If You Want to Know Who We Are

For those of you who have just Subscribed to get this Positively Filipino newsletter in your Inbox every Wednesday, you can go to our website, positivelyfilipino.com to get the lay of the land, so to speak. PF as you know, is purely online and we've been around since 2013. Thus, we have a rich collection of Filipino diaspora stories from our impressive roster of writers. Click on Collections and Series to peruse our archives. And if you want to know who we are, here's the link: http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/editorial/ 

In addition to this week's lineup of stories, you can also check out our In Brief section http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/in-brief for quick updates on news about Filipinos worldwide. Our Community News section http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/community-news links you to events you might want to join or support.

Don't miss out on our curated In The Know links to significant stories from other publications below. The links are accessible only through this newsletter, in the same way that our chosen Video of the Week can only be accessed below. 

As always, PF strives to be the unifying thread that links us through generations, to our motherland, to Filipinos wherever they may be in the world, to our history and culture, and to each other via the vast variety of stories we have gathered and continue to collect.

Like PF contributing writer Lourdes Sobredo's kwento about her late grandpa, Perfecto delos Santos, who was one of the manongs who arrived in California in 1929 and worked the farms along with thousands of young, Filipino males who left the Philippines to seek better opportunities in the US.

From Japan, long-time resident Amadio Arboleda gives a synopsis of his book about his decades-long search for Atsuko Nambu, a gold medalist in the 100-meter relay during the Asian Games of 1954. The teenage athlete unwittingly softened the hearts of Filipinos still bitter over the Japanese occupation just a few years before.

From Washington D.C., historian Erwin Tiongson tells of his visit to the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center, where he saw the Boeing P-26, a short-lived war plane that nonetheless played an important part in the WW II history of Philippine aviation.

From the Netherlands, Maya Butalid -- leftist, revolutionary, feminist, community activist -- chronicles her journey from "true believer" to one who had to leave, in her recently published memoir reviewed by our regular contributor, Patricio Abinales. 

And for those who missed last week's webinar on the "HANAPEPE Massacre Mystery 1924," here's the link to the recording. 

There is never a dearth of interesting, heartwarming and provocative stories from Filipinos, and if you have one, we encourage you to write and share. 


More This Week

[Cook It Again] The Happy Home Cook: Sizzling Sisig

[Video of the Week] The Rocky Fellers “Little Darlin’”


In The Know

Pucker Up for Filipino Vinegar

https://www.globalcarinderia.com/articles/pucker-up-for-filipino-vinegar/?fbclid=IwAR3UFV4VXEYYgCr7Gurco8OPg1AnB30gGJSvKaKi31rbuNWBjiW1bPCyDwQ

Ateneo debuts in THE World rankings as top PH school, places in 351-400 bracket

https://www.ateneo.edu/news/2022/10/12/ateneo-2023-the-world-university-rankings?fbclid=IwAR07fMcoiUdDShfpvQ8IXNGhSvddxOPEBRuHcXQ8pPlQDI2FPE6y0Rv4C7g

Welcome to Dollywood: Meet the Scene-Stealer of the Year’s Most Outrageous Film

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/10/awards-insider-dolly-de-leon-triangle-of-sadness-interview?fbclid=IwAR1g6Jqn0MUaAxDbxtiow-ip34C27J1k4xABBkXIqS97viL1xUoxrKWrfhs

Global Shipbuilder Austal Launches Its Largest Ferry Ever, And It's Made in the Philippines

https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/austal-largest-ferry-philippines-a00203-20221007?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20220907-fbnp-long-reads-austal-largest-ferry-philippines-a00203-20221007-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR1xGhf5vpPU52GP9Ht9ZCu7cBTVECR9OiqdssRKAYqH9cJXHtAamQybJ60

How L.A.'s Little Manila Disappeared Without a Trace

https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/los-angeles-little-manila?fbclid=IwAR1eeZd6zz2SDrvYHSDf5KXMpVA9m0lLp4TdljndUrCqoxol0RunX72tJSc

How a Teacher in Davao Finally Met Her Japanese Father Three Decades After WWII

https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/half-japanese-teacher-davao-finally-meets-father-a2328-20220922-lfrm3?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20221009-fbnp-long-reads-half-japanese-teacher-davao-finally-meets-father-a2328-20220922-lfrm3-fbold&fbclid=IwAR2YAcdSQeSBkxeuFktICVWm8HWG4vp38hZMBfqcKHVYB0632WY7QCx3vZI

Rights group: 59 lawyers slain in 6 years in Philippines

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rights-group-59-lawyers-slain-years-philippines-91547288


Our Season of Grief

When the Covid pandemic started last year and some people I knew were dying (not necessarily of Covid), I started making a list of those who passed in 2020. There were 27 of them, filling up an entire page of my notebook, most of them I knew personally, and a few I just knew from afar but who I mourned nonetheless (RBG and John Lewis, for example).

I should have anticipated that 2021 will yield a longer list, already filling up three pages, and it's just November. Seventy one people I knew said goodbye this year, one of them my only sister, whose death in late September still twists my heart out of shape.

And of course I'm not alone in grieving. Former Ambassador Virgilio A. Reyes Jr., one of Positively Filipino's most prolific contributors pays tribute below to three "Ateneo immortals" who helped shape him.

What about you, did you lose a significant person this year to the pandemic or some other reason?

Though the remaining days of 2021 may be shrouded with a patina of gray for grief, there are always rays of sunshine and inspiration. Our other new story this week on a humanitarian worker who has chosen to live his life among the displaced in Southeast Asia is one such inspiration. 

Last night's Positively Filipino webinar titled Cook with Books and featuring four wonderful cookbook authors, one of whom was PF Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino who moderated the forum, was another.

Most of all, to commemorate a life well lived, we are posting as our Video of the Week CNN Philippines' 2016 tribute to one of the most inspiring women to walk this earth, Jessie Lichauco, who passed away a few days ago at 109 years old. Mrs. Lichauco was the subject of her granddaughter Sunshine Lichauco de Leon's documentary "Curiosity, Adventure and Love."

Read Again:

Possessed and Repossessed in T’Boli Country

Passing The Torch to Generation Y

Cook It Again:

The Happy Home Cook: Vegan Longganisa



In The Know (Standard Edition)

A group of teachers in the Philippines has launched an internet archive of “subversive” books.
https://lithub.com/a-group-of-teachers-in-the-philippines-have-launched-an-internet-archive-of-subversive-books/?fbclid=IwAR3Vj40K4W5HxXvglKeMJVo0hDwKsHAncJuvX3r9gatjj_Qh3xzjwXb1YIE

A New Generation of Filipino Hip-Hop Builds On a Deep Bay Area Legacy
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13905208/a-new-generation-of-filipino-hip-hop-builds-on-a-deep-bay-area-legacy?fbclid=IwAR24Lv5KpaEn0oRjrdc-bGAKh0yv-ZtulRcsTkSieYHuOOKJNtE4WwuwEj8 

Filipino martial art Balintawak Eskrima featured in Hollywood sci-fi film ‘Dune’
https://www.goodnewspilipinas.com/filipino-martial-art-balintawak-eskrima-featured-in-hollywood-sci-fi-film-dune/?fbclid=IwAR1g9Geqphf9lVZ0gK_SeGesW80HOHxhvLHAbh_1pxQwDq7-vWmo1Yj1ruk 

‘Squid Game’ Filipino actor says racist cabbage-throwing incident in South Korea left him ‘crying inside’
https://nextshark.com/squid-game-christian-lagahit-racism-south-korea/ 

How Bulakeño values built one of the country’s most enduring lechon manok brands
https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/food-drink/features/10/25/21/bulakeo-values-built-this-enduring-lechon-manok-brand?fbclid=IwAR0_a-yQIRDodbK97LIdYwbH_KrXqCVslyDbE-GJP3rAiZ07dYcd10gc4As 

LOOK! An improved Bacolod City Public Plaza is inspiring pride among locals
https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/travel/destination/04/18/21/look-an-improved-bacolod-city-public-plaza-is-inspiring-pride-among-locals?fbclid=IwAR0x_C5vRmpEjKQ_pPThh06teJxwWISi1oWw_BxG4DUK5ce-rpKu7spfQiE


Gemma Nemenzo

Editor, Positively Filipino