BACKGROUND OF AUTHOR : Bino A. Realuyo was born in Manila, Philippines and moved to the U.S. as an adolescent. He started writing plays and poetry as a child, but his love for world history, cultures and languages drove him to pursue International Studies at the American University’s School of International Service and Universidad Argentina de la Impresa in Buenos Aires. Later in life, he pursued graduate studies in education and non-profit management at Harvard University as a Leadership Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government's Center for Public Leadership. He started publishing professionally in the U.S. in his early 20s, but he has always worked outside the literary and academic establishments as a community organizer and educator. Fourteen years after his immigration to NYC, he published his first book, the novel The Umbrella Country (1999). The San Francisco Chronicle called The Umbrella Country as a “significant contribution to Filipino-American literature.” He is also the author of a poetry collection The Gods We Worship Live Next Door (2005) which won an Agha Shahid Ali Prize in Poetry and the 2009 Philippine National Book Award. Judge Grace Schulman described Realuyo’s work as “passionate without a trace of sentimentality.” Realuyo co-founded the seminal literary organization, The Asian American Writers Workshop in 1991, and has since consistently published in literary journals, anthologies, and magazines. He edited The NuyorAsian Anthology: Asian American Writings About New York City (1999), which mapped Asian American life in New York City, from the works by poet Jose Garcia Villa in the 1930s and the birth of the Asian-American literary and political movement in the 1970s to more contemporary voices; and the special Filipino and FilipinoAmerican issue of The Literary Review, "Am Here: Contemporary Filipino Writings in English” (2000).” He has published literary works in literary journals and magazines such as The Nation, The Kenyon Review, The Missouri Review, The Literary Review, Asymptote, ZYZZYVA, New Letters, Manoa: A Pacific Journal of International Writing, Mid-American, Review, Puerto del Sol, Borderlands, Snail’s Pace Review, Adirondack Review, The Asian Pacific American Journal, and most recently in North American Review, New American Writing, Painted Bride Quarterly, Salamander, and The Common. Realuyo has been graciously honored with two fellowships in fiction from NYSCA/New York Foundation for the Arts, Valparaiso Fellowship for fiction, Urban Artists Grant for fiction, Queens Council on the Arts for poetry, Yaddo Fellowship for poetry, Van Lier Fellowship for poetry, Asian American Writer’s Workshop “Member’s Choice” Literary Award, a Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, and a 2009 Philippine National Book Award for Poetry. Although he works outside the literary and academic MFA systems, he has been invited to readings and lectures across the country and abroad, including colleges and universities such as Borough of Manhattan Community College, University of Miami, Fordham University, SUNY Buffalo, Fairleigh Dickingson University, Morristown, NJ; Barnard College, Columbia University, NY; Boston College, Boston, MA; A/P/A Studies Institute, New York University; University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; University of California, Riverside, CA; Hampshire College, NH; University of Chicago, IL; University of California, Berkeley, CA; Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA; and the University of the Philippines, Diliman. He is passionate about social justice, having worked as an educator and community organizer in New York City for the past 30 years. He learned the language of social justice from his father, a survivor of WW2 Bataan Death March and Japanese Concentration Camps in the Philippines. He currently directs an adult literacy and education programs for immigrant adult learners. He created We Speak America, a podcast for immigrant adult learners. He is a world traveler and speaks four languages. Bino Realuyo, a Filipino-American poet, novelist, and essayist based in New York, USA, wrote a very beautiful essay in the form of a letter addressed to our Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach (Miss Philippines), published on Huffington Post dated December 23, 2015. Dear Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2015, Confidently Beautiful, With a Humble Heart By Bino A. Realuyo SELECTION : (Summary) Dear Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2015, Confidently Beautiful, With a Humble Heart What a humbling experience to watch your circuitous path toward the Miss Universe crown. It is easy to get lost in your triumph, easier even to fail to see the message. It is easy to participate in the glory of winning, especially yours, especially retrospectively, although none of us will ever know what it was really like for you making an attempt for the Miss Philippines crown three times, how those years must be like when you were the only one who could see your star consistently shine. However, in the coming year that you will wear your crown and your dream, we need to remind those of us who waited for forty-two years for this moment not get blinded by the glitter of gems, but to remain focused on the transformative power of your humble story. Humility has become so rare in our age of tribal nationalism. When Filipinos say they waited for 42 years for another Miss Universe crown, we didn’t expect it to turn into a global telenovela switched on the moment the wrong winner was announced. As I write this, the fires are still burning in the heart of those who couldn’t simply translate “defeat” or “grace” into their native languages, but instead resorted to spewing hateful and highly personal online sound bytes. The tribal conversations quickly left the deeply human and traumatic realm of public humiliation and entered a dark mob-like online rant about how Colombia deserved a back-to-back win, and expectedly made a downward spiral into conspiracy theories. It is disturbing how quickly the global village showed its ugly horn, unable to recognize the truth in the story from the fantasy of wishful thinking. The message of winning humbly is lost on many of us. Even more, the idea of resilience in the face of numerous defeat. If anyone understands how to transcend the agony of losing, it is you, the breadwinner of your family since you were 11 years old. For the last three years that I have tried, people are laughing at me and saying that I was trying too hard. And my answer is yeah, I really am trying hard. I try my hardest because this is what I want. Indeed, there is grace and humility in losing, and you demonstrated that for the few minutes that you were the Miss Universe First Runner-up. You called it, destiny, and gently surrendered to your fate as second best. Fortunately, the universe had a better plan for you. Even when you were ultimately declared the true winner, your hesitant walk to the front stage was one full of sympathy and tenderness for the other woman who was humiliated in front of millions by Steve Harvey’s humanly error. Even with the crown on your head, you made an attempt to comfort the suffering Miss Colombia, risking being ignored or rejected by the other scorned candidates. For you, kindness is more important than ambition. The crown can wait, a human touch can’t. Amid the ruinous noise, you humbly reached out to Miss Colombia by publicly apologizing for an error that wasn’t even yours to own. And Miss Colombia somehow managed to post pictures on her Instagram of herself winning the Miss Universe crown, considering public testament by one of the judges, Perez Hilton, that you were the unanimously voted first placer. Before you even start your Miss Universe voyage, your legacy in humility is already being written. Never mind those who doubted you, never mind those who are still bashing you online, never mind the latinas who still think winning Miss Universe is their birthright, never mind the obstacles that you have yet to face in the coming years, we, the Pianatics, are here to do our part in our bayanihan. You have reminded us in the past twenty-four hours to search within and elevate our human values against angry mobs. You have transformed a beauty pageant of glitter, appearances, and high-heeled logic into a pageantry of virtues and human decency. You have taught us already to never give up on our dreams and move forward with grit. You are showing the world what it means to be a daughter of the global village, and how she must carry herself on the ashes of controversy. But most of all, your triumph is embedded in your humility, a message so desperately needed in a global village that keeps getting battered by hubris, impulsive reactions, and lack of self-awareness. Pianatically Yours, Bino A. Realuyo TEXT REVIEW : 1. Filipinos are generally obsessed with beauty contests, which is why a beauty titlist in local,national or international contests is often treated as a hero. Discuss Realuyo's take on Pia Wurtzbach's 2015 Miss Universe feat. Realuyo has shown a lot of pride, admiration, and respect towards Pia Wurtzbach’s winning the Miss Universe Pageant in 2015. 2. How difficult it is, according to Pia, joining the Binibining Pilipinas thrice, "When you were the only one who could see your star consistently shine. It was indeed very difficult for Pia joining the Binibining Pilipinas thrice since she was up against the people who did not believe in her. The bashing and insult challenged her the most into becoming Miss Universe. 3. Why does Realuyo say that "Humility has become so rare in our age of tribal nationalism?" Do you agree with his observation? At this time of Tribal Nationalism, humility is really rare since so many people would like to show others that they are really the best while some have become proud once crowned with success. 4. How does Pia demonstrate grace and humility in losing? How can a pageantry of glitter and glamour be transformed into a pageantry of virtues and human decency? She readily accepted her defeat or gently surrendered to her fate being called the 1strunner-up. When Steve Harvey apologized for the error committed when he announced the wrong winner, Pia had shown compassion and empathy to the dethroned winner. She even apologized for that error she herself didn’t commit. 5. Explain "Kindness is more important than ambition. The crown can wait, a human touch can't" Kindness is the only word that doesn’t hurt. It is encompassing . It goes beyond the word itself. It is therefore more important than ambition because it can become everyone’s ambition. If one lives in kindness and peace, everything will follow. The crown can wait because your chance to have it will always be there, but human touch can’t for it will pass. LITERATURE HIGHLIGHTS : Blog is another word for web blog which consists of posts or entries displayed a reverse order wherein the most recent post appears first in the site. Generally interactive in nature, any visitor may leave a message or comment regarding the content of the blog thereby strengthening social relations and networks. Literary texts, online diaries, critiques, personal commentaries and instructional resources may find their way in the weblog. Very well said! Thank you for your inspiring and uplifting letter. Pia is really, a person with a beautiful HEART. She is a motivator and an inspiration indeed. https://www.vintersections.com/2016/01/tribute-to-our-miss-universe-2015pia.html BINO A. REALUYO https://harvardreview.org/contributor/bino-a-realuyo/ BACKGROUND OF CHARACTER : (Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach) She is Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach who is a beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 2015 on December 20, 2015 after becoming Miss Universe Philippines 2015 at the Binibining Pilipinas 2015 pageant on March 15, 2015. Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach was born in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, in West Germany, to a German father and Filipino mother. Her middle name of "Alonzo" is her mother's maiden name which is a naming practice in the Philippines and based upon Spanish naming customs. She later moved to Cagayan de Oro on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines where she attended kindergarten at Kong Hua School and primary school at Corpus Christi. Her parents separated when she was 11 years old and she became the family's main money-earner until the age of 18 by doing modeling and acting. After being raised in the Philippines, she spent several years in England. She finished her secondary education at ABS-CBN Distance Learning School in Quezon City, Metro Manila and studied culinary arts at the Center for Asian Culinary Studies in San Juan, Metro Manila. Many people, including myself, admire Pia because of her good personality, stunning beauty, intelligence, kindness and sense of humor. She is also a woman with grace and humility. She is also contented. She loves her family so much and she became the breadwinner of the family through acting and modeling at such a young age for her mom and younger sister. She is also a woman with many goals in her life, and one of her goals finally came true, and that was when she won Miss Universe 2015. Hard work and Determination are aspects that Pia has to be able to achieve her goals in her life. I learned that Pia has a strong fighting spirit. She prove to herself that she does not easily give up because before winning as a Miss Universe 2015, she joined the Binibining Pilipinas Pageant three times before winning the Miss Universe Philippines 2015 title. During Binibining Pilipinas 2013, she was the 1st Runner-Up (5th place). She joined again the Binibining Pilipinas 2014, but only placed in the Top 15. On her third attempt in 2015, she finally won the highest title, Miss Universe Philippines, and went on Las Vegas, Nevada to compete in the Miss Universe 2015 Pageant.
