Give Thanks, Check Reality

With the pandemic and other circumstances in the US and the world swirling around us, catching our attention and sometimes increasing our stress levels, the Thanksgiving holiday allows us to pause, search for and embrace our quiet, and take stock of where our lives are heading. It's also a good time for gratitude because no matter how much our lives have been gobsmacked by tragedy and grief this year, there are also reasons to be thankful and hopeful. I say this not as a kumbaya statement but as a reality check, an acceptance of the principle of yin/yang, which states that (simplifying here) that every dark has its bright side.

To keep you company in your moments of reflection (ideally after a gratifying Thanksgiving meal with --and limited to-- the people in your household), here are some notable articles we have published that you might want to Read Again. 

Our Stories This Week

Manila Hotel: The Golden Years By Lou Gopal 

Second Springs By Cathy S. Babao 

Which Comes First, The Chicken, Or The Scruples? By Albert J. Lesaca 

Feeding My Filipino By Lotis Key 

No Turkey For Thanksgiving By Gemma Nemenzo 

The Happy Home Cook: Paksiw Na Lechon (Roast Pork In Homemade Liver Sauce And Vinegar)

Video of the Week: Jose Mari Chan and McDonald’s George Yang

McDonald’s Philippines Chairman and Founder George Yang and legendary Filipino singer Jose Mari Chan star in the McDonald’s commercial which came out during Grandparents’ Day last year. 

In The Know

Covid-19 is taking a devastating toll on Filipino American nurses
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/24/health/filipino-nurse-deaths/index.html

City pens official apology to Filipino community for 1930 race riots 
https://pajaronian.com/city-pens-official-apology-to-filipino-community-for-1930-race-riots/?fbclid=IwAR1Kxj8bMlph0t5THF_tLwVR9Mesy8WZP18TEI2IzpyrqU6VKu0y0bHpOPA 

When love is not enough
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/11/asia/hong-kong-filipino-helpers-dst/?fbclid=IwAR28Ta29T7d9MXxGYqkouj5wqmJez3XCCnziejFd2q7lXPBpeEOC0LrgDzk

Fil-Am state lawmaker seeks help for Democrats in Georgia runoffs 
https://usa.inquirer.net/60486/fil-am-state-lawmaker-seeks-help-for-democrats-in-georgia-runoffs

Philippines' richest chip in for COVID-19 vaccines
https://www.rappler.com/business/tycoons-philippines-chip-in-covid-19-vaccines?fbclid=IwAR2UrazfFSKVoFn8aJeprFAlOvj2CQTw3P4LNwZLDImN-Z18wOrQOMZCftY

A Mindanaoan filmmaker tells martial law's 'forbidden memory'
https://cnnphilippines.com/life/entertainment/film/2016/11/22/teng-mangansakan.html?fbclid=IwAR2e645MY_QEgumVC2TzTw5Pbu_8-tTiBaYo3loAZDbrA_tjZ_i1tRQUpnY

65-year-old man plants 10,000 mangroves for 8 years to protect his house from the big waves during typhoon
https://kickerdaily.com/posts/2020/11/65-year-old-man-plants-10000-mangroves-for-8-years-to-protect-his-house-from-the-big-waves-during-typhoon/?fbclid=IwAR00DVsADdRVstLinOTLABN6C1YNcDFRsLtS2dcgnZM9-vFHOiP8b2rkuxE

Why is UP the Bastion of Student Activism?
https://www.reportr.world/news/why-has-up-become-synonymous-to-activism-history-has-the-answer-a4713-20201119?fbclid=IwAR3xgQ2wRelOk2OYUX7V37oeXmobUJxbT_Kp4pMZI9S30Lezz-ZhIvIncK8

Fair Shakes

The outgoing House of Representatives of the US has scheduled a hearing on November 29 on the Filipino Veterans of WWII Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015. Positively Filipino joins The Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project in urging all Filipinos in America to call your representatives and ask them to support the bill. This is undoubtedly well deserved by our Filipino veterans who fought alongside the American forces but have not been given due recognition. An ALL HANDS ON DECK moment for the community. Click here for more information.

Earthquakes are happening all over the world and it will be folly to think that you and I will not be affected sometime. Contributor Manzel Delacruz writes from earthquake country California -- where there's now a 72 percent probability that a seismic activity will occur anytime soon -- about the earthquakes in her life and how to prepare for the next one. "Living in Earthquake Country" is a must-read for those living on faults.

On the lighter side, an interesting life is what New York-based Dien Magno chooses to live. A journalist by day and a burlesque dancer by night, Dien is profiled in "Portrait of a Fil-Am Journalist as an Exotic Dancer" by veteran journalist and editor Cristina DC Pastor who publishes TheFilam.net, an online magazine in metro New York. 

More on the lighter side, our art director Raymond Virata brings us another compilation of funny signs that only Filipinos can think of. 

For Video of the Week, we feature Kathryn Jewel Golbin, a blind pinay singer who amazed the judges of "France's Got Talent."

And for those celebrating Thanksgiving with sumptuous feasts, you might want to return afterwards to comfort food. So here's a recipe for champorado from Chicago's famous Uncle Mike's Place . Make sure you have tuyo orjeproks (both deep fried salted fish) on hand to complete the down-home experience. 

Read Again our feature on Uncle Mike's Place: Uncle Mike’s Place