And just like that we're already midway through 2025!

While May was a month of fiestas and celebrations, June is a month of parades and commemorations. Look at the big events we can look forward to: June 12 Philippine Independence Day, June 19 Rizal Day and Juneteenth (in the US), June 15 Father's Day, and June 20 the Summer Solstice in the western hemisphere. All throughout the 30 days of June, we celebrate Pride Month and, according to Google, African-American Music Appreciation Month. There are of course the daily commemorations that border on the ridiculous, like National Go Barefoot Day, National Hug Your Cat Day and Love Conquers All Day, among others.

Positively Filipino considers these important dates as landmarks that guide, but not limit, our coverage. June or not, we stand in solidarity with the LGBTQ community. We also wish Filipinos all over the world festive Independence Day and Rizal Day celebrations, and fathers, as always, reasons to be loved.

Our lineup this week:

A new book from the celebrated Filipino nonagenarian author, Linda Ty-Casper, titled Lives Remembered, is reviewed by literature professor Lynn Grow;

Our Toronto-based contributor Odette Foronda walked the Camino de Santiago the first time to pray for a child for her daughter, and the second time in gratitude for her twin grandsons.

Another Angono, Rizal artist, Cecille Artillaga, emerges in the Philippine art scene.

And in women's soccer, an eyewitness account of Angel City FC's recent game.

Read It Again:

In the End, Love Wins by Manzel Delacruz

My Father and Gay Pride by John L. Silva

Filipino Sports History: It’s In the Cards by Mark John Sanchez

[Video of the Week] SOMA Pilipinas: San Francisco's cultural district revitalized with art

In The Know

OFW in Canada gifted with million-dollar house by employer
https://www.pep.ph/lifestyle/lifestyle/186893/ofw-canada-gift-million-dollar-house-a717-20250523?

More than buko pie: Sweet treats to eat in Los Baños as recommended by a local
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/507002/los-banos-eats/

When “Honest Review Lang” Becomes Harmful: The Real Cost of Viral Food Criticism
https://www.simpol.ph/when-honest-review-lang-becomes-harmful-the-real-cost-of-viral-food-criticism/?fbclid=IwY2xjawKsAPtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFhR0dQaGczSHB4NFlxZm5lAR4rXko6XVPng_sy6ZxPzlkLMFvV37ae6LWk7OlbfArJJHvXuFSEbpBivVJz9A_aem_6ftimwXs3_AYo3dhmvRojA

Lilo & Stitch star Tia Carrere gushes over her trans teen son
https://www.out.com/celebs/lilo-stitch-tia-carrere-trans-son-jude?

San Francisco scooter fanatic gets back in the saddle to open new cafe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1BroN4hJgw

Before anything else, we join the Filipino nation in paying tribute to an exemplary public servant, former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario who passed away Monday aboard a flight from Manila to San Francisco.

****

Snow and tornadoes in California. Unrelenting rains and flooding in the south. Unseasonal typhoons and more frequent earthquakes in the Philippines. Drought, melting glaciers, warmer oceans, heat waves -- the list goes on. If there's ever any doubt that Mother Nature is sending an unmistakable message to humankind to shape up, banish that thought. This year's Earth Day (on Saturday, April 22) is both a reminder and a call to action.

Climate change, environmental degradation, global warming -- however it's called -- requires an all-hands-on-deck approach. And that means each one of us can do our part. Every little action helps. If volunteering for a seashore cleanup or planting saplings in denuded areas is not your thing, your throwing your soda cans and/or bottles in the recycle bin, or setting aside your food scraps for composting are just as consequential.

While Earth Day is a proclaimed annual celebration, Saving the Earth is a commitment and a lifestyle. No public announcements necessary.

Our lead story this week is about how one family parlayed its ecological way of life into certifiably sustainable housing developments. PF contributing writer Chiara Cox begins by telling us about how it is to grow up in a green household.

Chocs N' Boxes, a Filipino-owned gourmet chocolate shop in a Chicago suburb, is the only chocolate maker and seller in the U.S. that sources its chocolate from cacao beans grown by farmers in the Philippines. PF Correspondent Rey de la Cruz reports.

And if you're still wondering if Filipinos have established their place in the American tapestry, check out our ongoing list of FilAms Among the Remarkable and Famous, already on part 46. Our publisher, Mona Lisa Yuchengco, who does the compiling, sees no end in sight.

[Video of the Week] Claude Tayag