When Writing Morphs into a Lifetime - Myrna Lou Jastra - Bog

This book comes from a rarified atmosphere. It stems from an original love story. Its mission is to remain true to one's self.

The author has, for more than half-a-century of residing in the United States, continues to live in her adopted land and visits her native Philippines regularly. A product of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) where she obtained her bachelor degrees in the sciences and arts as a college scholar, she proceeded to complete Graduate School degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, while she held an academically tenured position. She started her professional writing career as a reporter on beat at the Manila Bulletin after graduation from the U.P. Living in America continuously, the author first glimpsed, then embraced what she eventually promised to do, continue writing her column in the Philippine News, the sole coast-to-coast Philippine American weekly in America founded in 1961. She started her column-writing for the same weekly in 1971, so she could "give something of myself," to her community. In her great wish to weigh her adopted land's influences, the author has offered compelling alternatives not only for her own ethnicity to mull over, but offers the same to those who left their original homes in the quest of a new life in America. She zeroes in on home values, relating these to the irreplaceable role of education, a passion she has adhered to as she forges ahead in her belief that transplants should aim for it if they are to take their place in the U.S.A. Her call stems from her convictions in the goals of higher education, never giving up on what she had sworn to pass on to a trio of children (her second generation) who, as she shares intellectual growth with them, remain acutely aware that they are passing on the same hopes and dreams to the families they are raising.