Forty Years of Writing in America
By Ludy Astraquillo Ongkeko
Philippine launching on December 1, 2008, 4 pm at Bound Bookshop. Everyone is invited.
As the title suggests, the book dwells on forty years of writing in America. Through those
years, the author has put her thoughts, reflections, experiences, perspectives and approaches via
the vehicle of the written word. It is not a chronology. Nor is it an anthology. Wittingly or unwittingly,
it has a dual background:Â the Philippines, the author’s birthplace and the United States which she has
called home for more than four decades. There are events that have been identically celebrated by the two nations. Such familiar signposts were what America brought to the Philippines. Therefore, celebrations, i.e., Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day; Memorial Day; Father’s Day; Christmas and the New Year are far from alien to Filipinos, hence the sense of focus on those significant commemorations in the book.
The book’s seven chapters tell how the author dealt with multifaceted influences, her impressions on the
land of her birth gathered during many periodical visits. The martial law government from 1972-1986 was a new chapter in her homeland’s history, written descriptions about it came from her own experiences and other Filipino Americans who likewise returned to visit their homeland.   “America: A New World Renewed” is thus entitled because the author had resided in the United States, returned to her birthplace briefly and when the appropriate moment came, decided to migrate to the U.S.. Shortly after, Ludy became a U.S. citizen, and called her adopted home, “a new world renewed.”
She writes about the personalities she met; writing assignments as a graduate student; occasions of significance that left indelible influences on her; a number of national issues which she calls “hot-button” concerns confronting today’s America. High on her list are those that include Iraq, the economy, poverty,
education, medical care, immigration reform, problems of the aging, civil rights, civil service, misplaced
values, boundaries on church and state issues, global warming, U.S. foreign relations, and those that
members of the U.S. citizenry consider of present-day relevance.
Inevitably, Philippine cultural influences in America are discussed:Â various representatives from the ranks
of music; art and dance, all products of creativity of her homeland’s artistry; her pleasure in meeting with
the granddaughter of the first president of the Republic of the Philippines, Margie Moran, Miss Universe of
1973, daughter of Charo Roxas-Moran, a college classmate and sorority sister from the author’s under-
graduate days at the University of the Philippines; Historic Los Angeles, a Filipino Town bustling in that
busy metropolis, how the Filipino relies on faith as a rallying force; Dr.Jose P. Rizal, the Filipino people’s
greatest hero; political and social indicators in the Philippines; progress reports on Philippine education;
and not forgetting to discuss the assimilation process popularly experienced by the immigrant Filipino’s status enhanced by education and training against the backdrop of new horizons.
The chapter on “The Philippine Heritage” zeroes in on the legacy Filipinos abroad do to preserve their
inimitable beliefs on the role of the family: respect for their elders; preserving the cultural heritage; Filipino
hospitality; the pride exuding from Filipino entrepreneurship; feeling of elation derived from family traits passed on from one generation to another, many of which Filipino Americans attribute to their forebears.
“The Power of Communication” highlights letters from some of the author’s former students in the Philippines who have corresponded with her for the first time after more than forty years from various parts of the globe. Her sense of nostalgia is awakened by the nature of communication pieces she receives from her students who, as they are ensconced in their professional life, remember the author as a mentor.
The last chapter’s focal point is on the author’s family, her three children and half-a-dozen grandchildren, each one his/her own person as they all have become part of the warp and woof of the American fabric that underscores education, one legacy that is highly-prized by the American people as a bulwark of what makes their nation unparalleled in the world.
Ludy candidly brings out her experiences in having navigated oceans, from the East Pacific to the West Pacific. She expresses hers and her husband’s many hopes that as “worthy” Americans, they have rendered what they were capable of doing, as they guided their children to complete their educational objectives in line with their professional pursuits while they share America’s gifts. As their dreams about freedom and
education still continue to be central to their priorities, the author calls those pivotal pieces of the legacy
which she and her husband as their grandparents, wish to pass on to their children’s children, their half-a-dozen grandchildren, their third generation, they who are first-generation Americans.
*****
Ludy Astraquillo Ongkeko is a product of two educational systems: the state-owned University of the Philippines where she received her undergraduate degrees and the Graduate School of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles (a private institution of higher learning) where she was granted graduate degrees in journalism and communications.
Ludy held a tenured faculty position at the University of Southern California (USC) where she edited an academic journal and co-authored articles in academic publications.
“Forty Years of Writing in America” is her first solo-flight.
Since 1966, Ludy’s news stories and feature articles originated from her assignments while attending
The Graduate School, USC. In 1971, after she received her Ph.D., Ludy charted her own voyage of discovery drawn from her columns in the Philippine News, the only coast-to-coast Philippine American weekly in America, interspersed with assignments from other publications, Philippine Review, Filipino Panorama and Manila’s Business Daily where she maintained a column, Dateline U.S.A., as its overseas columnist.
Living in America continuously, Ludy first glimpsed, then embraced what she eventually promised to do,
continue writing her column so she could “give something of myself,” to her community. Early on, she envisioned what she would be doing, articulating her insights and perspectives and has not stopped doing just that. Hers is a style that has sprung from her reportorial days in the Manila Daily Bulletin, her first
employer after her graduation from the U.P. She has written for such Philippine publications: Sunday Times; Weekly Women’s Magazine; Daily Times; Saturday Mirror; Kislap-Graphic and The Nation.
Ludy still refers to the City of Baguio as her old hometown. Her husband, Colonel Hermie Ongkeko, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, retired from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.  Ludy and
Hermie have three children. The eldest, Rafael, is a Superior Court Judge, County of Los Angeles; his
siblings are Gilda and Gerine. Gilda holds a master’s degree in social work from The Graduate School of
Social Work, USC and is an assistant clinical professor at the University of California in Los Angeles. She has established and owns a child development center in the City of Santa Monica; Gerine, a Certified Public Accountant, has a master’s in professional accounting earned at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Ludy and Hermie have six grandchildren: two granddaughters and four grandsons. Four are all college and university graduates; only the youngest grandsons are still in school; one at Maine’s Bowdoin College and the youngest, in high school.
When asked what she enjoys most, Ludy has a quick reply, “Grandparenthood. It has no parallel.”
