What We’re Reading: Epitaphs in Eagle Rock

A “Poetry Film” by Mentee Rebekah Grace de Guzman

Mentee Rebekah Grace de Guzman has created a “poetry film” for the latest issue of The Exposition Review, an online literary journal.

“The poem around which this film is crafted came to fruition because the Filipino community here in Eagle Rock is facing erasure due to widespread gentrification,” Grace de Guzman said.

“One of the reasons Eagle Rock and all of Northeast L.A. have been greatly affected by this trend is my people have made this community one that is enjoyable to live in. Being pushed out of this neighborhood is to deny our elders the roots they’ve planted here after leaving the Philippines.

To see these businesses close and be replaced by a new, overpriced coffee shop hurts the younger me who was able to find what it meant to be Filipina within these places, and cheats the new generations of Filipino Americans who may never have the opportunity to experience our culture the way that I did.

My hope is that this film inspires bystanders to reflect on these changes and encourages those like me to resist them.”