Citizen Mike and Other Artists

"Citizen Jake," the comeback movie of director Mike de Leon, starts its commercial run in Manila today, and those of us abroad can only hope that it will likewise show in our neck of the woods. The famously reclusive director jokes that this movie could be his swan song. Veteran journalist Sylvia L. Mayuga, an avid Mike de Leon watcher, says it more profoundly in her review.  It is also "his strongest challenge yet to the society he has surprised and challenged throughout his career."  Let's hope “Citizen Jake” will have an international showing. 

Washington D.C.-based contributor Titchie Carandang-Tiongson writes a review of Hello Universe, the children's book that won for its Fil-Am author, Erin Entrada Kelly, the coveted Newbery Medal (for outstandng children's literature) for 2018. 

PF Correspondent Anthony Maddela profiles freelance art director and concept artist Jacqueline "Jax" Jocson who he describes as "The Dragon Lady of Game Development."

Here are the In The Know links for this week:

8 of the Leading Filipino Scientists Who Make Us Proud
https://www.rappler.com/science-nature/society-culture/202367-leading-filipino-scientists-list?utm_source=The+Daily+wRap&utm_campaign=d328c3be85-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_05_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b3868977d4-d328c3be85-95400069&mc_cid=d328c3be85&mc_eid=0c0639d4af

She’ll Play the Jewish Mother, and Wants Other Asian-Americans to Get the Best Parts, Too
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/theater/an-asian-american-theater-company-cuts-a-fresh-casting-trail.html

Britain’s Best Home Cook: Meet Josie, the Glasgow girl flying the flag for Scotland
http://www.heraldscotland.com/ news/homenews/16193010.___I_ho pe_Glasgow___s_proud_of_me____ _Meet_the_Dennistoun_girl_flyi ng_the_flag_for_Scotland_on_ BBC___s_new_cooking_series/

A Workplace Potluck Filled With Filipino Food And Memories
https://www.npr.org/sections/ thesalt/2018/05/04/601837774/ a-workplace-potluck-filled- with-filipino-food-and- memories

For Video of the Week, we look back at the Biography's 2001 episode on Imelda Marcos.

And for the Happy Home Cook, Adobong Baka from Kulinarya.

Mothers All

No words can adequately express a mother's sorrow over a child's death, but two years after her son, Robby, was fatally shot, journalist/author Pati Navalta Poblete has channeled her grief into a book, A Better Place: A Memoir of Peace in the Face of Tragedy. Cathy Sanchez Babao, one of very few professional grief counselors in Manila, writes a review. The remarkable Pati has also founded the Robby Poblete Foundation, dedicated to buying back guns, which are then dismantled and the materials transformed into art pieces by Bay Area artists.

Another heart-rending story is our Video of the Week, "My Mother's Heart," featuring veteran (and retired) Fil-Am broadcast news reporter Lloyd La Cuesta's meeting with Sierra Jamieson Grande, a woman seeking information about her late mother, whom Lloyd interviewed in 1984 before and after her heart transplant. 

Switching now to our homeland, PF Correspondent Criselda Yabes visited the heritage town of Vigan, Ilocos Sur and takes us with her in "Vestigial Vigan."

With the British Royal Wedding coming up, PF Correspondent and world wanderer Rey de la Cruz spotted some Filipinos in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Be In The Know with our collection of links this week:

She Was the Enemy of Philippine President Duterte and Her Fellow Judges Just Sacked Her
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/05/11/she-was-the-enemy-of-philippine-president-duterte-and-her-fellow-judges-just-sacked-her/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.4d463a4c59ec

Butchered rhino unearthed in Philippines suggests the origin of ‘hobbits’
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/human-origins-hobbit-philippines-rhino-south-east-asia-flores-a8335241.html

Chinese Money Triggers a Dizzying Rally in Manila Property
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-03/in-china-s-new-gambling-hot-spot-property-prices-are-on-a-tear

Overlooked No More: Leticia Ramos Shahani, A Philippine Women's Rights Pioneer
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/obituaries/overlooked-leticia-ramos-shahani.html

Our Happy Home Cook recipe, Rene Astudillo's Chilled, Fresh Sayote Fruit Salad.

Mothers and Passings

Shortly after National Artist Napoleon V. Abueva passed in February this year, Fr. Jason Dy, a Jesuit and an artist himself, paid tribute to the "Father of Modern Philippine Sculpture" by dedicating his homily to Abueva's religious works. We share this homily with you to honor this great Filipino artist whose body of work is immense and timeless.

The past week saw the demise of three outstanding Filipinos and we join the Filipino nation in mourning their passing and celebrating their legacies:

National Artist for Literature Cirilo F. Bautista, 76, poet/essayist/author/critic/
columnist/literature professor and Palanca Awards Hall of Famer, died on May 6.

Architect and world-famous heritage conservationist Augusto "Toti" Villalon, 73, the first Filipino member and past president of the International Council for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), died on May 5.

Read Again our recent feature on him: http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/nation-building-with-suman-and-stone

Ed Maranan, the most awarded Filipino writer (33 Palanca Awards in multiple categories both in English and Filipino) and PF contributor, passed away on May 7 at age 72.

Read Again two of Ed's pieces: 
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/postscript-my-life-before-and-after-the-first-quarter-storm

http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/in-search-of-the-cupang-i-used-to-know

Amidst the sadness, it's also Mother's Day week and we're not going to let it pass without paying tribute to mothers:

PF Correspondent Myles A. Garcia recalls the most memorable family trip of his life, courtesy of his mother in "Of Mom and Maritime Memories."

Millennial poet Janice Sapigao shares her heartfelt essay about her mother and their struggles together in "Me and the Little Girl Inside Me."

We compiled a variety of links for you in our In The Know section this week:

Humans were in Philippines 700,000 years ago
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/02/world/early-humans-philippine-islands/index.html

A Transgender Paradox, and Platform, in the Philippines
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/29/world/asia/transgender-philippines-discrimination.html

Back to Batanes—where there’s still no garbage on the roads
http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/293094/back-batanes-theres-still-no-garbage-roads/

Christian Louboutin's Latest Bags Feature Philippine Textiles
https://www.preview.ph/ fashion/christian-louboutin- has-released-a-line-of-manila- themed-tote-bags-a00192- 20180503

And our Happy Home Cook recipe is for Krispy Pata and Liver Pate Sauce from Chef Angelo Lubiano of E + O Food and Drink Restaurant in Mount Prospect, Illinois.

Our Video of the Week is fitting for Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month: honoring Minerva Tantoco as one of the outstanding Asian American women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.