Month of August People & August Happenings

By: Veronica Leighton

 

Top of August month to all our august readers, friends and advertisers! This month, we congratulate one of our august columnists for publishing his first novel, Professor Robert H. Boyer, an American who’s a noted authority about the Philippines (“Philippines,” page 33). Mr. Boyer enthusiastically wrote, “It is with great excitement that I’m emailing you today! My book, ONE MORE DAY, is complete and will be sent to print later this week. Gram’s spirit has sure breathed new life into this project! Thank you for the congratulations. I will be delighted if “The Magic Necklace of Al-Andalus” matches the high standards set by Victoria (referring to poet/ novelist Victoria Smith, columnist of “Warrior’s Heart on page 24), the other novelist on your team. And, thank you for the offer of some announcement space in the magazine (page 22). Thanks again for your enthusiastic kind words. It’s really nice, as you know, when others are excited about your work.”

Prof. Robert Boyer received his PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania in 1969 and spent the next 36 years teaching at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin. He has traveled extensively in Spain and the Philippines. Now retired, he continues to teach occasionally and write regularly. His publications include Visions and Imaginings: Classic Fantasy Fiction and Sundays in Manila, a memoir. Though he became well-practiced in the oral story-telling tradition, The Magic Necklace of Al-Andalus is his first novel. He attributes any successes to Barbara, his spouse of 53 years, with whom he resides in De Pere, WI. “The book is now available for pre-orders, but only to family/ friends/supporters. You can click on the book to the left to pre-order now. The general public will not be able to purchase this until later this fall,” he says.

August, being the birth month of Via Times now on its 34th year of existence, we are happy to share with our readers, friends and fans, a short memoirs to be published, amongst others, next year in MEMORIES, a legacy, coffee table book published by Dr. Carmencita Quesada Fulgado, about me and VT. Enjoy reading the preview of this memoirs on page 5, Veronica’ Vibes.

Of course, VT Family has started its plans for the anniversary celebration in a grand picnic at the Pavilion coupled with birthday celebrations of our August staffers Joe Mauricio, Elsie Sy-Niebar and Robert Chavez and special friend Dan Gawat.

We have nice pictorial spreads in this issue dedicated to the following nice people…Consul General Generoso DG Calonge, who’s slated to leave Chicago after the end of his tenure as a foreign affairs officer sometime this month, on page 8 in Farewell, a special report and interview by Columnist Melody Rabor-Dizon. He has been feted to a lot of despedida parties by the community who will surely miss this wonderful Congen who tried to accommodate everyone no matter what political color he/she wears. We will surely miss you, Man of the Year, 2016 Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame!; the 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary special feature of Mr. & Mrs. Nick Pacis on page 38. The beautiful bride, Pacita Ramiro Pacis, is the advice columnist of Dear Tita Eza, page 19. Congratulations to these two people who have reached the pinnacle of life in glorious relationship.

Enjoy this month’s beautiful cover featuring Jojo Stagen Martial Arts Academy (with more pictures and story on pages 40- 41).

Special thank you to popular fashion designer Mar Lapena, for the special visit to replace Mama Virgin Mary’s crown whose serene image has been adorning my bedroom these days. Mar also made her beautiful gold and blue gown, as you can see in the picture. By the way, Mar will be one of the recipients of the 2017 Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame prestigious award in the field of fashion on Oct. 14th at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare.

Enjoy reading from cover to cover your most favorite community publication of Chicago!##

Veronica feting ConGen Calonge to a despedida dinner at L. Wood’s Pine & Grill Lincolnwood.

HOF awardee in Fashion Mar Lapena, with Mama Mary image.