The Past Year As Prologue

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A new year brings new beginnings, but it's also a time to take stock of the old year.  This week, Positively Filipino, now starting its 11th year of existence, offers yearend look-backs -- and we've got two of them plus a first-person account of an adventure in the West Philippine Sea.

Manila-based analyst and columnist Ernesto M. Hilario steps back from the day-to-day grit of politics and offers a sweeping view of how the first full year of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration panned out. His verdict in "Marcos' Year of Hits and Misses."

2023 was also a banner year for Fil-Am visual arts as contributing writer O.M. France Viana, herself an active artist, sums up the year with over 45 links to Fil Am artists, curators, and their shows.  Dive into this visual feast in "2023 Filipino American Visual Arts in Review: An ArtsiLog."

A first-of-its-kind sea voyage -- and hopefully not the last -- was done by a group of about 50 social activists and media people in early December 2023. Part of the larger campaign called Atin Ito!, the goal was to deliver supplies and Christmas gifts to kababayans in the contested West Philippine Sea. Group members also wanted to see for themselves how Chinese Navy vessels engage in a dangerous dance with Philippine Coast Guard vessels and those of Filipino fisherfolk. How did the mission go? Read participant Robert Francis Garcia's account, "Defying Goliath in the West Philippine Sea."

We continue with our information campaign on Anti-Asian Hate with this feature on Los Angeles' foremost Fil-Am organization, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), and its Clinical Program of Mental Health. SIPA's staff of three therapists and three social work interns have their hands full in tackling "the painful consequences of anti-AAPI hatred," as described by PF's LA correspondent Anthony Maddela in "SIPA Helps Stop the Hate."

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

Sacramento senior citizen center combats anti-Asian hate with escorted shopping trips
https://www.aol.com/sacramento-senior-citizen-center-combats-130000098.html 

Wing Luke Museum staff recount horrifying moments when hate crime suspect broke into building with sledgehammer
https://ustimespost.com/wing-luke-museum-staff-recount-horrifying-moments-when-hate-crime-suspect-broke-into-building-with-sledgehammer/

A Texas high school is piloting the state’s first-ever Asian American studies course. Could politics stand in its way?
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/12/19/asian-american-studies-texas-round-rock-isd/

Finding mental health care is difficult for Asian Americans
https://asamnews.com/2023/12/19/shortage-culturally-competent-asian-american-therapists/

Bonneville Elementary community spreads messages of love after hate crime vandalism
https://ksltv.com/608760/bonneville-elementary-community-spreads-messages-of-love-after-hate-crime-vandalism/

Funding provided by the State of California.

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Staff