Oral History Interview with Dylan Barazon

Oral History Interview with Dylan Barazon

Oral History interview of Dylan Barazon by Elise Israel

Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies

July 20, 2020

The Bulosan Center and the UC Davis Asian American Studies department holds intellectual control of the oral history interview, transcript and audio recordings. Usage is restricted for educational purposes only.

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Elise Israel

Dylan Barazon

Organization: Bulosan Center of Filipinx Studies

Oral History conducted by: Elise Israel

Date of Oral History: July 20, 2020

Interviewees include: Dylan Barazon

Topics: Bay area Fil-Am, 2000s, school and job life, moving to America, 

 Background information on individual/family: Dylan Barazon grew up in the Philippines. He relocated to America during his teenage years and is currently residing in Davis, California. 

Transcription Completed By: Elise Israel and Dylan Barazon

Begin Transcription Here:

Elise: Hello Hello Hello.

Dylan: Hello good evening. 

Elise: Oh okay. My name is Elise and you are?

Dylan: My name is Dylan Barazon.

Elise: Today’s date is July 20, 2020. The interview is being conducted at the person’s apartment and we’re being recorded on an iPhone using voice memos. So let’s get started. What year were you born in and how old are you now?

Dylan: I was born on September 27, 1997 and right now I am 22 years old.

Elise: So where did you grow up in the Philippines? 

Dylan: I grew up in a small province called Taytay which is roughly I would say an hour away from Manila, which is the capital city. 

Elise: And did you move anywhere else in the Philippines?

Dylan: I lived in Taytay for probably I would say about 13 years and then I lived in Pasig which is basically a municipality in Manila for three years, right before I left for America.

Elise: Okay, so why did you move?

Dylan: My school was closer, more of a traffic issue. So my Mom actually bought a condo over there.

Elise : Ok, just so you can be closer to your school? 

Dylan: Exactly

Elise: Ok, so how did you view America before you came here?

Dylan: I view America as like a very foreign land. Obviously, my view of it was always stereotypical like in the movies. You know really tall buildings, a really diverse amount of people and I always thought that there were your stereotypical jocks, nerds and whatever you find in typical American movie, but that was further from the truth. 

Elise: What movie did you look up to I guess about America?

Dylan: Well not necessarily I can't put an exact name to it but there's a couple out there.

Elise: Can you tell me your own memories about your upbringing in the Philippines? 

Dylan: So I was obviously born and raised in the Philippines in this province called Tatytay and my Mom is actually a businesswoman. She owned a factory where she made uniforms for children. 

Elise: Okay, does she still own that factory?

Dylan: She still owns it until this day.

Elise: So when and why did you come to America?

Dylan: I came to America in March 27, 2014. I came here initially because my Dad was actually by his father but we had no plans on living here. My sister was seeking treatment for her back because she had scoliosis so we decided as a family. At least me, my dad, and my sister that was should all move here and I finished my senior year of highschool here. 

Elise: Ok, can you tell me about your memories of being raised in America?

Dylan: So, I went to America and honestly it was very I was a stark contrast as opposed to living in the Philippines cause in the Philippines it was just more… I was more dependent upon my parents for you know for everyday tasks. But here it's a bit more different. I actually had to commute to go to school. I had the independence of managing my own time and just being able to you know hangout with friends I'd say a really late time in the evening. 

Elise: Were your expectations of America the same from what you expected? 

Dylan: They were, they were the same in the sense that physically the way the place looks. But they were not met in the sense that like I said as I mentioned previously the whole idea of the jocks, the nerds and how people fit in those specific categories.

Elise: Okay, so what is your role in America? Are you working? Are you in school? 

Dylan: As of right now I am a student in UC Davis pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Communication with a minor in Tech Management.

Elise: Ok, do you have any plans to work in those fields?

Dylan: What I do aspire to work for is the automotive industry. I cannot put an exact finger to what realm of that I will go into but that is the hope. So within the next few years I am trying to land an internship that will help set a springboard for my future career.

Elise: Do you remember your parents describing their lives and what did they say?

Dylan: What exactly?

Elise: Like what was their childhood, teenage, and adult life if they ever talked to you about it.

Dylan: Well my Mom she was very I'd say not necessarily reserved. But for both of my parents it's just more of it's just coming to light recently in the past three or four years knowing more about my parents' past. But I would say like in my teenage years they didn't really talk about it. But right now I am a bit more mature to talk about that. It was relatively normal. My dad was simply your typical college student but he wasn't able to finish due to some quote on quote distractions. Sorry, if that sounded very informal in a sense but my Mom was actually not the one who started the business. So this business is called One&Up it's a play on the idea the uniforms or the garments that she made was actually applicable to ages one and up hence the name. So my grandmother actually started the business and my mother took over. So it was a very small scale business and my mother scaled it up pretty well. So that's pretty much the story of my parents. 

Elise: Did you ever help with her business at all.

Dylan: Yes, I did actually. But not necessarily in the way I could right now just, you know. lack of mental capacity back then I was a bit younger. You know you can't really entrust me with a lot of things. But I would say I'd help in really simple tasks here and there. Some record keeping here and there, label making, and sometimes I would go with her when she would buy textile for the clothing. 

Elise: So what would you consider to be the most important inventions during your lifetime? 

Dylan: Come again, sorry? 

Elise: What would you consider to be the most important inventions during your lifetime? 

Dylan: Definitely the cellphone, well what I mean is what it is now. Just let me rephrase it the "smartphone." Definitely I feel like that's the most important invention just because everything is done through that.

Elise: Ok, why do you like the cellphone so much, or "smartphone" as I should say.

Dylan: Just because the accessibility and the ability to just reach such a wide audience from the tap of literally from the tap of your finger.

Elise: As a child what did you want to be when you grew up? 

Dylan: When I was a child I actually wanted to be a toy maker it draws from my passion of cars my parents always told me as a kid I was always looking outside the window and I would count how many cars there are outside the window and I would constantly look at the cars wheels and yeah that was basically the activity that I was doing so from that and that's the funny part I don't know where that passion came from. 

Elise: You must of really loved cars.

Dylan: Yes yes I really do.

Elise: Where’d you get that passion from?

Dylan: I have no idea. It just it just it’s something that was I think I was just born with and basically from there I started collecting little Hot Wheels. At one point I would say I had like 500 pieces of Hot Wheels. 

Elise: 500 pieces of Hot Wheels?

Dylan: Give or take. Give or take yes. And I did some research obviously with parental guidance of course back then when the internet when I had dial-up back then I found out that Mattel, so Mattel the company, that was responsible for other toys such as well obvious Hot Wheels and Barbie, really famous toys, are the ones responsible for making that. So I wanted to have a hand in designing those at one point in my life.

Elise: Interesting. That’s pretty cool. 

Dylan: Yes.

Elise: Interesting. Have you actually like researched into it? 

Dylan: I haven’t researched into it necessarily but I do know if I do want to go down that path you’re gonna have to do something along the lines of design. It definitely stems away from my current you know pursuit.

Elise: Okay. So what kind of jobs do you have in the Philippines and here in America.

Dylan: So I didn’t have any jobs in the Philippines. I was basically just a student. When it came to here in America I had a couple of jobs. At first I was my first ever job was a clerk at Target, right beside my high school. I lasted for two months and then I called it quits. After that I worked for my city college and I was a front desk clerk slash secretary or as I like to call it anything they want me to be. And most recently about a year ago I was an afterschool program leader dealing with I’d say about 20 to 30 students at a time. And I did that for a really long time. Actually I found that really fun. 

Elise: So why did you leave target after two months?

Dylan: I left Target after two months just because I couldn’t deal with the attitude that some people were bringing to me. And I do understand from from a professional standpoint you know there’s so many different factors that can play into that but there were really really driving my patience and I would say I have pretty good control of my anger but there were times where I would wanted to explode on them because none of the things that they were complaining about one made any reason or two just were any in my control. You know. 

Elise: Okay and then.. So what was your favorite vacation?

Dylan: Ooh. That’s really interesting. I’d say my favorite vacation so far. Oh actually they all have their own quirks but if I were to choose one I would say when I went to Guam with my family because that was really fun. I’ve been to Guam I’d say about three times? So that was really exciting. I would say the beaches are even better than Hawaii. But then again I’m only quoting my parents because I’ve never been to Hawaii but that’s what they said so I’m I’m believing them. There there beaches are really nice and the sand is very fine to the touch. It’s very very nice. I would recommend whoever is listening to this to go there. Yes

Elise: So, who or what person has the most positive influence on your life and what did they do to influence you?

Dylan: I’d say my mother but on top of that I would say both of my grandmothers too. There’s no specific person. Just like with anything in life I feel like people tend to like pick things on people and I guess it’s the same. I think from my mother I learned the value of patience. From my grandmother on my mother’s side I would I learned the value of just hard work in general. And my grandmother on my father’s side I just learned how to love. That was all combined together. Those are like the women who really changed my life. 

Elise: Were you close to a lot of the women in your life? Like do you have siblings or is your mom the only woman figure in your life?

Dylan: Yes I have a twin sister and I have obviously a lot what’s really funny is in almost all positions except for the one that I had in my previous job, all of my superiors were women. So that was that was very interesting. So I answer to women all the time. So yeah. I would say that’s very interesting. 

Elise: I agree. Do you remember someone saying something to you that had a big impact on how you lived your life? 

Dylan: Um I would say not necessarily but if I were to live if I were to live by a saying I think it would be which is basically an accumulation of the experiences that I have dealt with throught my life, I believe in the saying “if you’re doing it, it’s worth doing well”. ‘Cause you’re already there you’re already spending time and effort and the value you know your resources. So you might as well do it in the best way you can. 

Elise: I really like that. 

Dylan: Yes.

Elise: That’s really good. Well thank you for your interview. I really appreciate it. Mwah