The Writer, the Teacher, and the Chef

Acclaimed Filipino American author/playwright Jessica Hagedorn scores another literary accomplishment with the staging of her 1990 novel, The Gangster of Love, at Magic Theatre in San Francisco starting today. PF contributor Elaine Elinson did an exclusive interview with the author about her creative process and wrote "Jessica Hagedorn Brings The Gangster of Love from the Page to the Stage." The play, 20 years in the making, runs through May 6. Positively Filipino readers get a 20% discount so read the story to find out how to get tickets. 

Special education teacher Joey Cumagun was among 18 exceptional teachers chosen from hundreds nationwide to participate in a program sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission. He chose to research on the life of Sgt. Teofilo Yldefonzo, a Bataan Death March veteran who was the first Filipino to win an Olympic medal. Yldefonzo's life story and Cumagun's own converge in PF contributor Manzel Delacruz's  account entitled "Understanding Sacrifice," a fitting continuing tribute this month to Filipinos called to valor. 

If you're craving Filipino food in LA, there are many restaurants to choose from. A new one seems to be holding its own in West LA -- Big Boi Restaurant, run by Chef Barbara Batiste who eschews trendy fusion and sticks to traditional flavors. PF Correspondent Anthony Maddela reports.

Last week we featured Chicagoland's E + O Food and Drink Restaurant and Chef Angelo Lubiano's Pork Belly Adobo recipe for our Happy Home Cook. This week, we feature another of his creations, Chicken Sisig.

For Video of the Week, online comedian Jeppy Paraiso is back with “Tita's Rant on Daylight Savings Time.”

And here's our In The Know compilation this week for your reading pleasure:

Why We Need To Remember Stockton, California’s Filipino American Legacy
https://www.buzzfeed.com/paolamardo/stockton-california-little-manila-center-vandalism-history?utm_term=.wnV3b2D9Z#.yvO0ay56D

Cambridge Analytica boss Alexander Nix dined with two of Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign advisers in 2015
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2140782/cambridge-analytica-boss-alexander-nix-dined-two-rodrigo

FALEO: Home on a mission of love
http://www.manilatimes.net/home-mission-love/380915/

36 of the Most Beautiful Words in The Philippine Language
https://www.buzzfeed.com/isabellelaureta/kilig-sa-harana?utm_term=.tgYW0VwrB#.ucmY0v4VX

Colonialism in a Can
https://www.tastecooking.com/colonialism-in-a-can/

Remember Bataan!

On April 9, 1942, from the depths of Corregidor island, this beautifully crafted but heartbreaking message written by then-Captain Salvador P. Lopez (much later ambassador and UP president) was read over "The Voice of Freedom" by Lieutenant Norman Reyes:

Bataan has fallen. The Philippine-American troops on this war-ravaged and blood-stained peninsula have laid down their arms. With heads bloody but unbowed, they have yielded to the superior force and numbers of the enemy.

The world will long remember the epic struggle that the Filipino and American soldiers put up in the jungle fastness and along the rugged coasts of Bataan. They have stood up uncomplaining under the constant and grueling fire of the enemy for more than three months. Besieged on land, and blockaded by sea, cut off from all sources of help in the Philippines and America, these intrepid fighters have done all that human endurance should bear.

For what sustained them through these months of incessant battle was a force more than physical. It was the force of unconquerable faith -- something in the heart and soul that physical adversity and hardship could not destroy. It was the thought of native land and all that it holds most dear, the thought of freedom and dignity and pride in those most priceless of all our human prerogatives.

Our men fought a brave and bitterly contested struggle. All the world will testify to the almost superhuman endurance with which they stood up until the last, in the face of overwhelming odds.

The decision had to come. Men fighting under the banner of an unshakable faith are made of something more than flesh, but they are not impervious to steel. The flesh must yield at last, endurance melts away, and the end of the battle must come.

BATAAN HAS FALLEN! But the spirit that made it stand -- a beacon to all the liberty-loving people of the world -- cannot fall!

Today, 76 years hence, we continue to pay tribute to the veterans of World War II. Read Again:

http://www.positivelyfilipino. com/magazine/remember-bataan? rq=bataan

http://www.positivelyfilipino. com/magazine/re-enacting-the- bataan-death-march-a-personal- journey?rq=bataan

Our new stories this week:

Anting-anting (amulet) as artwork is the focus of Dr. Michael Gonzalez's review of Michael Arcega's ongoing exhibit at the University of San Francisco's Thacher Gallery.

PF Correspondent Rene M. Astudillo got the surprise of his life when his tongue-in-cheek piece on "selfitis" in his satirical blog, The Adobo Chronicles, was picked up by an academic journal and actually became the subject of an academic paper. Indeed, life can imitate satire.

From Chicagoland, PF Correspondent Rey de la Cruz writes about the upscale E + O Food and Drink Restaurant, highly rated by Zagat, that offers Filipino dishes. No surprise because it's owned by a Filipino. The restaurant shares with us its own recipe of Pork Belly Adobo, our Happy Home Cook feature of the week.

We hope our links to a variety of stories will keep you In The Know:

6 Filipino female scientists who are improving the way we live
http://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/2018/04/02/filipino-female-scientists.html#.WsMZL1v5nFE.facebook

How to Transfer a Land Title from a Deceased Parent in Philippines?http://www.affordablecebu.com/load/real_estate/how_to_transfer_a_land_title_from_a_deceased_parents_in_philippines/43-1-0-30273

'America Is Not the Heart': Elaine Castillo's debut novel offers a tender portrait of Filipino-American culture
http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/sc-books-america-is-not-the-heart-elaine-castillo-0404-story.html

Reflecting on the Legacy of Doreen Gamboa Fernandez
http://fnbreport.ph/features/reflecting-on-the-legacy-of-doreen-gamboa-fernandez-mickyf-20170401/

For Video of the Week, Rappler's correspondents share the dangers they face while on the job.

Women in Action

When El Niño devastated Mindanao in 2015, thousands of Lumads (indigenous peoples) suffered as their crops died and famine began to grip the land. No aid was forthcoming so thousands of them embarked on a long march from Surigao to Quezon City in a heroic effort to bring attention to their plight and push the government to action. Among them was Marlinda Indao of the Matigsalog tribe of Bukidnon, who described their situation to Rochit Tañedo in "Birthing in the Time of El Niño: Marlinda's Story." 

A strong woman of an earlier era is the lead character of Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's latest novel, The Newspaper Widow. PF Correspondent Lisa Suguitan Melnick jots down her impressions of the book in "An Enjoyable Period Piece."

Back to the present, Sta. Rosa, CA-based professor Leny Mendoza Strobel writes about Monica Anderson, a yoga teacher, who will be her next guide as she begins the retirement phase of her life. Monica, a third-generation FilAm who runs a fitness studio, is descended from sturdy Ilocano folks, part of the first-generation Filipino workers now known as the manongs. 

As we take time out to observe Holy Week, here's a Read Again: Images of Semana Santa, taken by our contributing photographers. For those of us who can't be in our motherland, here's a link to Rappler's virtual "Visita Iglesia," our Video of the Week.

And for your Easter meal, how about making Corned Beef Sinigang, a delicious recipe shared by our PF Correspondent and food expert Elizabeth Ann Quirino.

Our In The Know links this week:

Eclipsed by Cesar Chavez, Larry Itliong's Story Now Emerges
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/eclipsed-cesar-chavez-larry-itliongs-story-now-emerges-n423336

A Taal Tale: Why This Town is More Than its Popular Volcano
https://www.realliving.com.ph/lifestyle/travel/a-taal-tale-why-this-town-is-more-than-its-popular-volcano-a00170-20170110?ref=article_related

18 Places You Would Never Have Imagined Were In The Philippines
https://www.buzzfeed.com/isabellelaureta/san-ka-pa?utm_term=.akVNMYdnx#.qqg408yEj

One Down: Filipina MC’s unite, slay colonial patriarchy on track
http://eltecolote.org/content/en/arts_culture/one-down-filipina-mcs-unite-slay-colonial-patriarchy-on-track/