Lolo Character Analysis in Dear America

“Lolo” (Tagalog for “grandpa”) is Jose Antonio Vargas’s grandfather Ted Salinas, who housed and raised Vargas after he arrived in California at age 12. After he and Lola followed their daughter Florie to the United States in 1984, Lolo began working as a night security guard and sending money back to Vargas’s mother in the Philippines. Lolo also saved up the $4,500 to bring his grandson to the U.S. with fake documentation. By the time Vargas arrived, Lola and Lolo were proud U.S. citizens. But Lolo was also a devout Catholic, and he hoped that Vargas would marry a woman to “get legal.” He was furious when Vargas came out as gay and even briefly kicked him out of the house. He also constantly worried that Vargas’s high-profile journalism career would get him deported. However, despite all their differences, Vargas and Lolo reconciled shortly before Lolo’s death in 2011.

Lolo Quotes in Dear America

The Dear America quotes below are all either spoken by Lolo or refer to Lolo. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Citizenship, Belonging, and Identity Theme Icon

To Lolo, America was something you wear, something you buy, something you eat, and he wanted to spoil his first and only grandson—me. It was consumption all around.

Related Characters: Jose Antonio Vargas (speaker), Lolo

Page Number and Citation: 9

Explanation and Analysis:

But my family is from the other Mountain View, which is part of the other Silicon Valley. This is the Mountain View of immigrant families who live in cramped houses and apartments, who depend on Univision, Saigon TV News, and the Filipino Channel for news of home, not the homes they’re living in but the homes they left behind. This is the Silicon Valley of ethnic grocery stores in nondescript and dilapidated buildings, where sacks of rice and pounds of pork are cheaper, where you hear some Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese before you hear a word of English. This is the other Mountain View, in the other Silicon Valley, where the American Dream rests on the outdated and byzantine immigration system that requires families to wait for years, if not decades, to be reunited with their loved ones.

Related Characters: Jose Antonio Vargas (speaker), Lola, Lolo

Page Number and Citation: 27-28

Explanation and Analysis:

“Peke ba ito?” I asked in Tagalog. (“Is this fake?”) I held out the green card and searched his face as my voice cracked, afraid of what he might say.

Without addressing the question, he got up, swiped the card from my hand, and uttered a sentence that changed the course of my life.

“Huwag mong ipakita yang sa mga tao.” (“Don’t show it [the card] to people.”)

His voice was soft, soaking in shame.

“Hindi ka dapat nandito.” (“You are not supposed to be here.”)

Related Characters: Jose Antonio Vargas (speaker), Lolo (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 33

Explanation and Analysis:

Lolo Character Timeline in Dear America

The timeline below shows where the character Lolo appears in Dear America. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Immigration Politics and Policy Theme Icon

...used to dressing for the cold nights, and he went to live with his grandparents (Lolo and Lola in Tagalog) and his uncle Rolan. Lolo and Lola had been in the... (full context)

At his welcome party, Jose met Lolo’s siblings, Florie, Rosie, and David. Jose also met Florie’s husband, Bernie, and their kids, Bernie... (full context)

...American Marine, Florie moved to the U.S. with him and then petitioned for Mama’s father, Lolo, to join her. After a decade-long wait, Lolo and Lola moved to California in 1984. (full context)

After Vargas’s father abandoned him and his Mama, Lola and Lolo started sending them money from the U.S. Therefore, as a child, Vargas always thought of... (full context)

Like most immigrant families, Lolo and Lola kept their traditions alive at home. They ate Filipino food, kept up with... (full context)

...age 16, Vargas went to get his driver’s license, but he didn’t tell Lola or Lolo. He brought his green card and school ID to the DMV and filled out an... (full context)

...smuggler. And this was just the last in a much longer series of lies. When Lolo got to America, he petitioned for Rolan and Vargas’s Mama to join him. But he... (full context)

...in U.S. history class, right before watching a documentary about Harvey Milk. But Lola and Lolo were devout Catholics—and still wanted him to “get legal” by marrying a woman. Lolo wasn’t... (full context)

Journalism, Storytelling, and the Power of Truth Theme Icon

Lola and Lolo only watched Filipino TV at home. After coming out, Vargas spent a month away, then... (full context)

...a house fire on his street, and his article ended up on the front page. Lolo was furious when he saw the story, but Vargas didn’t care. (full context)

...what to do, but they looked for solutions, like adoption or marriage. They learned that Lolo and Lola could have adopted Vargas and gotten him papers before he turned sixteen—but they... (full context)

...at the Post after college. Pat, Rich, Mary, and Jim encouraged him to go, but Lolo thought it was too risky. Still, Vargas went. He knew that he had to be... (full context)

...guests all together, he realized that he did belong somewhere. Unfortunately, some people were missing. Lolo had died four months before, but he and Vargas reconciled before his death. Vargas’s father... (full context)

Dear America

Lolo Character Analysis

Lolo Quotes in Dear America

Part 1, Chapter 2: The Wrong Country Quotes

Part 1, Chapter 5: Filipinos Quotes

Part 1, Chapter 7: Fake Quotes

Lolo Character Timeline in Dear America