Robert Francis Flor: You’ve written several novels featuring young Filipino Americans. What inspired The Legend of Sensei Tsinelas?
Jason Tanamor: When my brothers and I were kids, my father used to threaten to spank us with one of his tsinelas. All he had to do was slide the slipper off his foot and raise it above his head. From there, we dashed down the hall, pushing each other into the bedroom. Then we’d peek out to see my father laughing on the couch. As if it was one big joke. And maybe it was to him. Maybe he would never spank us with a slipper.
The joke then became that he was so proficient with the tsinelas, he could whip it across the room, knock us unconscious, and by the time we came to, the slipper would be spinning back into his hand for him to place back on his foot.
So it got me thinking . . . Wouldn’t it be awesome if my father could stop crimes as they happened by whipping out his slipper at them?
RFF: Describe how you craft your characters for your target audience. Victor Dela Cruz, a Filipino high school student, is the protagonist. The antagonist, Clint Robertson, a prominent white student. Other important figures include Ginessa, Victor’s sister; “Sir” or “Sensei Tsinelas”; Lola, his grandmother; and Miss Francis; his teacher.
JT: Each character save for Ginessa is someone I knew growing up or could relate to. Victor was obviously loosely based off me. Ginessa is a homogenized version of several people I grew up with (sibling, niece, nephew). Lola was my own grandmother and mother combined. Clint was based off my bully in school. And Sir, from his quirkiness to his demeanor, and all the way down to his mastery of tsinelas throwing, is basically my father without a food cart.
These are real people with real motives and intentions, so writing them was easy. It felt as if I was reliving my childhood in different phases of my life.
RFF: Your story carries a current theme of bullying and superheroes. It also wove the notion of the importance culture differences play in our society. How much of the experiences of the characters were similar to yours in negotiating your way through school?
JT: Superheroes have always been a big part of my life. Mainly because I was bullied by a popular white kid. In my case, it was more for racist reasons than in Victor’s case, which primarily revolves around his nerdiness. So I used superheroes as a coping mechanism. Think about it. Who doesn’t want to be a superhero with powers and are revered by everyone? But what they really represented to me, and Victor in this case, is the ability to overcome your own weaknesses. For Victor, they’re insecurity and unpopularity, so imagining the possibility to overcome these feelings oftentimes take something magical, or super.
RFF: I enjoyed the setting in downtown Portland and could visualize it having stayed in the area. “Sir’s” food truck and the food court play prominently in your chapters. How did it occur to you to feature the court as a location?
JT: One of the things that brings Filipinos together is food. So it made sense to have food always in the story. Whether it was in Victor’s home with his Lola, in Ginessa’s mind for the upcoming picnic, or at the food cart, I wanted to emphasize food as part of being Filipino.
RFF: I haven’t found other Filipino American authors writing in the genre. What in your background inspired your focus on the young adult generation?
JT: I wanted to write in a time that was influential to me and that had the biggest impact on who I was as a person and who I became as a person. That age was right around Victor’s age. So writing the story was almost therapeutic in the sense that I could “deal” with my issues without confronting the bullies in real life.
I also felt like there was a lack of stories that dealt with bullying, so bringing it to attention could potentially help those cope in a more productive way than acting out. Books like this didn’t exist when I was younger, so I’m hoping to help nurture young adults into more mature people through positive actions because it took me a long time to finally get over all of my issues.
