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

---

Past and Pastime

Often overlooked in the history of American student activism is 1968 Third World students' strike in San Francisco State (University), which led to the formation of the first ethnic studies college in the country. Read all about the Filipino American students' leading role in that upheaval in Juanita Tamayo Lott's "PACE, A Critical Link in Filipino American History." 

But history is not all Big Politics. Read Bibeth Orteza's hilarious recollection of her frustrated quest for romance on campus just when the Big Politics of Marcos' Martial Law was descending on the Philippines.

For a dose of nostalgia, join our raconteur Myles Garcia as he lays his hands on one of Manila's favorite pastimes,  "Oh, How I Miss Manila Mahjong." 

We would like to thank our writers who won in the recent 7th Annual Plaridel Awards of the Philippine American Press Club, USA:

Rene Astudillo, Plaridel Award for Best International Story, “Will the Philippine Jeepney Soon Be Extinct?” http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/will-the-philippine-jeepney-soon-be-extinct

Elizabeth Ann Quirino, Plaridel Award for Best Tourism Feature Story, “Savoring Hidden Flavors of the Philippine Kitchen”
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/savoring-hidden-flavors-of-the-philippine-kitchen

Titchie Carandang-Tiongson and Erwin Tiongson, Plaridel Award for Best Profile Writing, “The Untold Story of Nina Thomas: The American Woman Who Could Have Been First Lady of the Philippines” http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/the-untold-story-of-nina-thomas

France Viana, Plaridel Award for Best Entertainment Story, “Myth, Magic and Madonnas In Eye-Opening Philippine Art Exhibition” http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/myth-magic-and-madonnas-in-eye-opening-philippine-art-exhibition

Rey E. de la Cruz, Honorable Mention for Best Profile Writing, “Happy Beneath the Sea”
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/robert-suntay

Rey E. de la Cruz, Honorable Mention for Best Feature Story, “Dear Satu: Letters Tell the Story of Our Lives”
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/dear-satu-letters-tell-the-story-of-our-lives

Lisa Suguitan Melnick, Honorable Mention for Best Entertainment Story, “Incarcerated 6x9 Gets You on the Cell-ular Level”
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/dance-theater-review-incarcerated-6-x-9-gets-you-on-the-cell-ular-level

Elizabeth Ann Quirino, Honorable Mention for Best Food Story, “Tupig from Tarlac,”
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/tupig-from-tarlac

For Filipino American History Month, we recommend the following Read Again stories:
“An Ilongot Murder Mystery” by Michael Gonzalez: http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/an-ilongot-murder-mystery

“Fil-Am Olympic Great Vicki Manalo-Draves” by Ed Diokno: http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/fil-am-olympic-great-vicki-manalo-draves

For our [In The Know] Links:

Soldiers in Facebook’s War on Fake News Are Feeling Overrun
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/09/business/facebook-philippines-rappler-fake-news.html

Wanted: More Public Libraries
https://opinion.inquirer.net/116595/wanted-public-libraries

Gov. Brown rejects ethnic studies bill, saying high school students are overburdened
https://www.dailybulletin.com/2018/10/02/gov-brown-rejects-ethnic-studies-bill-saying-high-school-students-are-overburdened/

For Happy Home Cook, Chef Paolo Espanola dishes his take on a Filipino classic, Pansit Molo.

For Video of the Week, Center for Asian American Media remembers Professor Dawn Bohulano Mabalon, through her film collection on her family's history.

Gratitude

Gratitude is what we're giving in spades this week as the US, where about 4 million of our kababayans live, go through the annual ritual of celebrating Thanksgiving Day. 

For first-time contributor Teresa de Veyra-Montilla, the unexpected gift of visiting the former home of her grandparents, Jaime and Sofia de Veyra in Washington, DC, plus meeting Erwin and Titchie Tiongson, who are documenting the history of Filipinos in the US capital, are beatitudes that she writes about in "A Journey in Time with My Grandma." Montilla's forebears are important historical figures. Jaime C. de Veyra was the Philippine Resident Commissioner in the US Congress, representing the country as a colony; Sofia de Veyra, who we had featured before (Read Again Titchie Carandang-Tiongson's profile of this outstanding Filipina http://www. positivelyfilipino.com/ magazine/the-thoroughly- modern-sofia-de-veyra?rq= sofia%20de%20veyra) was an early feminist, suffragist and patriot.

Meanwhile, Jin Chow of Hong Kong and Stanford University, submits a tribute to the two  Filipina OFWs who raised her -- Rosita Aguas and Florencia Masbang -- and she admits guilt that she belatedly realized how much these women sacrificed to be able to work for her family. In "Words of Gratitude from an 'Alaga,'" her thankfulness shines through.

If you've been to Manila recently, I'm sure you've heard about the current rage: Salted Egg-Flavored Potato Chips. Since it's not yet available in the US, our culinary expert Elizabeth Ann Quirino shares her own recipe for the delicacy. 

Our In The Know links for this week:

How the Philippines’ Coral Heart Keeps Beating
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/11/tubbataha-coral-reef-philippines-unesco-world-heritage-site-sulu-sea/

The Former Army Navy Club Is Now The Rizal Park Hotel
https://www.realliving.com.ph/tips-and-guides/the-former-army-navy-club-is-now-the-rizal-park-hotel-a247-20170825-lfrm2

Tribes, Treks and Life Stories with Indigenous Aetas in the Philippines
https://www.nastasha.ca/2017/11/20/tribes-treks-and-life-stories-with-indigenous-aetas-in-the-philippines/

New York Times sues Filipina journalist for false representation
https://www.rappler.com/nation/188650-new-york-times-filipina-journalist-misrepresentation

For our Video of the Week, the US Signal Corps produced a documentary narrated by US Marine Corps Captain David Griffin about the war crimes in Manila during World War II. The film also features General Carlos P. Romulo in the introduction.

---

The Philippine American Press Club USA's 2017 Plaridel Awards (Photo by Raymond Virata)

We'd also like to give a big thanks to our writers for winning big at the PAPC-USA Plaridel Awards, which was held last month at the Kalayaan Hall of the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco.

Plaridel Awards

Elizabeth Ann Quirino - 2 Plaridel Awards
Best Profile Writing: "Watch Out World: Tanya Maynigo Louks, Creator of Healthy Craft Kombucha"
Best Food Story: "Food for the Memory"

Gia Mendoza
Plaridel Award for Best Tourism Feature: "Two Side Trips (Cebu and Bohol) and a Wedding"

France Viana
Plaridel Award for Best Entertainment Story: "Her Mission Was In the Cards"

Merit Awards

Manzel Delacruz - 3 Merit Awards
Best International Reporting: "Priest and Physicist"
Best Investigative Reporting: "In The End, Love Wins"
Best Entertainment Story: "Taklub"

Rey de la Cruz
Best Entertainment Story: "Carol Varga: When She's Bad, She's Very Good"