Shaken or Stirred? Just Sit Back.

As we move towards a vastly different Thanksgiving holiday this year, let's use this post-election, surging-pandemic week to take a break from high emotions, and to sit back. It's interesting to watch how traditions and institutions work toward resolving the current political uncertainty being spearheaded by a stubborn incumbent and fanned by his spineless ilk. If you need some reading to quell, or enable, your anxiety, I suggest Gabriel Garcia Marquez's book, Autumn of the Patriarch. The title itself is an apt metaphor for this time, along with "the winter of our discontent".

Nevertheless the world continues to turn, with or without our participation. In Positively Filipino this week, James Bond dies, a young Fil-Am comic rises and, as our Motherland heaves from yet another hurricane, regular people carry on the best way they can amidst the pandemic.

Our Stories This Week

Pinoys Love James Bond, And Vice Versa By Men Sta. Ana

[PARTNER] The Typhoon Victims Need Your Help

JR De Guzman Shows Filipinos Are Truly Funny By Anthony Maddela

Covid Guys By Criselda Yabes

The Happy Home Cook: Oriental Beef With Fried Noodles By Nora V. Daza and Nina Daza Puyat

Video of the Week: Fides Enriquez and Chef Cocoy Ventura’s new documentary series, Ilocandia, which features the Ilocos region’s rich culinary tradition.

In The Know

[ANALYSIS] What will a Biden presidency bring to China, Manila, and the Asia Pacific? 
https://www.rappler.com/voices/thought-leaders/analysis-what-will-biden-presidency-bring-china-manila-asia-pacific?fbclid=IwAR3PRlgwNNjI2Ce1_h-ICVvfsgkMq3RKGdxicT_eD6J3CZMszo-9bjlick0

Things May Get Worse Before They Get Better for the U.S. 
https://fpif.org/things-may-get-worse-before-they-get-better-for-the-u-s/?fbclid=IwAR0DKLpWGt1SIJhski9RPlbDwPcj7b_sXj7hK6N48arU1Zc_gCA2BlIaTdQ

12 Exceptional Filipino Restaurants in SF and the East Bay
https://sf.eater.com/maps/best-filipino-restaurants-food-san-francisco-bay-area-east-bay-oakland

A New ‘Blue’s Clues’ Episode Will Feature Filipino Family Traditions
https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k9bpd/blues-clues-nickelodeon-filipino-family-traditions-lola-grandmother?fbclid=IwAR1vwyhD_b16Y2oWbPaiK30OVkUtjfyrjweNSEKt7w-YP30eU6Y6zUYdc34

Their neighbor allegedly painted a swastika on their driveway. Now they’re getting bullets in the mail.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/13/louisville-harassment-couple-swastikas-racial-slurs/

A Whirl Through the Philippines with Jeepney’s Meal Kits
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/16/a-whirl-through-the-philippines-with-jeepneys-meal-kits?fbclid=IwAR0gsstldoTVp66WzDELSaIAsqXcCniSD2Q_65KZw2TMhCbKQUhIzInnTgc

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A Tireless Crusader and Enchanted Tales

Ambassador Howard Dee, 2018 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, is one of an increasingly rare breed of man whose life work is focused on seeking social justice and socio-political peace. Contributing writer M.H. Hizon profiles this outstanding Filipino in "The Many Crusades of Howard Dee."

A timely piece for this week of myths and superstitions is Sylvia Mayuga's review of Bicolano anthropologist Tito Valiente's newly released book, The Last Sacristan Mayor and The Most Expensive Mass for the Dead: Tales of Ticao. Ticao is in Masbate, the author's birthplace, where tales of enchantment abound.

In Fatima, the town of many Filipino pilgrimages, traveler Isabel Lovina got the surprise of her life when her group of pilgrims were billeted in Pinoy House Fatima, owned by Ritchiel from Hinigaran, Negros Occidental, and her Portuguese husband. Take note for when you do your own Marian pilgrimage.

The compleat actress Nora Aunor was once again bypassed for the National Artist award this year (the first time was during the term of President Noynoy Aquino), a move that has incensed her legions of fans worldwide. Read Again film critic Mauro Feria Tumbucon Jr.'s "The Timeless Nora Aunor" and you'll understand why. 

And in keeping with the season, here's another Read Again: Alex G. Paman's "The Vanishing Hitchhiker, the White Lady and Hauntings Across the Seas."

Our In The Know links this week:

'Only for white people': Filipino family endures racist rant in New Zealand
https://news.abs-cbn.com/trending/10/29/18/only-for-white-people-filipino-family-endures-racist-rant-in-new-zealand?fbclid=IwAR0Wz1JnXMUbyQ_mpY0QMvxohTJfAcQovOgGj8kTCTooG6CHizQw7lszL0s

Filipino domestic workers in Hong Kong facing more expenses as new law forces them to make social security contributions back home
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/2169478/filipino-domestic-workers-hong-kong-facing-more-expenses-new?fbclid=IwAR2rPgZz74bQv6saW34zIib84vaq_Xe7Xx04JtScmUR3SkTf4ZRekuxt_ew

How Wealthy Was the Rizal Family?
https://www.townandcountry.ph/people/heritage/rizal-family-net-worth-a1957-20181020-lfrm?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Siteshare&utm_campaign=20181023-rizal&fbclid=IwAR3zIVtafDi6Jxnay6i3WUIMMQVPkrRZQYQSpA0-YvROfrrFxFFE1kj-mdE

Jay Ledford’s Journey as a Filipino American Transgender Ballerina
http://www.manilamail.us/?p=6844&fbclid=IwAR0QuYZiwVWx_6oR2rMYmSaxqtcL57NWQapXZQMazxKqBR22GbbtTcnOUIM

15 Essential Filipino Restaurants in the Bay Area
https://sf.eater.com/maps/best-filipino-restaurants-food-san-francisco-bay-area-daly-city-east-bay-oakland

Our Happy Home Cook recipe, Pork Kilawin from our resident foodie Elizabeth Ann Quirino.

For our video of week, San Diego's ABC 10 News featured a story on the awarding of Congressional Gold Medals on Filipino World War II veterans at the Jacobs Center.

A Week To Remember

June 26, 2015. The day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples can marry in all 50 states. I didn’t think I would see this in my lifetime. I cried just as I did when a black man assumed the presidency in 2008. Times are indeed changing, sometimes too fast for some of us, sometimes staggered, “two steps forward, one step back” as President Obama said, and for those who refuse to accept equality for everyone, then time stands still. In Now It Can Be Called Just Plain “Marriage,” writer and blogger, Rene Astudillo, talks about his own personal crusade on marriage equality and what this landmark decision means to him and many of his LGBT peers. “No longer may this liberty be denied,” wrote Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

On the other side of our world, we uncover secrets. In The Lost Treasures of Corregidor, Larry Ng writes about one of the secrets of Manila Bay – when 425 tons of silver coins and 2,222 gold ingots were sunk into Caballo Bay just before the Japanese invaded Corregidor. The gold was never seen again.

When I first arrived in San Francisco, my children and I frequented Goldilocks for a taste of home. It was the only Filipino restaurant/bakery at the time. One of the dishes we liked but didn’t know how to cook was Brazo de Mercedes. In this issue, Goldilocks shares the secret for this dessert in Happy Home Cook. And if you’re traveling and miss home, Sasha Lim Uy lists 10 Filipino Restaurants Around the World. And speaking of traveling, artist Ivan Kevin Castro introduces us to Filipinos in Pinoyspotting: China. Finally, our Video of the Week showcases two talented Ilongo brothers, “The Gentlemen,” on America’s Got Talent.

July 4, 1776. The day the United States of America became an independent nation. As we celebrate this day, let us not forget the freedom we enjoy to live the way we want, without excluding those who may seem different from us. Happy 4th of July to all.