Pride Amidst the Sorrow

Summer has arrived in the western hemisphere and with it come the fragrance of flowers, the aroma of barbecues and the piercing heat of high temps. June is also Gay Pride Month and this year, the traditionally raucous and colorful celebrations are tempered by the senseless tragedy in Orlando, Florida. We join the world in mourning the dead and in celebrating love, as Broadway stars, including Filipino American Joey Llana (currently playing the King of Siam in “The King and I”), gather to passionately sing the Burt Bacharach hit, "What the World Needs Now Is Love."

Wife-and-wife team Lisa Dazols and Jenni Chang has come out with a documentary on the "supergays" who are leading the charge for LGBT rights worldwide. Contributor Manzel Delacruz writes about the making of "Out and Around," which was filmed with the help of the beloved singer Pilita Corrales, in the Philippines.

A recent live event on Facebook organized by Manila Valley founder and CEO Chris Peralta brought together startup CEOs from the Philippines and some Silicon Valley stalwarts to talk about the future of the Philippines’ high tech sector. Contributor Harvey I. Barkin reports on how our homeland can play a big role in evolving the Internet of Things, as discussed during the event.

If summer means gardening, our regular contributor Lotis Key regales us with her story on how she "accidentally" joined the hordes of budding horticulturists in "In My DNA."

From Paris, Watch Again the interview by blogger Randy Diaz and Joyce Ibardolasa of Chef Aaron Isip who won the coveted Trophee Espoir from Gault and Millan last year.

Our Happy Home Cook recipe this week, La Paz Batchoy, Iloilo's soup delicacy, from Rene Astudillo.

Father Courage

Happy Father's Day to all the dads -- and single moms -- out there who, like our contributor Patricio N. Abinales in "Single Parenting an American," is trying to negotiate the rough waters of a kid's tween years combined with some cultural dilemmas. I feel his pain because about two decades ago, I was in the same situation as I wryly recall in my blog this week, "Paternal Instincts." It will be a tough journey ahead for parents like him but time flies and pretty soon the difficult years will just become family anecdotes to laugh about. At least that's always the hope.

It will be the 155th birthday of our National Hero Jose Rizal on June 19 so we are reposting two stories to remember him by: Penelope V. Flores' "Rizal's Great Loves" and John Silva's "Rizal's Cook Remembers a Good Man."

Lifelong activist and first-time contributor Edwin Batongbacal writes an impassioned review of the new book, Women Against Marcos: Stories of Filipino and Filipino American Women Who Fought a Dictator, by Mila de Guzman. Edwin's take is personal because some of the women featured in this book were his mentors who helped shape his political views. We are also including a chapter written by Mila Aguilar, one of the valiant women profiled in the book.

Our Happy Home Cook recipe this week: food blogger and cookbook author Marvin Gapultos' Lying Laing, his version of the traditional Bicolano dish but this time using kale instead of gabi (taro) leaves.

For our Video of the Week, we join the celebration of June as Immigrant Heritage Month with "I Am An Immigrant," a short video featuring celebrities standing by immigrants.

All About Independence

Philippine Independence Day is once again upon us and Filipino communities worldwide are celebrating in various ways to convey to their children the richness of their historical roots and to remind themselves of their Filipino-ness.

Positively Filipino Contributing Writer Myles A. Garcia channeled his nostalgia for his ancestral home and discovered an uncanny historical link to the women who sewed the original Philippine flag in1898. "The Flag of Their Forebears" traces some complicated affinities and provides a brief lesson on the evolution of the Philippine flag.

A story of valor and courage is a must for an Independence Day issue so Read Again historian John Silva's "A Valiant People's Army" featuring rare photos of Filipino soldiers fighting the Filipino-American War at the turn of the 20th century.

Switching now to the 21st century, Daniel Olivan of Kalibrr, a Manila-based recruitment tech startup, profiles Karen Batungbacal who he calls the "mother" of the business process offshoring (BPO) industry in the Philippines. "Touch of Gold" introduces an amazing woman and gives us a primer on one of the most important engines of the Philippine economy.

And in Silay, Negros Occidental, architect and urban planner Nathaniel von Einsiedel takes us on a tour of the "green" house he built for his family.

Our Happy Home Cook recipe this week is for Batangas-style Bulanglang with the famous Batangas fish, tawilis.

With our Video of the Week, we join the world in commemorating the life of the late great Muhammad Ali with a short documentary on the Thrilla in Manila, his 1975 historic bout with Joe Frazier at the Araneta Coliseum.