Renewing the Spirit

What better way to celebrate Christmas than to visit the actual place where Christ was born. First-time contributor Genevieve Dee takes us vicariously on her trip to the Holy Land plus the ancient city of Petra, and shares with us the story of her spiritual renewal. 

During the same pilgrimage, Positively Filipino publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco met quite a number of Filipinos - OFWs and fellow pilgrims -- and introduces them in Pinoyspotting this week.

Switching to the homeland, Dr. Michael Gonzalez writes about the Dutch missionary and scholar Antoon Postma who, with eminent anthropologist Harold Conklin, lived with and documented the lives of the Hanunoo Mangyan of Oriental Mindoro. Because of Postma's thorough research, the rich traditions of this pre-colonial culture are preserved, its legacy intact for future generations to take pride in.

If you're still wracking your brains for the right food to give away this holiday season, here's Elizabeth Ann Quirino's easy recipe for cassava cake, a perfect gift, she says, guaranteed to be appreciated by your Filipino and non-Filipino friends.

For Video of the Week, the American cast members of the Hey Joe Show show their love for their adopted country by singing “Silent Night” in Tagalog, Visayan and English for Filipinos around the world.

Love Time

It's that time of year again. February is coming up so start dusting off your love stories and write them up, for us to share the thrill. Or the heartbreak. Whatever one's current circumstance is, there should always be room for remembering  how it was to be in love, don't you think? Send your story to submissions@positivelyfilipino.com and we'll do the rest.

Meanwhile, this week, we transcend time, geography, cultural and physical barriers with our collection of stories:

From Manila, Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz tells us about her brief non-encounter with celebrity visitor, Pope Francis, whose ring she didn't manage to kiss but was close enough to bask in his radiance.

Author/educator Peter Jamero in "An Invisible Generation" introduces us to the "bridge generation" -- the men and women who were the children of the manongs, the initial batch of Filipinos who immigrated to the US mostly as farm workers. Peter knows the subject by heart because he is one of them.

In North Carolina, Filipino American Sarah Angelina Bustillo Johns literally defies the limitations of gravity as she displays her mettle as an aerial dancer. Rey E. de la Cruz's "She Spins in the Air With the Greatest of Ease" includes a video clip of Sarah that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Regular contributor Myles A. Garcia opines in "Like Dat...Like Dat" on language, assimilation and the irony of Filipinos in the Philippines trying to talk like Americans as they do their call center jobs.

And speaking of language, our Video of the Week shows five Caucasian guys doing the near-impossible -- talking Cebuano like natives. 

I'm back with my blog this week and you'll know why I've been absent for most of January.