25 CHICKENS AND A PIG FOR A BRIDE: Growing up in a Filipino Immigrant Family
by Evangeline Canonizado Buell
T’boli Publishing
Copyright 2006

In 2002, a book of short stories and vignettes had a catchy title, “Seven Card Stud with Seven Manangs Wild.” It was from a story written by Vangie Buell and included in the anthology. In her mid-70s, Buell is “a living historical gem” herself: Her grandfather is a Buffalo Soldier, the nickname given by Native Americans in the 19th century to Negro soldiers who fought in the Indian wars. During the outbreak of the Spanish-American War at the turn of the 20th century, Grandfather Ernest Stokes was one of the 6,000 Buffalo Soldiers sent to the Philippines to quell the insurrection. He stayed behind, married a Filipina (Buell's grandmother) and started a family.

"Twenty-Five Chickens …" recounts her grandfather's experience, as well as her own. She grew up in West Oakland during the 1930s and '40s exposed to the racial slurs. She became accustomed to the signs, “No Filipinos and dogs allowed.” What her memoir conveys is her survival in a strange and hostile American city.

OOV Bookshelf 2007

SEPTEMBER 2007 FEATURE COMMON DESTINY Filipino American Generations by Juanita Tamayo Lott Mga Gerilya sa Powell Street ni Benjamin Pimentel LAKBAY SINING readings on cultural development in the Philippines by Various Authors The Light Sang As It Left Your Eyes by Eileen R. Tabios Into the Country of Standing Men by Rey Ventura A Woman Pope, Neanderthals & Other Stories by Denis Murphy Salvaged Poems By Emman Lacaba U.G. An Underground Tale The Journey of Edgar Jopson and the First Quarter Storm Generation by Benjamin Pimentel MAY 2007 FEATURE The Bride Anthology by Patria Rivera 25 Chickens and a Pig for the Bride by Evangeline Canonizado Buell Not at the Table, Please! By Quirico S. Samonte, Jr. SCRATCH THE NEWS Filipino Americans In Our Midst by Cristina D.C. Pastor On the Presence of Filipinos in the United States by E. San Juan, Jr.