May 15, 2024

Our Mothers, Our Heroes

May 15, 2024/ Staff

All of us have our own personal heroes and we celebrate their presence and their legacy at various times of the year. Mother's Day, birthdays, anniversaries, Father's Day -- these are dates we jot down in our memory banks that allow us to renew gratitude and reverence to those who have personally guided and inspired us.

And then there are the heroes of a nation -- admired from afar, accessible to a lucky few -- who nonetheless earn our esteem and appreciation because of their works, their deeds, and the principles on which they anchored their life work.

In this issue, we pay tribute to two exemplary Filipinos who recently passed on: ex-Senator and human rights lawyer Rene Saguisag (as remembered by current Senator Risa Hontiveros) and playwright/poet/theater VIP Floy Quintos (as honored by his acolyte, Charlette San Juan).

And as a belated Mother's Day feature, two strong-willed and unique women are given due appreciation by their daughters (actress/writer/director Bibeth Orteza and author/community organizer Rochit Tañedo) who grew up not exactly like them, but close.

Speaking of, here's an important Mother's Day history: Mother's Day started in the 1870s as Mothers' Day (note the apostrophes). According to historian Heather Cox Richardson, a woman dynamo named Julia Ward Howe (she wrote the "Battle Hymn of the Republic") organized Mothers' Day festivals as a clarion call for peace and to empower women to have an equal say in changing society. The then-revolutionary intent of Mothers' Day stemmed from the shock of the carnage of wars that maimed and killed thousands of men. As Cox Richardson writes, Ward Howe believed that "women must take control of politics from the men who had permitted such carnage. Mothers’ Day was not designed to encourage people to be nice to their mothers. It was part of women’s effort to gain power to change society."

Our Stories This Week

SERRV Sells Crafts To Help Filipinos Help Themselves by Anthony Maddela

Tribute To Ka Rene Saguisag, A Lion Of Justice by Sen. Risa Hontiveros

Honoring The Legacy Of Beloved Playwright Floy Quintos by Charlette San Juan

Our Indomitable Mamang by Rochit Tañedo

My Mother’s Task by Bibeth Orteza

[Partner] PNANC’s Spring Conference And Induction Gala

[Video of the Week] Spotlight on Maui, Hawaii: An AANHPI Special

Read Again

The Making Of A Matriarch by Carolyn Prasad

A Happily Mixed Up Marriage by Regina Manzana-Sawhney

In The Know

Sleepy far-flung towns in the Philippines will host US forces returning to counter China threats
https://apnews.com/article/us-forces-philippines-south-china-sea-taiwan-

Filipino American labor icon Larry Itliong honored with park naming
https://asamnews.com/2024/05/13/union-icon-united-farmworkers-asian-american-history/

UPMin to open College of Medicine
https://mindanews.com/top-stories/2024/05/upmin-to-open-college-of-medicine/#gsc.tab=0

How a Filipino café in Barcelona went viral, thanks to ube
https://www.thediarist.ph/how-a-filipino-cafe-in-barcelona-went-viral-thanks-to-ube/

Filipino California: Art and the Filipino diaspora
https://asamnews.com/2024/04/22/filipino-american-artist-exhibition-influence-from-philippines/

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

New Study Warns of Rising Gun Violence Disinformation Targeting Chinese Community
https://asamnews.com/2024/05/11/ethnic-media-services-gun-misinformation-chinese-americans/

Diamond Bar Man Sentenced to One Year in Federal Prison for Driving His Car Through Demonstrators at ‘Stop Asian Hate’ Rally
https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/diamond-bar-man-sentenced-one-year-federal-prison-driving-his-car-through

Man assaults students on a bus in SF with slurs and a taser
https://asamnews.com/2024/05/10/anti-asian-hate-teenage-victims-mother-calls-for-more-policing/

One Man’s Quest for ‘Photographic Justice’
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/books/review/corky-lee-asian-america-fifty-years-photographic-justice.html

Did anti-Asian hate decline? Americans say yes, Asians in US disagree: Report
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/did-anti-asian-hate-decline-americans-say-yes-asians-in-us-disagree-report/ar-BB1m5j85

Funding provided by the State of California.

May 08, 2024

Hooray to Our Heritage

May 08, 2024/ Staff

We join the nation in celebrating Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) this whole month of May. This heritage month is a time to reflect on and acknowledge with gratitude the shared history and the contributions of AANHPIs in shaping this great experiment called the United States of America.

AANHPIs have, through the years, birthed a wide variety of advocacies and social service organizations, one of which is the National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association. As its name implies, this nonprofit focuses on the mental health concerns of its constituents, many of whom have been gobsmacked with anti-Asian hate incidents the past four years. Learn about what it does here. https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/act-against-hate/alliance-fights-hate-through-policy-advocacy-helps-victims-heal

What does it take to be a Philippine National Artist? The Order of National Artists is the highest national recognition that can be conferred on individuals whose body of work represents the best in Philippine music, dance, theater, visual arts, literature, film, broadcast arts, and architecture and allied arts. First awarded in 1972 posthumously to the great Filipino painter, Fernando Amorsolo, the honor has been given to a total of 86 outstanding Filipinos. Only 12 of them are still alive. The search is on for the next batch and we hope the internationally acclaimed pianist Cecile Licad will be among them.

Aside from the many town fiestas that take place yearly in our homeland this month, Mother's Day is also a May event. We'll be putting out mom stories in our issues this month because, well, mama love can't be limited to just a day.

Our Stories This Week

Pianist Cecile Licad Is A National Treasure by Pablo A. Tariman

[Act Against Hate] Alliance Fights Hate Through Policy Advocacy, Helps Victims Heal by Anthony Maddela

Caroline Cabading's Musical Journey Through Filipino American History by Caroline Ocampo

Postcards From Rome by Odette Foronda

{Video of the Week] Talilo’s Waves (Featuring Apo Whang-Od)

Read Again:

The Filipinas who became finalists in this year's Pulitzer Prize
https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-stories-behind-searching-for-maura-of-the-smithsonians-racial-brain-collection

Asian Americans as Medical Scapegoats
https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/asian-americans-as-medical-scapegoats

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

The Federal Response to Anti-Asian Racism in the United States
https://www.usccr.gov/files/2023-10/fy-2023-se-report.pdf

Rising global tensions continue to fuel anti-Asian rhetoric across the US
https://headtopics.com/sg/rising-global-tensions-continue-to-fuel-anti-asian-rhetoric-52018241

Lowell High teens reported anti-Asian hate on Muni. Now, their parents demand action
https://sfstandard.com/2024/05/04/lowell-high-teens-reported-anti-asian-hate-on-muni-now-their-parents-demand-action/

Southeast Asian Americans face the brunt of racist attacks among Asians in U.S., new study finds
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/southeast-asian-americans-face-brunt-racist-attacks-asians-us-new-stud-rcna149890

When Hate Hits the Golf Course
https://ethnicmediaservices.org/news-exchange/when-hate-hits-the-golf-course/

Funding provided by the State of California.

In The Know

Philippines: Drought dries up dam to reveal centuries-old town
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68852451

Why American Billionaire Andrew Carnegie Offered To Buy The Philippines’ Freedom For $20 Million
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/features/andrew-carnegie-philippines-

Overlooked During Her Lifetime, Filipino American Artist Pacita Abad Has Suddenly Become a Global Star
https://www.vogue.com/article/pacita-abad-moma-ps1-retrospective?

The Bay Area’s Great American Diner Is a 24-Hour Filipino Casino Restaurant
https://www.kqed.org/arts/13956683/late-night-filipino-food-24-hour-cafe-colma-lucky-chances

How do you make 600 students from 80 countries feel at home? Ask Chef Abigail Serbins
https://www.berkeleyside.org/2024/05/01/uc-berkeley-international-house-chef-abigail-serbins

May 01, 2024

Northern Exposure

May 01, 2024/ Staff

While definitely dwarfed in number by Filipino Americans (conservatively around 5 million strong), Filipino Canadians (a little less than a million, as of 2021) are nonetheless emerging as a significant new force in a country of only 40 million. (In contrast, the US has 333 million; the Philippines 115 million. Canada's population of 39 million is almost the same as California's.)

Fil-Cans represent 2.5 % of Canadians and is the third largest Asian immigrant group in the country, surpassed only by Indians and Chinese, according to a Wikipedia entry. But they are the largest in terms of Southeast Asian ethnicity. Most are college-educated professionals, Tagalogs, and, earlier on, women. The majority live in the urban areas of Canada, with the biggest group residing in the Greater Toronto Area, followed by Metro Vancouver.

While the collective voice of Filipino-Canadians have not yet been as resounding as Fil-Ams, our kababayans in Canada have nevertheless made significant inroads in most, if not all aspects, of Canadian society. In health care, in business, the academe, arts and literature, social services, culinary arts and in politics, Fil-Cans have shone. Two have already been elected to the Canadian Parliament and appointed to the Cabinet.

We have two new stories from Canada in this issue and we're reposting some from previous issues. We'd like more though so we're reaching out to Filipinos in Canada to send us their stories about living in the second largest country in the world (in land area).

Read Again:

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/bayanihan-community-centre-victoria-bc-a-success-story

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/rizal-honored-in-ontario

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/jason-pires-bc-newsroom-rising-star

https://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/in-this-corner-kanto-by-tita-flips

Video of the Week: Construction worker makes sculptures from coconut and driftwood