Basket Weaving and Home Cooking

Basket weaving in the Philippines is not just an art. It is also a means of subsistence of indigenous and rural Filipinos who sell their handwoven baskets and textiles for cash income to buy basic necessities. Former immigration lawyer turned basketry advocate Jill Stanton reports on her visit to basketry communities in the Cordilleras and Pala'wan.

A grieving daughter celebrates her late father's expertise in the kitchen and shares the recipe of his favorite quick dish. Titchie Carandang-Tiongson writes about her dad, well-known TV producer Tony Carandang in "Papa's Japanese Rice."

It has been 17 years since the cataclysmic event now immortalized as 9/11 but the magnitude of the terror remains fresh in many minds, especially those who had a close brush with death on that day. One of them is General Antonio Taguba who was in the Pentagon when the plane crashed and demolished the section he was in just a few minutes before. Read Again his account of "My Close Call on 9/11." 

As we continue to collect martial law stories and vignettes, here's another one of mine. Read Again "Creative Subversion." 

Our Happy Home Cook recipe is another one from Chef Marvin Gapultos who we featured last week. This time a complicated but surely delicious dish which will delight the Ilocanos -- Papaitan. 

Here are this week's links to stories you may have missed:

China Poised to Win Major Victory in Sea Dispute With Help of Philippine Resources Deal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-and-gas-pact-poised-to-hand-china-a-victory-in-sea-dispute-1536571801?redirect=amp#click=https://t.co/iliNWX2Kc6

The Philippines' Human Rights Abuses
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-08-03/the-brutal-personal-costs-of-the-philippines-human-rights-abuses

Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho: 11 Year-old Boy Serves as Parent to Younger Brother
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKei-sZ0iOk

Our Video of the Week: GMA's Jessica Soho brings together young basketball talent Justine Remo and his idol, three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry in this exclusive video.

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Tell Us Your Martial Law Story

We are collecting personal stories of life under Martial Law (1972-1981) in the Philippines. If you were there, you would have at least one. Did you violate curfew? Were you arrested? Was anyone in your family a political detainee or was "salvaged?" Did martial law motivate you to leave the country?  Did you benefit from it? What is your most enduring memory of that period?

In 200-600 words, join us in documenting that important era in our homeland's history. Your story counts. And if you have pictures, that would be great.

Please send to martiallawstories@gmail.com.

Motherly Dedication

When my Positively Filipino colleagues -- Mona Lisa Yuchengco as publisher and Rene Ciria Cruz as editor -- pioneered Filipinas, the first glossy magazine for and about Filipino Americans in the early 1990s, they had to dig deep into the community and search for stories about and by Filipinos in America. Now, more than 20 years later, we can't keep up. In various publications, by a wide range of writers, stories about the Philippines and Filipinos here and abroad are being printed and posted. We try to keep you abreast two ways: our In Brief section which provides capsule news items about developments that affect or interest Filipinos everywhere; and our In The Know weekly listing of links to stories in other publications that we feel you should read in full. Here's the In the Know lineup for this week:

My Family's Slave
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/lolas-story/524490/?utm_source=atlfb

At 100 or So, She Keeps a Philippine Tattoo Tradition Alive
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/15/world/asia/tattoo-artist-kalinga-buscalan.html?smid=fb-share&_r=1

Pinay girl rejected from UK grammar school turns out to be having an IQ higher than Einstein’s
http://kickerdaily.com/posts/2017/05/pinay-girl-rejected-from-uk-grammar-school-turns-out-to-be-having-an-iq-higher-than-einsteins/

Warriors' Stephen Curry helps Cupertino family after teen's tragic death
http://abc7news.com/sports/warriors-curry-helps-cupertino-family-after-teens-tragic-death/1981313/

Zamboanga del Norte students trek dangerous mountain trail to school
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/video/kapusomojessicasoho/335838/zamboanga-del-norte-students-trek-dangerous-mountain-trail-to-school/video/

With 30 reported cases every single day, the HIV tragedy is cause for very grave concern in the Philippines, as PF Correspondent Rene Astudillo reports in "On Tita Bootz’s Bucket List—Stop New  HIV Infections." Fortunately, there are community advocates and caring souls like Bootz Yabut who are pitching in to help curb the spread of the disease.

As a postscript to the warm, fuzzy Mother's Day tributes, another PF Correspondent John Silva celebrates his unconventional and controversial mother, Helen Ledesma, in "My Unmom Mom."

And for San Francisco Bay Area martial arts denizens, contributor AJ Ruiz writes about the winningest martial arts school in "The Way of Eskabo Daan."

For our Happy Home Cook recipe this week, we go back to healthy -- a vegan version of the traditional favorite, kare-kare, from Richgail Enriquez. 

Our Video of the Week, we feature the story behind the popular Cebuano-speaking Americans of the Hey Joe Show on You Tube.