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00:30:34
00:32:44
00:30:34
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Transcription: [00:30:34]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
--sort of separate that, y'know? And when I have Filipino friends who say, "Well you're family to me," um, it sort of has...

[00:30:41]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
a very warped or twisted sensibility. So for me, when I can commune and share the stage with you, it's such a, a healing process, for me--
[00:30:53]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
Yeah.

[00:30:54]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
um, to be here, and on the Mall.

[00:30:55]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
Yeah.

[00:30:56]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
Um, so, I-- I guess if you wanted to respond to that...

[00:30:58]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
Yeah, um, I was doing spoken word poetry in a competitive place,

[00:31:04]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
for th-- some of you don't know, there's something called poetry slam,

[00:31:07]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
um, which is basically, we perform these poems that make us very vulnerable, that make us cry--

[00:31:11]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
and we let strangers judge us. It's, like, the most abusive thing we could do to ourselves. [[Regie laughs]]

[00:31:16]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
Um, but I've been doing it for 10 years, I did it nationally and internationally,

[00:31:20]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
and I was-- I just kept competing, kept competing, but-- uh, and Regie sa-- I told Regie this before we did this show,

[00:31:27]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
I never do poems that have to do with me being Filipino, or having immigrant parents,

[00:31:31]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
because I know those poems don't score very well in a competitive stage.

[00:31:35]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
Um, the poems that-- that score well, um, are very far from my identity, or um, they're a narrative that's not my own,

[00:31:42]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
and so I don't feel comfortable saying a story that's not my own. Some people will, for the scores, um,

[00:31:47]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
but for my own values I just don't. Um, so this is really nice, because it's really hard to find

[00:31:54]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
um, a community of Filipino poets where all of our stories, um, are kind of aligned, and our values are aligned, and

[00:32:01]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
um, other people can hear them, together, rather than sprinkling them every now and then.

[00:32:06]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
Um, I'd love to trade it over to you-- you're such a beautiful audience, um, and so it-- it's--

[00:32:12]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
with you being vulnerable on the Mall, it's hard to tell who's listening, you feel like you're on the radio,

[00:32:17]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
but there's actually people... here. So I want to thank you for being very, very, um, attentive and-- and with us.

[00:32:24]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
So, we'd love to trade it over to you, um, and um, we have our Folklife Festival,[[minor applause]] phenomenal, staff person here with a microphone,

[00:32:34]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
So if you have any questions for us, this is our second show today and, like, right now we're--we're like--

[00:32:39]
{SPEAKER name="Jerrica Escoto"}
Oh my god, yeah. [[both laugh]]

[00:32:40]
{SPEAKER name="Regie Cabico"}
But we'd love to-- please energize us, and-- and, share your thoughts, or questions .