We begin this year's Filipino American History Month (FAHM) our usual way: by posting an updated FilAm History Timeline. This 2024 edition has new entries (in red). Our timeline is the most comprehensive there is. If you're a student, an academic, a researcher or a writer, make sure you save a copy. It's a valuable reference that chronicles the Filipino presence in US shores.

"Lola's Spaghetti," "Ulam" and "Dreamweavers" -- these are the three short films by FilAms that reached the finals of the Asian American Film Lab's 72-Hour Shootout, an intense competition that gave aspiring filmmakers a mere three days to write, shoot and edit a film for submission. From New York City, Elaine Joy Edaya Degale writes about this August event where she won as best screenwriter for "Dreamweavers."

In his recent exhibit called "Pinoy Traits" at the Pinto Art Museum in Antipolo, the social realist painter Melvyn Culaba adds a touch of humor and lightness to this batch of paintings, "without sacrificing the seriousness of their message," his words. We repost here the story of his exhibit written by S.C. Fojas of the Manila Bulletin.

Through our eleven years of posting stories about the Filipino diaspora, we've had some very interesting articles that we know you would like to read again. Below are three of them.

Our Video of the Week is a video documentary on the Battle at Leyte Gulf: October 23- 26, 1944 -- still the largest naval engagement in the history of the world.

Read Again:

Where Exactly Did ‘Filipinos’ First Land in California?

Forget Them Not

Murder Most Foul

In The Know

Philippines says to evacuate thousands from Lebanon if Israel invades
https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2572957/world?

Maj. Floren P. Herrera ’13 Selected for 2024 Nininger Award
https://www.westpointaog.org/news/maj-floren-p-herrera-13-selected-for-2024-nininger-award/

AANHPI civic engagement increases as hate crimes persist
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/25/asian-american-native-hawaiian-pacific-islander-hate-crimes-report-civic-political-engagement/

AANHPI face rising safety concerns amid surge in hate crimes
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/28/aanhpi-face-rising-safety-concerns-amid-surge-in-hate-crimes/

Kamala Harris ad targets Fil Am voters in Nevada
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/27/nevada-swing-state-6-electoral-votes-fil-ams-could-sway-election/

Tyketto vocalist comes to defense of Journey’s Arnel Pineda
https://asamnews.com/2024/09/27/rock-legend-dont-stop-believin-performance-panned/

From the time the Luzones Indios set foot on American land on October 18, 1587 to today's officially designated (by the US Congress) Filipino American History Month celebration, Filipinos and Americans have had a rich but tangled relationship. Bloodied by colonization, smoothed over by education, enhanced by immigration and bound together inextricably by the significant and rapidly growing presence of Filipinos in all aspects of life in the US, the FilAm -- and everything that it implies -- is already an integral part of the American tapestry.

Positively Filipino's Timeline of Filipino American History, updated to include this year's markers, provides the most comprehensive overview of this complicated relationship. Save it for yourself and share it with your family and your community. It's an important document to assert your rightful place in the US.

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We celebrate the lives of two significant Filipinos who recently left this earth: Greg Macabenta, the multimedia icon and community leader, lovingly honored by his friend, Rodel Rodis; and the poet/revolutionary and passionate Christian, Mila D. Aguilar, by her friend, Cecilia M. Brainard.

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The heartbreaking news of three Filipino caregivers, victims of the current Hamas/Israel war, prompted us to dig up a 2004 Filipinas Magazine feature story on Filipinos in Israel. Written by Israeli freelance writer Inacio Steinhardt, the article is timeless in its spotlight on our modern-day heroes, Filipino caregivers.

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Here's a fun story to break the grimness: Alex Fox, a 23-year-old budding entrepreneur in New York, who organizes rave parties for the young and the restless. Veteran journalist Cristina DC Pastor of The FilAm writes about this son of two journalists in "Rave Against the Dying of the Night."

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For our Video of the Week, here's a technologically vintage film (made in 1978) by Linda Mabalot that presents a significant record of the lives of Filipino manongs, a perfect watch for FilAm History Month.