Turban Legend by R Zamora Linmark

By the time Vince arrives at the Philippine Airlines departures terminal, it is already bustling with restless
souls who, with their balikbayan boxes, have transformed the terminal into a warehouse, as if they're returning to
the motherland on a cargo ship rather than Asia's first airline carrier. Comedians use these durable cardboard boxes
as materials for their Filipino-flavored jokes. "How is the balikbayan box like American Express to Filipinos? Because
they never leave home without it."

Everywhere Vince turns are boxes, boxes, and. more boxes. Boxes secured by electrical tape and ropes.
Boxes with drawstring covers made from canvas or tarp. Boxes lined up like a fortified wall behind check-in counters
or convoying on squeaky conveyor belts of x-ray machines. Boxes blocking the Mabuhay Express lane for first-and
business-class passengers. Boxes stacked up on carts right beside coach passengers standing in queues that are
straight only at their starting points before branching out to form more-or converge with other-lines, bottlenecking
as they near the ticket counter.

Boxes that ought to be the Philippines' exhibit at the next World's Fai1, Vince tells himself as he navigates
his cartload of Louis Vuitton bags in and out of the maze. An exhibit that should take place none other than here, at
the Honolulu International Airport, he laughs, as he imagines an entire terminal buried in the Filipinos' most
popular-and preferred-pieces of luggage.

With a balikbayan boa Filipinos can pack cans of Hormel corned beef, Libby's Vienna sausage, Folgers, and
SPAM; perfume samples; new or hand-me-down designer jeans; travel-sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and
body lotion gleaned from Las Vegas hotels; and appliances marked with first-world labels that, as anyone who's
been to the Philippines knows, can easily be purchased at Duty Free right outside the airport or from any of the
crypt-like malls that are so gargantuan they're a metropolis unto themselves.

Filipinos will even throw themselves into these boxes, as was the case of the overseas contract worker in
Dubai. The man, an engineer was so homesick that, unable to afford the ticket-most of his earnings went to cover his
living expenses and the rest to his wife and children-he talked his roommate, who was homebound for the holidays,
into checking him in. He paid for the excess baggage fee, which still came out cheaper than a round-trip airfare. En
route to Manila, he died from hypothermia.

Vince, who had heard the story from his older sister Jing, didn't buy it. There were too many loopholes, too
many unanswered questions, like wouldn't an x-ray machine in the Middle East detect a Filipino man curled up
inside a box? He simply dismissed it as a "turban legend."

"You're missing the point brother," Jing said. "It's not the mechanics that matter. It's about drama. The
extremes a Filipino will go to just to be back home for Christmas with his family."

Guide Questions:

1. Why do Filipinos love balikbayan boxes?

2. What do you think the boxes svmbolize? Why do they seem to be more important than their contents?
3. When the narrator notes the Filipino-ness of does he feel toward his fellow Filipinos?
4. What does the airport symbolize?
5. What do you think is the real message behind the anecdote or the "turban legend"?
6. Do you think that Filipinos who live or work abroad suffer from homesickness? Explain your answer'
7. The author's luggage is Louis Vuitton. How does that help characterize the narrator?
8. Do you think that when Filipinos are abroad, they are proud of being a Filipino? Why or why not?
9. The title “Turban Legend" is a play on words on the phrase "urban legend'"
10. What does “Urban legend" mean? Why was it changed to "turban legend"?
11. What is the significance of the story?
Abstract:

In Sydney’s Cronulla Beach, more than 5,000 white Australians descended on the sands, attacking anybody who
looked Middle Eastern or Asian. Revenge followed: Men of color rampaged through Cronulla with baseball bats,
smashing storefronts and windshields.

— early morning news, 12 December 2005

Blood surges rapidly

along Cronulla Beach.
Armed with bats,
white bodies are mad
replications of tents,
parasols and sunblinds
spreading all over
what used to be kurranulla,
aboriginal landscapes,
the place of pink seashells.
There is no chieftain
on the shore, no starfish
where dominion shatters.
Not too far behind,
thugs and their hand
maids constrict exquisite
shades of perplexity
to keep generations
pure and sterile.
Spaces beneath vestiges
of hamlets from long ago
have become driftwood,
shells, cleavers of melting
pots and succession.
They are swaying eerily
translucent as postcards
bereft of scintillating light
in the heated-up weather.

So racializing, this soap.

—Jose Wendell P. Capili

Philippines Free Press

Published in July 9, 2011 Iss
Examples of Puns
7th grade8th grade9th gradeMiddle SchoolHigh SchoolCollege
image: http://www.yourdictionary.com/index.php/image/articles/18758.ThinkstockPhotos-78059320_bicycle.jpg

A pun is a joke that makes a play on words. A pun, also called

paronomasia, uses words that have several meanings or words that
sound similar but have different meanings.
Fun Puns
A vulture boards a plane, carrying two dead possums. The attendant looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one
carry on allowed per passenger."
Santa’s helpers are known as subordinate Clauses.
She had a photographic memory but never developed it.
The two pianists had a good marriage. They always were in a chord.
I was struggling to figure out how lightning works then it struck me.
I really wanted a camouflage shirt, but I couldn't find one.
The grammarian was very logical. He had a lot of comma sense.
A chicken farmer's favorite car is a coupe.
What do you call a person rabid with wordplay? An energizer punny.
I've been to the dentist many times so I know the drill.
What did one plant say to another? What's stomata?
The other day I held the door open for a clown. I thought it was a nice jester.
A chicken crossing the road is truly poultry in motion.
The politician is not one for Indian food. But he's good at currying favors.
How do construction workers party? They raise the roof.
A boiled egg every morning is hard to beat.
When a woman returns new clothing, that's post traumatic dress syndrome.
After hours of waiting for the bowling alley to open, we finally got the ball rolling.
Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was
brilliant!
Always trust a glue salesman. They tend to stick to their word.
Where do you find giant snails? On the ends of giants’ fingers.
Guerrilla warfare is more than just throwing a banana.
The cartoon animator felt imprisoned by his job. He could not free himself from his cel.
I thought Santa was going to be late, but he arrived in the Nick of time.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress
Every calendar's days are numbered.
A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-tired.
No matter how much you push the envelope, it will still be stationery.
A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
If you don't pay your exorcist, you will get repossessed.
Being struck by lightning is really a shocking experience!
A pessimist's blood type is always B-negative.
Dockyard: A physician's garden.
I went to a seafood disco last week... and pulled a mussel.
Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a-salted.
Reading while sunbathing makes you well red.
The lights were too bright at the Chinese restaurant so the manager decided to dim sum.
Puns in Quotes
"You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish. Unless of course, you play bass." - Douglas Adams
"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." - Groucho Marx
"Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted." - Fred Allen
“Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.” - Mark Twain
"Atheism is a non-prophet institution" - George Carlin
"I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. Riveting!" - Stewart Francis
Puns in Headlines and Advertising
New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
Juvenile Court Tried Shooting Defendant
Farmer Bill Dies in House
Eye Drops Off Shelf
Hospitals are Sued by Seven Foot Doctors
Residents Warned to Protect Fish and Hens to Avoid Otter Devastation
Big Rig Carrying Fruit Crashes on 210 Freeway - Creates Jam
The Greatest Flow on Earth - About Golden Corrals’ caramel, chocolate and white chocolate fountains

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