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The first picture is from Amana, Nature Reserve, an eco-friendly sanctuary of Yong Nieva in Cawit, Boac. The next two photographs were taken from the balcony of the Chateau Du Mer Beach House in Amoingon, Boac, "Sunset at Low Tide"!
Yong (Guillermo Nieva,Jr) Nieva, Macrine's first cousin sent us an e-mail recently to collect articles from Marinduquenos all over the world on their memories about growing up in Marinduque. Eventually, as soon as I received a number of posts, we will published it as book as serious reading that stirs the soul and commit our beloved island of Marinduque to memory... in our hearts, in our minds and in our souls! So that even when we look beyond the coast of California across the Pacific, at least we will not be alone, we have company in each other souls! A collection of true "felt stories".
Yong wrote the following Preface for the Proposed Book, "Marinduque on My Mind"
Marinduque is a strange illness. You come and you would go. You think you are leaving, but its the town that gets away from you. You wish you could understand, and yet you keep coming back.
I realized I had a "problem" that I have to deal with; the problem of my relationships to this small island and the areas around it. I therefore decided that someday we can write a book to try to understand what was really happening, that could clarify our feelings, not by thinking descriptively,analytically or rationally.
We must follow the journey to go back in time. Follow a thread, but which one?
It really doesn't matter. We just let ourselves be led by an image; a word, a memory; the trails of ink left by visitors who have been won over and those that have been lost. There's so many indeed!
Here's a short biography of Yong: He is named after his father Guillermo(Will) Sarmiento Nieva,Sr of Boac. He has grown to be known as Yong. After a short stint with Philippine Airlines, in 1980, he got married and lived in San Francisco working for Allstate Insurance for fifteen years. In 1955 he got divorced and moved back to Manila. He is now in the restaurant business. Together with his wife Ivy Syquia Almario, an interior designer, they regularly visit Cawit, Boac starting an "ecologically-correct" family retreat or sanctuary. They named it AMANA, Nature Reserve.(see first picture above).
Here's a summary of Yong's email to us:
Dear Manang Macrine and Manong Dave'
Greetings! It was a lazy Sunday afternoon today and looking at the photos in my e-mail of my project in Cawit " The Amana", I was struck by the thought of what is it that really beckons me to keep going back to our beloved island, Marinduque.
When I started thinking of words to describe the feeling about Marinduque, all thoughts just came in a rush. It became a virtual "collage-series" of events in my young life. How Papa made it an annual mandate that we spent two weeks of summer with Lola Elving and our aunts, uncles and cousins in Boac. Ah, days of reckless abandon-the treks to the beach, and the jam-sessions at night. How we felt so loved by each and everyone of them, which even to this day we cherish. How even our cousins friends also became our friends. And they remember!
This is not only about us-the children of Guillermo "Will" Nieva of Boac. I then thought, "What about others"? What about those, who like me lived in the States, but still carry Marinduque in their hearts. Maybe if we all share via website, the hi-tech way, to answer the question of what really beckons us to Marinduque. Then together we can solve this strange illness. ( My personal comment: this illness will grow deeper and stronger as we grow older and older).
Surely, the Marinduquenos association all over the US, do not only continue to thrive because of its leaders, but also because if we really look closely, there are many reasons why its members continue to stay in touch. It is a rare gift, if I may say so!
In that Marinduquenos heart, there's still an image- a face of his/her first love, or the first kiss; an incident in his/her young life that forever changed his life; his dreams, his goals, his pains that drove him to become what he/she is now; the emotions felt of being left behind from a good bye; the sound of the rambling jeepney on its way to Balanacan; the scent of coconut oil in early morning hours as you drive the narrow roads; the fear and scampering from the town's idiot or from the town's bully, and why not? the love story of beautiful "Peace Corp" volunteer fell in love and married the handsome local swain! So many essays and narratives to start and follow the "journey". ( Personal Note: I was told the pancit of Choing still reminds some of you of your pleasant childhood memories.
Manong Dave, could you please design a website for this literary project and invite our fellow Marinduquenos there in US to share their thoughts, hearts and feelings in words and so we can solved (or at least understand) this "strange illness" inside each and everyone of us!
My response to Yong: I am excited of this idea. My suggestion is to create a blog site instead of a website. The blog site is easy to manage. This is where articles could be posted and edited. The blog site is free and easy. I could titled it http://marinduqueonmymind.blogspot.com. I will manage it along with my other blogs on the internet. Once we have collected a number of postings, we can published it ourselves via publisher as mypublisher.com or Sharebook.com
I will volunteer to write an article on " I left my Heart in Marinduque ( not in San Francisco), since I did not grow up in Marinduque but married a Marinduquena. Rene Nieva, Yong's oldest brother also wrote me, he will support this project.
NOTE TO ALL MARINDUQUENOS WHO WANTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS PROJECT:
You may write your article via the comment section of this blog or sent your article to my e-mail, tagajaro@comcast.net or to tagaboac@comcast.net. I am looking forward to your submissions.
