My name is Christine Artuz Lissner. I am a Filipino American, wife, and proud mother of two 12-year-old student-athletes who play baseball. I am a part of the Cal Athletics staff as a Procurement and Accounting Specialist at UC Berkeley. I am a first generation Filipino. I was born in the Philippines and raised in America. My father was a soldier for the United States Navy. I grew up on a military base with a diverse community of military families. My parents exposed us to many different parts of America through the military. I grew up in San Diego, Washington, Guam, Hawaii, and the Bay Area. For as long as I can remember my family were always moving from state to state. I was always surrounded by many Asian American and Pacific Islander communities which brought me the comforts of home.
 
When I was a teenager, I longed for a sense of belonging as most teenagers do. I did a lot of self-searching. "Was I supposed to forget my Filipino culture, if I was raised as an American? How could I continue to have the American dream if I am Filipino? What was the American dream? Who am I?" Many thoughts lingered in my mind as I strived to continue to find out what community I belonged in.  As I grew to become an adult, I started to realize that learning about my Filipino community was so important.  It would define my upbringing and it would affect how I would act towards others.
 
When I started traveling, I realized that the Filipino community was not as large as I thought I was exposed to.  I remember when I lived in Nevada, I was late entering the movie theater, but happened to get there before the lights went down. As I looked in the crowd, looking for a seat, there was a Filipino family looking at me so intensely. They looked at me like a family member. I looked around the movie theater and noticed we were the only Filipinos in the room. In that moment, my Filipino upbringing flashed in a moment's time and no one was in the room except for me and the Filipino family who believed they knew me. I believed I represented to them the comfort of family and home. That was one of many days I realized the importance of representing being Filipino.  
 
It is the little things in life that make a difference. It is being able to be there. It is being able to learn and appreciate another.  It is the feeling of being able to welcome others into your community - those who are in it, those who would like to learn about it, and those who did not know they had a community they can come home to. 
 
Maraming Salamat Po and Go Bears!