June 05, 2024

Time To Swoon in June

June 05, 2024/ Staff

It's June and, like clockwork, summer weather (now commonly termed a heat wave) begins in the western hemisphere. In our motherland, June is expected to bring the monsoon rains so desperately needed for the parched earth of the long, extremely hot summer of 2024.

Like the previous month, June is packed with celebrations: LGBTQ Pride Month and its string of parades and revelry happens this month. For Filipinos everywhere, the annual Independence Day festivities gather communities for parades, dances, competitions and food. And then there's Rizal Day, celebrated every year on June 19, and Fathers' Day on June 16. In the US, it's also Immigrant Heritage Month, a little-known commemoration that should interest us who have made the US our adopted country.

June of course begins the travel cycle, and the travel industry is anticipating the full impact of what has become a post-pandemic byword: revenge travel. We have been posting stories about enticing places to visit since spring, and will continue to do so this summer. One of them, in this issue, is the journey of a daring couple, both septuagenarians, who completed the challenging Kumano Kodo, Japan's equivalent to the Camino de Santiago of Spain. Since they've done both pilgrimages, the two got their Dual Pilgrim Certificate, earned by just about 5,000 long-distance walkers.

Last month, we posted a couple of articles from Canada and reached out to Filipino-Canadians to write more. So this issue, we're posting another two; from Toronto, our regular contributing writer gives us the story of the making of the first anthology of Fil-Can writing; and from Vancouver, a first-time contributor writes about a Filipino who was a high-ranking official in Metro Vancouver but, upon retirement, returned to her first love and is flourishing.

A look back: One afternoon in 1999, Fil-Am mail carrier Jojo Ileto was doing his rounds when a man asked him to mail a letter. There was nothing unusual about the request and Ileto gladly acceded. As he turned, the man took out a gun and shot Ileto twice. He was a random choice, clearly a hate crime. So much has happened since, yet so much still remain the same. We're reposting the story from 25 years ago because we must not forget.

Read Agains

Exceptional Philippine Churches by John Silva

Death by Discrimination by Bert Eljera

[Partner] Helping AAPI Communities Heal From The Pain Of Racism

[Video of the Week] LGBTQ Couple Excited By Their Baby Boy

In The Know

Yuka Saso, 22, captures second U.S. Women's Open title
https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/40264293/yuka-saso-captures-second-us-women-open-title

Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/celebrating-aapi-heritage/san-josewoman-preserve-filipino-american-culture

The Forgotten Houses of Quiapo
https://www.spot.ph/arts-culture/the-latest-arts-culture/109008/forgotten-quiapo-heritage-houses

The rise of quiet luxury in Philippine architecture
https://thepost.ph/architecture/the-rise-of-quiet-luxury-in-filipino-architecture

What I've Learned: Jim Paredes
https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/what-ive-learned/what-i-ve-learned-jim-paredes

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

National organizations call out anti-Asian bigotry in Congress
https://asamnews.com/2024/06/03/organizations-sign-letter-against-anti-asian-bigotry-in-congress/

The Ongoing Fight Against Antisemitism and Anti-Asian Hate: Legislative Developments
https://nysba.org/the-ongoing-fight-against-antisemitism-and-anti-asian-hate-legislative-developments/

Chinese Americans still reeling in the wake of anti-Asian hate
https://goldengatexpress.org/107116/campus-original/chinese-americans-still-reeling-in-the-wake-of-anti-asian-hate/

Man who lived in Fontana is charged with hate crime for allegedly punching woman in the head
https://www.fontanaheraldnews.com/news/man-who-lived-in-fontana-is-charged-with-hate-crime-for-allegedly-punching-woman-in/article_7519572a-1f7b-11ef-a22c-9ff3bfb428d0.html

Connecting to AANHPI seniors on mental wellness
https://www.kalw.org/2024-05-30/connecting-to-aanhpi-seniors-on-mental-wellness

Funding provided by the State of California.

May 29, 2024

Anthropological Skulls of Thought

May 29, 2024/ Staff

How many of you are willing to brave a long boat ride, take a challenging hike through forest and mountain, and slither down a cave for the singular purpose of seeing human remains? It's not many people's idea of fun, certainly not for those past the age of dreaming they are Indiana Jones. But for a group of 20 students of anthropology, the journey was well worth the hardship, and the reward of seeing up close the strangely modified skulls was a dream-come-true.

The vaunted site (at least for those into the study of humanity, as anthropology is defined) is the Guyangan Cave System in Banton, the northernmost island of Romblon. Guyangan is network of caves known to hold a rich trove of archaeological treasures that could well hold the key to understanding in greater detail the evolution of our race.

The skulls there are unique in its inexplicable deformity: the foreheads are much higher than a regular human. How did this happen and why? The answers are still in the speculative stage but our lead story this week by UP anthropology major Aidrielle Raymundo about their trip to Banton is fascinating.

Just as fascinating is cultural writer Pablo Tariman's story about Damodar Das Castillo, a cello prodigy who is just 16 years old but has already won five first prizes in international competitions, performed in various international stages and earned standing ovations from ecstatic audiences.

An anthropological documentation of a different kind is the story of a pandemic as seen through the experiences of Fil-Am health care workers in its frontlines. There is a book about it and we're appreciating it this week.

And speaking of books, book designing is a specialized art that few have mastered. But a Filipino artist named Felix Mago Miguel has done just that and he's profiled by PF correspondent now based in France, Criselda Yabes.

With deep sorrow, we pay tribute to Barbara "Tweetums" Gonzalez, one of the Philippines' best columnists, who passed away in Manila on May 28. Her first publisher, Karina Africa Bolasco, writes a stirring tribute to this lady who wrote so beautifully about life. We are also posting a piece from her Facebook page, which was her column for the Philippine Star on April 24.

[Video of the Week] South China Sea Tensions: Onboard A Philippine Convoy Boat That Sailed Towards Disputed Reef

In The Know

Stockton museum highlights Filipino American heritage
https://fox40.com/news/local-news/stockton/stockton-filipino-american-national-historical-society-museum/

6 Filipino ‘ulam’ hog Best Pork Dishes in the World list of Taste Atlas for 2024
https://www.rappler.com/life-and-style/food-drinks/filipino-best-pork-dishes-world-2024-taste-atlas/

Traveler waves Philippine flag on sandbar near Pag-asa Island
https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/on-the-radar/2024/05/24/2357576/traveler-waves-philippine-flag-sandbar-near-pag-asa-island?

Philippines: world’s largest rice importer again
https://opinion.inquirer.net/173953/philippines-worlds-largest-rice-importer-again

Maria Ressa delivers the Commencement Address | Harvard Commencement 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dETo7ECQKc

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

Heritage Month campaign stops hate by spreading love
https://asamnews.com/2024/05/29/resilience-perseverance-stop-aapi-hate-storytelling-campaign/

Miss USA Savannah Gankiewicz says she's received death threats and hateful messages since being crowned
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/miss-usa-savannah-gankiewicz-says-170839361.html

Asian students face racism, harassment at school. What would make it stop?
https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2024/05/18/asian-students-face-racism-harassment-at-school-what-would-make-it-stop/

Why are hate crimes so hard to convict in court?
https://wausaupilotandreview.com/2024/05/17/why-are-hate-crimes-so-hard-to-convict-in-court/

Legal fund helps Asian Americans fight discrimination at work
https://www.axios.com/local/san-francisco/2024/05/15/asian-american-workplace-discrimination-legal-fund

Statistics of sentiments: How Asian Americans feel
https://sundial.csun.edu/181618/print-editions/print-stories/statistics-of-sentiments-how-asian-americans-feel/

Veteran attacked in Chicago suspects it was a hate crime
https://asamnews.com/2024/05/24/hate-crime-racially-motivated-attack-chicago-kevin-qin/

Funding provided by the State of California.

May 22, 2024

Tastes of Nostalgia

May 22, 2024/ Staff

Remember Ma Mon Luk? Those delicious asado-filled white siopao the size of our clenched fist that we were told to peel before eating? Paired with the restaurant's steaming mami, they were perfect for keeping stomach and soul satiated because they were cheap and flavored just right.

Ma Mon Luk, the restaurant (first in Quiapo and later a branch in Quezon Blvd. near Banawe, QC), was itself a draw. Humid and steamy because there was no air-conditioning, greasy and somewhat grubby, it nonetheless attracted not just budget eaters but bougie types as well. Quite a number of Filipino octogenarians associate Ma Mon Luk with their first dates or their marriage proposals. During martial law when many were hunted, the always bustling restaurant was a good place to meet in plain sight (thus unnoticed by the hunters) and to satisfy one's craving as well.

Behind the restaurant and the siopao, there was Ma Mon Luk, the man, whose origin story is now the focus of a children's book. Read all about it in this issue and get a recipe for mami.

Here's another nostalgia trip: remember the pop songs that filled the Philippine airwaves decades ago, like "Ikaw Ang Lahat Sa Akin" by Martin Nievera, and "Lift Up Your Hands" by Basil Valdez?" The songs have proven staying power but the composer herself has kept a relatively low profile. Until this month that is. This weekend in Manila she celebrates her 45th year as a hotshot composer of many hits. This issue has her covered.

And two doses of inspiration: first, from a veteran Fil-Am broadcast journalist who has a lot of say about pursuing a path that matters. And second, the continuing and never-ending list of Fil-Am achievers who are stamping their marks on the US melting pot.

Finally, a front-and-center look at Lake Sebu in South Cotabato where the T'boli tribe of crafts people and tradition bearers live, work and fight for their right to their ancestral lands.

For our Video of the Week, a new documentary on acclaimed soprano Evelyn Mandac by an appreciative student.

Read Again: How Filipinas Saved a Town in Japan