We're Proud and Inspired

We stand proudly with the Positively Filipino writers who won seven   out of the 10 "best writing" awards in the 2020 Plaridel Awards held recently. See the links to their award-winning stories. 

Best International Story: Jennifer Fergesen, "Filipino Restaurateurs in Europe Grapple with Pandemic" http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/filipino-restaurateurs-in-europe-grapple-with-pandemic

Best Profile Writing: Lisa Suguitan Melnick, "The Scholar Unplugged" http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-scholar-unplugged

Best Personal Essay: Elizabeth Ann Quirino, "Last Christmas" http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/last-christmas  

Best Feature Story: Lisa Suguitan Melnick, "Utom Unfolds T’boli Myths Through Music”
 http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/utom-unfolds-tboli-myths-through-music

Best Food Story: Jennifer Fergesen, "Surprise! A Filipino Table in Tblisi" http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/surprise-a-filipino-table-in-tbilisi

Best Tourism Feature: Elizabeth Ann Quirino, "Food Historian Ige Ramos Serves Cavite's Unsung Cuisine"   http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/food-historian-ige-ramos-serves-cavites-unsung-cuisine

Best Investigative Story: Myles Garcia, "Discovering a Long Lost 19th Century Filipino Master Painter" http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/discovering-a-long-lost-19th-century-filipino-master-painter 

Merit Awards

Lisa Suguitan Melnick, Merit Award in Best News Story, "The Al Robles Express is on the Right Track" http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-al-robles-express-is-on-the-right-track

Elizabeth Ann Quirino, Merit Award in Best Food Story, "Stop and Smell the Power of Filipino Cooking" http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/stop-and-smell-the-power-of-filipino-cooking

Another feather in our proverbial cap: our webinar last Monday on Filipino Trailblazers featuring California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye and Major General Antonio Taguba (Ret.) was without doubt one of the most interesting, inspiring and pride-stirring hour-and-a-half that one can spend. If you missed it or want to listen to it again (suggestion: get your children to listen with you), here's the link to the recording. [Filipino American Trailblazers]

Our stories for this week are not too shabby either, both in terms of topic coverage and the hopefulness they engender:

‘Filgrimage’: From San Diego To Manila Bay By Miguel Carrion

The Manilatown Heritage Foundation Rises By Manzel Delacruz

Is Texas Finally Turning Blue In 2020? By Gus Mercado

10 Things The 1940 Census Reveals About Carlos Bulosan By M.T. Ojeda 

Recipe of the Week [Read It Again] The Happy Home Cook: Instant Pot Beef Caldereta By Elizabeth Ann Quirino

Video of the Week - Bill de Blasio tribute to the Fil-Am Community

In The Know

Why It Is Important to Know the Story of Filipino-American Larry Itliong
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/why-it-is-important-know-story-filipino-american-larry-itliong-180972696/?fbclid=IwAR2hQz-Zs1ABojxLMAiaML2K8pLr6_Q0TP3YYbyZpv9aDuTgcX-8Y6MTN2Y

The Philippines Has A Policy Against Home Births. It's Not Playing Well In A Pandemic
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/10/25/925442135/the-philippines-has-a-policy-against-home-births-its-not-playing-well-in-a-pande?fbclid=IwAR1tZ2zWchCcJDbFoH5fvc7ydDv6oBAGkMVnbKvj4GsxzNzutMdC_siJGa0

On a Philippine island, Indigenous women get their say on marine conservation
https://news.mongabay.com/2020/10/on-a-philippine-island-indigenous-women-get-their-say-on-marine-conservation/?fbclid=IwAR1hEI_u0ZQFgPFYGEJ_aRcTFm055dRCV7LKfzCsCJnVMIau7VGrTlt6Wj0

Outcry in Philippines Over General’s ‘Warning’ to Female Celebrities
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/world/asia/philippines-liza-soberano-parlade.html

ICYMI: You Can Watch More than 60 Classic Films on Mike De Leon’s Vimeo Account
https://cinemacentenario.com/features/news-and-features/icymi-you-can-watch-more-than-60-classic-films-on-mike-de-leons-vimeo-account/?fbclid=IwAR0YHKOtT91gGkPv-1NkIkevuG7458_39E0QRFGD-tGoVpYxd2l4bn4IPoM 

1763: A historical fiction: Revisiting Early Filipino presence in Louisiana and Examining the Sources
https://filipinoamericancenter.blogspot.com/2014/11/1763-historical-fiction-revisiting.html?fbclid=IwAR169yeXlbU31SPGzY9BihvmYJE3JD_TVrH7oaxPbt46Yf2Rd1on0v7px-0

---

More History for Filipino American History Month

Filipino American History Month continues and PF Correspondent Lisa Suguitan-Melnick introduces us to "The Al Robles Express," a documentary film of a journey to the motherland initiated by esteemed FilAm author/professor Oscar Peñaranda. An interesting concept, this gathering of FilAm writers and artists visiting the Philippines for the first time and watching how the visit affects their works. ("'The Al Robles Express' is on the Right Track")

This month also marks the 75th anniversary of General Douglas MacArthur's return to the Philippines during WWII via Leyte. Journalist German Palabyab gives us a brief history lesson in "Better Leyte Than Never - The 75th Anniversary of General MacArthur's Return to the Philippines," on which his book, The Saga of Leyte Gulf, is based. 

Continuing with the WWII topic, here's a timely Read Again of a story that happened in October 1942: "The Spies Who Came In From the Sea" by Virgilio N. dela Victoria.

And from PF Correspondent Cherie Querol-Moreno, a feature on a new restaurant in Makati called Mijo and its chef, her nephew Enrique Moreno. ("Chef Cooks Up Tribute to Two Grandmas")

From Chef Enrique Moreno comes our Happy Home Cook recipe this week, Oyster Kilaw.

Here are some In The Know links that you will find interesting:

LOOK BACK: Amalia Fuentes, Philippine Movie Queen
https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/news/241814-amalia-fuentes-legacy?fbclid=IwAR0YITKIuiyYzHSKHIHuuuKdw3ZGIPTAm0VI-aifyjtSitXuCXNAd9inQ7g

The Phrase “Go Back Where You Came From” Has a Long, Violent History
https://truthout.org/articles/the-phrase-go-back-where-you-came-from-has-a-long-violent-history/?utm_source=sharebuttons&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=mashshare&fbclid=IwAR3Zx9aCA4GC6JDM0qVULTO7Lo0K56f2apwLfSwCpPIrKwsLFcWhR_m7rvA

How the early Pinoy films found a second home in Hawaii and ignited an industry
https://news.abs-cbn.com/ancx/culture/movies/09/22/19/how-the-early-pinoy-films-found-a-second-home-in-hawaii-and-ignited-an-industry?fbclid=IwAR1v1eimPAMCT6UCgkyFjuEQsSufpc3rF1shoSSjqahv7-VsZ3Q25tpcQ0U

‘The Hanapepe Massacre Mystery’
https://www.thegardenisland.com/2019/09/27/hawaii-news/the-hanapepe-massacre-mystery/

After a “one-man effort” over nine years, October is Filipino American history month in Washington
https://iexaminer.org/after-a-one-man-effort-over-nine-years-october-is-filipino-american-history-month-in-washington/?fbclid=IwAR1dbZI4NAoMz2OhIlOwBop_FSKnJkPSujU1FSKpB5hLMPfqbZEct7TnRd4

5 Books By Women To Read During Filipino American History Month
https://bookriot.com/2019/10/03/books-by-filipinas/?fbclid=IwAR3x59sz7FwRyQflyQoQSzr0zjLvi-pGZEj0rQhv95KEAltjXU-dbgYX4nQ

For our video of the week, Vox featured a story on peacock chairs which were widely-used as photography chairs. The popularity of these throne-like wicker chairs can be traced back to the 1910s-20s when they were built and sold from Bilibid Prison in the Philippines, then a colony of the United States.