I came to Obama a little later than some folks (Dillon, our Little Manila Exec Director, was among the first who immediately recognized his potential -- I'll give credit where it's due!). Perhaps I was scared to tie my hopes to a liberal black man, only to be crushed. We were in the Philippines during the Iowa caucuses so we missed that pivotal moment. When we returned and found the rest of our friends and family had converted from Hillary to Obama, the love-fest began in earnest. We agonized through the primaries, argued with Hillary holdovers, rejoiced at the DNC as we watched on TV, and I gave money to the campaign (a first for me for any political campaign), spoke at a Filipinos for Obama event, and phonebanked for him.
"I thought we were saving for a flatscreen TV?!" an incredulous Jesse asked, every time he saw the Obama website open, my finger hovering over the trackpad so I could click "DONATE." Oh well. The $100 TV I bought from my student Sarah at SFSU in 2000 would have to make it to 2009. So what if it emitted piercing whines at random moments. But Jesse was as much an Obama supporter as me, so he understood.The moment that it seemed Barack Obama was poised to win (sometime in late summer), I called my longtime friend Donna in DC and reserved a spot on her couch in case Obama won. I had frequent flyer miles and the luck of being on semester break during the inaugural week, so I figured it would be an incredible moment to be able to witness, and to bring back for my family, friends and my students. And on election night, we partied with the Demos at the St. Francis on Union Square.
The next day, I emailed Nancy Pelosi, my congresswoman, and Dianne Feinstein, one of my senators, to request tickets, figuring that I had a better chance at winning Lotto than scoring one of the 280,000 tickets to the inauguration, since even the reps in the red states were getting deluged. Imagine Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, where SF, her district, voted 80% for Obama? I could only imagine she must have gotten 100,000+ requests. Since the National Mall would be open, Donna and I figured we'd just join the masses watching the Jumbotrons. Jesse wasn't interested in standing for hours with 5 million people in 20 degree weather, so he said he'd pass. Just being there was enough, Donna and I said to each other.
On December 22, over pork curry at Burma Superstar with my cousin/auntie Dr. Joan May Cordova, FANHS president and Drexel prof., my iPhone buzzed with a new email, from Nancy Pelosi's office. I joked, "Ok, here's the email where she politely apologizes for not being able to give me tickets." Then I clicked it open.
I blinked. And blinked again. I had to read the first paragraph four or five times because I didn't quite believe it.
"Dear Dr....," the letter begins. "Thank you for contacting me to request tickets to the 56th Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, 2009."
This was the part I couldn't quite believe: "I am delighted to be able to offer you two tickets to this historic event."
So now some family members think I'm some political big shot in Northern California, or that Pelosi knows me because of my scholarship and Little Manila activism. I've never met her in my life, though I've sent her numerous letters pushing for Filipino Veteran's Equity in the past year. I figure my name was picked randomly from amongst the thousands, but I'll let my mom and aunties and uncles think that I'm really important.
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