-blue Gemini with a double-two day of birth, it is the power of three that I follow dearly and profoundly in life.

Take my philosophy of life. It is LOST for Living Life (that is) Open, Sincere and True. For having OST as my guidance in everyday living on earth, OST always finds way for me not to be a lost soul. A lost soul is a person who seems to lack direction or a sense of belonging in life. OST makes me a soulful person.

In my popular education work I adhere to the Context-Content-Method. For my faith, I believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Using the tripartite view of history, reflecting on my life journey, I am now on my third period. My periodization varies.

The most obvious is my location. Homeland (from Birth to 1984), Immigrant’s land (1984 to 2023), and binational homebase (2023 to present). This is where I am sharpening my concept and spatial framework of a sense of longing and belonging. Connected to location is my travel passport identities and citizenships (Philippines, USA, dual).

I always tell my friends and in my writings that I am originally a reluctant immigrant. I am a Makabayan Tibak (MT) with steadfast commitment to “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa,” and during my youthful age, it was even instilled in my mind and in my heart “ang mamatay ng dahil sa iyo,” and “Filipinos are worth dying for.”

Why did I move and live in America in the midst 1980s, when the Philippine political crisis is looming, and social revolution is knocking at the door in the national capital region? Why go to America, the home of Uncle Sam that has ravaged our Inang Bayan and beguiled our anak-bayan?

Immigration is a double-edged sword for most families: To better the life of a family, family members are separated. The dream of my parents and my siblings is family reunification. I know I am a good son and a loyal brother to my siblings, and who am I to subvert this dream when my visa for unmarried children was offered?

The consolation and resolution of my immigration dilemma also came from my elder sister. “Basta makapunta ka rito, at may green card ka na, tapos na ang obligasyon ko sa pamilya, nasa iyo if you stay or not in America.” In other words, my green card fulfills our family’s dream, but it is also a green light where I would want to go, live, and spend my community activism and passions.

But having a green card brought more questions than answers to my predicament. A few weeks after my newly arrived siblings saw the beauty and wealth of America, they were expected to find jobs and work. And they did. How about me? I was still a reluctant immigrant. In my mind, if I find a job and work, it means I would stay, and if I stay, it means I would not be in the forefront in the social movement in the homeland.

What compounded my dilemma is the freeway culture of Los Angeles, California. I am not only a reluctant immigrant, but there is reluctance in me to drive a car. My logic is simple: If I drive, I need money to pay for the gas, insurance, parking, and car related expenses, therefore I need to earn and find a job. If I find a job and work, it means I would stay, and if I stay, it means I would not be in the forefront in the social movement in the homeland.

I do not drive. And when people ask me why I do not drive, my casual answer is “it is my religion.” People are "religious" about all sorts of things - science, energy, success, food, fashion, wealth, themselves. Hearing that from me, perhaps, it may imply my attitude to public transportation, capitalism, climate change, consumerism etc.

However, this “religion” of mine of not driving a car led me to appreciate and live in San Francisco.

My life in San Francisco is another story.

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