September 25, 2024

Positively Against Anti-Asian Hate

September 25, 2024/ Staff

This issue marks the end of Positively Filipino's year-long grant from the State of California, through the California State Library, to participate in the efforts to inform and educate our communities, and help prevent anti-Asian Hate crimes.

This grant year has been instructional for us, the PF staff, our contributing writers and our readers. The focus on the many facets of hate crimes and how they plague and traumatize not just individual victims but entire communities have been illuminating, at times, even frightening. PF has posted original stories, sponsored webinars (two of which are posted here), and collated articles from various publications (our Hate Watch weekly list) about anti-Asian Hate. We have also sponsored three self-defense workshops (IMPACT) for seniors and youth in San Francisco's South of Market district, Daly City and Union City.

Our penultimate activity was "A Tribute to Our Manongs and Manangs," our community elders/heroes who lived through decades of racism and hate, and emerged triumphant in their respective careers. The inspirational event held in San Francisco was both a celebration of resiliency and a teaching moment for the next generation of FilAms.

We thank those who have helped us fulfill the requirements of the grant: Gail Kong, our consultant, who guided us in navigating the grant process; Titchie Carandang, who handled our social media presence; our writers, notably Anthony Maddela who wrote many of our articles on anti-Asian Hate; and our resource persons who shared their knowledge in our webinars and in our articles.

This may be the end of the grant but PF remains committed to doing our part in stemming the tide of hate in our communities, our institutions and in the national rhetoric.

Funding provided by the State of California.

September 18, 2024

Artists Galore

September 18, 2024/ Staff

A Filipino woman artist whose traveling exhibition (San Francisco, New York and Toronto) is making waves in the international art scene, two decades after her death.

A Fil-Am Catholic priest who is also a fulltime filmmaker, with his own IMDb page.

A young Filipina Canadian children's book illustrator who won the 2024 Ezra Jack Keats Illustrator Award, among the most coveted in the children's book industry. (And there's a bonus in the story: a recipe for pandesal.)

A Filipino-owned art gallery that participated in Frieze New York, one of the leading art shows in the world, with an exhibition of the works of a FilAm artist who was a significant influence in American modernism.

We shine our spotlight this week on these Filipino creatives who have made/are making their imprints on their respective art niches.

We also look back to an important period in Philippine history that should never be forgotten. Our Video of the Week is a documentary on martial law in our homeland (declared on September 21,1972 by then-President Ferdinand Marcos, the first).

In The Know

China rams Philippine ship while 60 Minutes on board; South China Sea tensions could draw U.S. in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V80MGYrWWaM

Behind the Viral Dubai Chocolate Bar is a Filipino Chef
https://www.spot.ph/eatdrink/eatdrink-peopleparties/110018/meet-the-filipino-chef-behind-the-viral-dubai-chocolate-bar-a5356-20240916?

'Pisay' launches student records platform using crypto technology
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/11/pisay-launches-student-records-platform-using-crypto-technology-1814

10 FilAm Athletes on NFL Rosters this Season
https://www.instagram.com/p/C_jCr-iTwsc/?igsh=MjZiOWZlZGUxYw%3D%3D&fbclid=IwY2xjawFWzUVleHRu

How To Pull Off A Kamayan Feast at Home
https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/food-network-essentials/how-to-kamayan-at-home-recipes

Anti-Asian Hate Watch

Communities targeted by GOP’s anti-immigrant lies face real danger
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/13/2269826/-Communities-targeted-by-GOP-s-anti-immigrant-lies-face-real-danger

What’s driving Asian American voters in Pennsylvania to the polls?
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/11/asian-american-voters-pennsylvania-polls-election-2024-kamala-harris-donald-trump/

Report finds hate crimes in San Diego County rose 39% from 2022 to 2023
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/report-finds-hate-crimes-in-san-diego-county-rise-39-from-2022-to-2023/3623368/

Funding provided by the State of California.

[Tomorrow!]

September 11, 2024

Devoted to Her

September 11, 2024/ Staff

As promised, here's the full video recording of Positively Filipino's tribute to our Manongs and Manangs held in San Francisco on August 31, 2024.

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One of the reasons we think highly of Bicolanos -- beyond Leni Robredo and laing -- is their unified and passionate piety for Our Lady of Peñafrancia, the designated patroness of the Bicol region, honored every third Sunday of September with a fluvial procession in Naga and celebrated by Bicolanos wherever they may be in the world. In the San Francisco Bay Area, Bicolanos from various cities would gather for mass, food and entertainment in a park every year without fail. It's heartening then to find out from PF contributing writer Ronald Salazar that the tradition continues in New Zealand, proof that the universal reach of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, protector of seafarers, farmers and fisherfolk, knows no bounds.

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In the pantheon of internationally acclaimed photojournalists, the name of Hannah Reyes Morales is already etched in stone. Winner of a growing number of photo awards and recognition, including being finalist in the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for the New York Times, the 33-year-old Filipina who is also a new mother of a baby girl, has come a long way from her days when she had to sell ukay-ukay (used) clothes to support herself as an undergraduate at the University of the Philippines (UP). Read about Hannah's journey as told by Laurel Fantauzzo, herself an acclaimed novelist and writer.

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So-called "martial law babies" -- those who came of age in the early days of martial law (1972) in the Philippines -- are a different breed and mindset from millennials and Gen X, Y, Zs. They have lived through massive civil protests and authoritarian repression, experiences that have defined the rest of their lives, whether they like it or not. For the Maryknoll College (now known as Miriam) Class of '74, their years as students in that small campus on Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City cemented their sisterhood. Now in their 70s, the class gathered last week for their golden jubilee celebration of lives (mostly) well spent. PF Correspondent Cherie Querol Moreno, a class '74 stalwart, writes their story.

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Our Video of the Week, a poignant, both heartbreaking and heartwarming, 23-minute video on Manila's elderly gays: Manila’s famous ‘Golden Gays’ search for a forever home

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