Growing up there weren't many diverse children's books but now there are so many wonderful selections including the beautifully illustrated Once Upon the Sun & Sea: Indigenous Stories and Folk Tales from the Philippines. I speak with the authors Denise Orosa, writer and award-winning educator and Jo Tiongson-Perez writer, education advocate, and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at the Penn Museum.
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Book Baby, and other online retailers.
We air an interview conducted by Philadelphia Work Ready student Lucas Gonzalez with film maker (and Dad) Gilberto Gonzalez about his documentary on the origin of the Puerto Rican 2OG gang. The film features testimony from some of the original 20G members who defended their neighborhood from other gangs and the police during a racially divisive 1970’s in the barrio of North Philly. 20G Heroes - Soldiers - Boricuas
First, open Enrollment is the one time each year that individuals and families can enroll in or change their health plan each year. So, if you don’t have a health plan through an employer, union group, Medicare or Medicaid, now is the time to shop. I talk about open enrollment, shopping for health insurance and financial assistance with Erin Thurston – Director, Member Marketing at IBX. For more info call 855-251-2150 (TTY: 711), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. www.ibx.com/healthplan https://pennie.com/
Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Book Baby, and other online retailers.
We air an interview conducted by Philadelphia Work Ready student Lucas Gonzalez with film maker (and Dad) Gilberto Gonzalez about his documentary on the origin of the Puerto Rican 2OG gang. The film features testimony from some of the original 20G members who defended their neighborhood from other gangs and the police during a racially divisive 1970’s in the barrio of North Philly. 20G Heroes - Soldiers - Boricuas
First, open Enrollment is the one time each year that individuals and families can enroll in or change their health plan each year. So, if you don’t have a health plan through an employer, union group, Medicare or Medicaid, now is the time to shop. I talk about open enrollment, shopping for health insurance and financial assistance with Erin Thurston – Director, Member Marketing at IBX. For more info call 855-251-2150 (TTY: 711), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. www.ibx.com/healthplan https://pennie.com/
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to what'sgoing on? A show about making a
difference in our lives and our communities. I'm Lorraine ballat Marrow. Growing up,
there weren't very many diverse children's books, but now there are so many
wonderful selections, including this one.Once Upon the Sun and Sea, a
beautifully illustrated book of folk tales fromthe Philippines. I speak with the authors.
(00:22):
Last summer I hosted students with thecity's work Ready program. Here's an
interview by then eighteen year old LucasGonzalez. First important information about healthcare enrollment
sponsored by Independence Blue Cross. Openenrollment is the one time each year that
individuals and families can enroll in orchange their health plan each year. So
(00:43):
if you don't have a health planthrough an employer, union, group,
Medicare or Medicaid, now is thetime to shop. Enrolling in medical insurance
before the deadline is absolutely paramount forensuring financial security and access to essential healthcare
services. We're good to talk aboutopen enrollment, shopping for healthcare insurance,
financial assistance, and much much morewith Aaron Thurston. She's director of Member
(01:08):
Marketing for IBX. Thank you somuch. For joining us erin. Let's
begin by talking about the specific datesthat people need to keep in mind.
Tell us about those dates. Asyou said, open enrollment is that wants
a year chance for people who don'tget coverage through their employer or through a
government program to make sure that theyget coverage for themselves and their families.
The open enrollment period start at Novemberfirst, and it runs through January fifteenth.
(01:33):
It's important to note, though,if people want coverage for January first
of twenty twenty four, that theymust apply for coverage by December fifteenth of
twenty twenty three. Let's talk aboutshopping for health insurance for individuals and families.
What are some of the considerations thatpeople need to keep in mind when
they're shopping for a health plan.It's always important to consider what your options
(01:53):
are and also what your needs arefor yourself and your family. So as
you are considering all of those things, you can go out to Penny,
the state based marketplace to view youroptions, or you can visit ibx dot
com slash health plan to review allof our plan options and all of the
planned details that go with it.So as you're weighing your options, that
(02:15):
are available to you. You candetermine what's going to best meet your needs
and also your budget. A lotof folks are confused by the various initials
that we talk about when we discusshealth insurance, like PPO, HMO,
EPO. So tell us, Iknow that IBX does provide all those plans,
but tell us what are those initialsstand for and what do they provide?
(02:38):
You're right, so Independence is themost popular health insurance carrier in the
Philadelphia region, and we do provideplans in all of those different letters.
As you said, so the PPOoption is your most flexible option. So
that is going to provide people theability to see providers that are both in
our network as well as out ofour network. If members go out of
(02:58):
the network, they will have highercost sharing that they'll have to be accountable
for, but it gives them greateraccess to more providers. If you stay
in network, you'll have lower costsharing options and also the access to the
largest network in the region, asit is with our health plans and our
providers. So PPO itself stands forthe Preferred Provider network and it is one
(03:19):
of the most common types of plansavailable today. Another very common type of
plan is the HMO plan. Thatis your health maintenance organization is what those
letters stand for. And within anHMO plan, you are required to pick
yet another letter. Here we havethe PCP, so your primary care provider
who is going to help you manageyour health plan. When you have an
(03:39):
HMO plan, you are required toget referrals for certain types of visits,
but you're never going to get areferral for an OBGI N visit, mammograms,
mental health, or emergency care.So it is a really good option
for people who are looking for lowercost options, and if you are seeing
providers that are already within this network, great option for you to save money.
(04:01):
There is no coverage though in anHMO plan for out of network providers
except for emergency care, so Ido just want to note that. And
then finally, the EPO plan isa health plan that meets a little in
the middle between the HMO and thePPO plan. So it provides you the
ability to manage your own care withoutgetting a referral from a provider, but
you will have to stay within thenetwork for that plan. Gotcha. Now,
(04:26):
there are a lot of folks outthere who think they can't afford medical
insurance, and I wonder if youcan talk about financial assistance available to help
pay for plans. Yes, thereis financial assistance available in the form of
tax credits, and it's going tobe based off of your family size and
your income level with the amount ofcredits that you may be eligible to receive.
If you are eligible for these credits, it can help lower both the
(04:48):
monthly costs that you pay in termsof premium as well as potentially the out
of pocket costs when you go toget care. For people who are trying
to figure out they're eligible for thetax credits, they can visit ibx dot
com slash calculator to see if they'reeligible for lower out of pocket costs.
IBX does provide different options. Onething that I've found very helpful is the
(05:12):
virtual doctor's appointments because sometimes, youknow, you really get busy and sometimes
having a video appointment can make allthe difference in terms of convenience, especially
for folks who work. Tell usmore about that. Yeah, So all
of the independence plans provide virtual visitoptions with our end network providers at lower
out of pocket costs, and wealso cover virtual care visits through our vendor
(05:34):
partner, TELEDOCT, you're able tosee those TELEDOCT providers at no cost for
behavioral health dermatology as well as regularnon urgent visits. And finally, I
just want to talk about how importanthealth insurance is. I have lived in
the past way before, you know, in the distant past of my life,
I didn't have health insurance. Andwhen you don't have health insurance,
(05:58):
there's a lot of added stress becauseyou don't know what the cost of medical
care is going to be when yougo to see a doctor, and therefore
you're probably not going to see Ididn't go to see the doctor for many
years. And then fast forward tothe future. I have health insurance.
I have great health insurance, andbecause of that, I go to the
(06:19):
doctor. I get those checkups,I get the preventative care that I need
and deserve, as all people needand deserve. And it really has made
a huge difference. Having a robusthealth care plan that doesn't have a huge
copay or it doesn't have a hugedeductible. It just makes such a huge
(06:40):
difference. And in a society wherewe're really we really need to take care
of ourselves and we have heart disease, and we have diabetes, and we
have high blood pressure. We haveall of these conditions that a lot of
people allow to persist because they're reluctantto see the doctor because of the cost.
So let's talk that why it's soimportant to have health insurance, and
(07:02):
also that health insurance is available toanyone who needs to have it. That's
right, Loraine, and I reallyappreciate you sharing your personal story. It
is so important that people have healthinsurance because it is for just that the
unexpected costs that may be occurred forpeople who are not covered and then have
an unexpected health circumstance. So it'sreally important that when you have that coverage,
(07:26):
you can be proactive like you're beingwith your health. You can go
get those preventive care visits, youcan get your immunizations, you can get
your cancer screenings, all covered underyour health plan. I also have a
very similar story. Back when Iwas twenty four, I was diagnosed with
stage two Hotchkins. At twenty four, I was out of college, a
collegiate athlete, a healthy person ingeneral, and then to have something like
(07:48):
that happened to me was completely unexpected. Like you having the ability to go
through my health insurance to help withall of the visits that I needed to
have at the time, helped,you know, just prevent some additional stress
to that already stressful situation. Andit was just really reassuring to me that
I could get the care that Ineeded, and I could afford to get
(08:11):
the care that I needed when Ineeded it. Yeah, that's a very
important story to tell. And ifpeople want more information, not only for
the IBX clients that already have IBXinsurance, but those who are looking to
find the best plans to them.What's the best way to find out more?
You can always visit us online atibx dot com slash health plan,
or if you are not sure thedirection that you want to go for your
(08:33):
health plan and you have some questions, you can contact one of our licensed
agents at eight five five two fiveone two one five zero Monday through Friday
from eight to six and we'd behappy to answer any of your questions.
And we also want to repeat thatwebsite for Penny because that's a great website
also for information. Yes, Pennyis the state based health exchange, though
(08:54):
if you'd like to go out toPenny dot com that's p E n NI
E dot. You can visit thereto see all of the plans available in
your zip code. And what's thatdeadline? Once again for signing up.
If you want coverage for January,first sign up by December fifteenth, all
right, so don't delay sign uptoday. Aaron Thurston, director of Member
Marketing for IBX, thank you somuch for all this great information. Thank
(09:16):
you, Lauren. It's always wonderfulto talk about children's books because they make
such wonderful gifts. One such bookthat you might want to find out more
about is Once Upon the Sun andSea Indigenous Stories and Folk Tales from the
(09:39):
Philippines, a children's book for allwhich explores adventure across the far away islands
and open seas. Joining us totell us more about it are Denise A.
Rosa and Joe Tiungsung Perez. Deniseis a writer and award winning educator,
and Joe is a writer, educationadvocate and Chief Mark getting In Communications
(10:01):
Officer at the Penn Museum. AndI want to thank you so much for
joining us here today. Joe tellus how did this story come to be?
Thanks so much for having us,Lorraine, we're really excited to be
to be here being given a platformto talk about this book. This really
started as a conversation, an ongoingconversation actually between two moms who grew up
(10:22):
together in the Philippines in Manila aroundthe nineteen eighties, but found ourselves raising
our children outside of our home country. My child is older now, but
when she was younger around this,when they were toddlers, they would ask
us about stories from our home country, and it hit us. We had
this very similar experience when we startedtalking about it, that we only knew
(10:46):
a handful of Filipino stories compared tothe dozens of For me, it was
a lot of Western stories like HansChristian Anderson Brothers Grim and I absolutely love
those stories and they're very much apart of who I am now and how
I think. But it did thatthe question how come I only knew you
know a couple or three and Denisehad the same experience. Then the pandemic,
(11:09):
I feel like that's always a bigopener. Then the pandemic, and
then I'll just go straight in intosaying at the height of a lot of
violence and racism against Asian American communities, there was a response grant that pen
did through the Sex Program for ArtsInnovation, and they created an AAPI grant
(11:31):
to support creative practitioners. And sothis is how this, all these personal
conversations became formalized. We thought thatwhat if we applied and had a project
like a children's book of indigenous Filippinastories that we could put out there in
the world. It's really created forall explorers, for everybody just interested in
(11:52):
stories, but especially dedicated to theFilipina diaspora. Denise, I'd like to
ask you so growing up, andas Joe mentioned, there weren't a lot
of diverse books of any kind,and so that's where a book like this
adds to the richness of a child'sexperience to be able to see other cultures
and other mythologies in every culture.There's so many stories to tell, so
(12:16):
many folk tales. How did youselect the stories that you talk about in
the book. That's such a greatquestion learning Our process for selecting the stories
went through kind of different phases aswe were going through the project. Sho
I feel like we started with abouteight because I think initially we were thinking
(12:37):
we were basing that choice on theeight rays of the flag. If you
look at the Filipino flag, thereare eight rays on the sun to represent
the eight provinces that rose up againstSpanish rule at the time. So that
was sort of where we started.And then over time as we did our
research, we really started seeing therepresentation of Filipino stories as being something almost
(13:01):
inferior, you know, as wewent through a lot of different compilations,
it was really interesting to sort ofalmost see that slamp presented in some of
the story about compilations that we saw. So I guess ultimately we really tried
to find story sources that were asauthentic and as close to the source as
(13:22):
possible, and so we were reallyreally fortunate to be able to get access
with their consent to recordings, forexample, from two elders from the Tebanwa
people, who are an indigenous groupof people who live in a part of
the Philippines called Balawan. They're oneof the oldest indigenous groups in the country.
(13:45):
So with the help of someone thatJoe was able to find through an
organization called a Bianaz Foundation, wewere able to actually acquire direct recording of
these wonderful stories, and we hadto do the translation obviously, ourselves for
those ones. So just going backto our selection process, we really try
(14:07):
to focus on pre colonial stories aswell, because obviously as you go through
different folk tales and stories, you'llfind there are obviously colonial influences and a
lot of them. So we reallytried to go further back than that to
find really the stories that had indigenousroots. I love that, you know.
I think that culture is transmitted throughstories, and when you stop telling
(14:33):
those stories, then the history andthe continuity of culture can vanish. And
so that's why something like this isso critical for not only people of Filipino
descent, but also for the restof us to understand cultures that perhaps we
don't have a lot of access tomythologies and folklores that enrich our lives regardless.
(14:56):
I mean, when I was akid, I used to read great
mythology, so that informs a lotof our knowledge of the world and our
cultural influences. And I wondered,Joe, if you could maybe give us
an example of one of the storiesor several of the stories that really struck
you and really made a difference,that really felt like this is an important
story to tell. Well, firstof all, I loved what you said
(15:18):
about how storytelling transmits heritage. Icouldn't couldn't agree more. As we researched
the stories. As Dinny said,it's not just the stories themselves, but
also how they were characterized by earlieranthropologists too, And it was very,
very strange to see how earlier anthropologistswere characterizing them as primitive, savage,
(15:43):
weird. So there's this othering andso we couldn't help. But wonder could
that have contributed to the fact thatit never became part I don't want to
say never, but at least atthe time that we were growing up in
our own personal experiences, it justwasn't part of the popular storytelling cat even
in the Philippines themselves. But oneof the stories that resonated with me was
(16:04):
a story about a Bonnie Bullinian andthe Sun. It's striking resemblance to Jack
and the bean Stalk. And asI say that Jack and the Beanstalk,
we asked nine out of ten people, ten out of ten people will probably
know what it is. But likekid, you know, Bonnie Bullini and
in the Sun. Probably I didn'teven know about it, and I grew
(16:25):
up in Manila. But it's aboutthis girl who is also carried up by
vines, So again there's set similarityinto the realm of the Sun. In
that story, that character is callededith Enit, which literally translates to hot,
hot, but sort of deity orof god for the sun. But
in summarizing it, it's interesting thatthe story shifts from the female character.
(16:51):
I grew up with a lot ofcharacters in fairy tales where the woman or
the female character is always waiting tobe rescued, always waiting for someone something
to happen. Where she is inthis story very much a powerful agent in
her own and negotiates for her ownpower. Of course, it's not going
(17:11):
to be this formal when children readit, but that as an adult,
as I was researching the story,that's how it came out to me that
she was trying to negotiate this powerbalance with this other character, the Sun,
when she finds herself in his realm. It's an excerpt of a very
much longer story, but they endsomewhat in peace, but not a happily
(17:33):
ever after type of thing that wetypically see, and we saw a lot
of that in many other stories.We consulted an anthropologist for instance, from
the Philippines. This anthropologist worked fordecades with another indigenous group called the Manobo
tribe, and what she was interestingwas be careful about translating a lot of
(17:55):
these indigenous stories and try to avoidapplying deep sea modern frameworks that sometimes come
with binary values or a very neatarc of here's the introduction, here's the
problem, and here's the resolution,because some of these stories aren't meant to
have a happy ending or neatly tuckedin and here's the very very complete resolution.
(18:17):
It's just meant to be this momentin time where characters are inseparable from
their environments, like that's embedded ina lot of indigenous cultures, or the
person, the land, and everyother life form is all intertwined, and
it's just this continuum of existence.And in the beginning, when I would
read these stories that didn't have aand that's the moral of the story,
(18:38):
or that's a happy ever after,it's like, is that really the end?
And it took a while to letit sit and remember what a lot
of these other advisors told us thatyou know, it's actually okay in this
moment in time. That's how itall panned out. It was refreshing when
you say that the story that youmentioned has some similarities to Jack and the
(19:03):
Beanstalk, although very different story.It just strikes me that there seem to
be some things, some iconic imagesand ideas that transcend globally that you'll find
in one culture, very similar typesof themes and plots and stories. And
I think that what that tells meis that these are the things that bind
(19:27):
us together, that we have experiencesor ideas or iconic metaphors that transcend all
cultures right at the same time,very specifically are flavored by the culture in
which they are created. I'd liketo talk about the illustrations. So I
(19:48):
see a couple on the website thatyou have, and they're gorgeous. They're
absolutely gorgeous, They're colorful, they'reintricate, and clearly have a lot of
symbology involved. I wonder if youcan tell us, Denise, how you
selected or how you evolved the illustrations, because a lot of times I know
(20:08):
that in children's books in particular,the authors and the illustrators don't always communicate
with each other directly, So howdid that work for you? We were
very, very lucky our illustrator,whose name is Tin Javier. She's based
in the Philippines. She actually livesin a place called Cafta and the Philippines.
We were very, very lucky tofind her, and we did all
(20:30):
of this remotely, and it wasvery much a collaboration because what we did
was we provided Tin with the draftsof the stories. She gave a lot
of feedback and input onto the storiesas well, and applied a lot of
academic research, I guess, intoher own artwork because you can see she
uses like a punch paper technique andshe works with a lot of sort of
(20:53):
textures of textiles and colors, andso she researched about what all of those
different textiles and textures and patterns andcolors meant to the different indigenous groups that
were depicted in the story. Wewere really, really fortunate to have her.
She went through the entire process withus, step by step. I
(21:15):
just wanted to go back to theidea that the timing is so important when
you talk about exposure to these importantmyths or stories that connect us to our
culture. We really wanted it tobe a children's book, I guess,
because you know the stories that wehear when we're you know, six or
seven or eight. Those are thestories that really get embedded very deeply in
(21:37):
us, you know, those arethe stories that we don't forget. And
so I guess that was something reallyimportant, and the illustrations were a key
part of that. If you lookat these illustrations, they're so colorful,
they're so beautiful. They really bringthe story to life. And we really
wanted it to be able to capturea child's imagination during those kind of crucial
school age years because when those deepimpressions are made, hopefully they'll really end
(22:03):
up sparking, whether they're new discoveriesor new conversations with a family, or
ultimately really deep connections with culture andheritage and identity. Yeah. Well,
they're beautiful illustrations and very important bookto include in a child's library, include
in an adult's library as well,because I'm sure there are a lot of
(22:25):
people like me. I'm very interestedin folk tales and mythology, and so
I think it would be very interestingto have a copy of a book like
that to share with me an areathat I don't know very much about,
and that is Filipino culture and mythologyand folk tales, Joe. If people
want to find more information about thebook and perhaps get a copy, how
(22:48):
do they do that? Sure,they can go to Amazon or Barnes and
Noble online. It's available on thoseonline retailers. It's also available at Bookshop
on book Baby, and more informationis also available on our website. Once
upondsunensea dot com fantastic Once Upon theSun and Sea Indigenous Stories and Folk Tales
(23:11):
from the Philippines, a children's bookthat allows explorers of all types to adventure
across the far away islands and openseas and find out more about Filipino culture
and folklore. Thank you both forjoining us here today. Denise Arosa,
who's a writer and award winning educator. Joe T. Youngsun Perez, who
is a writer, education advocate,and chief Marketing and Communications officer at the
(23:34):
Penn Museum. Thank you so much, Thank you, Thank you so much,
Lorraine. Finally, last summer,I hosted students from the city's Work
Ready program. Here's an interview conductedby the then eighteen year old Lucas Gonzales.
(23:55):
In the name of full disclosure,the subject of the interview is my
husband and Lucas is his son.Today I am here with a great man,
a community activist, filmmaker and artist, Gilberto Gonzalez. Hey, Lucas,
how's it going, man, It'sgoing pretty good. How are you?
I'm all right, I'm all right. So today I wanted to talk
to you about your film twentieth inGreen to Oji, and I wanted to
(24:18):
know what inspired you to make thefilm. So what inspired me to develop
this film and produce it is thatPuerto Rican history in Philadelphia is written by
people that don't understand the culture ofPhiladelphia. There's a book that was written
by someone named Wahlan who wrote anentire book about Puerto Rican's Philadelphia, and
(24:41):
there were only two or three pagesabout the Spring Garden community. What she
failed to realize is that Spring Garden, for over one hundred years, was
the largest Latino Puerto Rican community inthe state of Pennsylvania. And I found
it insulting that she only wrote acouple of pages about us. So I
felt this was a reaction about Therewas more reaction in the fight against people
(25:04):
that published stuff about us that don'tknow us. What made this film so
special to you? What was whatabout it? Was your special connection to
it that compelled you to make itso. My special connection is that family
members were two Olg's good friends weretwo Ogs, Orlando Cucko Johnny Gonzalez,
(25:26):
who just recently passed away. Hewas my big brother. You know.
He protected me, he defended me. You know. He was older than
me, and I was like hislittle tale. I would follow him everywhere.
You know. The two Ogs weredear to me, you know,
their family, and I felt theirstory needed to be told. I also
spent a lot of my life onthat street. Yes she did, yeah,
(25:49):
yeah. Or your grandma, Yeah, your grandma lived on mat Vernon
Yeah, yeah for many years.Now she's on Wallace. It's not quite
the same, yeah, because theypushed out a lot of the Puerto Ricans
that that were there. Yeah.Bohno was a lot younger. She had
that tiny house with the garden,yes, yes, yeah. Last question
is do you miss it? DoI miss it? Yeah? That little
(26:10):
garden? Honestly, yeah, Imissed that. I miss how it used
to feel walking through there. Yeah, right morning. Yeah, everybody knew
you. Yeah, Oh, littleLuca is you know it was like this
when you walked into that neighborhood,you get embraced. Yeah. Yeah,
everyone there knew each other. Everyonewas willing to help out for something.
Yep. What hurdles did you encounterwhile making the film? So? I
(26:36):
think one hurdle was money, tryingto raise the money to do it.
The other hurdle was the so calledleader. Latino's leaders in this city they
would not support the movie. Actually, even when the movie was completed,
they would not want to show itin their organizations because they instantly said,
(27:00):
oh, Puerto Rican gang, Wedon't want to expose our children to that.
And that was wrong because the toolg's weren't just yeah, I mean,
they're bad people everywhere, that's justthe nature of life, right,
But there were a lot of goodpeople, you know, who did good
things, who fought, you know, against police abuse, who protected women
(27:22):
from other I mean, it's likethat they protected people, you know.
And I think one of the biggesthurdles, and one of the most hurtful
hurdles, is when you have theso called leaders, because they're not my
leaders, tell me that, oh, well, we can't show your film
because it's about a gang. Butyet it was shown at University of Pennsylvania
University of the Arts. It wasshown at Temple, it was shown at
(27:45):
Arcadia. It was shown at collegesaround the region. It was shown in
Italy, it was shown in Canada, it was shown in Puerto Rico.
Wow, you know, and it'slike and it's like, but you people
are trying to shame me and saythat, oh, well, it's a
movie about a gang. I thinkthat was probably out of all the little
(28:06):
hurdles, that was the most impactfulone. If you could describe with your
feelings, how would you describe theoverall film. So people love the film,
they love the historical footage, thehistorical photos. I think it told
the story because it is the PuertoRican story. The tool g is the
Puerto Rican story. And I gavespace to people that would have never been
(28:32):
heard, that would have been forgotten, that nobody would remember, that nobody
would care about other than their families. I gave them the space to be
heard. And lastly, if peoplewould like to watch this film, is
there anywhere they could watch it?Yeah, if they go to the video
site Venmo, Vimeo, Vimeo.It is still on Vimeo. It's free.
(28:53):
You can pull it down, youcan watch it, you can even
download it. It's free, sogo watch it, yes, go watch
it. Yes. Oh. Thankyou Gilberto for taking the time to do
this interview with me today. Youwelcome and thank you so much for having
me. You can listen to allof today's interviews by going to our station
website and typing in keyword Community.You can also listen on the iHeartRadio app
(29:18):
Keywords Philadelphia Community Podcast. Follow meon Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.
I'm Lorraine Ballard MOREL and I standfor service to our community and media that
empowers. What will you stand for? You've been listening to what's going on,
and thank you
Good morning, and welcome to what'sgoing on? A show about making a
difference in our lives and our communities. I'm Lorraine ballat Marrow. Growing up,
there weren't very many diverse children's books, but now there are so many
wonderful selections, including this one.Once Upon the Sun and Sea, a
beautifully illustrated book of folk tales fromthe Philippines. I speak with the authors.
(00:22):
Last summer I hosted students with thecity's work Ready program. Here's an
interview by then eighteen year old LucasGonzalez. First important information about healthcare enrollment
sponsored by Independence Blue Cross. Openenrollment is the one time each year that
individuals and families can enroll in orchange their health plan each year. So
(00:43):
if you don't have a health planthrough an employer, union, group,
Medicare or Medicaid, now is thetime to shop. Enrolling in medical insurance
before the deadline is absolutely paramount forensuring financial security and access to essential healthcare
services. We're good to talk aboutopen enrollment, shopping for healthcare insurance,
financial assistance, and much much morewith Aaron Thurston. She's director of Member
(01:08):
Marketing for IBX. Thank you somuch. For joining us erin. Let's
begin by talking about the specific datesthat people need to keep in mind.
Tell us about those dates. Asyou said, open enrollment is that wants
a year chance for people who don'tget coverage through their employer or through a
government program to make sure that theyget coverage for themselves and their families.
The open enrollment period start at Novemberfirst, and it runs through January fifteenth.
(01:33):
It's important to note, though,if people want coverage for January first
of twenty twenty four, that theymust apply for coverage by December fifteenth of
twenty twenty three. Let's talk aboutshopping for health insurance for individuals and families.
What are some of the considerations thatpeople need to keep in mind when
they're shopping for a health plan.It's always important to consider what your options
(01:53):
are and also what your needs arefor yourself and your family. So as
you are considering all of those things, you can go out to Penny,
the state based marketplace to view youroptions, or you can visit ibx dot
com slash health plan to review allof our plan options and all of the
planned details that go with it.So as you're weighing your options, that
(02:15):
are available to you. You candetermine what's going to best meet your needs
and also your budget. A lotof folks are confused by the various initials
that we talk about when we discusshealth insurance, like PPO, HMO,
EPO. So tell us, Iknow that IBX does provide all those plans,
but tell us what are those initialsstand for and what do they provide?
(02:38):
You're right, so Independence is themost popular health insurance carrier in the
Philadelphia region, and we do provideplans in all of those different letters.
As you said, so the PPOoption is your most flexible option. So
that is going to provide people theability to see providers that are both in
our network as well as out ofour network. If members go out of
(02:58):
the network, they will have highercost sharing that they'll have to be accountable
for, but it gives them greateraccess to more providers. If you stay
in network, you'll have lower costsharing options and also the access to the
largest network in the region, asit is with our health plans and our
providers. So PPO itself stands forthe Preferred Provider network and it is one
(03:19):
of the most common types of plansavailable today. Another very common type of
plan is the HMO plan. Thatis your health maintenance organization is what those
letters stand for. And within anHMO plan, you are required to pick
yet another letter. Here we havethe PCP, so your primary care provider
who is going to help you manageyour health plan. When you have an
(03:39):
HMO plan, you are required toget referrals for certain types of visits,
but you're never going to get areferral for an OBGI N visit, mammograms,
mental health, or emergency care.So it is a really good option
for people who are looking for lowercost options, and if you are seeing
providers that are already within this network, great option for you to save money.
(04:01):
There is no coverage though in anHMO plan for out of network providers
except for emergency care, so Ido just want to note that. And
then finally, the EPO plan isa health plan that meets a little in
the middle between the HMO and thePPO plan. So it provides you the
ability to manage your own care withoutgetting a referral from a provider, but
you will have to stay within thenetwork for that plan. Gotcha. Now,
(04:26):
there are a lot of folks outthere who think they can't afford medical
insurance, and I wonder if youcan talk about financial assistance available to help
pay for plans. Yes, thereis financial assistance available in the form of
tax credits, and it's going tobe based off of your family size and
your income level with the amount ofcredits that you may be eligible to receive.
If you are eligible for these credits, it can help lower both the
(04:48):
monthly costs that you pay in termsof premium as well as potentially the out
of pocket costs when you go toget care. For people who are trying
to figure out they're eligible for thetax credits, they can visit ibx dot
com slash calculator to see if they'reeligible for lower out of pocket costs.
IBX does provide different options. Onething that I've found very helpful is the
(05:12):
virtual doctor's appointments because sometimes, youknow, you really get busy and sometimes
having a video appointment can make allthe difference in terms of convenience, especially
for folks who work. Tell usmore about that. Yeah, So all
of the independence plans provide virtual visitoptions with our end network providers at lower
out of pocket costs, and wealso cover virtual care visits through our vendor
(05:34):
partner, TELEDOCT, you're able tosee those TELEDOCT providers at no cost for
behavioral health dermatology as well as regularnon urgent visits. And finally, I
just want to talk about how importanthealth insurance is. I have lived in
the past way before, you know, in the distant past of my life,
I didn't have health insurance. Andwhen you don't have health insurance,
(05:58):
there's a lot of added stress becauseyou don't know what the cost of medical
care is going to be when yougo to see a doctor, and therefore
you're probably not going to see Ididn't go to see the doctor for many
years. And then fast forward tothe future. I have health insurance.
I have great health insurance, andbecause of that, I go to the
(06:19):
doctor. I get those checkups,I get the preventative care that I need
and deserve, as all people needand deserve. And it really has made
a huge difference. Having a robusthealth care plan that doesn't have a huge
copay or it doesn't have a hugedeductible. It just makes such a huge
(06:40):
difference. And in a society wherewe're really we really need to take care
of ourselves and we have heart disease, and we have diabetes, and we
have high blood pressure. We haveall of these conditions that a lot of
people allow to persist because they're reluctantto see the doctor because of the cost.
So let's talk that why it's soimportant to have health insurance, and
(07:02):
also that health insurance is available toanyone who needs to have it. That's
right, Loraine, and I reallyappreciate you sharing your personal story. It
is so important that people have healthinsurance because it is for just that the
unexpected costs that may be occurred forpeople who are not covered and then have
an unexpected health circumstance. So it'sreally important that when you have that coverage,
(07:26):
you can be proactive like you're beingwith your health. You can go
get those preventive care visits, youcan get your immunizations, you can get
your cancer screenings, all covered underyour health plan. I also have a
very similar story. Back when Iwas twenty four, I was diagnosed with
stage two Hotchkins. At twenty four, I was out of college, a
collegiate athlete, a healthy person ingeneral, and then to have something like
(07:48):
that happened to me was completely unexpected. Like you having the ability to go
through my health insurance to help withall of the visits that I needed to
have at the time, helped,you know, just prevent some additional stress
to that already stressful situation. Andit was just really reassuring to me that
I could get the care that Ineeded, and I could afford to get
(08:11):
the care that I needed when Ineeded it. Yeah, that's a very
important story to tell. And ifpeople want more information, not only for
the IBX clients that already have IBXinsurance, but those who are looking to
find the best plans to them.What's the best way to find out more?
You can always visit us online atibx dot com slash health plan,
or if you are not sure thedirection that you want to go for your
(08:33):
health plan and you have some questions, you can contact one of our licensed
agents at eight five five two fiveone two one five zero Monday through Friday
from eight to six and we'd behappy to answer any of your questions.
And we also want to repeat thatwebsite for Penny because that's a great website
also for information. Yes, Pennyis the state based health exchange, though
(08:54):
if you'd like to go out toPenny dot com that's p E n NI
E dot. You can visit thereto see all of the plans available in
your zip code. And what's thatdeadline? Once again for signing up.
If you want coverage for January,first sign up by December fifteenth, all
right, so don't delay sign uptoday. Aaron Thurston, director of Member
Marketing for IBX, thank you somuch for all this great information. Thank
(09:16):
you, Lauren. It's always wonderfulto talk about children's books because they make
such wonderful gifts. One such bookthat you might want to find out more
about is Once Upon the Sun andSea Indigenous Stories and Folk Tales from the
(09:39):
Philippines, a children's book for allwhich explores adventure across the far away islands
and open seas. Joining us totell us more about it are Denise A.
Rosa and Joe Tiungsung Perez. Deniseis a writer and award winning educator,
and Joe is a writer, educationadvocate and Chief Mark getting In Communications
(10:01):
Officer at the Penn Museum. AndI want to thank you so much for
joining us here today. Joe tellus how did this story come to be?
Thanks so much for having us,Lorraine, we're really excited to be
to be here being given a platformto talk about this book. This really
started as a conversation, an ongoingconversation actually between two moms who grew up
(10:22):
together in the Philippines in Manila aroundthe nineteen eighties, but found ourselves raising
our children outside of our home country. My child is older now, but
when she was younger around this,when they were toddlers, they would ask
us about stories from our home country, and it hit us. We had
this very similar experience when we startedtalking about it, that we only knew
(10:46):
a handful of Filipino stories compared tothe dozens of For me, it was
a lot of Western stories like HansChristian Anderson Brothers Grim and I absolutely love
those stories and they're very much apart of who I am now and how
I think. But it did thatthe question how come I only knew you
know a couple or three and Denisehad the same experience. Then the pandemic,
(11:09):
I feel like that's always a bigopener. Then the pandemic, and
then I'll just go straight in intosaying at the height of a lot of
violence and racism against Asian American communities, there was a response grant that pen
did through the Sex Program for ArtsInnovation, and they created an AAPI grant
(11:31):
to support creative practitioners. And sothis is how this, all these personal
conversations became formalized. We thought thatwhat if we applied and had a project
like a children's book of indigenous Filippinastories that we could put out there in
the world. It's really created forall explorers, for everybody just interested in
(11:52):
stories, but especially dedicated to theFilipina diaspora. Denise, I'd like to
ask you so growing up, andas Joe mentioned, there weren't a lot
of diverse books of any kind,and so that's where a book like this
adds to the richness of a child'sexperience to be able to see other cultures
and other mythologies in every culture.There's so many stories to tell, so
(12:16):
many folk tales. How did youselect the stories that you talk about in
the book. That's such a greatquestion learning Our process for selecting the stories
went through kind of different phases aswe were going through the project. Sho
I feel like we started with abouteight because I think initially we were thinking
(12:37):
we were basing that choice on theeight rays of the flag. If you
look at the Filipino flag, thereare eight rays on the sun to represent
the eight provinces that rose up againstSpanish rule at the time. So that
was sort of where we started.And then over time as we did our
research, we really started seeing therepresentation of Filipino stories as being something almost
(13:01):
inferior, you know, as wewent through a lot of different compilations,
it was really interesting to sort ofalmost see that slamp presented in some of
the story about compilations that we saw. So I guess ultimately we really tried
to find story sources that were asauthentic and as close to the source as
(13:22):
possible, and so we were reallyreally fortunate to be able to get access
with their consent to recordings, forexample, from two elders from the Tebanwa
people, who are an indigenous groupof people who live in a part of
the Philippines called Balawan. They're oneof the oldest indigenous groups in the country.
(13:45):
So with the help of someone thatJoe was able to find through an
organization called a Bianaz Foundation, wewere able to actually acquire direct recording of
these wonderful stories, and we hadto do the translation obviously, ourselves for
those ones. So just going backto our selection process, we really try
(14:07):
to focus on pre colonial stories aswell, because obviously as you go through
different folk tales and stories, you'llfind there are obviously colonial influences and a
lot of them. So we reallytried to go further back than that to
find really the stories that had indigenousroots. I love that, you know.
I think that culture is transmitted throughstories, and when you stop telling
(14:33):
those stories, then the history andthe continuity of culture can vanish. And
so that's why something like this isso critical for not only people of Filipino
descent, but also for the restof us to understand cultures that perhaps we
don't have a lot of access tomythologies and folklores that enrich our lives regardless.
(14:56):
I mean, when I was akid, I used to read great
mythology, so that informs a lotof our knowledge of the world and our
cultural influences. And I wondered,Joe, if you could maybe give us
an example of one of the storiesor several of the stories that really struck
you and really made a difference,that really felt like this is an important
story to tell. Well, firstof all, I loved what you said
(15:18):
about how storytelling transmits heritage. Icouldn't couldn't agree more. As we researched
the stories. As Dinny said,it's not just the stories themselves, but
also how they were characterized by earlieranthropologists too, And it was very,
very strange to see how earlier anthropologistswere characterizing them as primitive, savage,
(15:43):
weird. So there's this othering andso we couldn't help. But wonder could
that have contributed to the fact thatit never became part I don't want to
say never, but at least atthe time that we were growing up in
our own personal experiences, it justwasn't part of the popular storytelling cat even
in the Philippines themselves. But oneof the stories that resonated with me was
(16:04):
a story about a Bonnie Bullinian andthe Sun. It's striking resemblance to Jack
and the bean Stalk. And asI say that Jack and the Beanstalk,
we asked nine out of ten people, ten out of ten people will probably
know what it is. But likekid, you know, Bonnie Bullini and
in the Sun. Probably I didn'teven know about it, and I grew
(16:25):
up in Manila. But it's aboutthis girl who is also carried up by
vines, So again there's set similarityinto the realm of the Sun. In
that story, that character is callededith Enit, which literally translates to hot,
hot, but sort of deity orof god for the sun. But
in summarizing it, it's interesting thatthe story shifts from the female character.
(16:51):
I grew up with a lot ofcharacters in fairy tales where the woman or
the female character is always waiting tobe rescued, always waiting for someone something
to happen. Where she is inthis story very much a powerful agent in
her own and negotiates for her ownpower. Of course, it's not going
(17:11):
to be this formal when children readit, but that as an adult,
as I was researching the story,that's how it came out to me that
she was trying to negotiate this powerbalance with this other character, the Sun,
when she finds herself in his realm. It's an excerpt of a very
much longer story, but they endsomewhat in peace, but not a happily
(17:33):
ever after type of thing that wetypically see, and we saw a lot
of that in many other stories.We consulted an anthropologist for instance, from
the Philippines. This anthropologist worked fordecades with another indigenous group called the Manobo
tribe, and what she was interestingwas be careful about translating a lot of
(17:55):
these indigenous stories and try to avoidapplying deep sea modern frameworks that sometimes come
with binary values or a very neatarc of here's the introduction, here's the
problem, and here's the resolution,because some of these stories aren't meant to
have a happy ending or neatly tuckedin and here's the very very complete resolution.
(18:17):
It's just meant to be this momentin time where characters are inseparable from
their environments, like that's embedded ina lot of indigenous cultures, or the
person, the land, and everyother life form is all intertwined, and
it's just this continuum of existence.And in the beginning, when I would
read these stories that didn't have aand that's the moral of the story,
(18:38):
or that's a happy ever after,it's like, is that really the end?
And it took a while to letit sit and remember what a lot
of these other advisors told us thatyou know, it's actually okay in this
moment in time. That's how itall panned out. It was refreshing when
you say that the story that youmentioned has some similarities to Jack and the
(19:03):
Beanstalk, although very different story.It just strikes me that there seem to
be some things, some iconic imagesand ideas that transcend globally that you'll find
in one culture, very similar typesof themes and plots and stories. And
I think that what that tells meis that these are the things that bind
(19:27):
us together, that we have experiencesor ideas or iconic metaphors that transcend all
cultures right at the same time,very specifically are flavored by the culture in
which they are created. I'd liketo talk about the illustrations. So I
(19:48):
see a couple on the website thatyou have, and they're gorgeous. They're
absolutely gorgeous, They're colorful, they'reintricate, and clearly have a lot of
symbology involved. I wonder if youcan tell us, Denise, how you
selected or how you evolved the illustrations, because a lot of times I know
(20:08):
that in children's books in particular,the authors and the illustrators don't always communicate
with each other directly, So howdid that work for you? We were
very, very lucky our illustrator,whose name is Tin Javier. She's based
in the Philippines. She actually livesin a place called Cafta and the Philippines.
We were very, very lucky tofind her, and we did all
(20:30):
of this remotely, and it wasvery much a collaboration because what we did
was we provided Tin with the draftsof the stories. She gave a lot
of feedback and input onto the storiesas well, and applied a lot of
academic research, I guess, intoher own artwork because you can see she
uses like a punch paper technique andshe works with a lot of sort of
(20:53):
textures of textiles and colors, andso she researched about what all of those
different textiles and textures and patterns andcolors meant to the different indigenous groups that
were depicted in the story. Wewere really, really fortunate to have her.
She went through the entire process withus, step by step. I
(21:15):
just wanted to go back to theidea that the timing is so important when
you talk about exposure to these importantmyths or stories that connect us to our
culture. We really wanted it tobe a children's book, I guess,
because you know the stories that wehear when we're you know, six or
seven or eight. Those are thestories that really get embedded very deeply in
(21:37):
us, you know, those arethe stories that we don't forget. And
so I guess that was something reallyimportant, and the illustrations were a key
part of that. If you lookat these illustrations, they're so colorful,
they're so beautiful. They really bringthe story to life. And we really
wanted it to be able to capturea child's imagination during those kind of crucial
school age years because when those deepimpressions are made, hopefully they'll really end
(22:03):
up sparking, whether they're new discoveriesor new conversations with a family, or
ultimately really deep connections with culture andheritage and identity. Yeah. Well,
they're beautiful illustrations and very important bookto include in a child's library, include
in an adult's library as well,because I'm sure there are a lot of
(22:25):
people like me. I'm very interestedin folk tales and mythology, and so
I think it would be very interestingto have a copy of a book like
that to share with me an areathat I don't know very much about,
and that is Filipino culture and mythologyand folk tales, Joe. If people
want to find more information about thebook and perhaps get a copy, how
(22:48):
do they do that? Sure,they can go to Amazon or Barnes and
Noble online. It's available on thoseonline retailers. It's also available at Bookshop
on book Baby, and more informationis also available on our website. Once
upondsunensea dot com fantastic Once Upon theSun and Sea Indigenous Stories and Folk Tales
(23:11):
from the Philippines, a children's bookthat allows explorers of all types to adventure
across the far away islands and openseas and find out more about Filipino culture
and folklore. Thank you both forjoining us here today. Denise Arosa,
who's a writer and award winning educator. Joe T. Youngsun Perez, who
is a writer, education advocate,and chief Marketing and Communications officer at the
(23:34):
Penn Museum. Thank you so much, Thank you, Thank you so much,
Lorraine. Finally, last summer,I hosted students from the city's Work
Ready program. Here's an interview conductedby the then eighteen year old Lucas Gonzales.
(23:55):
In the name of full disclosure,the subject of the interview is my
husband and Lucas is his son.Today I am here with a great man,
a community activist, filmmaker and artist, Gilberto Gonzalez. Hey, Lucas,
how's it going, man, It'sgoing pretty good. How are you?
I'm all right, I'm all right. So today I wanted to talk
to you about your film twentieth inGreen to Oji, and I wanted to
(24:18):
know what inspired you to make thefilm. So what inspired me to develop
this film and produce it is thatPuerto Rican history in Philadelphia is written by
people that don't understand the culture ofPhiladelphia. There's a book that was written
by someone named Wahlan who wrote anentire book about Puerto Rican's Philadelphia, and
(24:41):
there were only two or three pagesabout the Spring Garden community. What she
failed to realize is that Spring Garden, for over one hundred years, was
the largest Latino Puerto Rican community inthe state of Pennsylvania. And I found
it insulting that she only wrote acouple of pages about us. So I
felt this was a reaction about Therewas more reaction in the fight against people
(25:04):
that published stuff about us that don'tknow us. What made this film so
special to you? What was whatabout it? Was your special connection to
it that compelled you to make itso. My special connection is that family
members were two Olg's good friends weretwo Ogs, Orlando Cucko Johnny Gonzalez,
(25:26):
who just recently passed away. Hewas my big brother. You know.
He protected me, he defended me. You know. He was older than
me, and I was like hislittle tale. I would follow him everywhere.
You know. The two Ogs weredear to me, you know,
their family, and I felt theirstory needed to be told. I also
spent a lot of my life onthat street. Yes she did, yeah,
(25:49):
yeah. Or your grandma, Yeah, your grandma lived on mat Vernon
Yeah, yeah for many years.Now she's on Wallace. It's not quite
the same, yeah, because theypushed out a lot of the Puerto Ricans
that that were there. Yeah.Bohno was a lot younger. She had
that tiny house with the garden,yes, yes, yeah. Last question
is do you miss it? DoI miss it? Yeah? That little
(26:10):
garden? Honestly, yeah, Imissed that. I miss how it used
to feel walking through there. Yeah, right morning. Yeah, everybody knew
you. Yeah, Oh, littleLuca is you know it was like this
when you walked into that neighborhood,you get embraced. Yeah. Yeah,
everyone there knew each other. Everyonewas willing to help out for something.
Yep. What hurdles did you encounterwhile making the film? So? I
(26:36):
think one hurdle was money, tryingto raise the money to do it.
The other hurdle was the so calledleader. Latino's leaders in this city they
would not support the movie. Actually, even when the movie was completed,
they would not want to show itin their organizations because they instantly said,
(27:00):
oh, Puerto Rican gang, Wedon't want to expose our children to that.
And that was wrong because the toolg's weren't just yeah, I mean,
they're bad people everywhere, that's justthe nature of life, right,
But there were a lot of goodpeople, you know, who did good
things, who fought, you know, against police abuse, who protected women
(27:22):
from other I mean, it's likethat they protected people, you know.
And I think one of the biggesthurdles, and one of the most hurtful
hurdles, is when you have theso called leaders, because they're not my
leaders, tell me that, oh, well, we can't show your film
because it's about a gang. Butyet it was shown at University of Pennsylvania
University of the Arts. It wasshown at Temple, it was shown at
(27:45):
Arcadia. It was shown at collegesaround the region. It was shown in
Italy, it was shown in Canada, it was shown in Puerto Rico.
Wow, you know, and it'slike and it's like, but you people
are trying to shame me and saythat, oh, well, it's a
movie about a gang. I thinkthat was probably out of all the little
(28:06):
hurdles, that was the most impactfulone. If you could describe with your
feelings, how would you describe theoverall film. So people love the film,
they love the historical footage, thehistorical photos. I think it told
the story because it is the PuertoRican story. The tool g is the
Puerto Rican story. And I gavespace to people that would have never been
(28:32):
heard, that would have been forgotten, that nobody would remember, that nobody
would care about other than their families. I gave them the space to be
heard. And lastly, if peoplewould like to watch this film, is
there anywhere they could watch it?Yeah, if they go to the video
site Venmo, Vimeo, Vimeo.It is still on Vimeo. It's free.
(28:53):
You can pull it down, youcan watch it, you can even
download it. It's free, sogo watch it, yes, go watch
it. Yes. Oh. Thankyou Gilberto for taking the time to do
this interview with me today. Youwelcome and thank you so much for having
me. You can listen to allof today's interviews by going to our station
website and typing in keyword Community.You can also listen on the iHeartRadio app
(29:18):
Keywords Philadelphia Community Podcast. Follow meon Twitter and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard.
I'm Lorraine Ballard MOREL and I standfor service to our community and media that
empowers. What will you stand for? You've been listening to what's going on,
and thank you
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