reminisce: laurieanne ledesma

"What is a past experience that shaped your Filipino-American identity?"

​I was born and raised in Roanoke, Virginia. There is a large Filipino-American community over there. They are my family, my kapamilya growing up. They are my titos, titas, lolos, lolas, ates and kuyas. One of my earliest memories in Virginia is when all of us would go over to each others houses. There would be karaoke, kids playing in the backyard, all the adults playing cards, everyone laughing and having a good time. Of course the table would always be filled with all the filipino dishes like rice, chicken adobo, pancit, lumpia, bibingka, and so much more. I remember when I moved to Lynnwood, Washington when i was nine or ten years old. Honestly it was a hard transition for me. I went to school where I didnt know anyone. I left all the people I knew growing up behind. The first few years of living in Washington was rough. I met a 

few friends, but it didnt feel the same as when I was in Virginia. Flash forward few years later Im in middle school. I met a friend who is also Filipino-American. It was so cool sharing stories with each other. We would talk about our favorite filipino dishes and teach each other some words in Tagalog. I grew up in a household where my parents would speak to each other in Tagalog, but speak to me in English. I remember some times in middle school when I would bring a filipino dish for lunch. Sometimes I would see people looking at my food all weird while my friends and a few others would look at my food saying the food I have looks delicious. Because of the people that looked at my food in a weird way in middle school I stopped bringing those dishes when I went to high school. In high school, I started packing sandwiches for lunch. Thinking about it now, its crazy why I did that. It wasnt until attending college at Western Washington University that I started to embrace my Filipino-American identity. I joined the Filipino American Student Association (FASA) Club and Sayaw sa Western my first year. In four years Ive got the chance to meet alot of Filipino-Americans in WWU FASA and NWFASA. Because of WWU FASA and NWFASA I learned more about my Filipino-American identity.