May Is for Dancing and Feasting

There's something about the month of May that feels like the psychological cobwebs and lethargy of winter have lifted and sunshine and celebrations have taken over. For Filipinos, particularly, May is fiesta time when many towns celebrate the feast day of San Isidro de Labrador, for instance, on May 15. San Isidro is the patron saint of farmers, and it's understandable that a still largely agrarian Catholic country pays homage to his patronage. Other towns have their own saints whose feast days fall on different months, but the May-born ones have the advantage of summer, when town folks are in the mood for celebrating.

In the US, there's a big list of commemorations in May, but the significant ones (for us) are the Asian American-Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Older Americans Month, Mental Health Awareness Month and of course, Mother's Day. 

Always in the spirit of celebration, we have new stories for you this week:

"Dancing with the Kalinga: Homage to a Brave Past" is Dr. Michael Gonzalez's riveting account of his visit to Kalinga province where he immersed in the musical traditions of the indigenous people and paid silent tribute to the late warrior/activist Macli-ing Dulag, who inspired and led the resistance to the massive dam project that would have drowned the lands and history of his people.

In "Incarcerated 6x9 Gets You on the Cell-ular Level",  PF Correspondent Lisa Suguitan-Melnick provides a sneak preview of the forthcoming dance theater creation of Alleluia Panis, whose name is synonymous with passion and artistry.

PF's resident food expert Elizabeth Ann Quirino introduces Chef Jam Melchor, an advocate of the Slow Food Movement, whose advocacy focuses on bringing back the traditional methods and dishes of Filipino culinary history. From the Chef, who is a Kapampangan, comes his recipe of Sisig Babi, our Happy Home Cook feature for the week. 

Here's our In The Know lineup:

The Philippines Genocide 3 million Filipinos Killed
https://britsinthephilippines.top/philippines-genocide-3-million-filipinos-killed/

Boracay: From pristine island to fragile paradise
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/201094-boracay-history-island-paradise-fragile-closure

Patis Tesoro
http://artinsite.org/2018/04/patis/

Sisig with egg and mayo? Thanks, but Kapampangans aren't having any of that
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/food/651699/sisig-with-egg-and-mayo-thanks-but-kapampangans-aren-t-having-any-of-that/story/?utm_source=GMANews&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=lifestyle

White Rabbit, China’s beloved homemade candy, tries to modernise whilst maintaining tradition
https://www.scmp.com/video/china/2142468/white-rabbit-chinas-beloved-homemade-candy-tries-modernise-whilst-maintaining

For Video of the Week, we feature the trailer of director Alexandra Cuerdo's documentary “ULAM: The Main Dish,” which will be shown on May 11, 2018 at the San Francisco CAAMFest.

We’re History—In a Good Way

Yes, it’s Filipino American History Month, and we’re happy to report that the Filipino American National Historical Society Museum in Stockton, California is one year old and doing its job of preserving and popularizing the contributions and experiences of Filipinos in this country (“Fil-Am History Museum in Stockton Turns One,” by Mariel Toni Jimenez).

And just so you know our compatriots haven’t stopped making history, we present dance artist Alleluia “Manai” Panis of Kularts, who just earned the distinction of being the first recipient of the San Francisco Art Commission’s Artistic Legacy Grant. Alleluia is a Bay Area Filipino mainstay who deserves accolades for creating art for her community (“She Who Dances Stories into Being,” by PF correspondent Lisa Suguitan Melnick).

Another history maker, of the gustatory kind, is the wife-and-husband team of Chef Adrienne Borlongan and Jon-Patrick “JP” Lopez, owners of Wanderlust Creamery in Los Angeles. They are texture and flavor pioneers in their own right (“Wanderlust Ice Creamery Knocks ‘Em Cold,” by PF correspondent Anthony Maddela).

Our ever-observant PF correspondent Rey E. de la Cruz got the names, hometowns and photos of kababayans he ran into in Lourdes, France, for Pinoyspotting (“Seeing Filipinos in a Holy Site, But of Course”).

What’s a Filipino website without food? Try this week’s recipe for Gulay Sa Gata by our PF culinary correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino.

For Halloween, we revisit Alex G. Paman's “The Vanishing Hitchhiker, The White Lady and Hauntings Across the Seas.”

For our Video of the Week, Mikey Bustos' fun take on Aladdin's “A Whole New World.”

On a sad note in our Global Briefs section, we picked up the news of the passing of a Filipina caregiver during the Northern California fires.

For our In The Know links this week:

Duterte’s police have killed thousands in the Philippines. But this police chief told his officers, ‘Don’t kill.’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/dutertes-police-have-killed-thousands-in-the-philippines-but-this-cop-told-his-officers-dont-kill/2017/10/08/dd96df58-9c41-11e7-8ed4-a750b67c552b_story.html?utm_term=.bd98e42b578a

A Chinese Pipe Dream for Manila
https://finance.yahoo.com/m/9e5485f5-c77e-30e9-9e90-6e4dfc723cfb/ss_a-chinese-pipe-dream-for.html?.tsrc=fauxdal

The story behind the Pinoy-made ‘tsinelas’ action figures
http://news.abs-cbn.com/entertainment/10/21/17/the-story-behind-the-pinoy-made-tsinelas-action-figures

For our Partner post, we feature abstract artist Janine Barrera-Castillo, who's holding an exhibit from October 23-27, 2017 at the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Center in San Francisco.