A Colonial Urbanization

Knowing a city's colonial history is important when planning its rehabilitation and restoration. Thus our lead article this week, "Colonization's Impact on Manila," written by urban planner Nathaniel von Einsiedel offers valuable knowledge and guidance for those who seek to bring back Manila's former glory,  a goal of the capital city's current mayor, Isko Moreno Domagoso. 

Spanish food in Metro Manila has become a thing, thanks partly to the efforts of Marilou and Pablo Garcia-Morera, whose enterprise Espa-Fil has made available the crucial ingredients of Spanish cooking to the Philippines. PF Correspondent Cherie Querol Moreno writes about the couple and whets our appetite for the cuisine of our former colonizer in "To Dine in Madrid, By Way of Manila." 

Marilou Morera is also a cookbook author and she shares her recipe for "the true paella" for the Happy Home Cook this week.

From Toronto's Bank of Montreal comes Annella Manalo Mendoza, a digital assets manager and librarian. Christian Gabriel Pareja profiles her in "Old Fashioned Values in a Digital Career."

Our In The Know links this week:

Black History and the Filipin@ Community

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/unseen-and-unheard/201602/black-history-and-the-filipin-community?fbclid=IwAR0KReXkWJrM_-fXnxcOQRzKnyhcdQA9ge78UHAkGhjLM53tnHEg_67lPGc

Just how bad was corruption during the Marcos years?
https://www.rappler.com/thought-leaders/240477-analysis-just-how-bad-was-corruption-marcos-years?fbclid=IwAR2RLmmhLUHbGaFruyfGYmSAaEBTiXkwybXYjix8e0x6sX9T77TjZ2fR1rQ

Meet 11 Year-old Filipino Cellist Damodar Das Castillo, Champion Musician in Estonia
https://www.goodnewspilipinas.com/meet-11-year-old-filipino-cellist-damodar-das-castillo-champion-musician-in-estonia/?fbclid=IwAR2KlSv3O-MbHd5z09Od_hOlFPCcq4JaNvIS4w1j30vCCKl_zFRM9nLpM1Y

World’s greatest concentration of unique mammal species is on Philippine island
https://www.fieldmuseum.org/about/press/worlds-greatest-concentration-unique-mammal-species-philippine-island?fbclid=IwAR34pe6inxzGI-G9N0bydSZ4UjoMBG4IQltcghyZHEBSs0zO1odVkKsUj6E 

For Video of the week, GMA Public Affairs’ I-Witness features Solana Perez, who wants to be the first Filipina to compete in the Mongol Derby, the hardest horse race in the world.

Doing Us Proud

This week is about Filipinos who have crashed the international scene in their respective fields and have made us proud:

F. Sionil Jose, the grand old man of Philippine letters, the country's foremost chronicler of the Filipino experience, is paid homage to by author Rafaelito Sy, who writes about his recent encounter with the National Artist for Literature. ["F. Sionil Jose and a Nation's Memories"]

Cris Comerford, the White House chef of three US administrations (Bush, Obama and Trump), was recently awarded a doctorate honoris causa by her alma mater, the University of the Philippines (UP). Sonia Delen, current president of UP's alumni chapter in San Francisco, profiles Cris. ["Her Lola's Legacy: Chef Cris Comerford's Secret Sauce"]

This week is also about remembering, this one a painful episode in 1929-1930 when anti-Filipino riots broke out and ended tragically in California. Read Again Alex Fabros' "In The Heat of the Night: The Exeter and Watsonville Riots 1929-1930."

And speaking of remembering, we join the sports world in grieving the untimely death of basketball legend Kobe Bryant. Here's our Video of the Week showing him dancing the tinikling.

Our Happy Home Cook recipe this week is for Chocolate Cake from Ballesteros, Cagayan baker Dondon Catli, who we featured earlier this month.

ICYMI, stories you may have missed or want to read again:

WOMEN OF THE EASTERN CALIPHATE: Hiding in plain sight
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/245849-women-eastern-caliphate-hiding-plain-sight-isis-part-1

WOMEN OF THE EASTERN CALIPHATE: By blood and marriage
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/245822-women-eastern-caliphate-by-blood-marriage-isis-part-2?utm_source=Rappler+Subscribers&utm_campaign=82d6b16cbd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_01_07_04_22_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d18b1557b8-82d6b16cbd-96223989&mc_cid=82d6b16cbd&mc_eid=0c0639d4af

'Kill Everyone Over 10' –Jacob Smith, the ‘Monster’ of the Philippine-American War
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/jacob-h-smith-philippine-american-war-a1926-20190919-lfrm?fbclid=IwAR0G4IHMUvqfn428wobgF_nFqUGTX7L5EX2IR3G5ev4llfrtHoK57TdtC64

Reviving ancient Cordillera textiles
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1211779/reviving-ancient-cordillera-textiles?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR26HEwT8pJLsvIYCnHdeHPVRapsWcjuEv__OCLhgRx8NWXiTWcCDa9WF8w#Echobox=1578786243

The Story of a Life

Fifty years ago this month, thousands of Filipino youth gathered in various places in Metro Manila at various times to protest a variety of issues such as the emerging Marcos dictatorship and American imperialism. That period in our homeland's history has been immortalized as the First Quarter Storm, an apt description of the political upheavals yet to come.

One of the prominent leaders of that era was Edgar Jopson, the chair of the moderate student group, the National Union of Students. As authoritarian rule became inevitable, EdJop was quickly radicalized and he became a leading figure in the leftist National Democratic Front until his death by military bullets. His awe-inspiring life story has also been immortalized in veteran journalist Benjamin Pimentel's book U.G. An Underground Tale: The Life and Struggle of Edgar Jopson. Author/journalist Criselda Yabes reviews this third iteration of Pimentel's bio of EdJop in "The Story of a Life."

Filipinx poet Eileen Tabios shares with us her memories in poetic prose of growing up in Baguio City in "My City of Baguio, A Meditation." 

From PF Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino comes a review of the new cookbook of Missouri-based chef Malou Perez-Nievera ("Connecting the Pots, Food from the Philippines to America"). And for those eager to know more about the First Quarter Storm of 1970, Read Again an excerpt from poet/journalist Jose "Pete" Lacaba's immortal Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage:  

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-first-quarter-storm-was-no-dinner-party-part-1

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-first-quarter-storm-was-no-dinner-party-part-2

For our recipe of the week, we feature Perez-Nievera’s Lomo Lomo A La Papa Diddi (pork loin in anchovy and ginger reduction).

Here are our In The Know links this week:

‘Like a Scene From a Movie.’ What I Saw Photographing the Taal Volcano Eruption in the Philippines https://time.com/longform/taal-volcano-philippines-eruption/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-share-article&utm_content=20200116&fbclid=IwAR0j29elLA8tKDluJlxnC7pOjVjtL_9sjC1HZRrrlxJZYiglKMG0D7wQoi4

What Cardinal Tagle's Appointment as "The Red Pope" Means For Him and the Catholic Church
https://esquiremag.ph/long-reads/cardinal-tagle-red-pope-a00293-20191212-lfrm?fbclid=IwAR3UwOfVVm-ljhafTINycelYx0vE2QAJel5L-ifWo_B10X9Oh70XQhQ6I9w

This Scenic Spot in Rizal Sits Above a Sea of Clouds
https://www.spot.ph/things-to-do/the-latest-things-to-do/80443/treasure-mountain-tanay-sa1177-20200104-src-sp?utm_source=Facebook-Spot&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20200104-fbnp-things-to-do-treasure-mountain-tanay-sa1177-20200104-src-sp-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR34yrWCvohkH4IS8vclbRZiQiquheBGT94H7tnK1q405oP8DwSnNxFlMMM

The Story of the Exhibit: Manila Shawl
https://www.fashionmuseumriga.lv/eng/kaleidoscope/manila/?fbclid=IwAR1MJJaFt21mX1sFULVRINhEBO83ON0TWN_BE7N3JozZzODYDozovi6JpBk

Dr. Joven Cuanang: Forever young at 80 (or how art made him a better doctor)
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/354858/dr-joven-cuanang-forever-young-at-80-or-how-art-made-him-a-better-doctor/?fbclid=IwAR3ojC3vBnR6WVkvAkbXy5jskRqnDX7VorXwqtl94TpQRvVr5g3Kn7mXu4k

For Video of the Week, Youtube’s The Endless Adventure features this year’s Sinulog Festival.