March 18, 2020

Readings-In-Place

March 18, 2020/ Gemma Nemenzo

Here are some pleasurable reads to enjoy while you ride out your Covid19-imposed social distancing:

As San Francisco Bay Area residents are ordered to shelter-in-place, our publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco writes her personal take on the current situation in "Love (and Life) In the Time of Coronavirus."

England-based writer Joy Watford introduces the creative, enterprising women who set up a publishing house in Manila called Gantala Press. Read about its vision and mission in "Gantala Press: Bringing Out Women Writers from the Margins."

And speaking of women writers, Rafaelito V. Sy profiles Grace Talusan whose book, The Body Papers, has been tagged an Editor's Choice by the New York Times. "Grace Talusan's Book of Healing and Empowerment" tells us why it is so deserving.

PF Correspondent Myles Garcia digs up another morsel in the overextended saga of Imelda Marcos, this time vis a vis the American heiress Doris Duke in "Imelda's Debt, Which Keeps on Growing."

Here's a new recipe from creative foodie Voltaire Gungab for the Happy Home Cook: Roasted Eggplant Soup with Lime Oil.

Audacious Women

March 11, 2020/ Gemma Nemenzo

A woman baker who's making it in New York with her silvanas and chocolate cake. A woman academic who authored a memoir in poetry. A group of women journalists who didn't let dictatorship or harassment faze them. Stories about women by women marks our Women's Month celebration this week:

Agatha Verdadero profiles Ann Casimiro of New York, whose sweet delights has put a restaurant called Tsismis on the city's very competitive culinary map. ["Ann Casimiro's Sweet Success"]

PF Correspondent Lisa Suguitan-Melnick focuses on recently retired academic Leny Mendoza Strobel who has come out with a poetic memoir entitled "Glimpses." ["The Scholar Unplugged”]

And from our Manila-based correspondent Criselda Yabes, her tribute to the Women Writers in Media Now (WOMEN), the group of journalists who never stopped fighting authoritarianism. Full disclosure: this is a self-serving feature. ["WOMEN, on the Verge of Another Breakdown"]

From a well-known woman foodie and PF Correspondent Elizabeth Ann Quirino, our Happy Home Cook recipe for Tuna Pasta.

Our In The Know links this week:

How Has the Philippines Managed to Contain the COVID-19 Outbreak?https://www.esquiremag.ph/life/health-and-fitness/how-has-the-philippines-managed-to-contain-the-covid-19-outbreak-a2099-20200306-lfrm?fbclid=IwAR2qp_2Im3A_biihwFUl4TYxjmxrvaDJjy2Fcyw9DtLy10-oToxzCCxo4dQ

11 Empowering Female Scientists Who Paved the Way for Filipino Women in Science
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/women-scientists-in-the-philippines-a00304-20200308-lfrm?utm_source=Facebook-Esquire&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20200308-fbnp-long-reads-women-scientists-in-the-philippines-a00304-20200308-lfrm-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR21zvzVKzePOgjqiplQwL3OFN1koK3u48CIZHqmVhcFQkB2xIPgcDJQgT0

No matter the weather: Life as a solo mother
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1238287/no-matter-the-weather-life-as-a-solo-mother?fbclid=IwAR2TwLb2Tb1Xm-6YgBAhIZEtWknWdVsLuza5WbxBzL0z9VjHvELCuFwhwTM#/

Why Doreen Fernandez’s Tikim is still THE book on Filipino food, 20 years after it was first published
https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/books/03/03/20/why-doreen-fernandezs-tikim-is-still-the-book-on-filipino-food-20-years-after-its-publishing?fbclid=IwAR1SAP1uspssUPLu3TwTvhiAVmwG_3m_UUbOTQp8W7Ldht_Mn8e6pWKDMlc

Fried Chicken King of Asia Loses $2.9 Billion on U.S. Gamble
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/fried-chicken-king-asia-loses-210000270.html

This 'Tagalog Scrabble' May Help Improve Your Child's Filipino Vocabulary
https://www.smartparenting.com.ph/life/family-fun/salitaan-tagalog-scrabble-a00061-20200305?fbclid=IwAR1tL2HQi2I80zsYGBIViJexn1bNHVyR19iVUqiwBkdZDgG6DcRCJfZsrsw

For our Video of the Week, Youtube personality Mikey Bustos presents his latest cover “Stupid Cough,” a COVID-19 parody and safety reminder video set to Lady Gaga’s new song “Stupid Love.”

March 04, 2020

A Filipino Post-9/11 Secret

March 04, 2020/ Gemma Nemenzo

Guantanamo Bay, a former US naval base, has earned notoriety as the island prison for terrorists. A little known fact about Gitmo is that some 200 Filipino skilled construction workers were recruited to help construct the jail, under a contract with an American engineering firm and the Arroyo administration. PF Correspondent Myles A. Garcia digs out the story in "The Secret Post-9/11 Pinoy-'Gitmo' Connection."

On Seattle's Beacon Hill, there's a new, innovative Filipino restaurant called Musang that emerged from a pop-up and funded through crowdfunding. Its founder/chef Melissa Miranda describes the enterprise as "community driven, not chef driven." PF Correspondent Anthony Maddela, a Beacon Hill native, writes about the restaurant and its owner in the context of the neighborhood it operates in, in "Where Good Food Declares 'We've Arrived!"

From Chef Melissa comes our Happy Home Cook recipe for this week: Adobong Kangkong.

Robert Conrad, the star of two popular TV series of yesteryears, "Wild Wild West" and "Hawaiian Eye" passed away recently, prompting some sweet teenage nostalgia from PF publisher Mona Lisa Yuchengco. Read "Me and Robert Conrad" and remember.

We begin Women's Month with profiles of outstanding Filipinas. Read Again:

Titchie Carandang-Tiongson's "The Thoroughly Modern Sofia de Veyra: https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-thoroughly-modern-sofia-de-veyra

Mauro Feria Tumbocon Jr.'s "The Timeless Nora Aunor": https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-timeless-nora-aunor

Robby Tantingco's "Why Women Rule Pampanga": https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/why-women-rule-pampanga

In case you missed them, our links to interesting stories:

9 Kickass Women in Philippine History You’ve Never Heard Of
https://filipiknow.net/extraordinary-filipinas-in-history/?fbclid=IwAR1kgD9JrGui4LraBch9r6dMyfEaYzmAXxtG6v7cMuYS9zGtQ-MtC-2FQHA

Why the Philippines is the only country where divorce is illegal
https://www.economist.com/asia/2020/02/13/why-the-philippines-is-the-only-country-where-divorce-is-illegal?fbclid=IwAR2IJKik3cDIaUwsJT-6buekYUd3deC2IalSYncgkIqtXAHM-7sgb6A4Rk0

Quezon City: The History of the Landmarks in the Homesite’s Project 1 through Kamuning Road, Tomas Morato Avenue and Don Alejandro Roces Avenue
https://lakansining.wordpress.com/2020/02/19/quezon-city-the-history-of-the-landmarks-in-the-homesites-project-1-through-kamuning-road-tomas-morato-avenue-and-don-alejandro-roces-avenue/?fbclid=IwAR1OcmKm2G9q3FMaxc1H4sJ6VF1YxuKy9ZxLUlDzNDf9ReuP1n2uEe9XsnQ

This Underpass in Makati Highlights the Story of 105 Million Filipinos
https://www.spot.ph/arts-culture/the-latest-arts-culture/81006/new-salcedo-underpass-mural-a833-20200214?utm_source=Facebook-Spot&utm_medium=Ownshare&utm_campaign=20200214-fbnp-artsculture-new-salcedo-underpass-mural-a833-20200214-fbfirst&fbclid=IwAR1GxHk3VzXZMv2daTWhVqGQfz6O3WRTYY-pCeQZG0ek1_MaqDGO8aLjQuk

For Video of the Week, in the thick of the coronavirus scare in Italy, a Filipino, who was mistaken for being Chinese, was assaulted.