An ISU professor with experience writing about Asian-American women is currently exploring the stories of Filipina women from the 1940s.M. Evelina Galang, assistant professor of English, wants to tell the stories of the Filipina “comfort women.” These women were captured by the Japanese army and used as sex slaves during World War II.Recently Galang and several of her students spent eight weeks overseas speaking with women who have finally found the strength to come forward. They call themselves “lolas,” or grandmothers.”They taught us to tango, we taught them to ‘raise the roof,'” she said.Galang has written other works which also touch on female lives. “Dalaga,” her screenplay, and “Lolas’ House,” a book of essays, both tell the stories of the women.”The only way to protect their daughters is to tell their stories,” she said. “Sometimes we broke down and cried and had to stop. They have been silenced for 50 years, and now they won’t be. They have a voice.”One of the hardest things about writing is pushing yourself outside of your own experiences, she said. Galang said after “Her Wild America Self,” she began taking larger risks and responding to her readers.”I have a responsibility to my heritage and understanding where I came from,” she said.Galang said because she didn’t have the opportunity to read these stories when she was growing up, she is committed to recording stories of the unheard and traditionally silenced.Galang’s first book was published in 1996. A collection of short stories about growing up Filipina in the United States, “Her Wild American Self” is now being used to teach classes across the United States.”People are hungry for these stories,” she said. “They are about growing up in two different cultures.”Besides her writing duties, Galang has also been busy teaching creative writing, fiction and screenplay writing.Vika Russell, senior in biology, said she enjoys having Galang as a professor because she is fun, inspiring and challenges her students to work.”She is very opinionated, but open to other points of view too,” she said. “She talks to you like a person, not just a student — she understands college life and why sometimes people aren’t at their best.”Russell said Galang has brought a lot of diversity to Iowa State and is uncharacteristically down to earth for “someone who is so sought after everywhere else.”Galang said she would encourage every student to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from different perspectives and to open up their possibilities.”University is about learning and debating different ideas,” she said. “We are all different — no matter what anyone says — we’re not the same and we need to recognize and respect the differences.”